Training Software

Presenting, deploying, and monitoring employee and student training efforts can be a time-consuming process for both trainers and learners. 

What if you could manage and monitor your companyʻs entire training efforts from one centralized platform, and automate some of your tasks? 

Training software helps instructors streamline key parts of training initiatives, such as processing course payments, analyzing course reports to make data-driven decisions, automating email reminders and course surveys to students, and other key training back-end and deployment processes. 

In this guide, we'll cover:

• What is training software?

• What is training software used for?

• What are common features of training software?

• What are the benefits of training software?

• Who uses training software?

• What is the cost of training software?

What is training software? 

Training software automates administrative tasks related to implementing and maintaining training programs for employees and students. Training solutions are often customizable based on the needs of specific organizations and include capabilities such as course registration and testing, certification tracking, conferencing, skills tracking, and reporting. 

Training applications may provide the framework for presenting classes, as well as eCommerce functions to allow for payments. Training software is closely related to learning management systems (LMS).

What is training software used for?

Training software is used by businesses of all sizes to ensure the successful implementation and management of online training efforts. When a company hires a new employee, they must be properly trained on and informed of company policies and procedures. 

Likewise, trainers must be able to manage their course materials and student communications. Training software ensures that instructors have the necessary controls to foster a virtual learning environment that not only registers learners for the appropriate courses and monitors learner progress and performance, but also automates these processes to streamline the back-end of training initiatives.

What are common features of training software?

The most common features of training software include the following: 

• Course management: Present, organize, and assign courses to learners. View active courses and remove courses that are no longer active or relevant to company training efforts. 

• Training administration: Automate back office tasks, such as sending email reminders to active learners, scheduling courses and organizing resources, and storing course registrations in an easy-to-access, central repository. 

• Asynchronous learning: Deploy virtual learning environments that allow learners to participate and engage in learning activities on demand. Ensure that learners receive a robust learning experience without having to adhere to an instructor-led learning schedule. 

• Blended learning: Implement learning courses or pathways that combine in-person classes with virtual online classes to present a comprehensive learning experience for students/trainees. 

• Certification and licensing: Track all certifications earned by students/trainees to ensure they obtain all necessary skill sets. 

• eCommerce management: Integrate with eCommerce systems to accept online course registration payments. View, track, and manage all payments made to course distributors. 

• Learner portal: Allow learners to access a self-service portal to obtain course materials and communicate with instructors via a user-friendly virtual student profile. 

• Learning paths/tracks: Group courses and course materials together to be completed in a sequential order. Track learner progress over the duration of training programs and redirect learners to additional course materials when necessary.

• Mobile learning: Allow students to complete learning materials on mobile platforms. Enable students to access robust learning environments and complete course assignments on the go. 

• Reporting/analytics: Collect, collate, and analyze student/trainee data to identify knowledge gaps. Monitor and review student/trainee course progress. 

• Social learning: Access tools to promote social interaction and learning between students/trainees and instructors/trainers.

What are the benefits of training software?

The benefits of training software for businesses and institutions include: 

• Decreases learning and development costs: Online training software eliminates a large portion of the costs associated with hiring instructors, printing materials, and other in-person, instructor-led course development and deployment fees by transferring the learning environment to an online space. Even blended learning environments can help cut the cost of training in half, only requiring instructors to lead in-person training for half of the duration of the course. 

• Increases course accessibility: With training software, instructors can deliver their training course to students, regardless of their physical location. Trainers will be able to store and organize courses on a centralized platform, streamlining the administrative workflows associated with registering and deploying students/trainees for learning sessions.  

• Decreases training time: Since training software features asynchronous and blended learning deployment options, students can move through courses at their own pace. This eliminates the need for learners to wait for the next training session to commence, enabling students to complete their courses faster. 

• Enables regulatory compliance: It's crucial for companies and institutions to ensure that their students or employees are aware of and compliant with all applicable government or industry regulations. Training software enables regulatory compliance by allowing instructors to set up automated alerts for learners to remind them when compliance training courses are due. Trainers can also auto-enroll learners in compliance courses. 

• Streamlines administrative processes: Instructors can efficiently present, manage, and deliver courses to learners through a centralized platform. Instructors can also automate a number of administrative tasks, including email reminders and course enrollment. 

Who uses training software?

• Companies with mobile or remote workforces: Businesses that operate in a remote work environment or have employees that are constantly traveling need to be able to access training materials no matter their location. With training software, remote employees can access training courses when and where they feel most comfortable, as long as they have internet connection. Training software allows companies with mobile or remote workforces to present, deploy, and monitor all necessary training efforts without having to coordinate schedules for in-person training sessions.

• Healthcare and financial institutions: It's crucial for healthcare and financial institutions to ensure that their employees complete regular compliance training. In fact, compliance training is often mandatory and legally required for these types of institutions. Healthcare and financial institutions may benefit from the automated course scheduling features that training software offers, which allow instructors to assign regulatory compliance courses to employees before their certifications expire. 

• Real estate agencies: In the real estate industry, it is mandatory for active real estate agents to complete continuing education every few years, depending on state regulations. Real estate agencies would benefit from training software since most training software solutions offer asynchronous learning modules, which allow students to learn at their own pace. Real estate brokers will be able to efficiently monitor agent course progression, assuring that all agents stay compliant with state and federal continuing education requirements. 

What is the cost of training software? 

Most products in this market are priced on a per user, per month basis, billed annually. Pricing can be divided into three pricing tiers based on the starting prices: 

Price ranges:

• $1 - $8

• $8 - $49

• $49+

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offering found on vendor websites on April 18, 2022. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products. 

What is the difference between training software and LMS software?

Training software and learning management systems are often seen as interchangeable terms; however, they are quite different. Training software is used by training providers to manage the back-end of training operations, such as processing registrations and payments, communicating with registrants, scheduling training sessions, and other key back-end workflows. 

On the other hand, LMSs deal with the front-end of learning operations including creating and delivering learning environments and course material for students/trainees. 

Although these solutions differ in definition, they prove useful when used in conjunction to create and deploy training courses for learners. Learning management systems help instructors/trainers create and personalize learning content. Once learning content has been structured to the instructor’s liking, then training software can be used to schedule, register, and monitor learners' progress over the duration of the course. By using both an LMS and training software to aid training efforts, companies/institutions can ensure that the content they provide is not only tailored to learner needs, but that it is implemented in the most strategic manner. 

Sources

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from GetApp’s training software Category Leaders report. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in GetApp’s directory that offer them.