When choosing a digital learning solution, it’s important to think about how you are going to integrate the platform into your company’s existing information technology (IT) ecosystem; future user engagement depends on it. For a successful rollout, technology integration must be as imperceptible as possible for users. Here’s how to make it work at your organization.

Integrating a Solution: A Major Technical and L&D Challenge

Many companies, especially large ones with tens of thousands of employees or multiple subsidiaries all over the world, have complex information systems. Every digital learning solution they implement must meet precise specifications to work within their existing structure. It is, therefore, all the more important that learners have seamless educational pathways, no matter the diverse range of resources and partners involved.

To integrate a new solution successfully, you have to harness both learning and development (L&D) insight and technical expertise. Your objectives should be to:

• • Connect learners, managers and L&D advisers with each other.
  • Create blended learning pathways that feature engaging, wide-ranging activities directly related to learners’ professional environments.
  • Integrate training content in an environment that’s geared toward social learning.

However, this critical work must fly under the radar. When integration is well done, learners do not even notice. What you’re aiming for is a smoother and more targeted learning experience that fulfills all their training needs.

Your primary objective is to offer the best digital learning experience by making the technology totally invisible. Therefore, choosing a partner that takes a complete and wide-ranging view of digital learning, rather than one that focuses solely on the technical aspects, is crucial.

Technology Integration That Supports User Experience

To optimize user experience, keep a constant eye on your practices. Project managers are usually the people who oversee day-to-day client relationships and are responsible for implementing new solutions. Their role is even more important when it comes to integrating multiple third-party solutions.

Technology Team and Project Management: Working in Harmony

The integration team must be involved from the beginning. Working with the lead project manager, this team defines the project scope and all necessary technical requirements. The next phase depends on the learners themselves and their technological abilities, but the integration team will be able to step in to offer technical support for any problems that need a quick solution.

Key Resources

Technical experts, such as developers, are vital, but so are project managers and L&D specialists. Your team must have a global view of client and learner needs, not to mention open communication channels to help keep everyone in sync throughout the project.

During development, project leaders and L&D managers must be able to focus on strategic concerns (i.e., content, instructional design, learner marketing, etc.) without becoming bogged down in technology or ergonomics. Adoption must be straightforward and speedy.

Choose a provider that uses its own in-house integration framework, which gives it the freedom needed to successfully develop and implement learning solutions. Having its own framework enables the provider to take on all new requests and tailor its offering to each client’s specific requirements and unique needs.

Optimizing User Experience

To make it easier to access digital learning solutions, platforms are increasingly offering single sign-on (SSO).

SSO in Detail

Single sign-on is an authentication technology that allows users to log on once to access multiple applications. With SSO, they don’t have to memorize multiple passwords and logins for different platforms. Users save time and enjoy unparalleled flexibility without compromising on data security. And, for more peace of mind, many platforms also use a two-step authentication system.

The goal of technology integration is to be able to integrate large volumes of data and training materials. But success also lies in how well you track what learners do and which content they view on your learning platforms. With successful integration, L&D teams can monitor their corporate learning pathways and adapt skills development plans to each learner profile.

Remember: Your goal is to seamlessly integrate your digital learning solutions into your environment and maximize the impact of your training systems.