Your business is growing, and you know it’s time to update your corporate training and development program.

Maybe you have a corporate learning platform that you’ve outgrown—its reporting system isn’t as powerful as you’d like, it doesn’t integrate with your other software, or your employees have simply lost interest. Maybe the pandemic prompted a switch from in-person training to digital, and you’re now realizing an LMS—that’s short for learning management system—would make everything from onboarding new employees to training current staff on new protocols more efficient. Or maybe you’re still rocking those old-school training printouts, and you’re finally considering a pivot to eLearning.

Whatever the reason you’re in the market, an LMS can help you develop, implement and track online learning. You can use this powerful tool to optimize onboarding to cut time to productivity, increase employee retention through professional development programming, and gain insight into your business via data analysis. Successful training can help your employees maintain the level of service you’re known for, even as you grow.

But your business is unique, and you want a learning platform that fits your specific needs. And with so many different types of corporate learning management systems, it can be hard to know which one to choose. 

Here are six steps to help you choose an LMS that works for you.

Training is integral to your company. But is your corporate learning and development program working as hard for you as it could? What would it take to get you there?

First, you need to determine what you want to get out of a corporate learning platform. 

Do you need to train new hires? Track compliance? Improve customer service? Maybe you’re trying to reduce employee turnover and improve morale by building community and revitalizing company culture. You can use an online academy to improve customer service, increase sales, create transparency, increase safety, or even grow new leaders from within through corporate management training programs.

So, back to our examples:

A high-end restaurant group would use an LMS to improve customer service, reduce turnover, and drive culture, all toward a goal of adding new locations across a wide geographic region.

An innovative fitness company would use it to streamline new studio openings and maintain instructor consistency across all locations as it works toward a target of doubling its boutique locations each year over the next three years.

The high-growth tech start-up with a remote workforce could use an LMS to create a cohesive culture, build community and grow leaders within the company, in its efforts to reduce onboarding costs and increase time to productivity.

Write yours down.

With the differing needs of corporate training programs, and the myriad strengths of the various learning platforms, being clear what’s most important to you will help you find one that matches your needs.

Most corporate LMS systems have a lot of the same basic functionality, allowing you to maintain and update a library, administer quizzes and tests, and run specific reports. But they don’t all work the same way, and certain types of features and functions will help you execute your company training program exactly how you want to.

Here are some of the options you’ll consider when searching for a corporate management training system. Write down which ones you’ll need, or print out this checklist and circle the most important features.

With an understanding of the features and functions you need, you’ll be able to scope out which LMS company fits those needs.

Other details will also affect your experience. For example, you may want to consider an LMS company’s customer support ratings, if it’s independent or corporate, and where it’s located.

Your training management team might want to use a third-party software review website like Capterra or LMS.org to compare the different software options and check out reviews.