You can use data and analytics to improve learning and training, reinforce people’s skill sets, and enhance the business. Our Building a Business Case for Learning Analytics has outlined a whopping 20 business cases covering just about every area applicable to L&D. So, how do you choose the most appropriate business case for your organization to bring the most value? This final post of the series will help you to do that.
The good news is that you don’t need to restrict yourself to one business case. In fact, implementing learning analytics in several ways will likely deliver the best value for your investment. Nonetheless, you must start somewhere and identify a strong business case to get started.
If you’re new to our blog series, check out the introduction for an overview and recommendations for making the most of this series.
What’s Your Area of Focus?
The first step is identifying which focus from the following areas is likely to add the most value to your organization and the easiest to gain stakeholder buy-in. Then, jump down to the corresponding heading to continue the decision-making process.
- Learners and People. Learner analytics is a good focus if your goals concentrate on better developing people or improving skills management and employee retention. This area is a great starting point if you’re focused on developing your people and need visibility on learner behavior across your ecosystem.
- Learning Content and Experiences. Your focus may be on ensuring the quality and effectiveness of learning content and experiences. This is a good focus if your stakeholders are the L&D team, especially those responsible for creating and curating content. Equipping these people with insights helps them improve their work and, in turn, makes them better at improving others in the organization.
- Learning Platforms. You may want to focus on the learning platforms and other technologies that support learning and development in your organization. Whether keeping an eye on the launch of a new platform or monitoring the usage and impact of existing platforms, it's critical to know you are getting value for your investment.
- A Specific Learning Program. Your business case may focus on a particular learning program or collection of programs. Analytics can help monitor engagement with and completion of a program and evaluate the program's effectiveness in improving performance.
Learners & People
Which areas will add the most value to the organization if your focus is on people?
- Using learner analytics to track training, compliance, and performance
- Displaying a complete learner transcript
- Reporting on achievement of digital credentials
- Identifying cases of cheating
- Mapping skills in the organization
- Tracking extended enterprise learners
Learning Content & Experiences
If your focus is on content and learning experiences, what business benefits do you hope to get from the data?
- Identifying and eliminating scrap learning
- Managing content or technology vendors
- Measuring (and improving) the impact of training on the business
- Responding to learning needs identified through search analytics.
- Other learning content analytics
Learning Platforms
How do you want to use your learning platform data if your focus is on platforms?
- Keeping track of learning activity across multiple platforms in the learning ecosystem
- Addressing reporting requirements for a specific platform
- Monitoring the launch of a new platform to identify and address any issues and ensure value for money from that new platform
- Managing learning platform vendors
A Learning Program
If you’re focused on a specific learning program (or collection of programs), what type of program is it?
- A compliance program
- A learning game
- Another type of training program
Additional Considerations
Consider these factors when planning your learning analytics strategy:
- Crisis preparation to gauge skills and training needs during times of uncertainty
- Data aggregation and cleansing
- Automating L&D reports for efficient workflows
Sell the Business Value of Learning Analytics
Whatever case you choose, the most crucial thing in building a business case for learning analytics is identifying the business value. In other words, how will this investment help the business and its bottom line?
We hope you’ve found this series helpful in doing just that, and we’re here if you have any questions or would like to request a demo to see how Watershed can help you.
About the author
As a co-author of xAPI, Andrew has been instrumental in revolutionizing the way we approach data-driven learning design. With his extensive background in instructional design and development, he’s an expert in crafting engaging learning experiences and a master at building robust learning platforms in both corporate and academic environments. Andrew’s journey began with a simple belief: learning should be meaningful, measurable, and, most importantly, enjoyable. This belief has led him to work with some of the industry’s most innovative organizations and thought leaders, helping them unlock the true potential of their learning strategies. Andrew has also shared his insights at conferences and workshops across the globe, empowering others to harness the power of data in their own learning initiatives.
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