Digital transformation is at the top of almost every board agenda today. There’s no denying the potential risks – and opportunities – posed by the impact of technology on our organisations, because change can now happen in the blink of an eye, and not being equipped to deal with that change can be catastrophic for a business. Consider major organisations such as Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble and licensed taxi services, all of which have suffered at the hands of more innovative competitors.
But nobody has a crystal ball to predict the future, whether that’s in six months or five years. That’s why businesses need the freedom to change their plans as needed – and that means finding an LMS that can support changing approaches. Flexible plans with horizons of just 6-12 months are ideal, but it may even be necessary to adapt further within these relatively short timeframes. Organisations must seize the ability to change quickly, flexibly and cost effectively – and this has significant implications for technology vendors as procurement practice must adapt accordingly.
“Digital is the main reason just over half of the companies on the Fortune 500 have disappeared since the year 2000.” – Pierre Nanterme, CEO, Accenture
Worryingly for organisations, current LMS procurement practices are failing to deliver the returns that businesses expect, leaving them locked into contracts for products that don’t meet their needs and will only continue to fall short over the years. At the end of the contract, the LMS is abandoned, and the costly cycle starts again. With this cycle repeating itself time and time again, it should come as no surprise that 46% of organisations are only ‘somewhat satisfied’ with their LMS.
Part of the problem is that the LMS market remains confusing and frustrating for buyers, who are overwhelmed by choice and unsure how to compare different pricing models, features and contracting practices. Without this clarity, it’s easy to make the wrong choice and end up committing to an unsuitable learning platform. Many platform offers are too broad, too narrow, too expensive or too inflexible, and when this is combined with the persuasive tactics and unsubstantiated hype of many established software vendors, this typically leads to procurement failure.
That’s why we at Totara believe in giving organisations like yours the freedom to learn. We do this through our global network of Totara Partners, who use their expertise and experience to design solutions that specifically meet the needs of businesses worldwide. And we know that we have a role to play in giving businesses the flexibility they need to thrive in an ever-changing world, which is why we create open source learning platforms designed to be customised and adapted to do whatever you need them to do, without the limitations of a roadmap you can’t control or an expensive, long-term contract.
Our Totara Partners are committed to building great relationships with their customers, ensuring that they receive the exact LMS they need to fulfil their business requirements. They get to transform their flexible, customisable and scalable Totara platform into a unique solution for each individual organisation, whether this is a rapid deployment, a cost-effective series of customisations or a highly specialised project requiring multiple integrations, plugins and development.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how Totara is addressing the way digital transformation is changing the LMS, download our Four Freedoms ebook, or browse our list of Totara Partners to find out how they can help. Or, if you’re from a learning organisation committed to giving businesses the freedom to learn, you can learn more about becoming a Totara Partner.
