An Independent Analyst Perspective into the Learning ... Conf 1404... · An Independent Analyst Perspective into the Learning Management Systems (LMS) Market . Elearnity 9-Grid™

January 2013 – 9GRIDLMS201401

©Copyright Elearnity Limited. All Rights Reserved. 1 Deep Insights, Pragmatic Advice

9-Grid™

Learning Management Systems

January 2014 An Independent Analyst Perspective into the Learning Management Systems (LMS) Market

Elearnity 9-Grid™ for Learning Management Systems – January 2014



CONTENTS UNDERSTANDING THE ELEARNITY 9-GRID™ ............................................................................................................................... 4

THE 9-GRID™ VARIABLES FOR LMS .......................................................................................................................................... 5

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MARKET & TRENDS ................................................................................................................ 6

ELEARNITY 9-GRID™ VENDOR COMMENTARIES .......................................................................................................................... 8

Absorb LMS ................................................................................................................................................................... 9

CrossKnowledge Learning Suite .................................................................................................................................. 10

Infor Learning Management ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Kallidus LMS ................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Kenexa LMS ................................................................................................................................................................. 13

Learning Cloud ............................................................................................................................................................ 14

Learning Manager glo................................................................................................................................................. 15

Learning Suite ............................................................................................................................................................. 16

Lumesse Learning Gateway ........................................................................................................................................ 17

Moodle ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18

NetDimensions Learning ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Oracle Learning Management .................................................................................................................................... 20

Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud Service ................................................................................................................................ 21

PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management (ELM) .................................................................................................. 22

Saba Learning ............................................................................................................................................................. 23

SAP Learning Solution ................................................................................................................................................. 24

SilkRoad GreenLight .................................................................................................................................................... 25

Skillport ....................................................................................................................................................................... 26

SkillsServe LMS ............................................................................................................................................................ 27

SuccessFactors Learning ............................................................................................................................................. 28

SumTotal Enterprise Learning Management .............................................................................................................. 29

Totara LMS .................................................................................................................................................................. 30

UpsideLMS .................................................................................................................................................................. 31

WHAT NEXT? .................................................................................................................................................................... 32

ABOUT ELEARNITY .............................................................................................................................................................. 33




Accuracy of Information and Warranties

The analysis and recommendations made in Elearnity 9-Grid™ are based on the information currently

available to Elearnity and from sources believed to be reliable. Elearnity disclaims all warranties as to the

accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Elearnity will have no liability for errors, omissions

or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations hereof. Opinions expressed

herein are subject to change without notice. All content is copyright Elearnity limited unless otherwise

identified. All rights reserved.

Inclusions and Exclusions

Entries into the Elearnity 9-Grid™ for Learning Management are made on the basis of the appearance of

those solutions within Elearnity’s Corporate Research network which focuses on European and international,

enterprise scale corporates.

As a result there are a number of US based solutions which have been omitted because they do not have an

adequate international presence for us to provide a viable commentary around. Conversely, there may

providers have little recognition outside EMEA, but are included because they have built a European based

corporate presence with some leading international companies.




Understanding the Elearnity 9-Grid™

The Elearnity 9-Grid™ is a five dimensional model that can be used to understand the relative position of

different solutions and providers in a selected learning and talent market segment. It allows organisations to

compare different solutions based on their Performance, Potential, Market Presence, Total Cost of

Ownership and Future Trajectories across the market.

9-Grid™ is unique, because the model contains value in all of its zones – not just the top right. 9-Grid™ not

only provides an understanding of the market, but also identifies the high level actions that can help

corporate organisations get the best from vendors.

9-Grid™ is based on Elearnity’s independent research in the Learning and Talent market over the past 17

years, and draws upon the insights and experience of our Corporate Research Network. The Corporate

Research Network is a group of learning and talent professionals, who between them represent over 150 of

Europe’s leading companies. These companies are typically global enterprise-scale organisations with their

Head Offices in Europe (or the EMEA HQ of global companies).

Essentially the 9-Grid™ Model brings together our independent view of solution providers, including their:

Performance - comprising of two elements: Market Performance and Customer Performance.

Potential - Scope, capability and sophistication.

Presence - Historic and current presence in the market. This includes the size of the customer base,

the number of enterprise customers and the overall size of the business, within the scope of the

market segment we are examining.

Total Cost of Ownership means the FULL cost of acquiring, implementing and operating the solution

(typically over a 3 year period). Importantly, this includes both internal and external costs.

Future Trajectory – our view of their direction of travel in terms of Performance and Potential,

relative to their current position and the market as a whole.

Interpreting the exact position of the vendor in a 9-Grid™ zone is explained in more fully in our Introduction

to the 9-Grid document available from our website. www.elearnity.com/9-grid.html.

We strongly recommend reading the full document to understand the model in detail.

The Critical Difference between the 9-Grid and other Analyst Models

There is a very important difference between 9-Grid™ and other Analyst models. In the 9-Grid™ all of the

nine zones have value, and more interestingly, have an associated set of actions that can help you to

maximise the value of the relationship with different vendors.

This means that being in the top right is not the only valid selection point. For some organisations it may not

even be desirable. There are many other zones that offer success, especially when balanced against Total

Cost of Ownership.

http://www.elearnity.com/9-grid.html




The 9-Grid™ variables for LMS

What do potential, performance, presence and total cost of ownership mean in the context of LMS?

Performance

This focuses on customers’ choices: does the solution get short listed, does it win, does it deliver and are

customers happy. This is viewed through the lens of large international corporates and is taken from the

experiences we have gleaned of our Corporate Research Network and general market briefing. This may not,

therefore, necessarily reflect the experiences of smaller and mid-sized organisations.

Potential

Two key aspects: scope and sophistication. In the LMS context, scope covers the breadth of learning

management processes including the types of learning that can be effectively managed, the operational

processes for accessing, managing, planning and delivering learning, and the tools for evaluating, assessing

and reporting it. Sophistication defines the functional depth of the processes and the level of complexity that

can be managed within them. Mid-market tools tend to have wider scope, but lack sophistication or

functional depth. High sophistication implies a high degree of control on how each of the processes can be

configured as well as the ability to support different processes for different courses and learner groups.

Presence

This is their presence in the enterprise market place and is very much about the size of the customer base as

well as presence in the overall market. Again this is not a linear scale, but represent three bandings that

group the levels of maturity / distinct groupings we see in the market. Higher Presence solutions will have

large numbers of corporate enterprise scale customers and high overall user numbers.

Total Cost of Ownership

TCO is about the overall cost of buying, implementing and operating the LMS. This is a combination not only

of initial cost of buying the platform, but also the cost of operating the solution – namely the hosting,

maintenance and upgrade overheads as well as the cost of resources, i.e. the team, to run it.

Trajectory

For LMS, Trajectory is our sense of potential direction of travel in terms of both Performance and Potential.

Trajectory is measured relative to the current Performance and Potential of that solution and the market as a

whole. It is not a relative positioning compared to other solutions in the same zone.




Learning Management System Market & Trends

Despite talk about the death of LMS, the Learning Management System market has continued to thrive and

grow in 2013, and looks set to continue growing in 2014.

In our view, some of the key trends for 2104 are:

The Shift to Talent – We still see a significant vendor shift to Talent Management, and an increasing growth

in cross-talent buying from corporations. Some significant improvements in integration and standardisation

of user experience between modules from the Talent/HCM vendors that have acquired LMS technology, and

continued acceleration of Talent functionality development from the standalone LMS vendors. From a

corporate stand point, there is also an increased focus on integrating learning with other talent processes.

The learning function needs to raise its game here, as it is a key driver of Talent, but not treated as such by

HR overall. Despite the growth of the talent dimension to learning, it is still critical that LMS can properly

meet business-driven learning and operational priorities outside of the Talent/HR context.

Continued Growth of the “Cloud” – Deployment in the Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) is now the

de facto option for the majority of customers and vendors alike. Not only does it bring customer benefits in

terms of ease of deployment, configurability, speed of innovation and reduced total cost of ownership, it is

also bringing benefits to the provider, by simplifying their customer management. Whilst there continue to

be organisations who demand traditional “on-premise” approaches, they are a shrinking minority. Concern

still exists in Europe about hosting of data in the US, and localised regional cloud hosting arrangements are

likely to become cemented as the new norm.

Mobile First – Any Device Strategy – Mobile access and delivery is a big focus for practically all the LMS

providers. But in many ways, mobile is still in its infancy. The range and richness of mobile functionality

varies considerably from solution to solution, but with the growth of tablets, many vendors are now

increasingly designing for mobile first. But overall, mobile has some deeper and more significant impacts on

the breadth of learning an LMS is expected to deliver. If mobile takes learning closer to the point of learning

need, not only does the Mobile LMS have to enable course delivery, it also needs to be able to support

Performance Support, on-the-job learning and assessments, and support mobile collaboration.

Waiting for the Great User Experience – The genuinely great user experience is still proving elusive for

most LMS users, despite significant investment in UI design from the vendors. The old paradigms of course

catalogues and multi-click training booking still weigh heavy on the user experience. Some of this is being

eroded by richer learning portals and tailored learner journeys, but vendors are still to make their systems

user experience truly seamless and inspiring.

Losing the Legacy – Legacy LMS systems have been a big drag on learner perceptions of user experience,

innovation and customer satisfaction. But we do appear to have reached an inflection point. The shift to

Cloud LMS with its associated ease of configuration and innovation, together with the increased focus on

user experience overall is paying some dividends, but there is more work needed to lose the legacy view. For

those who remain on legacy platforms the issue is that they are getting more and more left behind with the

innovations in learning that could really transform their learning delivery. Once that meant delivering e-

learning, now it means so much more.




Big Data, Reports, Dashboard and Analytics - Reporting has been a bugbear for many users. With the

rise of the concept of Big Data and Analytics – the promise of gaining real insights into the impact of learning

from their LMS is potentially much more of a reality. This is not just through configurable reports and

dashboards, but also through decision support tools. Recent months has also seen the emergence of

“Predicative Analytics”, highlighting consequences and suggested appropriate actions based on the data.

Whilst this is certainly at the “bleeding edge”, harnessing business intelligence from an LMS to support

business decision making is something it is going to be harder and harder to ignore. Those vendors without a

strong analytics answer risk being consigned to the LMS back waters.

Integration as a Core Driver – Whether it is HR, Assessments, Competencies or Performance data –

integration with other platforms is a core driver for most LMS platforms, especially those that do not come

with a suite of complimentary modules. Whilst people data was once the sole focus, now integration into

business and transactional systems is increasingly a corporate requirement. Embedding LMS functionality

into work systems and portals, and via web services and APIs is now common place. Increasingly, the LMS

back-end is becoming a transaction engine rather than a shop window for the learning catalogue.

Increasingly Social – One of the biggest criticisms of LMS has been their inability to really support informal

learning. Whether it’s through in-built functionality or integration into enterprise collaboration platforms -

that perceived weakness is being addressed. The ability to enable on-the-job collaboration and learning is

increasingly not the issue it once was. But the depth of social integration and capability varies widely

between platforms. Finding a solution that truly supports social learning in a formal and informal learning

context is a more complicated that you might at first expect, especially if you are looking for gamification in

additional to standard collaborative features.

Wrestling with the Learning Record Store (LRS) – Just when you thought that one three letter acronym

was enough in this space, a new one emerges from the Tin Can/Experience API project. Whilst the concept

of a Learning Record Store (LRS) has been circulating since the project began, few LMS vendors have really

done a great deal with it or have a clear view of what buyers really are going to do with it. That could be

about to change. Innovators are actively looking at how they bring Tin Can and LRS to the market, especially

as a way of tracking mobile learning that pulls on a suite of blended resources outside of classic e-learning

courses.




Elearnity 9-Grid™ Vendor Commentaries

This section provides short commentaries around the placement of different vendors featured in the 9 Grid™

Model, outlining the Elearnity view of their Performance, Potential, Presence, Total Cost of Ownership and

Trajectory. The featured vendors are listed in alphabetical order are:

Absorb LMS - Blatant Media / Omniplex

CrossKnowledge Learning Suite - CrossKnowledge

Infor Learning Management - Infor

Kallidus LMS - Kallidus

Kenexa LMS - Kenexa, an IBM Company

Learning Cloud - Cornerstone OnDemand

Learning Manager Glo - Coloni

Learning Suite - IMC

Lumesse Learning Gateway - Lumesse

Moodle - Moodle

NetDimensions Learning - NetDimensions

Oracle Learning Management - Oracle

Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud Service - Oracle

PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management - Oracle

Saba Learning - Saba Software

SAP Learning Solution - SAP

SilkRoad GreenLight - SilkRoad

Skillport - Skillsoft

SkillsServe LMS- Unicorn

SuccessFactors Learning - SuccessFactors, An SAP Company

SumTotal Enterprise Learning Management - SumTotal Systems

Totara LMS - Totara

UpsideLMS - Upside Learning




Absorb LMS

Company: Blatant Media / Omniplex

Rating: Solid Performer

Category: Learning Management Systems

Website: www.absorblms.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Establishing itself as a solid mid-market option for mainly medium sized corporates and public sector, especially in the US. Growing visibility in the UK. Solely distributed by Omniplex in the UK and mainland Europe.

Potential

Flexible solution offering high levels of configurability, combined with ease of use. New HTML5 interface provides excellent mobile support including Experience API (Tin Can). Very capable portal, often used as an extended enterprise tool and for e-commerce. Increasing internationalisation of product planned for 2014.

Presence

Despite strong growth in the US and an innovative feature set, still needs to achieve a broader presence in UK and Europe.


Low overall TCO, in line with other mid-market offerings. Simple to manage and deploy, so ongoing investment, as well as initial deployment costs, are easy to control.

Trajectory

Good ongoing innovation. Richer functionality for International deployments should positively impact its European market visibility. But breakthrough in mainland European market also dependent on expanding EU presence and investment.




CrossKnowledge Learning Suite

Company: CrossKnowledge

Rating: Potential Challenger


Website: www.crossknowledge.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

French e-learning provider with good global customer coverage, although yet to establish itself as a significant player in the global LMS market.

Potential

Exceptionally strong focus on supporting 70:20:10 learning model. Provides rich functionally to support blended and social learning. Good all round solution. Weaker in managing compliance training needs and reporting.

Presence

Good core of European customers. Historically an enabler of CrossKnowledge's content proposition. Has an established role in supporting leadership development portals based on Crossknowledge content. Growing focus on it as an LMS platform in its own right.


Comparable to other mid-market SaaS players. Quick to implement. Strong admin experience contributes to good ongoing TCO.

Trajectory

Strong focus on "learning effectiveness" creates a different story from other LMS's in the market. Undergoing significant investment in social learning. Some headline enterprise wins are helping to build momentum.




Infor Learning Management

Company: Infor

Rating: Core Challenger


Website: www.infor.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Infor acquired CERTPOINT and its VLS LMS in 2013 to strengthen its Talent Management portfolio. Historically CERTPOINT had a few notable customers, but modest success overall in Europe.

Potential

Integrated LMS and LCMS solution has solid capability and some uniques, plus good capabilities in delivering mobile and social learning. Proven solution in global deployments. Now under Infor's wing, the potential opportunity is significant. Early days, but is already integrated with the wider Infor Talent Suite.

Presence

Stronger in the US market, especially in mid-market. Some notable global clients. Limited market momentum in Europe. Yet to see impact of Infor acquisition on customer uptake.


As a mid-market solution, Infor LMS is priced accordingly. Together with a relatively low implementation and service overhead and single-tenant SaaS operation, it offers sustainable TCO for its customers. Simple and flexible administration, eases on-going administrative overheads.

Trajectory

Given the Infor acquisition there is the potential for a major shift in market position, especially if the Infor Talent suite opportunity can be exploited.




Kallidus LMS

Company: Kallidus



Website: www.kallidus.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

UK-centric mid-market LMS provider which has delivered consistent year on year growth, and now broadened its portfolio to include talent management. Results built upon a solid learning product offering and good execution with a strong focus on customer service.

Potential

Capable LMS solution with a broad range of functionality and a variety of deployment options. Recent developments to support mobile content delivery. Limited depth of functionality compared to Enterprise leaders, but can-do customer approach and broader portfolio of learning and talent solutions can serve customers well.

Presence

Strong client list for domestic UK provider, with mix of large and medium sized organisations. Some international deployments. No significant company presence outside of the UK.


Good value for money solution with a broad range of capabilities. SaaS offering provides a good opportunity to control future cost base. Overall TCO low compared to higher end rivals.

Trajectory

Continues to innovate its LMS, broadening the portfolio and signifcantly expanding the sales and technical team. Lack of operational presence outside of UK limits potential for global growth.




Kenexa LMS

Company: Kenexa, an IBM Company



Website: www.kenexa.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

An emerging solution in the enterprise LMS market. Growing European market performance and customer advocacy.

Potential

Now as part of IBM, there are significant opportunities for the LMS going forward. Continues to innovate rapidly and is increasingly an important aspect of IBM Smarter Workforce offering. Strong collaboration features. Future focus on building greater functional depth and sophistication.

Presence

Very little presence historically, but starting to see some traction within the European market. Still early days.


Mid-priced offering, but limited evidence to date in Europe of longer term cost of ownership.

Trajectory

With IBM's resources behind it and the potential to cross-sell into the existing Kenexa customer base. Strong investment in platform. Developing customer advocacy in recent adopters as well as stronger sales/marketing focus is key to future growth.




Learning Cloud

Company: Cornerstone OnDemand

Rating: Strategic Leader


Website: www.cornerstoneondemand.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

A leading global LMS provider with an equally strong presence in Europe, CSOD continues to consistently deliver strong customer advocacy and impressive market growth.

Potential

With a pure play, multi-tenant-SaaS offering, and organically grown customer base, CSOD does not have to contend with legacy platform versions. Also enables it to offer a healthy stream of innovation to all customers. Rich roadmap enhancements and new features covering mobile and social. Wide range of modules offer an integrated approach to Talent Management.

Presence

A large but still rapidly growing LMS user base, both globally and in Europe, that includes many of Europe's leading brands across a wide range of industry sectors.


Natively SaaS/Cloud with a scalable and simple to manage platform results in lower operational overheads and implementation costs than its Enterprise-class rivals.

Trajectory

Consistently impressive market growth year on year. Relative shift in R&D priorities to Talent Management may impact rate of innovation in learning. Rapid growth has also led to some growing pains (especially in professional services) at times. Can sometimes over-simplify CSOD service needs in global deployments.




Learning Manager glo

Company: Coloni



Website: www.coloni.net

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

For the size of company, Coloni's customer list is impressive, including some significant enterprise organisations. Particularly successful in the retail, financial services and automotive sectors. Good customer feedback.

Potential

Latest release of Learning Manager glo added greater support for social and mobile learning and is now deployed to several clients. Current level of sophistication means it is more suited to lower complexity deployments. Good level of innovation but still primarily dictated by specific customer needs.

Presence

Some global enterprise scale customers, but overall presence is limited. No company operations outside UK.


Four different editions of its SaaS LMS, with a range of support options. Aims to offer something for most organisations, at a price point to suit.

Trajectory

Relatively small organisation, so resource levels inhibit overall growth. Balancing existing customer needs with overall strategic aims will continue to be crucial as it expands solution functionality and scope. Lacks wider European market strategy outside of the UK.




Learning Suite

Company: IMC



Website: www.im-c.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Major player in Germany with strong base in German-speaking Europe and some large global customers.

Potential

Solid suite of functionality leveraging corporate and academic customer needs. Wider learning solution suite includes authoring and business process tools.

Presence

Strong presence in corporate, higher education and public sectors in Germany, but has limited visibility in UK or other major European markets. Has some notable European customers. Increased focus on US market including new San Francisco office.


Typically more service intensive to implement and operate. Comparatively complicated solution to administer and manage.

Trajectory

Despite some new global customer wins and Learning Suite's underlying core strengths, IMC is yet to consistently replicate success on a pan-European basis. Some progress.




Lumesse Learning Gateway

Company: Lumesse



Website: www.lumesse.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Learning Gateway SaaS LMS was part of the Edvantage acquisition. Some interesting UK/Nordic customers and positive customer advocacy.

Potential

Solid core learning functionality combined with an integrated content offering and bespoke services, but modest progress made in integrating into Lumesse's Talent Management modules. Has some interesting innovations, especially regarding learner focused learning portals.

Presence

Not a big name in LMS. Historically good local presence in Nordics and some UK tactical/mid-market presence. Visibility as a standalone LMS has waned since the Lumesse acquisition.


Cost effective SaaS solution with moderate service requirements and operational overheads. Limited recent visibility to confirm real price trends under Lumesse.

Trajectory

Significant unrealised potential in the Lumesse portfolio. LMS is starting to move off the pace in innovation relative to LMS market leaders. Has lost market momentum during 2013.




Moodle

Company: Moodle

Rating: Limited Option


Website: www.moodle.org

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Open Source market leader used by large number of smaller organisations and academia but rarely deployed as the primary LMS in enterprise-class corporate organisations. Very dependent on vendor capabilities to get the most from it.

Potential

Lacks the depth of capabilities needed act as a corporate LMS, unless customised and extended by a supplying partner (which it often is). Essentially a VLE not an LMS. Wide choice of partners but limited suitability for enterprise corporate needs.

Presence

Strong presence in the educational sector. Continued interest from corporate organisations attracted by Open Source cost model.


Low cost rather than no cost solution. No licence costs but organisations need to factor in services, hosting and support for a more accurate TCO comparison.

Trajectory

Will continue to have a role in the corporate sector, but for most enterprise organisations only in a limited capacity. Custom distribution versions, such as Totara, are more aligned with corporate training agendas.




NetDimensions Learning

Company: NetDimensions

Rating: Core Leader


Website: www.netdimensions.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

LMS specialist originating from Hong Kong, but AIM listed in the UK. Consistently strong customer advocacy and high levels of customer execution create positive story. Experiencing continued growth with larger enterprise customers (especially in regulated industries). Have developed their operational model and global presence accordingly.

Potential

Robust approach of always building customisations into the core code means no customer is left behind. Continues to develop Performance-orientated Talent Management approach and mobile capabilities. Provides a solid suite of functionality with some unique capabilities (e.g. mEKP portable LMS for disconnected learners). Mature approach to social learning, portal design, secure deployments and high stakes assessments.

Presence

Good presence in mid-market market, especially in UK/Europe and Asia, with growing recognition with enterprise-class customers. Good presence in regulated industries including aviation and pharma/medical. Proven experience in extended enterprise.


Priced more for enterprise market with on-premise or dedicated SaaS hosting. Recent enhancements to the admin experience will help operational overheads.

Trajectory

A strong specialist player, that understands their customer sweet spots and likely to remain a core player in chosen markets. Investing heavily in strengthening its global team.




Oracle Learning Management

Company: Oracle



Website: www.oracle.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

LMS component integrated within Oracle's Business Suite. In market for many years and so large historic presence, despite often poor customer outcomes and advocacy.

Potential

Functionally mid-tier at best and requires large services footprint to implement. Limited innovation historically and poor user experience. Little future path as effectively made redundant by Fusion and Talent Cloud (Taleo) offerings.

Presence

Reflects Oracle's historically strong presence across all sectors, although much more limited presence in best of breed LMS comparisons.


Complex to implement and manage meaning significantly higher than average TCO.

Trajectory

Little future other than as a legacy platform. Expect presence to decline over time. Platform's deficiencies increasingly being exposed by wider market innovations.




Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud Service

Company: Oracle




Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

The LMS component of Taleo, acquired from Learn.com and then subsumed into Oracle's next generation HCM offering, Fusion. Very little inherited customer base in Europe.

Potential

Lacks the sophistication of enterprise leaders. Approach to internationalisation historically an issue for multi-national deployments.

Presence

LMS more recognised as a mid-market player in the US. Some global customers, but little evidence of recent LMS adoption in Europe.


Historically competitive on price. Longer term TCO within Fusion unclear.

Trajectory

Significant loss of internal expertise following the Oracle acquisition and some customer complaints about service and support. Likely to receive greater attention as de facto LMS in Oracle's Fusion Strategy. Starting to lag behind in LMS market in innovation.




PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning

Management (ELM)

Company: Oracle




Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

LMS solution within PeopleSoft HR suite, acquired and developed further by Oracle. Complex to implement and use. Mainly poor customer experience with high overheads to manage and maintain.

Potential

Functionally mid-tier option at best. Requires heavy services footprint to implement and maintain. Limited innovation under Oracle, tied to slow ERP release cycles. Little future path as effectively superseded by Fusion and Talent Cloud (Taleo) offering.

Presence

Reflects Oracle's strong presence across all sectors. Some historic presence in best of breed LMS comparisons, although not functionally comparable to enterprise leaders.


Complex to implement and manage meaning significantly higher than average TCO. PeopleCode base has allowed significant customisations by some organisations, with resultant version lock-in.

Trajectory

No real future other than as a legacy solution in PeopleSoft HR sites. Expect presence to decline over time. Innovations across wider LMS market increasingly exposing its deficiencies as a learning management solution.




Saba Learning

Company: Saba

Rating: Strategic Challenger


Website: www.saba.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

One of the market leaders in Enterprise LMS with many large blue-chip customers. Strong customer advocacy. Strong continued presence in corporate shortlists and significant big wins.

Potential

Mature and sophisticated product with proven track record in delivering complex projects for global enterprise customers. Historically complex to manage. Significant emphasis on Cloud and support for "learning@work" approach. Significant ongoing innovation. Learning remains Saba's core strength, but increasing scope of Talent Management capabilities.

Presence

Large global presence across all sectors in the enterprise space. Impressive customer base including many of Europe's leading global brands (as well as internationally).


Pricing reflects enterprise market focus and delivery model. Services footprint higher historically, but shift to Cloud has reduced differential. Sophistication of the LMS means also more complex to manage and therefore higher residual operating costs than some.

Trajectory

Saba continues to be a significant force in the enterprise LMS market. Longer term, continued success is likely to be dependent on accelerating adoption of Saba Cloud, both in existing and new customers.




SAP Learning Solution

Company: SAP



Website: www.sap.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Legacy LMS component of the SAP HR suite. Still being deployed by some, but now strategically superseded by SuccessFactors as the go-forward platform for Learning and Talent.

Potential

Functionally mid-market capability and poor user experience, coupled to ERP implementation times and costs have tended to limit customer value. Innovation has not matched best of breed leaders.

Presence

Always a factor in larger SAP accounts, despite limited product capability and customer advocacy issues.


Very high implementation and operational costs mean high TCO. High upgrade and maintenance costs.

Trajectory

With the SAP acquisition of SuccessFactors and subsequent shift to Learning and Talent in the Cloud, SAP LS is largely redundant other than in legacy customers.




SilkRoad GreenLight

Company: SilkRoad



Website: www.silkroad.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Innovative US-based cloud vendor better known for its talent acquisition and management solutions rather than learning. Acquired LMS in 2008 and further developed. Low presence in enterprise decisions currently.

Potential

Interesting combination of LCMS and LMS offered with option of a generic library of content via partnership with OpenSesame. Key element of the Life Suite and has the advantage of been fully integrated with all the components.

Presence

Low presence currently in Europe, but definite potential to grow with increased overall market momentum from SilkRoad. Agility of SaaS deployment appealing to many organisations.


Difficult to assess individual TCO, as often bundled as part of larger suite, but cloud based architecture suggests competitive pricing.

Trajectory

Looks likely to continue to grow its overall presence in the market, in line with increased exposure for SilkRoad itself, and greater alignment between talent management and learning.




Skillport

Company: Skillsoft



Website: www.skillsoft.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Historically positioned as a means of deployment for Skillsoft content rather than an enterprise LMS. Often a good tactical formula in global e-learning led scenarios. Good customer advocacy, tempered by limited aspirations of the platform itself.

Potential

Functionally limited. Previously viewed as an e-learning launch and track engine, does provide options for other classroom and other learning but lacks the sophistication to manage complex enterprise customer needs. Significant investment in Skillport v8 has dramatically improved user experience, mobile learning and social collaboration, along with a wider range of standard LMS features.

Presence

As the default launch platform offered by the world largest e-content player, Skillport has established a significant presence in the market, albeit with a limited role - typically around e-learning content deployment.


Historically bundled as a value-added service within Skillsoft's content deals. Quick and simple to deploy, Skillport requires limited administration overheads and low on-going costs. This has made it an easy entry point for SkillSoft customers who don't already have an LMS. Unclear if evolution of Skillport as an independent LMS platform will impact the pricing model.

Trajectory

Despite significant recent investment and signalling a potential change in positioning, Skillsoft's commitment to Skillport as a standalone LMS still seems limited. Skillsoft continues to be content-led in its strategy, but version 8 greatly strengthens it's credentials as a learning platform.




SkillsServe LMS

Company: Unicorn



Website: www.unicorntraining.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Associated with a number of professional bodies, SkillsServe performs well within the financial services sector, continuing to expand visibility and broader corporate opportunity. Simple to configure and deploy, customers are able to extract value quickly.

Potential

SaaS product with broad range of functionality and some real strengths developed due to specific sector needs. Good portal features with particular focus on creating a user friendly experience. Recent enhancements to e-book and CPD functionality.

Presence

Good market presence within its niche sector (although still more for industry bodies than corporates directly). Limited exposure in the wider corporate LMS market though. No presence outside UK but international customer base.


Offers good value for money with a comprehensive feature set. Delivers a stable and robust platform. Particularly attractive proposition when bundled with Unicorn’s financial services content catalogue.

Trajectory

Unicorn continue to invest in and expand the capabilities of SkillsServe to meet the needs of its core sector, as well as the market in general. The wider customer base outside of financial services, is potentially a missed opportunity.




SuccessFactors Learning

Company: SuccessFactors, an SAP Company

Rating: Strategic Challenger


Website: www.successfactors.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Central component of SuccessFactors BizX Talent suite and now the go-to platform for learning in SAP. Strong sales momentum globally, but some European customer experience issues.

Potential

As part of SAP, one of the world's largest providers of HR solutions, SuccessFactors certainly has the resources to potentially lead the market in functionality and service. Functionally sophisticated, it features regularly in enterprise short-lists. Established social learning capabilities and mobile learning roadmap. Strong capabilties in analytics and big data as part of wider Talent Management portfolio.

Presence

One of the most significant players in the global LMS market and historically strong across all sectors with a strong presence across Europe.


Targets enterprise scale customers and prices accordingly. Implementation and operational service costs higher than some, but low by SAP standards. Strong emphasis on Cloud and stated commitment to move to Cloud-only deployment from 2016 onwards.

Trajectory

Market potential polarised by SAP acquisition - in SAP HR customer base is very high, but non-SAP world more marginal. Big value potential for customers relative to previous SAP LMS. Needs to improve customer performance and advocacy in existing European customers to build further market position.




SumTotal Enterprise Learning

Management

Company: SumTotal Systems

Rating: Potential Leader


Website: www.sumtotalsystems.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Historically a functional market leader, now growing with refound confidence and purpose under private equity ownership, and with a broader HCM / Talent portfolio. Still some customer attrition. Large retained customer base, but stronger advocacy from customers on recent versions.

Potential

Functionally, one of the more sophisticated platforms in the LMS market, with a comprehensive suite of functionality. Strong path of enhancements and new features in roadmap. Has the scalability and sophistication to address the needs of complex global organisations. Increasingly being offered as part of a wider HCM solutions suite. Also offers Maestro solution as mid-market offering.

Presence

One of the largest LMS customer bases globally, has historically found traction across all enterprise sectors. Now refinding some of lost market momentum and starting to reassert pedigree with customers in US and Europe.


Historically mainly deployed on-premise or hosted. Prices have tended to reflect enterprise-market focus and higher service and operational needs. Given the solution's sophistication it is not unsurprising that it also has had higher administrative overheads.

Trajectory

With increased emphasis on proactive European customer execution and support, SumTotal has the potential to reclaim some of its presence in the European LMS market. Legacy LMS customer base remains a challenge as well as an opportunity.




Totara LMS

Company: Totara



Website: www.totaralms.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

As a relatively new provider in the market, albeit building on its Moodle heritage, Totara is continuing to build a disruptive influence internationally and in Europe. Aggressive partner-led strategy building on Open Source roots.

Potential

Continues to innovate the product - e.g. one of the first companies to support Open Badges and introduced Performance module in November 2013. Still in catch-up mode relative to more established LMS providers. Does not to compete on functional depth, but does offer broad range of capabilities.

Presence

Currently low presence in corporate enterprise market although growing. Continues to rapidly expand partner network across Europe and globally. Good opportunity to leverage City & Guilds customer base via the Kineo acquisition, supporting vocational and corporate learning.


Open Source product, with no licence costs, but an annual subscription. Fees are very low but organisations need to factor in services, hosting and support costs for true TCO comparison. Certainly not a free lunch but TCO is still competitive and appeals to cost conscious organisations.

Trajectory

With a growing partner network, Totara has the opportunity to continue to rapidly expand its customer base and enterprise visibility. But it must also develop greater depth of service and functionality to better support global enterprise customers. The ability of the Totara partners to provide enterprise-class services continues to be an area of concern.




UpsideLMS

Company: Upside Learning



Website: www.upsidelearning.com

Date: January 2014

9-Grid Commentary:

Performance

Innovative Indian-based learning technology provider. Constantly developed its LMS solution, but has yet to gain a strong customer base in the UK / EMEA.

Potential

Wide range of features but lacks sophistication compared to enterprise solutions. More likely to see as a tactical solution, especially for e-learning deployment than as primary LMS. Suitable for organisations with more homogenous needs.

Presence

Upside Learning should be congratulated for the level of market visibility they have achieved for their LMS, but this needs to be translated to greater market presence in both the UK and Europe. Still a marginal player.


Low compared to mid-market rivals, leveraging SaaS deployment and simpler configuration options. Fixed menu pricing may look enticing, but be sure to understand what is included.

Trajectory

Expect to see more frequently but is unlikely to develop a tangible enterprise presence without significant investment in local sales and support presence.




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