Thursday, March 12, 2009

Learning management industry


In the relatively new LMS market, commercial vendors for corporate and education applications range from new entrants to those that entered the market in the nineties. In addition to commercial packages, many open source solutions are available.
In 2005, LMSs represented a fragmented $500 million market. The six largest LMS product companies constitute approximately 43% of the market. In addition to the remaining smaller LMS product vendors, training outsourcing firms, enterprise resource planning vendors, and consulting firms all compete for part of the learning management market.
LMS buyers generally report poor satisfaction based on survey results from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)and the eLearningGuild. The ASTD respondents were very unsatisfied with an LMS purchase doubled and those that were very satisfied decreased by 25%. The number that were very satisfied or satisfied edged over 50%. (About 30% were somewhat satisfied.) Nearly one quarter of respondents intended to purchase a new LMS or outsource their LMS functionality over the next 12 months. eLearningGuild respondents report significant barriers including cost, IT support, integration, and customization. They also report significant effort to implement with a median of 23 months being reported from requirements gathering to implementation for corporations with more than 2,000 employees.
Channel learning, is under-served. For many buyers channel learning is not their number one priority, according to a survey by Trainingindustry.com Often there is a disconnect when the HR department oversees training and development initiatives, where the focus is consolidating LMS systems inside traditional corporate boundaries. Software technology companies are at the front end of this curve, placing higher priority on channel training.
Most buyers of LMSs utilize an authoring tool to create their elearning content, which is then hosted on an LMS. Buyers, however, must choose an authoring software that seamlessly integrates with their LMS in order for their content to be hosted. There are authoring tools on the market, such as Lectora and ToolBook, which meet AICC and SCORM standards and therefore content created in tools such as these can be hosted on an AICC or SCORM certified LMS.

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