The Consumerization of Learning: Vendors Must Step Up Their Games

Basedon decades of experience, corporate technology buyers and users have learned toexpect a host of challenges when installing any enterprise application. Thesewould include integration issues, painful and lengthy implementations,expensive customization, steep learning curves, and never-ending maintenancebills.

But,thanks to modern development tools and changes in application design, corporatesystems—including learning management systems (LMSs)—can be as simple to useand functionally rich as the consumer applications we all use in our everydaylives.  

It’stime for buyers to say “enough!” to the status quo established by legacysolutions. And it’s time for enterprise vendors to join the 21^st centuryand rethink their business models as well as their product offerings.

Followingis my personal manifesto. I hereby lay down the gauntlet and invite allsolution providers to join me in rethinking enterprise software.  

Business models shouldn’t be based on poorly designed software

Companiesshouldn’t pay extra for the privilege of using bad software. And yet they doevery day, year after year. Enterprise software vendors make millions ofdollars from maintenance and support fees. Sure, some of this revenue pays forthe personnel required to fix bugs and handle customer issues. But the truth isthat well-designed software should require very little ongoing support. Andwhen software needs fixes or updates, they should be a non-event for the user.

Heftyfees for implementation, customization, or support should be red flags tocorporate buyers. Besides running up ownership costs, fees are most likelysigns of poorly designed, outdated software. Rather than basing purchasesprimarily on meaningless feature checklists, we advise buyers to strongly factorinto decisions the ongoing extra costs associated with any enterprise purchase. 

Integrationshouldn’t require herculean effort—or big bags of money

Don’tyou love how LinkedIn automatically links with Outlook? Or how you can quicklyshare an article you’ve just read over Twitter? We believe enterprise softwareshould work in much the same way. Once purchased, a software system shouldautomatically work and integrate with any other relevant applications.

Whileour own LMS software isn’t quite there yet (although we’re getting close), wemake integration with virtually any other enterprise application amazingly easyand fast with a proprietary integration application. Our customers areregularly shocked when we accomplish in less than a week what it would takeother vendors a month or more.

Easeof integration maximizes the functionality of an LMS and greatly reduces thecost of ownership. Just as importantly, it gives corporate buyers the abilityto choose best-of-breed applications, rather than shackling them to bloatedsuites that almost never get fully implemented.

Mobileusability shouldn’t be an afterthought

Itake my iPhone everywhere and use it hundreds of times a day. We believeenterprise applications should, by design, work on your smartphone or tabletequally as well as your laptop computer. In order for this to happen, mobilefunctionality must be built into the application.

Thismeans that an LMS must optimize the user experience—as well as learning content—formobile devices. We see video quickly displacing slideware as the content mediumof choice, especially on mobile devices. Therefore, video handling by the LMSshould be dead simple. Rather than requiring the use of extra tools anddifferent procedures for different file formats, the LMS should be capable ofuploading and optimizing any kind of video content with a single click.

Enterprisesoftware shouldn’t require training

Mythird grader can figure out how to use virtually any application on the AppStore. That’s how easy enterprise software should be. Ease of use is much morethan page design and information layout. Hundreds of little things—such as pageload speed, keyboard shortcuts, scrolling, and place holding—can make a hugedifference in user experience and usability.

Manycorporate buyers minimize the importance of application usability. Yet usabilitydirectly impacts adoption, support requirements, and productivity. Furthermore,ease of use is also an important sign of good software design.

Conclusion

Thislist certainly isn’t exhaustive. Don’t get me started about lousy reporting,language adaptability, or customization. The point of my ranting is that thestandards set for enterprise software in the ‘90s shouldn’t be the ones we livewith 20 years later.

Wevendors have an obligation to build our businesses and our products on the best,most modern technologies and tools available. And buyers need to startdemanding new pricing models and more consumer-like functionality.  

It’stime for us all to rethink enterprise software.   

Moreinformation

Visit Intellum in Booth 217 at DevLearn 2012 in LasVegas, October 31 – November 1, 2012, or visit the Intellum website at https://www.intellum.com.