Published on: 31 Jan , 2025

What is an LMS? A Guide for SaaS Companies

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Omar Sheriff

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LMS - Meaning

An LMS, or Learning Management System, is a software platform that helps SaaS companies create, manage, deliver, and track training content. Think of it as your virtual training school where all your structured learning materials live and where you can monitor everyone's progress.

What is an LMS Used For?

We know SaaS companies use LMS to train, but who is the audience?

what is an LMS and what is an LMS used for | LMS Meaning

1. External Training

Your audience for external training mostly comprises customers and partners. Customers need to understand how to use your product effectively to see its value and stick around long-term.

Meanwhile, partners – whether they're resellers, integrators, or consultants – need comprehensive training to represent your product accurately in the market.

2. Internal Training

Your audience for internal training is mostly employees and other internal stakeholders. New hires require onboarding to understand your company culture, products, and processes.

Existing employees need ongoing training to stay updated with new features, compliance requirements, and industry developments.

3. Skills Development and Certification Programs

These programs go beyond basic training to create experts within your ecosystem. Certifications can be provided when learners pass certain courses in your LMS. These certifications build credibility and are an indication of mastery of your platform.

This proven expertise is not only beneficial for your brand’s reputation, and product’s capabilities but also provides better career growth for your employees and customers.

Real-world Impact: WebEngage Academy

Check out WebEngage’s story: They needed a fast way to train retention marketers on their platform. Using Trainn’s LMS, they launched their WebEngage Academy in just 4 weeks.

The results were impressive: Their users love it so much that they spend nearly 2 hours diving into the content on average. Their Academy successfully created a pool of certified professionals who understand retention marketing and the WebEngage platform.

Their success demonstrates how a well-implemented LMS can not only facilitate learning but also drive business growth by creating skilled professionals in your ecosystem.

Traditional Training vs LMS Training

Have you ever wondered what makes LMS training different from sharing training materials through regular channels like email or shared drives?

Here's a clear comparison that shows why an LMS brings structure and efficiency to your training process:

Aspect Traditional Training LMS Training
Accessibility Training materials are spread across emails, PDFs, and cloud storage like Google Drive. All of your training material can be accessed through a single LMS portal.
Learning Structure Traditional training struggles to provide structure to learning. LMS helps you build a structured learning experience.
Progress tracking Tracking learner progress is nearly impossible LMS tools make it easy to track learner progress
ROI correlation Training cannot be correlated with ROI due to limited to no tracking Training can be easily correlated with ROI with a bunch of trackable KPIs
Content engagement Engagement is low since training is static Engagement is high with quizzes and certification assessments.

How does an LMS work?

An LMS has two main interfaces: one for admins who create and manage training content and track key metrics. The other interface is for learners who consume this content. Let's look at how both sides work:

1. For Admins (Course Creation)

Creating engaging training content in an LMS is straightforward. Admins can:

  • Create and upload training materials like videos, product documentation, PDFs, and presentations.
  • Create interactive courses by combining different content types.
  • Design quizzes to test learner understanding.
  • Set up assessments with custom passing criteria.
  • Organize content into structured learning paths.
  • Monitor learner progress and engagement.

For example, when creating a customer onboarding course, an admin might start with welcome videos, follow up with feature tutorials, and end with a quiz to ensure comprehension.

They can also set up automated reminders for learners who haven't completed their courses and create certificates that are automatically awarded upon completion.

2. For Learners (Course Consumption)

Learners get a user-friendly interface where they can:

  • Access their assigned courses through a personal dashboard
  • Track their progress through each course
  • Take quizzes and assessments
  • Earn certificates upon completion
  • Review their learning history

Think of it like Netflix for learning – learners can see their progress, pick up where they left off, and move through courses at their own pace.

When you onboard a new customer, they'll receive login credentials to their learning center, see their assigned onboarding courses, and can start learning immediately.

Types of LMS

Types of LMS | LMS Meaning

1. SaaS-based LMS

A SaaS (Software as a Service) LMS is cloud-based and operates entirely over the internet, making it ideal for organizations that want a hassle-free solution. You don't need to worry about maintenance, updates, or infrastructure – the vendor handles everything.

Just like how you use Slack or Salesforce, you can access your training platform from anywhere, and scale up or down based on your needs.

Key features:

  • Quick setup with no installation required
  • Automatic updates and new features
  • Flexible pricing models
  • Built-in security and maintenance

2. On-premise LMS

On-premise LMS systems give you complete control over your training infrastructure by hosting it on your own servers. This type of setup is particularly valuable for organizations with strict data security requirements or those who need extensive customization capabilities.

You have full authority over every aspect of the system, from data storage to feature modifications.

Key features:

  • Full control over data and security
  • Customization at the server level
  • One-time or yearly licensing cost
  • Complete privacy of sensitive content
  • Download and install software updates from the vendor regularly

3. Open-source LMS

Open-source LMS platforms provide the foundation for you to build your own training system. Think of it as getting a fully functional training platform that you can modify to your heart's content.

Organizations with strong technical teams often choose this option as it offers unlimited customization possibilities without licensing costs.

Key features:

  • No licensing costs
  • Complete customization freedom
  • Community-driven development
  • Self-hosted or cloud-hosted options

Choosing the Right LMS For You

Your choice of LMS type should depend on several key factors:

Technical Resources: Do you have an IT team that can manage and maintain the system?

Budget Structure: Are you looking for a pay-as-you-go model or can you make a larger upfront investment?

Security Requirements: Do you need to keep all training data on your own servers?

Customization Needs: How much do you need to modify the system to match your processes?

Scale of Operations: How many users will you be training, and how quickly do you need to scale?

Answering these basic questions should guide you to your most suitable choice of LMS.

Benefits of LMS Training

Benefits of LMS training | LMS Meaning

1. Scalable Learning Solution

Think about having to manually email training materials to every new customer or employee. Now multiply that by hundreds. Sounds like a nightmare, right? An LMS eliminates this headache by providing automatic access to learning materials. When you update a course, everyone gets the latest version instantly.

Whether you're training a small team or expanding across global markets, an LMS handles the heavy lifting of content delivery and user management without extra effort from your team.

2. Cost-effective Training Delivery

While sending PDFs or sharing drive links might seem free, the hidden costs add up quickly. Think about the time your team spends organizing materials, following up on completion, and maintaining different versions of content.

An LMS streamlines these processes, freeing up your team to focus on creating better training content instead of managing it. Plus, with centralized content management, you're not wasting resources on outdated or duplicate materials.

3. Meet Customer Expectations

Customers don't want to wait for scheduled training sessions or dig through emails for help documentation. They want instant access to well-organized learning materials that help them succeed with your product.

A Whatfix Report states that customers commonly find answers to their queries through an LMS or video tutorials. However, 76% say that it’s not easy for them to access and find training and help content.

With an LMS, you meet these expectations by providing training that customers can consume at their own pace, enhancing their overall experience with your brand.

4. Progress Tracking and Reporting Capabilities

No more chasing people for training updates or manually compiling completion reports. An LMS gives you real-time visibility into how specific courses are performing.

Need to know the completion rates for the onboarding training module? Or want to identify which modules users find most challenging? Just pull up your LMS dashboard and look for yourself. These insights help you improve your training content and ensure everyone meets learning objectives.

5. Consistent Learning Experience

Imagine if one customer has access to the latest learning material but another customer creates a support ticket complaining about their outdated material. An LMS eliminates these inconsistencies by ensuring every customer receives the same high-quality training content.

Whether they're enterprise clients or small business users, whether they signed up today or last year, everyone gets access to the same professional, up-to-date learning experience. This consistency in training helps build trust in your product and reduces support tickets caused by outdated or mismatched information.

How Trainn Helps You Setup Your First Academy

Trainn is your all-in-one LMS solution for creating, managing, and delivering quality training content. From studio-quality video creation to comprehensive LMS capabilities, we make sure your LMS journey is seamless.

With Trainn you can:

1. Create A No-Code LMS Portal: Build structured courses with chapters, AI-generated quizzes, and custom certifications in minutes.

2. Build-in content authoring: Create amazing product videos with AI voiceovers, instructional guides, and interactive courses – no editing or design expertise needed.

3. Offer personalized learning paths: Personalize learning experiences by segmenting users based on role, company, or domain.

4. Get Comprehensive Analytics: Track learner-level engagement, course performance, and detailed reporting and retention analysis.

Try out Trainn free for 14 days with all features unlocked. No credit card is required.

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