Continuing education has become crucial to business. Without it, innovation stalls, employees lose interest and business tanks. As more organizations bring training online with a learning management system, they realize that the old boardroom lecture isn’t cutting it anymore. Users crave more exciting and captivating materials.

Add the “C” in content to an LMS, and what do you get? A learning content management system (LCMS) that takes employee engagement to the next level.

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

In this article, we’ll cover the most important questions surrounding LMS and LCMS. Some include: What’s the difference between an LMS and LCMS? What’s the difference between a CMS and LMS? What are the benefits of a learning content management system? Keep reading to find out more.

Best Learning Content Management Systems

Online education is skyrocketing, and according to Vantage Research, the global eLearning market will reach $602 billion by 2030. An LCMS provides more diverse and interactive learning methods. Instructors need to do more than provide accurate information. Engaging learners in their training has become more important than ever.

What are the best learning content management systems? Which system is right for you? Here is a comparison of the top learning content management systems to consider for company training.

Lessonly

Lessonly is a Saas solution used by HR, customer service teams and sales. It’s designed more for enterprise training and learning, rather than academic applications, and is used by managers, creators and others.

Users can select and manage content easily. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Reporting and Dashboard — 94
• Content and Course Management — 88
• User Management and Gamification — 81
• Assessments — 71
• Platform Capabilities — 71

Top Benefits

• Customize Learning: Customize unique learning paths by combining multiple courses into a large group. This allows employees to access content in the correct order and provides learning targeted to their specific role.
• Improve Accessibility: For users with disabilities, the solution provides many accessibility functions and also allows them to switch from the default settings to one of the 28 languages provided.
• Provide Offline Training: Users can download the iOS or Android app to access courses at their convenience. They can also download content to their mobile devices to continue learning when offline.

Primary Features

Course and Content Creation

Create courses through the use of audio, images, text, video and other elements. Once users create lessons, they can export the materials as a PDF. This also holds true for taking existing content and converting it into an online format. It translates into over 13 languages and can help when curating information from subject matter experts.

This makes for an extensive body of work leading to the upkeep of a content library with lesson grates and tagging. For those who need more resources to make lessons, the Lessonly University gives them templates, pre-made materials and a guide for best practices.

Learner Retention

Based on a LinkedIn report, improving employee retention is one of the top focus areas of L&D in 2023. Lessonly aids in retention by providing practice exercises. This includes a multitude of formats like audio, chat, email, screen capturing, ticketing, webcam records and written samples.

Reporting

For administrators looking for data to improve practices, the program provides visual reports that cover metrics such as engagement, testing performance and other data. It’s sortable for different units, learning paths or user groups.

Results can even get as granular as looking at data for specific courses or groups. By offering visual ways to organize and explain data, it can help make evaluating the success or weaknesses of the course material much easier. Ultimately, this helps ensure no outstanding skill gaps impede productivity.

Other Features

• Drag-and-Drop: With a few clicks, administrators can easily add documents, images, SCORM standardized content, quiz questions and more into lessons.
• Integration: The system integrates with various partners including Google Chrome, OpenAPI, Salesforce, Zendesk and others.
• Learning Paths: Managers create intuitive, specialized lessons on a linear path to encourage individual instruction in areas that need improvement.
• Mobility: Users can access the app anywhere.
• Strategic Planning: Through the program, administrators can tailor training to specific roles, evaluate skill gaps, host workshops online and make the curriculum perfect.
• Webhook: It pulls reports from the database and sends them to key stakeholders.

Pricing

Get a free, custom price quote.

Limitations

• Customization options are limited.
• Some users reported formatting issues.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Custom Web Pages — Not supported
• Workflow Automation — Not supported
• Calendar Integration — Supported with partner integrations

Compare Pricing for LMS Software Leaders

Litmos

SAP Litmos helps with training and web-based courses. It helps with compliance, departmental training, sales and other instruction. Through its course management, HR can create, share, collaborate on, schedule and deliver courses. It’s useful in industries such as airlines, automotive, education, energy, finance, franchises, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, non-profits, retail, tech, telecommunications and more.

Manage all types of reports from a single dashboard. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Ecommerce — 100
• Mobile Capabilities — 100
• Platform Capabilities — 100
• Reporting and Analytics — 100
• Content and Course Management — 95

Top Benefits

• Increase Engagement: Gamification elements like leaderboards and badges motivate employees to engage with the course content by making learning more interactive and rewarding.
• Offer Continuous Training: Users can access eLearning content on their mobile devices so they can continue learning when offline.
• Improve Adoption: Learners can access off-the-shelf courses on key topics including compliance, HR, sales and finance to expand their knowledge and learn new skills on the go.

Primary Features

Accessibility

Its responsive design and ability to work on all web browsers make it easy to access from everywhere. Its features accommodate learners with disabilities, and it has over 33 languages programmed into the platform.

Automation and AI

By sending out alerts automatically, it helps users stay up to date with their necessary training. It can automatically place people in courses, learning paths and on teams that aid them in their job role. Administrators can schedule reports to be auto-sent at certain intervals. Last, the program can analyze and score video self-assessments.

Content Creation and Distribution

With embedded content creation tools and multiple formats, it streamlines accessible content creation. It allows administrators to create content with YouTube videos that fit easily into the plan.

For organizations looking to purchase course materials, it has video-based courses reviewed by subject matter experts. Instructors can purchase training programs in compliance, conflict management, customer service, diversity and inclusion, HR, leadership, personal development, social skills and more. This may come supplemented with infographics, readouts, workbooks and other materials. Users can also get Bloomberg courses from the Litmos Heroes Library.

Engagement and Gamification

Encourage friendly competition with achievements, badges, points, leaderboards and other gamified elements. Workers engage more deeply and retain better when there’s a great incentive to do so. It has other elements like achievements, discussion boards and social sharing.

Tracking and Reporting

Analyze the progress of learners, teams or companies with the analytics tools. Users can gain insight through custom reporting, dashboards and tracking for content popularity, course completion and testing results. All of this paints a picture of the best way to influence and engage staff.

Other Features

• Ecommerce: It provides eCommerce functionality with pre-packaged operations, including an online storefront through integration with Shopify.
• Instructor-Led Training: Besides hosting ITL, it also allows for course assessments, insights into student progress and feedback.
• Security: It has encrypted data stored behind a firewall and transferred over HTTPS. It’s fully compliant with GDPR standards and gets keyed with a private certification.

Pricing

SAP Litmos has three different plans:

• Foundation Suite: Designed for small companies with under 100 learners. Includes a starter content package of 140 courses and Core implementation support.
• Premier Suite: Designed for mid-market and high-growth companies who need a scalable solution for a global learner base. Includes content authoring tools, a content library of 2000 soft-skills and compliance courses and premier implementation support.
• Platinum Suite: Designed for global enterprise companies or companies that want the platinum suite’s deep learner engagement tools and analytics. Includes platinum implementation support service and 2000 course library for soft skills and general compliance.

Get a free, custom price quote.

Limitations

• It lacks extensive reporting and customization capabilities.
• Customer support is unresponsive.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• LTI Compliance — Not supported
• Content Partnership — Not supported
• Screen Sharing — Supported with partner integrations

Compare Pricing for LMS Software Leaders

SkyPrep

SkyPrep is a solution where administrators can tackle content and course creation, administration, publishing and selling. It creates materials, manages learners and provides analytics and reporting for training. The platform serves many industries including automotive, biotech, customer service, education, health care, finance, franchises, hospitality, manufacturing, medical, software, product development and many more.

Gamification features help drive employee engagement and innovation. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Collaboration — 100
• Ecommerce — 100
• Reporting and Dashboard— 100
• User Management and Gamification — 100
• Content and Course Management — 93

Top Benefits

• Improve Branding: You can use custom branding tools like logos, icons, templates, domain names and color schemes to improve the look and feel of your platform.
• Keep Data Secure: The solution provides many security features like SSL-certified infrastructure, HTTPS protocol, login verification, encrypting data at rest and PCI-DSS compliance to protect company data from security breaches and viruses.
• Ensure Compliance: Meet regulatory compliance requirements and keep your operations running smoothly using compliance training features for various industries like healthcare, manufacturing, finance and software.

Primary Features

Course and Content Management

You can upload embedded links, HTML, Microsoft Office Suite documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, tests, SCORM files, videos and other multimedia presentations to the system. These files are reusable and create specific learning paths when linked. Instructors can also create assessments, exams and surveys with automated grading.

Integration

It integrates with a wide range of eCommerce systems, Google apps, social sites and webinars with its open API. The programs include BigBlueButton, iCalendar, Facebook, G Suite, LinkedIn, OpenSesame, PayPal, Stripe, Windows Live and more.

Reporting and Analytics

Through SkyPrep’s analytics, make visual charts and print off spreadsheets for audits and other compliance purposes. Some of its other functions are automatic grading, certificate awards, multi-level reporting, profiles for user performance and more.

Security

It has SSL-certified cloud-based infrastructure in part because it uses Amazon AWS servers. Information is stored and backed up consistently. Its servers are in Canada, Germany and the United States where they save data for up to 90 days.

User Management

It saves time by allowing for automated processes such as creating certifications, report generation and sending emails. Control permissions, upload users by CSV, group learners, make reminders for deadlines, send email notifications automatically and set up recurring training.

Other Features

• Customization: Use branded colors and logos, personalize automatic emails, use custom domains or white-label to achieve the desired branded effect.
• Ecommerce:: Integrations with PayPal, Shopify and Stripe allow users to sell and purchase content online.
• Multiple Languages: The system is available in nine different languages including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
• Partners: Its integration with OpenSesame makes premade materials available from a variety of publishers in topics from health and safety to soft skills development.

Pricing

The solution offers three plans with different feature sets:

• Lite: Includes 100+ active users, custom branding, SCORM packages and email support.
• Professional: Includes advanced reporting, API and SSO, gamification and workflow automation.
• Enterprise: Includes multiple platforms, migration services, multi-year discounts and custom SMTP.

Get a free, custom price quote.

Limitations

• There’s a 200 MB limit on PPT uploads.
• The API doesn’t connect properly with external programs.
• Reporting capabilities are limited.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Course Ratings — Not supported
• Breakout Rooms — Supported with partner integrations
• Anti-Plagiarism Software Integration — Not supported

Compare Pricing for LMS Software Leaders

TalentLMS

This cloud-based learning platform helps train customers, channel members, partners and other stakeholders. It serves industries such as aviation, call centers, food and beverages, franchises, hospitality, IT manufacturing, non-profit organizations, retail, supply chains and telecommunications. Some software features include course authoring, video conferencing, learner progress tracking, eCommerce and third-party integrations.

Build a training homepage using your own content and visuals. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Collaboration — 100
• Content and Course Management — 100
• Ecommerce — 100
• Reporting and Dashboard — 100
• Platform Capabilities — 96

Top Benefits

• Personalize Content: The solution provides multiple themes, templates, fonts and other creative customizations that give a branded feel to the system interface.
• Improve Data Security: You can configure user types to determine access levels to organizational data, set permissions based on job roles and segment accessible or restricted areas.
• Save Time: Single sign-on capabilities with support for LDAP, Active Directory, and SAML2 help users connect more quickly. Identity management systems, like OneLogin and Okta, facilitate quick content creation with an intuitive UI.

Primary Features

Blended Learning

Instructors can run programs in-person, online or a combination of both. It automatically notifies both teachers and students where the class takes place that day. The program also tracks the sessions led by instructors alongside all registered learners all at once.

Branding and Branching

Besides the portal for students, create a public website for everyone to reach while still retaining pages that are only available to current users. For further segmentation, it builds multiple branches that are installed separately with distinct user groups, classes and themes.

Course Management

Instructors can reuse content from the library or find materials from other sources. Its other abilities are assignment creation, file repository, learning paths, surveys and more. It has a SCORM module that delivers courses and provides reporting on learner progress. There’s an API so instructors can track online and offline learning activities and connect with a learning record system.

Other Features

• Accessibility: It follows WCAG-2 accessibility requirements.
• Certification: Designs certifications within a predefined period and identifies scenarios for recertification.
• Ecommerce:: Sell courses through integrations with PayPal or Stripe. It also offers coupons, discounts and allows payment for a subscription model.
• Gamification: It seeks to engage through badges, points, leaderboards, levels, rewards and customized elements through the gamification engine.
• Infrastructure: It uses its servers and Amazon’s CDN to deliver files.
• Integration: The system integrates with apps for APIs, eCommerce, eLearning, videoconferencing and web.
• Mobile: It has apps for Android and iOS and devices.
• Multiple Languages: It supports Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish.
• Reporting: Create and schedule reports for weekly intervals and see an infographic that summarizes the training progress.
• Security: It ensures security with a secure communication channel, strong passwords and watermarks on videos.

Pricing

It has the following pricing plans:

Free Plan:

• No cost
• Supports under five users or 10 courses
• Unlimited email support

Starter Pack:

• $69/month
• Supports up to 40 users
• Unlimited courses

Basic

• $149/month
• Supports up to 100 users
• Unlimited courses

Plus

• $149/month
• Supports up to 500 users
• Unlimited courses

Premium

• $459/month
• Supports up to 1000 users
• Unlimited courses

Enterprise

• Quote-based pricing
• Flexible user limits
• Unlimited courses

Limitations

• The customization functionality is difficult to use.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• LTI Compliance — Not supported
• Breakout Rooms — Supported with partner integrations
• Push Notification — Not supported

Compare Pricing for LMS Software Leaders

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS is an enterprise-level learning and training solution that helps organizations streamline their eLearning delivery processes. Its mobile app, Absorb Learning, delivers digital training content in multiple formats, including SCORM, xAPI, PDF, MP4 and Microsoft Office files. It also offers third-party integrations with apps like Salesforce, ADP and Zoom, and connects with any system via API.

Create separate collaborations for each activity. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Content and Course Management — 100
• Mobile Capabilities — 100
• Reporting and Dashboard — 97
• Platform Capabilities — 93
• User Management and Gamification — 91

Top Benefits

• Train Continuously: Employees can download all training materials, like courses, documents, videos and presentations, for offline use to enjoy an uninterrupted learning experience.
• Improve Engagement: You can optimize all the training content for various devices like iPads and smartphones to provide a user-friendly interface to learners.
• Provide Centralized Access: The solution’s single sign-on capabilities allow users to access all training content and systems by simply logging in to their universal user account.

Primary Features

Customization

It allows you to customize the user experience by department, customer type, geographic location and more. Administrators can create separate learning experiences for company or public-facing information by showcasing FAQs, articles and specialized courses.

Integrations

The solution has pre-built turnkey integrations and a RESTful API for use with CRMs, HRISs, time management apps and other tech. Some of its integrations include BambooHR, Ellucian, G Suite, LinkedIn Learning, Namely and Salesforce.

Machine Learning

The platform offers a machine learning-enhanced search option that provides learners with targeted content and gives better results through algorithms. Administrators also get insights into what their employees are searching, the results they found and the results they used.

Compliance

Compliance is the most common form of training provided to employees and helps build a positive work culture.The platform complies with GDPR, SOC 2 Type 2, WCAG 2.0 AA, PCI and provides third-party security audits, nightly scans and more. This ensures that data is secure and meets accessibility standards.

Content Libraries

Organizations can choose from several different libraries to download courses and content for their learners. This includes classes on compliance, IT, sales, leadership and other subjects. It integrates with platforms like BizLibrary, LinkedIn Learning, Skill Pill, Skillsoft and Whil.

Other Features

• White-Labeling: Use custom branding elements like logos, fonts, colors, themes and more to personalize the mobile learning experience.
• Collaboration: Allow learners to collaborate using channels like two-way messaging, group chats, discussion, file-sharing and private chats.
• Course Tracking: Enable employees to track assigned courses and resume in-progress ones on their smartphones.
• Web Conferencing: Video conferencing is available through a Zoom integration.

Pricing

Get a free, custom price quote.

Limitations

• Ecommerce capabilities aren’t flexible.
• Reporting tools aren’t advanced.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Anti-Plagiarism Software Integration — Supported with partner integrations
• Skills Catalog — Not supported
• Audit Trail — Not supported

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

How We Choose Products

Our team of writers and analysts at SelectHub is committed to giving you the best recommendations based on our data. To make our list, products had to meet two criteria:

1. Closely match the topic
2. Earn a top-5 analyst score in our selection platform

Our analyst scores are based on an in-depth research process using primary and secondary sources. This includes SelectHub Analyst Briefings, direct communication with vendors, and reviewing materials such as user reviews, product brochures, specification sheets, case studies, user manuals, and technical documentation.

Our platform’s Scoring Engine processes the research and computes the analyst score. The score also factors in platform settings such as industry and company size.

Learn more about our research methodology and editorial standards

What Is a Learning Content Management System (LCMS)?

Let’s break down the definition of an LCMS. A learning content management system combines knowledge and course management with a framework for creating, storing and editing. This robust system makes it easier for companies to thread ongoing training into the fabric of everyday business.

Overall, it ensures that continuous improvement doesn’t fall off the map and keeps track of employees and students, increases productivity or outcomes and develops important resources. An LCMS can aggregate content into component parts in a single system: a Lego-style system of knowledge blocks.

People sometimes use the terms LMS and LCMS indiscriminately. Talk about confusing! That’s why we’re going to break down the differences between a CMS, LMS and LCMS.

CMS vs. LMS vs. LCMS

Broadly speaking, an LCMS combines a CMS, LMS and authoring tools. Untangling these systems is difficult because the terms are so similar. Here’s a basic understanding of these concepts and what they mean for the platform.

CMS

A content management system is a library that stores training manuals, company policy, documents, educational tools and other company assets. It doesn’t include the learning functionality of the other systems. Instead, it organizes important materials in a centralized location for easy access. Most importantly, a CMS rarely hosts AICC, emi5, SCORM or xAPI-compliant standards.

LMS

An LMS manages and delivers learning for an entire organization. It automates and provides administration for lessons, quizzes and other learning events. In terms of content, it stores, delivers and tracks training activity. Some self-proclaimed LMS come with a content authoring system that allows them to create materials, but that’s not true for all of them. Ultimately, the system enables a manager to upload training, assign it to employees, track participation and analyze training activity and results.

LCMS

Learning content management systems create, manage, track, distribute, analyze and store information and courses. This can include presenting multimedia like images, presentations, text, video and more. It’s customizable to provide each employee with the job-specific training they require. The essential difference between an LMS and an LCMS is the audience they’re targeting – an LMS targets learners, while an LCMS targets designers and creators.

An LCMS allows you to create and distribute all types of courses. Source

Digital learning has gained ground in corporate environments, and the emphasis has shifted from formal courses to videos. The features could be microlearning experiences and mobile apps, all requiring intelligent and adaptive learning platforms. An LCMS contains more interactive elements such as VR or geocaching.

Putting It All Together

Sometimes the best functionality comes from using an LMS and LCMS in tandem. An LCMS creates learner profiles shareable with other systems like HR software and ERP software. An LMS can track learning from multiple sources-classrooms, virtual classrooms and conferences.

Also, only LMS can facilitate user registration, pre-screening, the cancellation of courses and programs as well as plan and schedule events. Overall, it provides skills/knowledge testing, pointing to gaps that training can remedy.

Once users complete these preliminary steps, the LMS and LCMS collaborate. LCMS can pre-select content based on the profile and optimum learning modalities. It offers a means to navigate relevant sources. In doing so, it can empower the user to build a self-service training program to use on their mobile devices, tablets and smartphones.

By using keywords and text, learners can select specific areas of interest to their role and get access to expert content selected for them. This flexibility can only maximize the benefits of the learning process.

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

LCMS and LMS: How Are They Different?

An LMS and LCMS software is widely used in tandem to create, track and deliver eLearning content. While they share many similarities, there are some key differences between the two.

• An LCMS enables you to create eLearning content, whereas an LMS covers many other branches of the learning journey like content delivery, learner progress tracking and profile management, certifications, course registration, gamification and social learning.
• An LCMS is primarily used by instructional designers, content developers and subject matter experts to create and store eLearning content, while an LMSs user base extends to employees, students and instructors.
• An LMS, unless it comes with an inbuilt authoring tool, requires you to upload content to the platform from a third-party source or personal computer. An LCMS is itself a centralized platform to create, manage and store learning content. It provides tools for content authoring, collaboration, version control, content reuse and localization.

Primary Benefits

Bringing an LCMS into the corporate world brings it a wide range of benefits. These platforms provide comprehensive experiences to address issues that could otherwise restrict development.

The basic components of an LCMS provide the tools for authoring, sequencing, aggregation and structure for the process. It facilitates the aggregation of all of an organization’s files into a single system and delivers events to elevate the entire staff.

Here are some of the benefits of an LCMS:

• Save Time and Money: Automation tools, drag-and-drop capabilities, online content libraries, global search options and more save you time and costs associated with creating, storing and tracking learning documents manually.
• Centralize Management: You don’t have to maintain training content on multiple platforms or devices, as LCMSs provide a centralized content repository to store all types of eLearning material in one place.
• Increase Productivity: Since LCMS platforms are remotely accessible, users can interact with training materials anywhere and anytime, without pausing their learning process.
• Personalize Learning: You can create courses and assessments tailored to your learners’ unique interests, goals and skill sets.
• Reuse Content: An LCMS allows you to repurpose content into different formats based on changing requirements instead of having to create new content from scratch. You can also update learning materials in line with industry standards, compliance requirements and other necessary updates.

A closer look at these benefits clarifies how an LCMS opens the door to changes that make the experience much more employee-centric and meaningful to the employee’s professional development journey.

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

Key Features

Now that we’ve seen the best that LCMS offers, here’s a list of elements to keep in mind during initial research. If you’re interested in a checklist for all LMS features, check out our requirements article.

The key features of an LCMS include:

• Assessments: Look for the best question structures such as multiple-choice, essay, fill in the blank or more, and make sure it’s flexible enough to engage learners.
• Branding and Customization: Get the customization options to make interacting with the LMS feel like a seamless experience for employees. Make sure it can adapt to unique workflows or training challenges as needed.
• Collaboration: It has discussion boards, chat, email and push notifications and other tools to make sure everyone stays on the same page.
• Content Creation and Authoring Tools: Find a system that has the creation tools for something as detailed as VR, SCORM compliance or PowerPoint conversion or something as simple as uploading PDFs.
• Content Library: Ensure there’s one centralized location for all important files, documents, policy handouts, assignments and other assets to cut down on time spent looking for essential files.
• Course Management: Make sure it can schedule, assign and duplicate courses as needed. Consider special needs like unique domain names to ensure learners are getting the best.
• Gamification: Use game mechanics to better engage users such as badges, point systems, leaderboards or more.
• Integration: Consider any databases, HRIS tools, BI or other legacy systems that need to interact with an LCMS.
• Intelligent Automation: The system facilitates the creation of intelligent templates that auto-populate with relevant resources. The authoring application has templates and storyboarding capabilities, and it can convert existing materials.
• Multinational Adaptation: For large companies, LCMS offers specific advantages in foreign markets across the globe, especially for multiple brand corporations. LCMS can provide not only centralized updates and distribution worldwide, but also permits translation.
• Reporting: Whether this means generating custom reports, sending PDFs to stakeholders, importing or exporting CSV files, examining at-risk learners or studying skills gaps, analytics is key to utilizing training to the full degree.
• Responsive Design: Ensure an LCMS has a design that works between different devices and operating systems. This may include Android, iOS, tablets and mobile functionality.
• Reusability: It develops learning materials separately for different target audiences. Consider elements that develop information that’s adaptable or reused throughout the organization. It’s personalized for target audiences, which reduces the time and cost.
• Workflows: Ensure that information is easy to access so it falls into the day’s rhythm without cursing problems. By providing microlearning that’s easy to access, look up the training materials when they need a refresher without compromising productivity.

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

LCMS Integrations

By integrating an LCMS with various systems, organizations can optimize their learning and training processes, improve efficiency and provide a continuous learning experience to their employees.

Here are some common types of LCMS integrations:

1. LMS: Integrating with an LMS allows you to share course content, learner data and progress-tracking information between the two systems. You can create content on the LCMS and deliver it through the LMS. You can track each learner’s progress across courses and record their test scores on the LCMS, and use the LMS to generate insightful reports based on such data.

2. Authoring Software: Connecting your LCMS with specialized content authoring software helps you develop and update learning materials within the LCMS using advanced tools and features. It simplifies the content creation process and allows you to easily import/export content between the two systems.

3. Virtual Classroom and Web Conferencing: It allows you to deliver live online training sessions and enables learners to join classes and access session recordings directly from the LCMS.

4. HR: You can sync learner data, such as assessment scores, course progress, job roles, skill sets and other employee-specific details with your HR system to create personalized learning experiences based on individual attributes and preferences.

5. Analytics and Reporting: It provides valuable insights into critical business KPIs like learner engagement, individual progress and course effectiveness to help measure the impact of your eLearning content and make data-driven decisions.

Finding the Right LCMS: What Should You Look For?

There’s no dearth of LCMS solutions on the market, but there are some essential features that distinguish an effective solution from a generic one.

Before you make a purchase, make sure the solution has:

• Authoring tools to help you create multimedia content such as images, videos, PDFs and PPTs. Content reuse, update and localization capabilities.
• Support for multiple operating systems like Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Data analytics and reporting to get real-time insights into course effectiveness and performance and learner interactions with eLearning content.
• Compliance with industry eLearning standards like SCORM, xAPU and AICC to ensure your learning is compatible with other LMS platforms.
• Personalization tools like learning paths to create content based on multiple job roles and skill sets, formats, languages and other learner-centric specifications.
• A user-friendly interface with easy navigation and search capabilities and interactive functionality.
• Support via email, phone and/or live chat, and training documentation like video tutorials, user guides and workbooks.
• A mobile app to help users access course content from anywhere and at any time.

Compare Top LMS Software Leaders

Final Thoughts

Continuous learning is a must in our current market. Businesses must engage their employees, respond to shifting market forces, teach people about new products and meet new compliance requirements. Companies are diving into learning management systems to make sure they optimize company training. Users can enhance it either further with the course authoring tools for learning content management systems.

When starting your search, check out LCMS like Lessonly, SAP Litmos, SkyPrep, TalentLMS or Xyleme for creating killer content, keeping employees engaged and leveraging training for a healthy bottom line. With eLearning becoming more integral to business success, putting aside resources for training isn’t just a good idea. The real question is, can you afford to pass it up?

If you’re ready to explore your options, check out our free software comparison report for insights into leading LMS solutions and their capabilities.

Has your company used an LMS or LCMS? What systems did you like or dislike? Tell us in the comments below!