LCMS Implementation - Part 2: Market Analysis

You've settled-in on the approved requirements for your organization's new Learning Content Management System (LCMS).  Now it's time to conduct some market research to find an LCMS that meets your needs.  Market analysis can be compared to ocean waves that bring you closer and closer to shore, and get you to the LCMS tool that (hopefully) gives you what you want.

WAVE 1 - Broad scale research

In this wave, you are casting a big net and hoping to find "THE" fish - your new LCMS. By all means, leverage the research that's already been done by the myriad of professional reporting organizations and independent consultants.  However, be aware. Some LCMS vendors pay a fee to be included in some of these industry reports. So, these reports may not fully represent the LCMS market as you may hope. Although you could pay a premium to receive the full reports published by these organizations, you don't have to bare that expense.  Roll-up your sleeves and do the "fishing" yourself. What does that mean? GOOGLE!

The information is out there.  Set aside some quality time to read about the LCMS vendors you find and compare the features of their LCMS with your requirements list. You may end up finding 20 or more tools that are potential candidates. This wave could take anywhere between a few weeks to more than a month. Create three lists: 1) YES, 2) MAYBE, and 3) NO.

The YES list is obvious. According to your online research, you may be able to determine that the LCMS "appears" to meet most of your requirements - well, based on the claims from their website. Yay!  They are an early contender. Get the contact information so you can reach out to a (sigh) "Sales" person when you reach WAVE 2.  Don't get too excited, though. This is rare.  It's more likely that you will add most LCMS tools to the MAYBE list.

The MAYBE list contains the LCMS tools that appear to meet many of your requirements but there just isn't enough information available that will enable you to add them to the YES list. So, what do you do?  Get the contact information and keep fishing.

The NO list is also obvious.  Based on your research, does the LCMS appear to meet enough of your requirements?  No?  Then they are out of the running. Throw that fish back. 

By the end of WAVE 1, you may have a list of 5 to 10 vendors you want to contact from the YES and MAYBE lists.

WAVE 2 - Narrow it Down

Now it's time to reach out to the LCMS sales teams.  Although this is a necessary step, sometimes it can be taxing. The sales person is going to ask you about your requirements. That's a given.  After that, most will want to setup a time to conduct their sales presentation. That's also expected. For the presentation, invite other stakeholders from your organization (including a representative from your company's IT department).

In the sales presentation, the LCMS vendor will provide an overview of their company, but will concentrate most heavily on the features of their LCMS. They "should" also include how their tool specifically meets YOUR requirements. This is very important. It lets you know that they were "listening" during your initial conversation with them and that they want to ensure they are making the connection in your mind between their LCMS and your needs. If you want the vendor to conduct a demo of the LCMS, you'll need to be sure they know that in advance so they have time to prepare.  Also, be sure you've set aside enough time in the meeting to accommodate the demo and stakeholder questions.  If there is not enough time for a demo during the initial sales presentation, be sure to setup another meeting specifically for the demo.

Now comes the reasons for the "sigh" earlier in this post. Some cautionary points need to be made here.

1. Often, these are "canned" demonstrations that have been setup and ready to go for such an occasion as this.  The content has been pre-populated and the system pre-configured FOR THE SALES DEMO. Meaning, it is given to any potential client (regardless of their requirements).  It will highlight the features the vendor wants to draw your attention to - the LCMS' best features. It may not, however, highlight how it meets YOUR requirements.  Be on the lookout for this.  If you can, get the vendor to perform specific actions in the LCMS that are directly related to what you need the tool to do.  They may or may not be able to accommodate this request. If they can, kudos to them.
2. When asking the LCMS vendor if the tool will perform a specific function, often the vendor will say "yes"; and it very well may perform the function you want.  But, the next question is, "at what price?" The price isn't from a "cost" perspective. It's from a "time and effort" perspective.  For example, suppose you're told the tool can export your content to a web-based training (WBT) format, a mobile format, a document format for instructor-led training (ILT), and some other format - all at the push of a button.  Sounds awesome, right?  But what if it meant that you had to configure the tool for 4 different templates and 4 different themes; establish a metadata strategy so that you know what metadata to assign to 10 or more elements; and once you "push the button", you will have to tweak the end-product even more?  So, "yes", it can do what you want, but are you willing to pay the price.  Be sure to ask the vendor, "what does it take?" to get the LCMS to meet a particular requirement, and have them show you.
3. When you are discussing your requirements with the sales contact, it may become clear to you that their LCMS just isn't a good enough match to your requirements. So, you politely try to end the conversation. But remember, you're dealing with a SALES PERSON. Their goal is to make the sale. Unfortunately, sometimes this can get uncomfortable and a bit pushy.  Some sales people go so far as to try to make a convincing argument why your requirements aren't "good" requirements. If you don't have a firm grasp of your own requirements and why they are on your requirements list, this particular sales person may be able to sway you in their direction. BE STRONG.
4. If the LCMS does not meet enough of your requirements, some vendors will try to deflect and redirect your attention to the other LCMS features you "should" want but are not on your requirements list.  This can get tricky too.  Is this "other" feature worthy of being added to your organization's requirements list? Is it a feature you know the organization really needs to have, but you missed it during the requirements generation phase?  If so, fair enough. Add it. However, if it's a good feature but is only worthy of an "honorable mention" and not an "award", let it go.  It's simply a "nice to have." Move on.

Wave 2, by far, is the longest and biggest wave, and could take months to complete. This wave may contain multiple demos and several conversations with a particular LCMS sales contact. With each demo, invite more (or other) stakeholders. After the initial demos, you may want to have one-day sessions with these contenders that will allow you to experience the LCMS tool for yourself. Many vendors are happy to do this for you.  They'll provide you with temporary user accounts during the session and will allow you to continue using the accounts for a specified period after the session. During this time, they are more than happy to make themselves available to address any questions you may have.

Wave 2 is done. At this point, you've hopefully narrowed the list of contenders to 2 or 3 vendors.  It's time to conduct an internal pilot of the tool.

WAVE 3 - Internal Pilot

The goal of this pilot is to be able to get feedback from future LCMS users in your organization and determine which single LCMS best meets your requirements.  The pilot should include "champions" and "critics" of the LCMS. You'll need both to make a strong recommendation to your organization's decision makers. Set aside 3 to 5 days to pilot one of the LCMS tools from your final contender list. If there are 3 tools on your contender list, that means you'll need to set aside up to 15 days for the entire pilot.

Using the temporary user accounts and demo instance of the LCMS, prepare a mini-training session and scripts for participants to follow. Have them perform some of the same tasks they will be doing in the future LCMS: create a course, setup it's structure, add modules and lessons, add content (e.g., text, multimedia), add interactive elements (e.g., hyperlinks, hotspots), lock/unlock content, collaborate within the system, submit change requests for one another, etc. 

Allow the participants to score each requirement and provide feedback on what worked well and what didn't.  Have someone in your organization conduct the pilot, without the vendor present. You want feedback to be as raw as possible and not tainted by any excuse the vendor may give for why the system isn't performing as expected or desired.  Once the pilot is over, compile the feedback and data. By this point, there should be one LCMS that stands out above the rest, and is what you present in your formal recommendation to your organization.