Article highlights
- Why do you need employee training software?
- What is employee training software?
- Five of the best employee training software solutions
- Choosing the best employee training software
Why you need employee training software
Employee training has become such an important part of an organization's success that people are able to build their careers (and even entire departments are built) around professional development.
And with good reason: Employees who receive training say they're more likely to remain at a company after the first year and are usually more engaged. These findings are confirmed by the LinkedIn Learning 2019 Workplace Learning Report, which reported that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.
However, according to Gallup's 2017 State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees say they're not engaged or they're actively disengaged at their job.
For other organizations like hospitals, employee training means maintaining professional standards and certifications, meeting accreditation requirements, and even saving lives and ensuring the highest level of patient care.
But not everyone feels that strongly about professional development.
A study by Middlesex University found that 74% of employees felt that they weren't achieving their full potential at work because they weren't getting any professional development.
And according to a 2018 study, the U.S. Bureau of Labor found that companies with fewer than 100 employees gave their managers only 12 minutes of training every six months.
But the larger companies are doing better than that, right?
Not really. The Bureau of Labor Organization found that companies with 100–500 employees provided just 6 minutes of training every six months.
But with employee training management software, companies can offer online training modules from a variety of content providers, or even have instructors create their own content. Employees can receive training at their convenience and learn new skills that help them perform their work better, all of which contribute to an organization's success and bottom line.
What is employee training software?
Employee training software is also known as a training management system (TMS), or a training resource management system (TRMS). It is software that helps you administer, deliver, document, track, and report on training materials for your employees.
It's similar to a learning management system (LMS), except an LMS is also often used in an educational setting for remote learning. For example, there's an LMS called Blackboard that is ideally suited for the college setting: Students can take tests and quizzes, turn in papers, have them checked for plagiarism, and finally have all their grades reported via the Blackboard system. While it's a robust LMS, it would not be ideally suited for a corporate training system.
At the same time, some people use the terms training software and learning software interchangeably. Others see a difference, with training software being totally employee-oriented, while learning software can also be used to educate customers and the general public, as well as be used in a classroom setting. And still other companies use the two terms interchangeably for the same product.
To find the best employee training management system for your organization, assess your organization's training needs. Create a list of non-negotiables, the features you absolutely need to make your training program work for your company.
Some of the non-negotiables our customers have told us about include:
- Cost-effective: Your training software should save money and have a quick ROI.
- Central storage: Cloud-based storage for all training content as well as your employee status tracking.
- Easy to use: An intuitive interface for admins, instructors, and employees.
- Testing: The ability to test users to make sure they understand the information.
- Mapping: The ability to map policies to training modules and accreditation requirements.
- Integration: The ability to integrate other software applications and information systems.
- Mobile ready: Works on mobile devices, so field workers and remote workers can access the information.
- Acknowledgement & Tracking: The ability to track whether everyone has completed training modules, tests, and units.
- Customer support: Access to friendly, knowledgeable support team 24/7. (You need this if you're implementing a new training software solution.)
We've tried to put together a list of some of the best employee training software solutions and focus more on the products that are geared toward training and less about customer education.
Five of the best employee training software
1. Apty
Apty is employee training software that helps digital adoption of new software products. It's less focused on total employee training within a company, such as team building, understanding the customer journey, and effective communication styles. Instead, it helps companies that are adopting new software to understand how to use the new software and to avoid a lot of delays and hangups in implementation.
Companies that launch enterprise-wide software often have difficulty in getting employees to understand how it works and how to use it. While some software companies will provide implementation coaches, other companies are either too big to offer it (e.g., Google Workspace). Still others aren't big enough.
Apty can provide video-based walkthroughs of the new software, showing different facets and functions of each piece. The company focuses on helping companies that are launching new enterprise-level software installations. It also helps with onboarding new employees who need to learn how to use the software before they're fully effective.
They're even able to analyze in-app usage and can provide onscreen help for users. Their AI-based engine tracks and analyzes the user data in order to provide actionable items for the users to complete. Apty is enabled as your new software is installed, and the software begins analyzing how your employees are using it. It can measure when they login and whether they complete specific tasks, or struggle to complete them.
From there, the software can deliver a report on those sticky and confusing items in a software's adoption, which enables you to provide further training or onscreen training that shows how to complete a task, prompts them to fix errors, and help them more easily find any support information.
And because Apty works with any web-based software, this means that people can benefit from Apty's training methods from anywhere. Whether someone works remotely or from home, or is in the field on a regular basis, they can still receive the benefits of this employee training software package.
Pros:
- Works on web-based software, which means it can work for anyone anywhere in the world. This is helpful for work-from-home and remote employees.
- Helps employees understand how to use new enterprise software, which reduces implementation time.
- Useful for teaching new employees how to use complex software. This can save training costs and time to onboard new employees.
Cons:
- Only used for enterprise-level software. Less helpful if the software is installed on individual hard drives.
- Apty is a one-trick pony in that it only trains people on enterprise software adoption. On the other hand, that can be a useful pony when you're trying to teach 1,000 people to use a new piece of ERP software.
- You will still need an employee training management solution, because this is more of a real-time AI-based reminder and coach for software, not a training platform.
2. Kitaboo Insight
Kitaboo Insight is a cloud-based platform that is geared more toward delivering mobile-first training to your employees. Kitaboo Insight lets you deliver multiple formats, including training videos, PowerPoint slide decks, PDFs, ebooks, and other course material to any kind of device, but its specialty is mobile-first delivery.
The app actually integrates with your existing employee training software or learning management system to integrate that content. It can convert static documents –— Word, PDF, PPT – into digital interactive content. You can also embed HTML interactivity, such as hyperlinks, audio, videos, surveys, demos, and simulations into the course modules.
You can also upload any SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) material that you've already created or licensed from a third-party provider. This way, you can continue to access content your past instructors have created without redoing or redesigning it.
Kitaboo Insight also allows you to track the way your employees use the app through its built-in analytics. You can track and analyze the content that users access, you can see when and where you need to create new content or improve existing content. This even allows you to personalize the educational content to suit your different users within your organization.
Kitaboo Insight can also be white-labeled with your own custom branding, and it offers an offline feature, which means your employees can access their training material when they're offline.
Pros:
- This is a good way to reuse existing training content and turn it into something more interactive, which can help people stay interested.
- Gives mobile access to any LMS' that currently lack mobile deliverability.
- Reach employees that don't typically have access to a laptop or desktop computer. Field staff can receive training on their mobile phone or tablet, even if they download the content for later offline usage.
Cons:
- Does not have any in-app content creation tools. You'll need to create content in your favorite word processor, slide deck creator, or PDF creator, and then upload them.
- Doesn't have its own content available. You'll still need an LMS or at least a subscription to third-party training content.
3. Docebo
This is a cloud-based employee training software solution for employees, customers, and partners. It can be used in a variety of industries, and of the training software solutions we cover in this article, it's only one of two that allow for in-app creation and has access to its own content library.
Content creators can use Docebo's in-app tools to create native content, or they can create content on their favorite tools and then import it. You can even use drag and drop widgets to create custom pages and modules. The training software also has its own content library with thousands of pre-programmed courses, which are available based on your subscription level.
Docebo can also support integrations and APIs of more than 30 different applications including Zoom, Google Workspace, Salesforce, PayPal, Shopify (for instructors to sell their content), Webex, GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar, and ADP.
Docebo Pages allows for personalization for your different audiences, whether it's for learning styles, internal and external audiences, and even role-based content. Docebo also offers gamification features so users can create a sense of (friendly) competition, either for themselves or among their colleagues. Use badges and a leaderboard to motivate staff and assess their performance and accomplishments; employees can even monitor their own progress on their own analytics pages.
Docebo offers multi-language support with over thirty different languages, training and customized on-boarding. The system is browser agnostic and accessible via mobile devices and apps for iOS and Android.
Pros:
- Docebo offers support for over 30 different languages.
- The system is browser based, which means it can work on any device, any operating system.
- Supports multiple types of content and can manage SCORM content as well.
Cons:
- The API is a little wonky, so not all objects and apps can be easily accessed.
- There's a steep learning curve for some new users, because the platform is complex and large.
- Customer support can be lacking for development and onboarding.
4. TalentCards
TalentCards is one of the more interesting employee training software solutions we've reviewed. Just like the name says, you can train employees with small chunks of learning content called "cards," which can be accessed whenever employees need a refresher or just want to learn a small piece of information.
Like the other training software, it's all cloud-based, but the content cards can be downloaded for offline learning as well. Employees can spend as little as five minutes a day learning new procedures, and then reinforcing those lessons just by reviewing the cards each day until the knowledge is locked in. The company promises "tangible results like increased engagement, higher completion rates, and lower average training costs."
It's ideally suited for frontline workers and your "deskless workforce," people who need to learn simple procedures like safety or inspection processes, or to share new product knowledge. It can be used to turn short bursts of training into a daily habit. And students can use it to drill on new lessons or prepare for a test.
TalentCards system is interactive, and it can support photos and illustrations, audio clips, and videos. This means you can upload your learning content, and even use the built-in authoring solutions. But TalentCards is not SCORM-compliant, so you will have to do much of your creation within the system.
Gone are the days when engagement went as far as hitting “click to continue”. TalentCards’ learning system is interactive, supporting image, audio, and video uploads. Everyone can compete for points and rankings on the app’s leadership board, making training feel more like a game, and less like a chore.
Pros:
- The system is easy to use, and it’s easy to create short content.
- It's mostly made for mobile, which means it's ideal for "deskless" employees and those who spend most of their time in the field.
- Gamification makes the learning fun and interesting.
Cons:
- Is not SCORM-compliant, so you can't upload your fancy learning content like you can with these other training solutions.
- Does not allow for synchronous learning, such as virtual classrooms or video conferencing.
- There are no third-party content libraries, so it's not ideally suited for law enforcement or healthcare, unless you have instructional designers who will create the cards.
5. SAP Litmos
SAP Litmost is a cloud-based employee training management software package that will help you deliver and track training for thousands of employees. It's a user-friendly system for both the admins and the users, and has a built-in editor that lets you create your own editorial content.
The platform also comes with a marketplace library with more than 15,000 ready-made learning modules. Most of the modules are video based and can vary from 5–20 minutes in length. And because SAP Litmos works on a mobile device, that makes it ideal for anyone who needs employee training to access the content from anywhere, whether it's in the office, during a commute, or even when they're out in the field.
The built-in editor lets instructors create their own content, or you can import content from third-party libraries to share with your employees. The platform can be used to train employees, customers, sales teams, operations, gig workers, contractors, and suppliers. And it's possible to create customized paths and role-based access to different modules and training goals.
SAP Litmos also uses gamification to increase engagement, and awards points, badges, and achievements, as well as gives users a chance to make it to the leaderboard. The system also sends real-time notifications of activities by teams and users, which can lead to higher course completion rates.
This training software also offers an API that lets you share information between the system and other applications and information systems. This gives you access to applications like Zoom, GoToMeeting, Shopify, and many of the other applications also accessible by these other employee training solutions.
Pros:
- It's easy to upload learning content, including documents, images, video, audio, and SCORM.
- The product is easy to use in general, whether it's the admins, instructors, or the employees themselves.
- Allows a large number of people the ability to complete their training on their own time.
Cons:
- Customer support and development support could be lacking, or slow at times.
- Users reported issues with cancelling their subscriptions, with the cancellation requests not being honored and cancellation links being hidden.
- Many users reported the general interface to be clean and easy to use, but reported the admin and Teams functions to be a little harder to use.
Choosing the best employee training software
So which of the five best employee training software solutions did you like? Which ones met your non-negotiables? Are they easy to use and mobile ready? Can you map them to your policies and accreditation requirements? Can you test your employees' understanding and track the results?
And most importantly, do you have any needs beyond training management software? Do you work for an organization that has to follow certain policies and regulations, or meet certain accreditation requirements? If you did, wouldn't it be nice to be able to map those policies to your training and ensure that the two areas always matched up with each other?
There's one more option to consider. Not only will it meet most, if not all, of your non-negotiables, but it also lets you map policy management, accreditation requirements, and training content together.
We're talking about PowerDMS, of course. (You are on our website, after all.)
Our policy management platform is about more than just employee training. It's a cloud-based policy management solution where you can create, share, track, and store your organization's policies and accreditation requirements, as well as all of your training content. You can update your training content whenever policies change, and then share the new policies and the new training with your employees quickly. Plus, you can automate any notifications to employees about completing their training and even update the admins to alert them when people are in danger of missing deadlines.
PowerDMS gives you many of the features you've read about, as well as state-of-the-art policy management software. It's a one-stop solution for your training, policies, and accreditation.
If you would like to learn how PowerDMS meets your training and policy management needs, please request a free demo today.
