The Costs Associated with Buying an LMS
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Where exactly is your money going, when you buy an LMS? We’re going to show you. With 15 years of experience in the LMS market, we know the amount of time, and resources that go into a successful LMS deployment. Join us with LMS Solutions Engineer, James Nicolson, to discover where exactly your money is going, as well as some tips and tricks for ensuring you successfully launch your LMS, maximize user adoption and avoid any hidden costs. You will learn: - The main costs associated with an LMS - Important questions to consider when organizing deployment activities - Workarounds to ensure hidden LMS costs are avoided - Action to take for maximized user adoption - Hidden costs you can avoid
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The Costs Associated with Buying an LMS
- 1. The Costs Associated with Buying an LMS Presenter: James Nicolson Moderator: Nimritta Parmar E M P O W E R T A L E N T
- 2. Nimritta Parmar LMS Marketing Specialist Your Hosts James Nicolson LMS Solutions Engineer
- 3. Totara & Moodle are 80% more cost effective Managed cloud hosting reduces your IT operating costs by more than 40% Over 12 years of experience and 600 customer implementations Lambda: Cloud Learning Management Experts
- 4. Your in Good Company
- 5. Today’s Topics • The costs associated with buying an LMS – Application – Hosting – Training – Support – Theming – Customisation – Extra Features
- 6. House Keeping 1. Audio 2. Poll Q’s 3. Q&A 4. Post-survey & Follow-up email
- 7. • What’s your Learning Management System (LMS) status? Never owned, first time buyer Have an LMS but exploring other options Have an LMS and happy with the solution Poll Question 1
- 8. Poll Question 2 • If you are looking for an LMS, what is your biggest challenge? Too many options, don’t know where to start My organization does not find value in training Budget constraints, need one that fits Defining the project requirements
- 9. Application http://elearningindustry.com/lms-scalability-what-you-need-to-know What LMS do you need..? Usually the main cost and of course the main concern about the LMS project as a whole. Functionality Flexibility Usability
- 10. Licensing http://www.trainanddevelop.ca/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-lms-for-your-business/ Three types of LMS Licensing: 1. Perpetual 2. Subscription 3. Open Source
- 11. Hosting Self or outsourced hosting Is independent of the application licensing. Self Hosted Full control Need IT team and resources Outsourced Hosting Hosted on optimized environment Not same level of control
- 12. Training How do I…..? Getting familiarized with the application is key to your ongoing success. Delivered through freely available resources or provided through a training course/academy. Tailored to your organizational needs or more general workflows. Training image
- 13. Support How can we help..? Support is an integral part to the overall LMS solution and your continuing experience of the application. Support can vary depending on the product and licensing/hosting package. Levels of Support (Tier 1, 2, 3) Contact Channels (Phone, Email, Ticketing System) Hours of support
- 14. Theming http://www.trainanddevelop.ca/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-lms-for-your-business/ Nice splash of paint How the application looks. Its important so you can maintain your brand across all of your applications. Is the default design the only options you have?
- 15. Customization Making the system your own • Important to ensure the application can fit appropriately with your organization. • Core code or plugins • . • May or may not be possible depending on the product • Costs can grow quickly
- 16. Extra Features http://www.trainanddevelop.ca/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-lms-for-your-business/ But wait there’s more…. Customisations or integrations available that provide additional functionality. Can be bundled or additional to the application or hosting solution.
- 17. Reporting & Analytics Source: Brandon Hall Group, 2014 What people like least about their LMS Top Reasons for Replacing LMS
- 18. Questions to Consider in Your Deployment What business or learning problem are you looking to solve with your deployment? Identify the core features you are looking for. How do you intend to get the content into the system? What information do you need to extract? What is the system being integrated with? How does it fit within your organizational structure. How quickly do you need the system to get up and running?
- 19. Poll Question 3 • Is an LMS reporting tool on your list of LMS requirements? Yes, most definitely To be honest, I’m not too sure yet No, not at this time
- 20. Questions? Ask Away James Nicolson LMS Solutions Engineer
- 21. • Resources will be sent out in our follow-up email • PowerPoint • Recording • Satisfaction Survey Next Steps
- 22. TOLL FREE +1.877.700.1118 EMAIL SALES@LAMBDASOLUTIONS.NET WWW LAMBDASOLUTIONS.NET
Editor's Notes
- Works closely with our customers to identify the best LMS technology to meet their requirements. Aids with integration and custom development planning to ensure projects are delivered successfully. Performs research and implementations to understand new features about Moodle & Totara LMS platforms.
- Why is Lambda talking today learning management system costs? Our background is in Cloud Learning Management and we are full service organization headquartered in Vancouver, BC. We specialize in open source learning management systems like Moodle and Totara Both Learning Management Systems are feature rich and most importantly – they are 80% more cost effective when you match leading competitors in the market today making them one of the fastest growing technologies in our space. And as experts in eLearning and implementing, our platform reduces IT operating costs by more than 40%. We have over 600 deployments under our belt, which has allowed us to find industry best practices and pass them onto you.
- Here are just a few of the companies that use our technology. Well-known organizations like Google, Safeway and Four Seasons use open source learning management systems like Totara LMS One company we work with that we would like to highlight is MedCerts, a distance learning institution that provides self-paced certification programs for careers in specialized Healthcare and IT fields. MedCerts uses Lambda’s hosting platform and services with the Totara Open Source Learning Management System, as well as Lambda’s reporting solution, Lambda Analytika. MedCerts was able to reduce the learning costs per student with Totara’s single platform, personalize learning plans for each learner, and save 23 hours per week creating reports. Before Lambda Analytika, it took them 25 hours a week to create and administer reports. With Analytika, it took only 2 hours per week.
- Moving on to todays topic, we are going to go over the costs associated with buying an LMS. These are: application, hosting, training, support, theming, customization, and extra features. We will go into detail on each of these associated costs in the presentation.
- Some house keeping: We will have some poll questions throughout the presentation, just so we can get some of your feedback, and keep this interactive. We will have a Q&A period after the presentation, so you can ask your questions throughout the presentation, and we will answer them during this allotted time. As well, once the webinar is over, there will be a survey for you to fill out – you can give us your feedback on the presentation. Lastly, this presentation is going to be recorded, we will be sending out an email after the webinar with the recording and the slides. So don’t worry about taking notes (unless you want to). Just sit back and enjoy the presentation!
- Let’s start with a quick Poll question one so we can get to know each other.
- I’ll pass this over to James, who will get into the presentation.
- This is usually the core focus of the LMS hunt. You are looking for all of the best features that meet your requirements now and in the future. Does the system have all the functionality that you need. This is typically the main cost area associated with a solution, especially if you are going for an out of the box solution. Some vendors have different tiers of the product unlocking different components at different price points. Many of the other features detailed later can be bundled into this point making the whole purchasing process easier. Once you have decided on the application its time to purchase and depending on the product the licensing or ownership of the application can be performed in a variety of ways.
- I think most people are common with the 1st licensing agreement type, especially for software. Perpetual – Possibly more the traditional approach. Upfront costs to purchase the application. Updates could be included with the major version that is purchased. A decoupled system. Doesn’t include hosting (usually) and is purely the software license. Hosting software from a providers perspective is a reoccurring cost and so perpetual licenses are typically Can be very expensive to begin with. Also other features, including support may or may not be included. Subscription has been around for a fairly long time but is definitely the growing trend with web based applications. Subscription models allow you access to the application while you are paying for it similar to a phone bill. These subscription tie in with the Software as a Service model that is very popular across internet applications at the moment. - SAAS or Cloud The most popular approach in an internet focused world. Costs are ongoing either monthly or annually and can be broken down per user. Can be used to provide just the software or more typically hosting is included. Support is typically included but not always. Salesforce, Office 365 Open Source – Free, free free. Community driven application. Access to the source code so you have a lot of flexibility to modify or develop for the system itself. As it is free you own the application. This is a key benefit as you are not tied to a particular vendor. Host internally or outsource to a 3rd party vendor for a more SAASified solution. Moodle & Totara are both Open Source applications. Totara bridges the subscription model with a subscription fee but you get the benefit of a still truly open source application. Open source apps can be hosted which leads into the next part of the presentation.
- Depending on the application and its licensing model certain hosting options are available. Definitely the traditional approach to this ties in the perpetual licensing model. Software is purchased, an activation key for the level of license that is required and it is then up to the customer to install this within their internal IT infrastructure. Most companies still operate some sort of internal IT system but the emergence of Salesforce, Google Apps, Amazon Web Services and all the other web applications has started to push this type of hosting more to the way side. Internal hosted system obviously provide the largest amount of control for the organization. This is a huge plus for many organisations, especially when talking about security as you can completely control your how your systems operate. The downside of this is obviously that you need to maintain and operate your systems. Hardware, datacentre storage & personnel costs can sometimes be difficult to justify for smaller organisations. Remember system administrators and LMS administrators are required to operate a system and may not be the same person. Replacing hardware can be expensive also redundancies and backups are entirely up to your team. Monthly costs may not be directly present although staff, hardware, datacentre all have their own costs. The other option which definitely has the most significant market growth is outsourced hosting. This has a few variations. You could simply operate your system on an outsourced hosting architecture via a partner. This allows you to maintain the application itself, as well as other systems. This releases you from hardware constraints but IT personnel constraints are still there. SAAS solutions are really geared up around subscription to the software which only exists as a cloud application. SAAS providers typically operate a system that is custom built for the application making sure it runs as effectively as possible. It is a SAAS providers responsibility to maintain these systems and ensure their uptime. They also typically have expertise specific to this platform meaning they have application specific support. The downside is obviously the level of control of the underlying systems. Moodle being a standalone application is not in itself a SAAS application. Lambda has taken this software and wrapped a layer of SAAS features such as optimized environment, redundancy, support to SAASify the LMS. We all full control within the application but manage the underlying architecture so you can focus on the LMS system itslef., reducing personnel and physical hardware costs.
- Setup and configuration package for more custom setup phase All application types would have some sort of training or knowledge resource available, even if it is a community forum. This is going to fully depend on the vendor and how they operate their services. Can come in wiki documents, videos or instructor lead sessions. Setup and configuration – tailored training and setup sessions.
- Are customizable options available? Is there a theme library available? Sometimes custom development may be required to get the styling you are looking for. Can this development be performed directly through the partner?
- What options are available out of the box? Getting as much functionality/integration out of the box saves major costs? What integrations would you need? What are you looking to achieve in particular? Who can perform these integrations, customisations? Plugins can be used to augment functionality. Open source applications give you the freedom to fully customise your application, but at what financial and functional costs?
- Content creation, reporting, plugins (integrations with other systems – shopping cart, CRM, content library, or just provide functionality that you absolutely need like tracking time spent learning accurately or performing single sign on.
- Take-away: find and LMS that meets your reporting and analytics requirements now, not in the near future One of the difficulties many training and learning managers are having today, is providing cold hard facts on the value their programs bring to an organization. A robust reporting and analytics tool will help you justify the cost-vs-benefit of the training or learning that takes place in your LMS We recommend that you request a demo of the reporting and analytic tool in the LMS solution and come with specific examples of the data you will want to see in your dashboards. In addition to the information you will want to report on. We have a past webinar that provides tips on selecting an LMS reporting tool that is right for
- How does the system fit in with your organization, what is its purpose what application and hosting features would be best to help you meet this requirement Do you need webinar? Is reporting really important now or in the future? Do you have the content already in another system? Would you work with a content creation partner? What does this system need to tie in with to be successful. What does that integration look like for a high level? Similarly what info should come out? Where is this information going? Into another system or to a person? What are your timelines? Is procuring new hardware for a one month deadline going to be feasible?
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