What is an LMS (Learning Management System) & How To Choose The Best One?

There's no doubt that collaborative learning is the way of the future.

It brings all the good things about in-person learning to the online space and democratises the learning process.

Organisations no longer hesitate to spend time and money on online training. A LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that more than 55% of L&D departments were planning to spend more on online learning in the years ahead.

As more companies shift to remote and hybrid work models, they all actively look for reliable tools and platforms to help them create, host, manage, deliver, and assess online training content.

This is where an LMS comes in.

More than 80% of organisations now use a learning management system (LMS), and the global LMS market is projected to reach roughly $76 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of around 19%.

If you are unsure what an LMS is and whether your company needs one, this guide covers everything you need to know about a learning management system in plain language. For broader context on how teams use video for upskilling, see how videos in learning and development fit into the modern L&D function.

A learning management system is an online platform used to create, host, manage, and deliver online courses or training programs.

The first learning management systems appeared in the late 1990s. The software was basic at first, with a set of course modules and simple assignment submission features.

In the early 2000s, the corporate world started adopting LMS platforms and authoring tools to meet learning and development needs. Over time, people began using LMSs for a wider range of use cases.

Modern learning management systems are far more advanced. They come with features that make learning more engaging, interactive, and easier to track.

LMS platforms are used across many industries for a wide variety of use cases. Two key user types dominate.

Administrators

Administrators handle the management side: course planning and creation, assigning learner groups, tracking progress, and analysing outcomes.

Learners

Learners receive access to their assigned courses and assessments. They can track their own progress through the platform.

Courses can be assigned individually or by role across the company's organisational structure.

A learning management system is a large repository of learning resources. It stores, organises, and tracks training content in one platform. Anyone with valid login credentials can access the resources inside.

If the LMS is self-hosted, users either install the software locally or access it through their company's server. For cloud-based LMSs, access is browser-based and works from anywhere.

Here is what an LMS lets you do:

1. Create online courses
2. Organise courses into categories and modules
3. Deliver courses to learners
4. Track learning progress
5. Manage users

Since the pandemic, many organisations have come to rely on a learning management system. Common use cases include:

Employee onboarding

Onboarding new employees is no small task. An LMS lets organisations build specific learning paths for each new hire's role.

Employee upskilling and retention

Hiring the right talent matters. Keeping them by investing in their growth and skill development matters more. An LMS lets companies tailor their own training materials to ensure employees pick up the right skills for their roles.

Compliance training

An LMS helps companies create mandatory training and certification programmes for compliance topics like HIPAA, OSHA, GDPR, or industry-specific regulations. Programmes can be assigned, tracked, and evidenced for audits, all from one platform.

Sales enablement

Hunting down ideal customer profiles and closing deals is hard. Salespeople do it every day. That is why companies train them.

Sales enablement training also speeds up onboarding, so new hires arrive equipped with the best sales techniques, scripts, and materials.

Customer training

Common among software and tech companies. The goal: help customers fully understand the product they have bought, which reduces customer churn and drives expansion revenue.

Partner training

A learning management system also works for training partners, channels, and resellers. It helps standardise enablement across an extended sales and delivery network, which directly improves partner programme outcomes.

The main deployment options for a learning management system:

Open-source LMS

Users can modify the look, feel, and behaviour of the platform by changing the source code. The trade-off: you need decent programming knowledge to customise the system properly.

Enterprise LMS

Commercial learning management systems with strong support and a feature set that helps organisations create, manage, and deploy courses without engineering effort.

SaaS LMS

Cloud-based learning management systems with regular updates and features that suit a range of industries. Usually subscription-based, with the vendor handling hosting and maintenance.

Installed LMS

Locally hosted on the organisation's dedicated server. Since it is hosted in-house, the LMS can be fully customised, with the trade-off of higher maintenance cost.

Choosing the right LMS is difficult. It is normal to feel overwhelmed by the number of options online.

Analyse the pros and cons of each product. Pick the one that fits your business requirements, not the most popular option. Most popular is rarely the best fit for any specific company.

Three steps before you buy:

1. Prioritise your needs

Get clear on your core requirements, then rank them. If your organisation has multiple branches and departments that need training, look for an LMS that lets you build separate learning resources for each department under one account.

2. Read customer reviews and ratings

Check reliable review platforms like Capterra and G2. They surface what real users liked and disliked about the software.

Also check testimonials and case studies on the vendor's site.

3. Proof of concept

Before buying, run a proof of concept. Test the platform against your real use cases and see how it performs.

LMS solutions today do more than build and deliver courses. Here is what to look for before choosing your learning management system:

• Custom branding
• LMS interface customisation
• Gamification options to boost engagement
• Third-party integrations and data exchange via e-learning standards like Tin Can (xAPI) and SCORM
• Features to host webinars and podcasts
• Screen recorder integrations or plug-ins for capturing classes and sharing them with learners
• Built-in authoring with a code-free editor to create and edit courses directly on the platform
• Mobile access for learners on the go
• Analytics dashboard with completion and engagement metrics

Advantages

• Increases employee satisfaction
• Promotes employee retention
• Reduces L&D costs over time
• Improves ROI on training programmes
• Drives knowledge retention
• Standardises onboarding and team-building processes

Disadvantages

• Most LMS platforms are not built to handle large video files
• They are not designed to capture video natively
• They do not let you edit course videos in the same platform

A learning management system has clear strengths, but one major drawback: most LMS platforms are not built to handle large video files. Video files are significantly heavier than text documents, and they take up substantial storage.

An average LMS, much like an average CMS, is not the right tool for managing a large video library.

A video CMS, on the other hand, is built for video. Modern video CMS solutions handle massive multi-gigabyte files cleanly. You can upload, stream, and share long videos without splitting them up.

With a video CMS, sharing an 8-hour technical seminar with your team is a single upload, not a manual splitting exercise.

Vmaker is built to handle the video side of L&D content end-to-end. Recording, editing, hosting, and sharing all happen on one platform, which is exactly the gap most LMS platforms leave open.

Screen and webcam recording. Vmaker is a screen and webcam recorder that captures screencasts, tutorials, and instructional video guides. Useful for repurposing old presentations into courseware, recording subject-matter experts walking through processes, and producing short FAQ videos.

AI video editing. The built-in AI video editor lets you clean up recordings, add intros, B-rolls, and animations, and polish the output without bouncing between tools.

Multi-language reach. For globally distributed teams, auto-generate subtitles in 35+ languages and auto-dub training content into 100+ languages. The same course works for every region without re-recording.

Repurpose long-form into short clips. Turn an hour-long training session into bite-sized microlearning clips with one click. Useful for embedding into onboarding flows, Slack reminders, or follow-up emails.

Hosting and analytics. Recordings auto-save to your Vmaker dashboard. Share via link or download, and see how viewers engaged with each video, which helps you identify which training content actually works.

Pair Vmaker with your LMS to close the video gap. The LMS handles courses, assignments, and certifications. Vmaker handles the video production, editing, and distribution that LMS platforms typically struggle with.

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