Modern organizations need e-learning platforms to effectively onboard, upskill, and reskill team members and channel partners. An LMS (or learning management system) can also help manage the logistics of employee development programs or quantify the impact of training on your organization’s bottom line. Since LMS solutions offer so many benefits, many organizations buy separate ones for each department or group of affiliates.
Craig Weiss, an industry veteran who has worked in the e-learning field since its inception and founded the Craig Weiss Group LLC, argues that purchasing a separate system for every group is expensive and introduces inefficiencies that will compromise your organization’s performance. Instead, the key is to find a multi-tenant LMS that offers multiple sub-tenants or portals within a single system, ensuring that all departments can communicate with each other and that integrations go off without a hitch.
What makes an LMS multi-tenant is that each user can have their own design, layout, and access privileges while the administrator can track what each user is doing. While a single instance of software supports multiple customers, each sub-tenant is isolated and cannot see what other tenants are doing. If you need help finding a multi-tenant LMS, Craig Weiss has created FindAnLMS.com to help average people take advantage of his vast e-learning expertise to find the perfect system for their needs. You can create a free account on FindAnLMS.com to start comparing top-rated systems head-to-head!
What features make a learning management system multi-tenant?
Every multi-tenant LMS vendor uses different terminology to describe the feature, so Weiss likes to keep it simple by using “parent” to refer to the main tenant or administrator and “child” for each sub-tenant. Each child gets a unique look and feel, so the accounting department can use its specific logo on every page while salespeople will see only content that can help them drive sales. The parent chooses what each child can do such as whether they can upload their own content or enroll in courses individually. Some systems call these “hierarchy rules” on their feature lists, but Weiss says that it’s what makes an LMS multi-tenant and offered by everyone.
A great multi-tenant LMS will go beyond this to include custom domain names, ensuring that your vendor’s name won’t appear in the URL you’re providing to potential clients or employees. Many multi-tenant LMS vendors are reluctant to do this, so Weiss recommends looking into URL masking so it at least appears as though you have a custom domain.
Analytics are also important for a multi-tenant LMS, but that doesn’t mean you should be looking for an Excel file covering everybody. You want data segmentation for each child, allowing the parent to see what every child is doing on the system and what content is providing the most value to different audiences.
Some vendors offer unlimited children for free, while others provide a set number for free and charge per child or on a bundle basis after that. Many multi-tenant LMS vendors overcharge for this feature, so Weiss recommends shopping around. Similarly, some LMS vendors overcharge for custom branding (also known as white labeling).
What are some good multi-tenant LMS options?
While your specific needs will determine which LMS is right for you, Weiss offers a few generic suggestions. Most of the best multi-tenant LMS vendors are in the customer education space, with D2L Brightspace, Schoox, and Eurekos standing out for offering an unlimited number of children for free. Thought Industries calls its portals “Panoramas” and offers outstanding flexibility in what you can do with them.
Find a great multi-tenant LMS on FindAnLMS.com
The information above is intended as a brief synopsis of what makes an LMS multi-tenant, not a comprehensive overview. If you would like more information on the benefits of multi-tenancy, Craig Weiss recently shared his thoughts on the subject. You can also create a free account on FindAnLMS.com to leverage Weiss’s experience to start searching for a multi-tenant LMS today.
