Finding the Right LMS as a Heavy Equipment Manufacturer

Whether you’re just getting into the LMS (learning management system) market or you’re an experienced learning and development professional, the decision to acquire new systems to support your Human Capital Management (HCM) training needs is significant. This decision will take time to complete, and you’ll be dealing with it for three to five years after the decision is made.

Regardless of your organization type, there is a similar process to find the right LMS for your company. This process typically follows a standard arc:

1. Align your business stakeholders
2. Identify the requirements of your system
3. Identify possible vendors
4. Narrow your selection of vendors
5. Request a formal proposal from your selected vendors
6. Make your final vendor selection and finalize your agreements

While this arc is very common, so are the pitfalls for organizations that are identifying systems to support external training HCM needs. 

Heavy equipment manufacturers and other extended enterprises have unique training needs and delivery challenges. Unique training needs can include the following: 

• Products that are always evolving
• Sales training that needs to be presented in advance of new products and updated annually (if not more frequently)
• Service skills training, which is heavily reliant on hands-on ITL, needs to be refreshed regularly, and parts and support services have to stay in sync as well.  

Delivery challenges can include the following:  

• The need to support complex business and partner structures to ensure training is delivered in an optimal way to your partners
• To ensure your training resources are utilized in the most efficient manner.

In addition to the training and delivery challenges, your program needs to support your partners who are dealing with the growing global skill gap. Making sure the technicians entering your network have the basic skills and understanding will ensure that your partners will have the raw talent and capability to service and sell your products effectively.

The acquisition arc often misses or ignores these complexities, and as a result, the selected LMS platform falls short of expectations, creating a need for more workarounds and delivery frustrations in the process.

Limitations of Corporate-Focused LMS

The LMS space has hundreds of vendors, most of which are focused on the simple delivery of training – get in and get out as easily as possible. The large LMS platforms have amazing capabilities but are truly focused on corporate training models. From an initial delivery perspective, they might be able to support your training program. However, in the long term, they struggle to provide the functionality to support the growth and evolution of your extended enterprise training program. 

With respect to the checklists that are assembled during the vendor selection process, when you are simply focusing on the features and functions of an LMS platform, these systems meet the requirements. However, their HR orientation creates challenges for extended enterprise training programs. They may claim flexibility in delivering training materials and the ability to differentiate among your brands, but it isn’t their primary focus. These platforms are built with soft skills and check-box training at their core. 

The dynamic and ever-changing nature of training and skills-based certification creates challenges for these systems.  At their core, they are focused on the completion of a course, the attainment of a skill, or even the certification of an individual. But that training is only focused on that point in time, with limited or no consideration of how those items change and evolve. In the extended enterprise, this evolution is critical. As new technologies and products are introduced, older ones begin to sunset. What it means to be “certified” is complex and needs to support all learners along their training journey.

Corporate LMS platforms are not built with skills-based training at heart and do not meet the dynamic nature of the certifications and training that are a necessity across your network. 

The Right Functionality in the Right LMS

With skills-based training as your focus, you want to find the right LMS to help you measure the outcome and impact of your training. Delivering the training is only the first step.  Once your learners have acquired the appropriate knowledge, what metrics are you using to gauge their competency?

Your LMS should be able to help you compare training with measurables, such as KPIs (key performance indicators), to determine the overall impact of your training on the business goals of your organization. These metrics will also help demonstrate which pieces of training are effective and which ones aren’t. 

OEMs of all types usually offer an array of products. Not all of your resellers will need training on every piece of equipment, as they may only offer a few. Some service centers will specialize in just one or a few types of equipment based on geographical location and seasonality. 

How can you ensure each location is getting the training they need? You won’t want to deliver all of your training to all of your network. This will waste your partners’ time, and they will lose interest in your products, causing them to find a different manufacturer with a more streamlined training program. 

Your LMS should be able to support the differentiation of your network’s needs. Your dealerships will need information on sales and service, while your resellers will just need information on sales, and your service centers will just need information on service. And they will vary based on the brands and products they represent.

Targeted delivery of training material that is relevant to the needs of your network members is crucial to the adoption and participation of your training program. Can a corporate LMS support this level of differentiation while also helping you measure performance metrics while also helping you keep tabs on technician accreditation? Probably not. 

Why LatitudeLearning LMS Is the Right Choice

When looking for the right LMS platform for the needs of your extended enterprise, you’ll want to choose the one with all of the functionality you need already built in. LatitudeLearning is built with the differentiation of your organization at its core with the ability to provide customized content and targeted delivery of your training materials. 

With advanced metrics and integration capabilities, LatitudeLearning makes it easy for you to track your KPIs in relation to your training program. These metrics allow you to make data-based decisions and adjustments in your training program to maximize its efficiency and return on investment. 

LatitudeLearning also has a partnership with BizLibrary, giving you the option to select from thousands of industry-specific pre-made training modules that have already been created. This option saves you the time of recreating training materials for your more basic training content and allows you to focus your efforts on the training that carries the impact of your business. 

At LatitudeLearning, we understand how critical it is to keep tabs on the skills of your network and the dynamic nature of accreditation as new technologies are introduced and integrated into your industry. Our LMS is built with these variations in mind, helping you navigate the changes while maintaining confidence in your training program and the accreditation of the technicians in your network.

Visit our website to learn more about the functionality of our LMS and how it can take your training program from a pain point to an integral tool in your organization’s success.

Download our Extended Enterprise Training Program Roadmap to learn more about the must-haves for your training program!