With the rapid expansion of the online training industry, it seems like there is a new LMS or content provider announced every day. Many seek to fill a perceived content gap in the market—offering only tech courses or focusing on the healthcare sector—but few seek to address additional customer pain points. A recent survey by Latitude learning discovered a lack of content options isn’t the only pain point for elearning buyers.
1. High Prices & Integration Issues
Price was a common barrier among the survey respondents. Many content providers will require you to purchase their LMS in order to gain access to their content. This can result in a high upfront costs before businesses has even had a chance to purchase content. If content providers did open up their content to other LMS’s, many respondents experienced integration issues when moving the courses onto their system.
Flexibility is the cornerstone of OpenSesame’s business. We strive to provide a service that adjusts to you, not the other way around. As a result, we offer multiple course delivery and purchasing options to better meet our customer’s needs and budgets. Our courses can be easily downloaded to work in any LMS or, for those without an LMS, can be taken through OpenSesame using our CourseCloud interface. Depending on the number of users, customers can take advantage of volume discounts, site licenses, or our pay-per-use program.
2. Difficulty Choosing Courses
Some survey respondents found the number of courses offered by content providers to be overwhelming. This feeling was only exacerbated by confusing site layouts.
If you’re just starting an online training initiative and not quite sure of what courses you need, it can be useful to have guide. This is precisely why OpenSesame offers our CourseConcierge service. Simply provide us with a list of the desired competencies and we’ll help match courses to your specific needs.
3. Lack of Compelling Content
Customers are looking for a broad selection when it comes to an elearning content provider. Training needs can change as a business grows or shifts, so having a wide variety of courses to select from in a number of categories is important.
OpenSesame is the world’s largest marketplace for buying online training courses with more than 22,000 courses from 362 providers. Our goal is to provide the broadest and freshest catalog available, with courses ranging from business skills and compliance, to safety, healthcare, technology, and software.
As veterans of the elearning industry, we’ve experienced similar frustrations and concerns when looking for content. We’ve built our business to address the concerns expressed in this survey and more, striving to provide relevant, and compelling courses, whatever your business need.
Katie Hurst is the Marketing Manager for OpenSesame, the world’s largest marketplace for buying and selling online training courses. Follow me on Google+ or LinkedIn.