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How Do I Select the Right Vendor for My Specific Learning Solution?
As shown in Figure 7-1, even with all of the broadband changes in the e-learning industry, most e-learning vendor offerings still fall into one of the three key elemental areas of an e-learning solution: Content Technology Services
Figure 7-1: View of the e-Learning Industry
Some vendors, particularly the larger and more mature e-learning providers, profess to offer products and services in all three of these areas. The challenge in selecting the best vendor partners, for any given organization, is to accurately determine your goals and objectives in each of these areas, and then map those requirements to available offerings in each of the three categories. The proliferation of vendors in each of these three areas has certainly escalated over the past two to four years, as has the scope and breadth of the range of products in each of the areas. For example: Content is not only broad business- and technology-based content, but also includes deeper vertical content in specialized industry and competency areas, such as financial services, healthcare, e-business, and certification curricula. Technology includes not only traditional learning management system offerings, but now also includes more avant-garde niche players, specializing in unique development capabilities, such as games software, interactive simulations, and sophisticated live e-learning tools to further expand the boundaries of the traditional e-learning solutions portfolio. Services now include not just implementation and deployment, but also the full spectrum of complete lifecycle e-learning strategy development and deployment, tracking from concept, through vendor selection, to migration and ROI assessment. To begin the vendor selection process, your learning team needs to perform a full assessment on the organizational gaps which exist in each of the above three areas; prioritize those in the context of available resources, including financial funding, people skills, and leadership support; and identify the highest priority gaps that vendor partners can and should fill.
Selecting e-learning content
Before an organization can even begin to consider evaluating vendor content, it must develop a high level blueprint of subject areas, levels of skill and knowledge required, and target audiences in the organization for whom the e-learning offerings are being developed. This blueprint may be referred to as a Learning Model. By mapping major content requirements in the Learning Model against vendor offerings in vendor content area, the organization can identify the extent to which standard libraries can fulfill major organizational needs and requirements.
Typical questions may include: Are we trying to acquire an entire library, or a narrower, smaller subset of courses to fulfill a specific learning need? What are the demographics of our proposed audience? Global versus national, localization, multiple delivery options? (See Chapter 9.) Does the courseware operate in multiple delivery environments? Is content customizable in terms of our ability to repurpose modules or objects for custom use in our organization? Is there an easy-to-use mapping inherent in the content library which assists new users in navigation through the various content areas? Is there a sophisticated search facility for those users who are not quite sure which course content would be appropriate for their needs? Can users pre-assess their capabilities, and test-out of components of the courseware in which they are already proficient? Does the vendor provide a variety of interactive mechanisms to engage the user, including simulations, sample assessment questions, and multimedia experiences? What is the growth plan for this specific vendor? Do their future areas of concentration map to the strategic areas of interest for the organization?
Identifying the correct e-learning technology
Before an organization can select vendor products and services in technology areas, it must have a detailed understanding of its existing technology architecture, and current technological capabilities and restrictions. Bandwidth restrictions, audio/visual streaming limitations, server capacity, firewall restrictions, and support capabilities are all critical to understanding integration possibilities and probabilities for both content offerings and for technology platform opportunities with any given vendor. Whether you are seeking to acquire a major new technology component (a new LMS or LCMS) or just to accommodate new content within your technology architecture, such as providing easy access for users, an in-depth understanding of the existing technology platform is a must. Key questions include: What is the targeted bandwidth level to deliver the content? What is the differentiation between download versus liveplay options? (See Chapter 6.) What player requirements are associated with content? How are learning pathways and the organization's learning model accommodated in the vendor's LMS/LCMS? Are the products industry compliant, for example, AICC/SCORM?
Do you have a sandbox option for pre-acquisition testing, that allows an exploration of functionality and capability in the organization's environment? What is the interoperability performance between the vendor's products and those of the other major vendors? Does the vendor have standard interfaces? What is the vendor's commitment to keeping up with version changes on other vendor products in terms of these standard interfaces? An entire Request for Proposal (RFP) process could be, and probably should be, devoted to the acquisition of additional technology components within any organization's technology domain. For the purposes of this chapter, however, we limit this discussion to relatively high level concerns.
Constructing appropriate e-learning services
Services is a very broad term, covering a full lifecycle of consulting and advisory services, including but not limited to: Custom development of proprietary content Implementation assistance associated with procurement of a new or upgraded technology platform, such as an LMS, an LCMS, or custom-developed interface Hosting of custom or off-the-shelf content for customers who do not have the bandwidth to host content internally Integration services focused on assisting customers in acquiring, implementing, and integrating an array of vendor content and technologies Strategic planning and evaluation services to assist customers in planning and launching effective e-learning initiatives As you evaluate potential vendors to fill in gap in your specific Content, Technology, and Services requirement areas, it is critical to look first at product and service fit to your purposes and functionality, and then at the vendor themselves. While many vendors profess to support excellence in all three of the areas above, true one-stop-shopping is very rare. Over the past few years, the more progressive players in the e-learning industry have reaffirmed the importance of focus, and are concentrating their efforts in the content, technology, or services arena. There are, of course, still areas where the circles overlap: Most major content providers provide some level of technology platform to launch and access their courseware, as well as implementation services to assist new customers in rolling out courseware in a new environment. Most major technology providers provide implementation services assistance to customize their products for the user environment, as well as integration services to join existing content with the new technology platforms. Most major services providers have formed alliances with various content and technology providers to facilitate easier integration recommendations and expedite mapping of customer requirements to various vendor offerings.
Whether you choose one vendor for a specific need, or multiple vendors to fulfill a variety of needs in all of the above areas, the most important factor is to be very clear on what you believe you need and what product/service capabilities are most critical to the success of your e-learning initiative. If you are new to e-learning, it's important to network with other companies who have had experience establishing successful e-learning initiatives. Insights from other organizations that are further along the path of e-learning implementation can help a company new to e-learning to develop a solid sense of important criteria in selecting the right e-learning partners.
Selecting Multiple e-Learning Vendors at 3Com*
Do not hesitate to work with multiple vendors to complete a program. Vendors who say they do everything are often more expensive and less experienced than where you need the expertise. * See Chapter 17: 3Com
