By Barry Larson

Earlier this month, the Chicago Chapter of ASTD’s (CCASTD) Corporate University Professional Development Network (PDN) hosted a discussion on the topic of Learning Management Systems (LMS). The event was held at DeVry University. CARA’s Strategic Account Executive, Sue Deisinger, moderated the discussion.

The evening took a deep dive into the history and evolution of LMSs and addressed a multitude of questions on the future of the LMS – Is the LMS a thing of the past, or are Learning Management Systems about to mutate into a whole new creature? What’s going on in our organizations today and how are these systems being used? What about Talent Management Systems? Learning Content Management Systems? What’s with the Cloud?

Two local LMS experts, Danny Ortegon and Doty Sinclair, tackled these questions and more as they shared their observations on trends emerging in the LMS field.

Addressing small, mid-range and enterprise market levels, Danny and Doty traded insights from their own experience, as well as research from recognized industry experts like Elliott Masie and Bersin and Associates.

What I learned from their exchange, and a lively discussion across the participants, included who the major players are, trends, and resources. Let’s break it down.

Key Vendors Today

Trends

Industry Consolidation
There is a lot of merging in the industry. Here is a snapshot of the progression. A proliferation of LMS’s hit the market initially, followed by several niche companies focused on specific industries. Then, smaller LMS companies were acquired by larger LMS companies. Under pressure to maximize their market share resulted in large vendors trying to offer “small company solutions” and some may pursue overseas markets to expand potential client base.

Larger, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system integrators, like SAP and Oracle, are buying companies to integrate entire suites into their offerings. They are pursuing more tightly integrated offerings into the HR solutions of Talent Management, Performance Management, etc. This may cause challenges in determining overall learning goals, ownership, configuration, technical support, etc.

There is a migration going on from separate elements of Talent Management to integrated offerings, including social media, SaaS/Cloud-based offerings and the move to .net technology which offers a cleaner, simpler user experience such as the use of hover overs vs. clicking a series of links. Workday is a new cloud-based ERP from the founder of PeopleSoft.

Clients will be affected by the ongoing changes in LMS ownership which may impact the quality of customer service, as well as requirements for future tools and features.

Mobile Learning and Social Media
Mobile Learning impacts the need for more flexible LMS features like configurability and implementation. How the LMS might integrate or collaborate with mobile is still too early to tell for a clear cut solution.

Social Media, Mobile and informal online learning is likely to affect how LMS solutions are configured, marketed, and sold. These informal solutions are likely to change the amount of learning that will be LMS based versus what will be more socially or informally driven, i.e. provided as “performance support” or a “Personal Learning Environment” in the future.

The pace at which these options are growing provides a challenge for efficient configuration options and ongoing implementation.

Education Market Influence
Some top flight universities (Stanford, MIT, and Yale) are pushing curricula and content delivery services online. This raises overall awareness of online learning and impacts organizational leaders’ expectations that online learning solutions need to be easier to use.

Some startups are providing unique services such as an “App Store” for customers to upload, browse, buy and sell their e-learning content. Examples include Open Sesame, iTunes University, or the recent iBooks textbook authoring. While this provides additional paths for clients to acquire content online, it can also provide more challenges in evaluating the success of learning using new technologies.

With the quality of these predictions, we didn’t really need a crystal ball or fortune teller. However, a good list of resources is provided below for any future reference.

Resources

We’re always interested in other opinions and perceptions. Are there any trends we missed? We welcome your comments and questions.

By Jeff Warner, Recruiting Manager

Everyone can use a little inspiration. On February 23rd, my colleague, CARA Account Executive, Tim Devine, and I participated in the 2012 Learning Summit hosted by ASTD’s South Central Wisconsin Chapter (ASTD-SCWC). It was held at the Alliant Center in Madison, WI and CARA was a proud sponsor of this event. The theme of the Summit was “Learn Inspired, Live Inspired” featuring keynote speaker Lance Secretan, Ph.D., author of The Spark, the Flame and the Torch: Inspire Self. Inspire Others.

As the former CEO of a Fortune 100 company, university professor, award-winning columnist and author, Dr. Secretan is one of North America’s most sought-after speakers on leadership. In his book and in his speech, he addressed many provocative topics, from mission, vision and value statements, to leadership and brand management theory, motivation techniques, psychometric profiling, performance management systems and coaching. Lance Secretan’s goal in life is to inspire new ways of thinking on these topics in order to transform organization to a higher level of performance. He cited examples of how alternative ideas have been implemented successfully in some great organizations, and then went on to realistically explain how everyone can be an inspiring leader, create inspiring organizations and ultimately change the world for the better.

Six excellent breakout sessions dovetailed off the keynote address. Three tracks consisted of content designed around inspiring one’s self, others, or organizations through Learning. Each of the presenters did a great job of identifying common sense, down to earth strategies for inspiring yourself, as well as your co-workers. It was apparent that each speaker put a lot of time and preparation into their respective break-out sessions, incorporating the overall theme of the Learning Summit:

Inspire Self

• Deb Denure, Quickly Engaging Learners’ Brains for Lasting Results
• Lori Gibson, Resilience and Renewal: Being Your Best So You Can Give Your Best

Inspire Others

• Sarah Gibson, Live, Love, Give
• Amy Climer, Make it Experiential: Workshop Design and Facilitation Tools for Amazing Trainings

Inspire Organizations

• Rebecca Doepke, From Hired to Inspired…Is Everyone Onboard?
• Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., Becoming a High Performance Organization

The ASTD-SCWC staff effectively facilitated the break-outs as well as in-between sessions, demonstrating some of the inspired leadership characteristic suggested throughout the day. And with 250 participants in attendance, Tim and I found a lot of inspiration in networking with some of the top Training and Performance Leaders and Professionals in Madison.