Employees seek training opportunities within their companies for internal advancement, career growth, and relevance. Organizations build and launch L&D programs for “the ability to survive and thrive even amid economic headwinds,” notes LinkedIn Learning in its 2023 Workplace Learning Report.
Using new influence to elevate people and their skills for business impact, learning professionals are making the most of their voices to ensure that people strategy and business strategy are one and the same, notes LinkedIn.
These voices and influence often mean leveraging new digital tools and platforms. With hundreds of options, L&D has no shortage of options to organize, create, deliver, and measure learning programs.
- Types of Learning and Development Software
- 21 L&D Tools to Enhance Your Tech Stack
- Learning Strategy, Planning, and Management Software
- Authoring Tools and Content Management
- Microlearning Platforms
- Learning Deployment Systems (LMS’s and LXP’s)
- Learning Measurement Solutions
Types of Learning and Development Software
Training expenditures in the U.S. passed the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2021-2022, according to Training magazine’s 2022 Training Industry Report. This represents a 10% rise over the previous year, fueled in part by a significant increase in large companies’ budgets and organizations continuing to invest in virtual training technologies, notes the report.
This demonstrates the trust that L&D has placed in platforms that let them execute their strategies and deploy training at scale.
While there is certainly a crossover between different types of learning or training software, there are five broad categories in which we can review the features and benefits:
- Learning Strategy, Planning, and Management
- Authoring Tools and Content Management
- Microlearning Platforms
- Learning Deployment
- Learning Measurement Solutions
Learning leaders do not suffer from a shortage of technologies to help them create, launch, deliver, analyze, and scale their learning initiatives. However, it’s helpful to have a better understanding of the purpose or solution for each of these categories of L&D software.
Further, it’s important for today’s leaders to first understand their internal needs and use cases before buying into a single tool that may or may not map to the organization’s learning and development strategy and roadmap. Indeed, future-proofing — or the closest one can get to it — is critical.
Learning Strategy, Planning, and Management
Perhaps the most sought-after solution would be one that does it all, encompassing planning, development, tracking, design, collaboration, and metrics.
With greater pressure to deliver results, L&D leaders are turning their attention to the operational efficiency of their functions to ensure they can deliver high-quality learning experiences — at a faster pace and at scale, with analytics baked in at all touchpoints.
This all-in-one approach is part of a new philosophy and framework known as learning operations, or LearnOps. As the first and only LearnOps technology on the market, Cognota is leading the way to ensure better business alignment and outcomes for L&D. Get started for free or book a demo to learn more.
Rolling out training without fully aligning it with the business’s strategic initiatives can have a direct impact on profitability, as employees and the organization as a whole would lack the skills and knowledge to attract and retain customers, roll out new products, address compliance issues, and remain competitive.
Authoring Tools and Content Management
Organizations utilize course-authoring software tools to create engaging and interactive content for their learners.
Course authoring solutions can be cloud-based or installed on-premise. Many follow the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) as a set of standards and specifications for integrating content with Learning Management System (LMS) software.
Course authoring products are often built on top of presentation software — such as Microsoft PowerPoint — to provide users with a familiar format for creating course content. To qualify as a course authoring tool or solution, a product must enable organizations to create multimedia content and allow users to publish course material to third-party or built-in LMS software (see below).
Microlearning Platforms
Microlearning platforms provide employees with short, focused educational content that can be easily accessed on any device and perhaps, most importantly, integrated into their daily workflow. In this way, employees can learn in the “flow of work.”
It’s important to note that microlearning platforms are different from corporate LMS software (see below). However, microlearning platforms can integrate with corporate LMS software to provide convenience and enhance the learning experience.
To be considered a microlearning platform, a product must provide corporate learning solutions that are accessible on any device and fit into the workday. It should also offer tools for content creation or a pre-existing content library, with a variety of microlearning content formats, such as video, text-based articles, assessments, learning support content, and gamification.
Additionally, it should track and measure employees’ performance data for auditing, adjustment, and improvement of training efforts.
Learning Deployment (LMS’s and LXP’s)
Corporate learning management systems (LMS’s) help companies organize, track, and manage efforts to train employees, customers, and other external partners.
Corporate LMS products are used to manage individualized training programs for onboarding, development, compliance training, and other purposes. Organizations use a corporate LMS to assign courses to employees or external end users, such as consultants, contractors, or partners, then track learners’ progress as they complete course lessons and assessments.
These courses can be created using built-in tools in the LMS or separate course authoring or design software. The LMS acts as a centralized repository of learning content for both employees and administrators, enabling companies to more efficiently deliver content for employee development or customer training.
LMS’s generally:
- Host courses and training materials within a centralized system that is accessible by employees or external users for corporate training purposes
- Store training progress and performance records for evaluation by management
- Allow administrators to customize training programs according to individual user needs
- Offer built-in course authoring capabilities or integrations with third-party course authoring applications
Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs) or Learning Experience Portals (LEPs) are tools used by L&D departments to offer personalized learning experiences to their employees. These platforms offer a wide range of customizable solutions that are tailored to meet the unique needs of each company.
Often referred to as “Netflix-style” learning, LXPs allow employees to access relevant learning content easily from their PCs or mobile devices. These platforms provide companies with a variety of learning resources, including internal and external course catalogs, videos, podcasts, blogs, and articles. This allows employees to develop their skills using adaptive learning paths and personalized content recommendations.
Although LXPs are often used alongside LMS software, they serve a different purpose. While the LMS focuses on managing and delivering compliance and corporate training, an LXP is designed to offer learning libraries that can be customized, edited, or created from scratch.
Some LEPs also help companies identify their internal expertise, such as the subject matter experts within the organization, and curate a proprietary knowledge library. Companies can integrate LXPs and LMS tools to manage and track all learning opportunities.
To qualify as an LXP, a product must offer an on-demand content delivery system, and provide accessible learning content via skills and AI-based discovery tools, usage-based recommendations, and career pathing suggestions. The LXP product must also create, manage, and track skills-based learning experiences and offer employees a customizable learning experience based on their personal career progression and interests.
Learning Measurement Solutions
A world-class learning software and measurement solution should also include a suite of different capabilities that enable both learning teams and senior leaders to measure, validate, and assess the effectiveness of learning programs.
Oftentimes these assessments can be from managers evaluating the employee, or from learners themselves, as a way to measure the level of engagement or retention of the content of courses.
Such solutions often include a learning analytics platform to collect, automate and streamline learning metrics; a reporting engine that can quickly and clearly demonstrate areas of high, low, and net impact; and a robust yet flexible data management process that can integrate with existing systems.
21 L&D Tools to Enhance Your Tech Stack
Learning Strategy, Planning, and Management Software
Cognota
Cognota is a LearnOps® platform that prioritizes efficiency and data-driven management. It simplifies and centralizes L&D operations, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and demonstrating the impact of L&D initiatives.
- Demonstrable Business Value: Utilize concrete data to showcase the true impact of L&D initiatives. Cognota provides insightful metrics that enhance your credibility by substantiating the value your team brings to the organization.
- Time & Cost Savings: Cognota’s unified platform eliminates the need for multiple tools and duplicate work, saving time and reducing complexity and redundancy across teams.
- Seamless Collaboration: Foster effortless collaboration with stakeholders and subject matter experts. Cognota serves as a central hub, facilitating smooth teamwork, storyboard linking, and streamlined planning board management.
With Cognota, Chief Learning Officers gain visibility into team performance, enabling effective resource allocation and defending decisions. L&D VPs, Directors, and Managers benefit from enhanced transparency, freeing up time for strategic endeavors. LearnOps professionals can ensure and improve L&D efficiency by leveraging extensive workload data and identifying areas for optimization.
Embrace the power of efficiency and data-driven decision-making with Cognota’s LearnOps® software. Simplify your L&D operations, enhance collaboration, and highlight the true value of L&D as an essential business function. Get started for free or book a demo today to learn more.
Authoring Tools and Content Management
Articulate Storyline 360 and Rise 360
Articulate is a longstanding, well-known, all-in-one creator platform for instructional designers and learning teams.
Notable Features:
- Articulate offers over 9 million stock photos, videos, icons, and course templates.
- The platform includes a Web-based project review app for collecting consolidated feedback from project stakeholders.
What You Should Know:
- Users suggest having storyboards nearly perfect before inputting into the system or else editing can be a challenge.
- Pricing can be very high.
Pricing:
- Articulate Storyline 360 offers a Personal plan for one user for one year at $1,099.
- There is also a Teams plan for one user for one year at $1,399.
Adobe Captivate
One of the most feature-rich tools, Adobe Captivate is known for its interoperability with other Adobe tools, such as the Adobe Creative Suite.
Notable Features:
- Captivate offers plug-and-play content in ready-to-go slides to create beautiful mobile-ready eLearning courses in minutes.
- The platform offers out-of-box functionality such as customizable interactions, automated branching, and video overlays.
- Captivate offers immersive learning experiences to learners with virtual reality options.
What You Should Know:
- Editing complex content, including simulations, can be a challenge.
- The system is known to crash frequently.
Pricing:
- A single subscription for individuals is priced at $33.99 per month.
- Enquiries are needed for Team and Enterprise pricing.
Elucidat
Boasting over 9,000 users and over 31 million learners reached, Elucidat aims to drive down the cost of training and enable anyone to launch impactful courses at scale.
Notable Features:
- Elucidat is cloud-based and supports all eLearning formats, including HTML5, video, SCORM (1.2, 2004), and xAPI (TinCan), and is accessible via all browsers.
- The platform makes content responsive for all screen sizes, making it ideal for mobile learning.
What You Should Know:
- There is no global Search and Replace feature, which is a challenge when large edits are needed.
- File size limits can be an impediment for uploading.
Pricing:
- Elucidat offers a Basic plan for $690 per month, billed annually, for up to 5 users.
- There is also a Team plan for $1,595 per month, billed annually, for up to 20 users.
iSpring Suite
The iSpring Suite is an eLearning platform and authoring toolkit that takes a company’s existing content and converts it into learning materials.
Notable Features:
- Most notably, iSpring takes PowerPoint presentations and converts them to eLearning courses.
- For those new to SCORM, iSpring makes it simple to understand and execute the process.
- The core eLearning authoring kit includes HTML5/SCORM courses, interactive quizzes, video lectures, screencasts, role-plays, interactions, and eBooks.
What You Should Know:
- For Mac users, there’s no dedicated version. To use iSpring, Mac users would need to install Windows on their Mac.
- Matching the look and feel of a company’s native content can be tricky.
Pricing:
- For businesses, iSpring offers three pricing tiers: $770, $970, and $1,970 per author per year.
Microlearning Platforms
Whatfix
Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that adds features to an organization’s existing software or interface in order to train users in-app in real-time.
Notable Features:
- Whatfix’s remote training and onboarding software allows L&D professionals to embed micro-lessons, such as How-To’s or click throughs, right into a company’s software so that employees can learn in the moment.
- Whatfix also offers checklists and self-help libraries so employees can have access to learning materials whenever they need them.
- Analytics are available, enabling learning leaders to have a better understanding of the adoption or usage of particular modules.
What You Should Know:
- Whatfix integrates with Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Workday, but does not let customers create modules that can be integrated with these five platforms.
- Longer-form modules, such as with video, gamification elements, or assessments/quizzes, are not available.
Pricing:
- Offers both cloud-based and self-hosted deployment plans.
- Content templates, analytics, and 24/7 customer support are add-ons.
- Pricing is highly customized, so enquiry is needed to determine your fees.
EdApp
Intending to “democratize learning,” EdApp offers a freemium suite of tools that enable a mobile-first, learning-driven work culture.
Notable Features:
- EdApp offers a creator tool with 80+ templates to enhance a company’s current learning content with videos, quizzes, games, assessments, social learning, and more.
- EdApp also offers a library of 1,000+ free courses so companies can jumpstart their workplace learning.
- There is also a PowerPoint converter, where customers can upload a PowerPoint and create a course instantly.
What You Should Know:
- EdApp can become difficult and overwhelming for a large volume of courses to upload to the platform.
- It becomes pricey very quickly for premium features used by a large number of users.
Pricing:
- EdApp offers a free tier, for unlimited courses and unlimited users.
- $2.95 per month per user for API integration, advanced analytics, single sign-on (SSO), and other features.
- $5.95 per month per user for EdApp to produce content by their own team of instructional designers.
Axonify
Axonify’s platform reinforces knowledge with AI-powered reinforcement, to identify gaps and build long-term behavior change for frontline workers.
Notable Features:
- Axonify enables companies to provide personalized learning paths through assigned and self-directed training modules that are fully customizable for each employee.
- The platform includes reinforcement techniques with AI-generated spaced repetition, retrieval, and a gamified UX and UI.
What You Should Know:
- Customization outside of Axonify’s out-of-the-box platform can be a challenge.
- There is also the lack of the ability for learners to search and self-assign topics.
- Some of the gamification elements can be distracting.
Pricing:
- You can schedule a call through the Axonify site to determine pricing.
Arist
Arist’s platform creates, delivers, and analyzes text-based learning that is injected natively into messaging apps that learners access via mobile devices.
Notable Features:
- Arist integrates with popular messaging apps and services, including SMS, email, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.
- Arist has an AI-driven course builder, which enables instructional designers to choose the distribution method, along with the cadence (i.e., once per day, once per week).
What You Should Know:
- If employees do not have a mobile device or access to a mobile device for work, those employees cannot participate.
- Some courses or types of training cannot be easily converted to text, or may not be suitable for text-based learning.
Pricing:
- The Growth plan is billed at $15 per user per month.
- Custom Enterprise pricing is also available.
Learning Deployment Systems (LMS’s and LXP’s)
Learn LMS by Docebo Learning Suite
Learn LMS by Docebo is an LMS that delivers design, functionality, and flexibility to scale learning.
Notable Features:
- A configuration engine lets learning leaders create audience-specific pages using flexible, drag-and-drop functionality in order to get learning programs up and running quickly.
- Learning teams can leverage free extensions, like certifications, automation, e-commerce, custom domains, audit trail, gamification, and more, to configure the LMS for an exact use case.
What You Should Know:
- Docebo requires a lot of training to get up and running.
Pricing:
- Information about Docebo’s pricing requires reaching out directly through their website.
TalentLMS
Used by over 70,000 teams, TalentLMS is an enterprise learning management system that builds, organizes, customizes, delivers, and scales training for organizations of all sizes.
Notable Features:
- Bringing together all training tools and materials in one convenient place, TalentLMS integrates easily with the apps and services already in use by an organization.
- Training can be customized via a hub, enabling L&D to design every detail, add a homepage, and localize languages for all learners.
- Learning is available on any device, with communication tools to stay connected.
- Training can be scaled by automating tasks, creating sub-accounts, and analyzing results with reports.
What You Should Know:
- The platform is very robust and can take time to learn the features.
- Not all integrations work seamlessly, requiring IT support to step in.
Pricing:
- TalentLMS offers 4 pricing tiers:
- Starter at $69 per month, for 6-40 users;
- Basic, $149 per month, for 20-100 users;
- Plus, $279 per month, for 50-500 users; and
- Premium, $459 per month, for 400-1000 users
- Pricing for larger organizations is available upon request
- These are based on yearly billing; month-to-month pricing is higher.
- The TalentLibrary is extra.
Absorb LMS
Absorb LMS is a flexible learning platform that makes it easy to build and manage training programs for internal and external stakeholders.
Notable Features:
- Advanced experience and engagement tools ensure that learners learn anywhere, on any device, in order to complete training and reach their learning goals.
- Absorb Pinpoint is a feature that keeps learners satisfied and engaged by carving a direct path and delivering learning in the flow of work.
- An eCommerce module enables organizations to sell courses to third parties, partners, or the public.
What You Should Know:
- Managing a large library of courses can be time-consuming due to the lack of bulk course editing features currently available.
- Customer care can be erratic
Pricing:
- Pricing is available on the website once a form is filled out.
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS creates courses, engages learners, and trains teams in an all-in-one software platform.
Notable Features:
- Tovuti enables collaborative learning and facilitates peer-to-peer interactions through tools such as whiteboards, hand-raising, participation controls, survey tools, screen sharing, and session recording.
- Tovuti facilitates the creation of customizable landing pages with everything that’s relevant to a user, such as courses, checklists, badges, certificates, events, and more.
What You Should Know:
- Some integrations require help from Tovuti, as there are few out-of-the-box integrations that you can do easily.
Pricing:
- Pricing information for Tovuti LMS is not currently available on the website.
Shape by Docebo Learning Suite
Docebo Learning Suite’s Shape module leverages AI to automatically turn internal or external knowledge sources and content into engaging learning modules in multiple formats.
Notable Features:
- Content can be kept fresh with versioning and streamlined content updates.
- Automatic, AI-based translations are available to publish multi-language content within minutes.
- Docebo Shape content can be played in any LMS or learning platform that supports xAPI content.
What You Should Know:
- The platform is unable to create automated groups for power users to automatically provide access to courses and reports based on audience group criteria.
- Assignments cannot be created in the central repository to share across courses.
Pricing:
- Reach out directly to the Docebo team for pricing information.
LXP by 360Learning
360Learning’s LXP leverages AI to curate custom career and skills paths that promote courses, programs, and live training while addressing gaps in the organization.
Notable Features:
- 360Learning’s LXP can map a team’s skills to better understand which are missing, enabling both L&D and the business to plan the workforce around closing these skill gaps.
- The platform gives employees the ability to search for skills and upskill through self-enrollment, or have them assigned to them through a skill-building learning path.
What You Should Know:
- Customization features for reporting are lacking.
Pricing:
- 360Learning costs $8 per user per month for up to 100 users.
- 100+ users requires custom Enterprise pricing.
Continu
Continu harnesses automated online learning platform journeys and workflows to take employee training to the next level and help employees upskill faster.
Notable Features:
- Learning leaders can create personalized learning initiatives based on departments, teams, locations, and other criteria.
- Continu integrates with a company’s existing tech stack and holds relationships with large content partners such as LinkedIn Learning and Udemy.
What You Should Know:
- There are often inconsistencies in learner progress reports.
- Navigation can also be a challenge.
Pricing:
- Continu offers Growth, Professional, and Enterprise tiers, but does not provide pricing for each on its website.
Thrive Learning & Skills Platform
Thrive’s all-in-one Learning & Skills Platform makes personalized recommendations that connect employees to encourage peer-to-peer learning and upskilling.
Notable Features:
- Every learner can receive recommended content based on skills, roles, behaviors, and interests.
- The platform can be branded with a company’s colors and logo, and all clients receive unlimited storage for their content.
What You Should Know:
- Integration into existing systems can be a hassle.
Pricing:
- For less than 500 users, the Thrive Learning & Skills Platform is priced at $30,000.
- Pricing increases as the number of users increases.
Learning Measurement Solutions
Blue by Explorance Software
Blue is a customizable online feedback-gathering software that helps learning organizations see the big picture with all feedback data in one place.
Notable Features:
- Built to support critical feedback processes, Blue includes modules for course evaluations, 360-degree reviews, and organizational surveys.
- Advanced features and functionalities allow for full automation, native integration with existing infrastructure (SIS, LMS, HRIS, etc.), and top security and data privacy.
What You Should Know:
- The system is known to crash often.
- Due to the platform being lesser known, there isn’t a large community of users to network with and share best practices.
Pricing:
- You’ll need to schedule a demo of Blue with the Explorance team to obtain pricing information.
TalentGuard
Peers, customers, vendors, and partners all provide valuable insight into an employee’s job performance. TalentGuard delivers tools to make their voices heard, so employees get a clear picture of how others view them, and reviewers are assured that their perspectives matter.
Notable Features:
- TalentGuard’s integrated technology helps organizations automate performance management, skills assessment, 360-degree feedback, career pathing, succession planning, individual development planning, and certification tracking.
- TalentGuard also helps improve business outcomes with an extended network of credentialed career coaches, training programs, and content.
What You Should Know:
- The user interface is not the most user-friendly.
Pricing:
- TalentGuard has four bundles available: Foundation, Basic, Core, and Pro, but you’ll need to reach out to get specific pricing information.
PeopleGoal
PeopleGoal is a learner management solution that enables organizations to redefine their performance management and employee engagement processes.
Notable Features:
- The platform enables employee performance and engagement via frequent check-ins, goals and OKRs tracking, recognition, feedback, and 360 reviews.
- PeopleGoal offers complete customization so that HR teams can build tailor-made apps to manage, engage and develop employees and teams.
What You Should Know:
- The number of available apps and modules can be overwhelming.
- Training is necessary to fully understand the platform.
Pricing:
- PeopleGoal starts at $299 per month but does offer a free trial.
Trakstar Perform
Trakstar Perform is an employee performance management software that enables organizations to align goals, lay pathways, measure success, and show employees what “good” looks like.
Notable Features:
- Trakstar Perform provides unlimited online performance evaluations, including both 360-degree evaluations and self-evaluations, goal setting, tracking, automated workflows, and reporting.
- The platform can be used by companies to manage performance reviews across hundreds or thousands of employees.
What You Should Know:
- Setting up Trakstar Perform can be tricky, and the database is often slow.
Pricing:
- Head to the Trakstar website and fill out a form to receive pricing information.
Bringing it All Together With LearnOps
Crafting a framework for L&D strategy can pose a significant hurdle for L&D teams. In order to do more with less — and still obtain superior results — it is crucial to have software that allows you to comprehensively evaluate available resources and determine the most effective approach for creating and administering courses that truly engage your organization’s learners.
For L&D teams, it is imperative to possess the appropriate tools for coordination, planning, authoring, collaboration, and delivery. Without such tools, it can be arduous to enhance team capacity, guarantee resource allocation, streamline operations, and generate ROI.
With Cognota, you can plan and manage training projects while standardizing L&D processes, ensuring that projects can stay within budget and are delivered on time to learners.
Contact the Cognota team to learn more, or get started for free to experience Cognota for yourself.
