Many LMS (or learning management system) vendors specialize in a specific market, forcing organizations to start from scratch if an internal review reveals they’ve outgrown their current system. That often means months of downtime for your e-learning system and a lengthy training process to get employees up to speed on the new LMS, harming your organization’s productivity. Researching LMS solutions can also be a time-consuming endeavor, and the thought of having to do it all again can feel like a nightmare. Absorb LMS seeks to address these concerns by offering an LMS that scales based on the needs of the customer.
Absorb provides a robust feature suite right out of the box and a variety of optional add-ons to expand its functionality, allowing organizations of all sizes to customize it to their needs. Reading Absorb LMS reviews can help you determine if this is the LMS for you, but many of these reviews are overwhelming because they utilize complex jargon and assume you’re purchasing some of the Absorb add-ons while passing on others. Some reviews also center on a specific industry, undermining the versatility at the heart of this training solution.
If you need help making sense of the reviews you’ve decided to read, you should turn to an expert. Craig Weiss has been involved with the e-learning industry for more than two decades, earning a reputation as the authority on LMS solutions in the process. His latest venture is FindAnLMS.com, a website designed to help organizations choose the best LMS for their employees through unbiased reviews. Weiss personally curates the vendors on FindAnLMS.com, so you’ll only be looking at the best. He’ll also share exclusive insights on the platform you won’t find anywhere else. You can create a free account on FindAnLMS.com to start comparing your options today!
What is Absorb LMS?
Absorb LMS is a cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform that’s designed to be flexible, accommodating changing customer needs without forcing them to switch vendors. The core product is sometimes called Absorb Learn, with optional add-ons such as Absorb Engage, Absorb Create LI, Absorb Infuse, and Absorb Analyze expanding its functionality. It is used by over 20 million learners worldwide, giving the platform a strong global community.
Like most SaaS solutions, Absorb LMS is a subscription service paid for every year. The exact rate is variable depending on the number of employees you’re training, any special features you need in the software, and how you’re getting content (among other factors). It is best to contact the company directly for more specific pricing details tailored to your situation.
What does Absorb bring to the table?
Absorb LMS offers something for every industry and category. No matter what you’re looking for, the UI (or user interface) is sleek for both learners and administrators. The privacy features are top-notch. Furthermore, the accompanying Absorb Learn mobile app facilitates just-in-time training, bridging the gap between abstract learning and on-the-job performance. Any questions you have will also be addressed by an in-house customer support team.
Here is a closer look at what this software can do:
Using an LMS makes training easy
If your organization is ready to invest in employee training, upskilling, and reskilling, Absorb LMS offers strong social learning capabilities to engage all of your employees and create a community culture of growth and development. For example, you can link training content to well-known services such as LinkedIn. You can also track learner performance to identify who is doing well and who should be enrolled in a remedial course quickly and easily.
If your organization is concerned with compliance training, you can track certificates and qualifications directly in the admin dashboard. AI capabilities also point learners toward mandatory courses, automating some of the busy work that goes into the administration of an LMS. It will be so easy for your employees to stay up-to-date with training that you’ll be able to set up a stricter compliance policy.
If your organization is looking into customer training, Absorb LMS offers personalized learner dashboards so that clients only see courses of value to them. Absorb also offers superlative e-commerce capabilities, making it easy to sell your training content through a variety of models. If your organization is in more than one of these scenarios, having a single vendor that can handle it all is very valuable.
Content in the cloud
SaaS software means that your organization won’t need to invest in IT infrastructure, bandwidth requirements, or server configurations, allowing you to concentrate on what you do best. Cloud-based software also offers exceptional uptimes, meaning that all of the educational material you provide will nearly always be available to your team. One of the secrets to that is hosted servers in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, China, and Australia, ensuring easy access for learners in every corner of the globe.
If you find that your organization needs to add a couple of thousand learners on short notice, no problem. Elastic load balancing allows you to scale up your resources whenever you need it. You can even be up and running in weeks, not months.
All of the content you need
Absorb LMS includes a third-party course library called Absorb Amplify filled with proven content from well-known names such as BizLibrary, Skillsoft, and Tralient, so you will be able to find the type of content you’re looking for and get started promptly. Some of the content on Amplify is available at no additional charge, something you don’t see very often in the e-learning industry. There is paid content too, however.
Absorb LMS also offers turnkey integrations with popular products such as Zoom and Salesforce, making it easy to connect all of the systems your organization uses. If you use a product that isn’t included in the turnkey integrations, xAPI and SCORM support will let you build the software integration you need (or have it built for you). Absorb LMS doesn’t offer content creation tools in the base package, but you can add them if you like.
What about all those Absorb add-ons?
Most of the weaknesses of Absorb LMS can be addressed through optional additions to the software, forcing you to pay more for the full experience. While annoying, many of these add-ons deliver outstanding value to the customer.
For instance, Absorb Engage provides engagement tools to make training more productive and enjoyable for learners of all ability levels. It provides gamification features such as live leaderboards and badges to foster friendly competition among learners, inspiring them to try and one-up their peers. Likewise, you can incorporate multimedia elements from any source to help presentations pop.
Create LI is a well-above-average course authoring tool that you can use to create training content unique to the specific needs of your organization. It comes especially recommended for novices, as more experienced developers will be able to create better content with the many third-party tools on the market.
Infuse allows training materials to be integrated into the software and systems that your organization uses every day to facilitate contextual learning in the flow of work. Honestly, this is probably one of the less impressive portions of the suite.
Analyze provides more robust analytics including data visualization tools, configurable reports, and a personalized reporting dashboard. You’ll need this to make valid reports and show the value of training to your organization’s stakeholders, and the data you collect can also be used to identify candidates for internal promotions.
Pinpoint leverages natural language processing and AI capabilities to automatically transcribe and timestamp lessons, allowing both instructors and learners to quickly find the information they need even if it’s buried in a video. This often expedites the educational process by giving learners access to the specific material they need with ease. Pinpoint also includes reporting tools to help administrators design more effective courses in the future.
All of these tools deliver real value, but they are also the system’s greatest weakness. Other vendors provide course authoring tools, advanced analytics, and engagement features in their core product, so why does Absorb use such a piecemeal approach? Still, few vendors offer comparable software functionality at any price.
Compare Absorb LMS reviews on FindAnLMS.com
Absorb LMS can be a difficult system to wrap your head around because of all the add-ons, but that doesn’t mean that you should just rule it out. The software offers something to every potential customer without falling into the “jack of all trades, master of none” trope, and that makes it powerful.
Of course, you shouldn’t blindly choose Absorb LMS either. It’s certainly a good system, but the add-ons drive up the price and some organizations are better served by software designed with their particular industry in mind. For example, dedicated customer training platforms often outperform generic solutions in their niche. The best thing to do is create a free account on FindAnLMS.com and take advantage of Craig Weiss’s unparalleled expertise in the e-learning industry to compare Absorb LMS to other top vendors. You’ll get more information than you would from a generic review, and Weiss provides helpful insight like a score in various categories to streamline your decision-making process. You won’t find better reviews anyplace else!
