When choosing a digital learning technology solution, you should think about how you are going to integrate the platform into your company’s existing IT ecosystem—future user engagement depends on it. For a successful rollout, technology integration must be as imperceptible as possible for users. Sébastien Faure, Global Integration Manager at CrossKnowledge, explains how to make it work.
Integrating a solution, a major technical and L&D challenge
Many companies, especially those with tens of thousands of employees or subsidiaries all over the world, likely have complex information systems (IS). 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 do this, you have to harness both L&D insight and technical expertise. Your objectives should be to:
- connect learners, managers and L&D advisors 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 geared toward social learning
However, this critical work must fly under the radar—learners should not even notice integration that has been well done. What you want is a smoother and more targeted learning experience that still fulfills their training needs. That is why choosing a partner who takes a complete and wide-ranging view of digital learning technology, rather than one who focuses solely on the technical aspects, is crucial.
Our primary objective is to offer the best digital learning experience by making the technology totally invisible.
Sébastien Faure, Global Integration Manager at CrossKnowledge
Technology integration to aid user experience
Technology integration is a major issue when rolling out a digital learning solution, especially if you want it to be popular with users. To optimize user experience, you have to keep a constant eye on your practices.
Project managers oversee day-to-day client relationships and are responsible for implementing new solutions. Their role is all the more important when it comes to linking up different third-party solutions.
Sébastien Faure, Global Integration Manager at CrossKnowledge
Technology team and project management working in harmony
The integration team must be involved from the get-go. 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. However, the integration team will be able to step in to offer tech support for any problems that need a quick turnaround.
Key resources
Technical experts, such as developers, are vital, but so too 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.
At CrossKnowledge, we have chosen to create our own in-house integration framework, which gives us total freedom to develop and implement our solutions. This means we can take on all new requests, with any needs, and tailor our offering to each client’s specific requirements.
Sébastien Faure, Global Integration Manager at CrossKnowledge
Choices to optimize user experience
During development, project leaders and L&D managers must be able to focus on strategic matters (content, instructional design, learner marketing, etc.) without getting bogged down in technology or ergonomics. Take-up must be straightforward and speedy.
To make it easier to access digital learning solutions, platforms increasingly offer 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, you 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, you can factor in a two-step authentication system.
At CrossKnowledge, one of the ways we’ve built our reputation for providing high-quality digital learning solutions is by being able to integrate large volumes of data and training materials. But the strength of our solutions also lies in how we track what learners do and what content they view on learning platforms. This is how we help L&D teams monitor their corporate learning pathways and adapt skills-development plans to each learner profile.
Sébastien Faure, Global Integration Manager at CrossKnowledge
At CrossKnowledge our main aim is to seamlessly integrate our digital learning solutions into your environment. Maximize the impact of your training systems with CrossKnowledge!