How to choose the LMS that's right for you

Is the LMS that meets the most of your criteria the LMS that's right for you? Not necessarily. Remember that you're also building a partnership here and you're going to be working with this company and this software for multiple years.

Let's look at a scenario:

You've eliminated the LMSs where people didn't get back to you, where your requirements weren't met, and that otherwise fell short. You are left with three choices.

LMS A meets all your requirements and two of your nice to haves but support was slow to get back to you during your trial (yes, you should have access to support for your trial - I forgot to mention that last time - and they should be speedy because they're trying to show you how good they are) and the people you talked to didn't impress you.

LMS B meets all your requirements, but none of your nice to haves. Support responded within a reasonable timeframe. The people you spoke with were pleasant, informative, and helpful. Your salesperson has said that eight things from your nice to have list should be rolled out with a year or so.

LMS C meets all your requirements except one, but five of your nice to haves. If it didn't meet a requirement, why was it still on the list? Well, support was super quick to respond. Everyone you spoke with was excited about the partnership between your two companies and the great things that could happen in the future. The interface looked amazing and you just had a good feeling.

Which one do you choose? Again, that's going to depend on your organization, the project stakeholders and a myriad of other things.

If it were me:

LMS B would be my top choice. All the requirements are met, which is the goal. If a nice to have was necessary, it should have been a requirement. Perhaps even more important than the speed of the support is the quality. As far as the eight things that should be rolled out within a year: if they are great, if they're not, as long as everything else meets your criteria you're golden. I would never base my decisions on what should be rolled out. Unless, of course, you get it in writing and have a remedy in place (if feature X is not in place by X date we will receive a 25% discount on LMS pricing, or whatever).

LMS A would get nixed. If you can't get support when a company is trying to woo you, how do you think it's going to be when they've already got you? But don't burn your bridges - you never know what's going to happen with your top choice - you may have to fall back to your second, or third, choice.

LMS C would also be eliminated because they don't meet all the requirements - since they are super quick with the support, have the most nice to haves, and the most excitement about the partnership, I might go back to the owner of that requirement and find out just how required it really is - or ask the vendor if they have any workarounds. In all likelihood, though, LMS C, as much as you might like them, is going to get canned.

Once you've made your selection, it's time to start the negotiation process. Of course, you'll already have the standard pricing for your vendor of choice but now is when you really hone in on the little things: number of years, users (depending on the pricing model), and anything else that's variable (portals, etc). And what about those add ons? Most LMSs have at least a few things that you can add on to the base package to enhance the experience.

Your legal team will likely get involved and depending on your level your manager might be more involved at this point than you are. If at all possible, get on those calls/meetings and get as much insight into the process as possible. Experience does nothing but help.

By this time you should have also gone through your internal security and vendor reviews. Try to go through those prior to making your final selection just in case something comes up that eliminates one (or more!) of your options. I've never had this happen, thankfully, but you never know when security is involved.

Next time: You've got an LMS, now what?