If you’ve been to the site over the past month, you’ve noticed we had some exciting news. We gave you a bit of a teaser about some “new” technology we were launching. Well, now it’s official, no longer a secret: We’re making our Learning Portal available to the public.
With the launch, I thought I’d give our readers some background about this product; some information that goes beyond the promotional web copy found elsewhere on the site. So, a little history…
While we are calling the Learning Portal “new,” the fact is, it’s really not that new. That’s because we’ve had the Learning Portal in place for several years, and actually, it’s been getting strong reviews by analysts like Brandon Hall for at least the last three years. So, why a launch? To understand that, you have to understand Allen’s philosophy.
Way back in 1981, when we first started, we were developing technology for improving the development and delivery of quality and effective training and learning solutions. It’s a fun history that involves hardware like the Apple IIe, videodisc players and standalone kiosks as well as software like Quest and Designer’s Edge. Obviously, in 27 years, technology has changed quite a bit. And many of the technologies we worked with in the past, we don’t now. As changes have come about, Allen has always searched for innovative methods for developing and delivery quality and effective learning.
One thing hasn’t changed, though: our philosophy of creating the most appropriate training for motivating learners. To that end, years ago, we developed a software program called Manager’s Edge, which helped track learner and learning data. Essentially, as a simple tracking tool, it was a precursor to the Learning Portal. We more fully developed a learning portal a few years later at the request of a couple of clients. They were looking for a low-cost, reliable method for gaining core LMS functionality. Our tech whizzes knew they could come up with a great web-based technology that would meet their needs. More importantly, we knew the technology would help the clients better deliver their training.
So we developed the Learning Portal and purposefully kept it low cost because we didn’t want them spending all their budget on data tracking only to have nothing left over for the courseware itself. That wouldn’t be appropriate.
Over the years, more and more clients have expressed wishes that they could get their hands on LMS core functionality, but without the price tag. We’ve been happy to tell them about our solution which we already had in place. In particular, the past year or so we’ve seen a spike in this need amongst our clients. To us, it looked like our philosophy was right—learning organizations need great management tools, but not at the expense of the actual learning and courseware. So it only made sense that we make the Learning Portal public rather than keep it in our vest pocket for special requests.
By the response we’ve gotten so far, we made the right move. Many, many, many of you are looking for this type of solution. So let’s talk. Let us show you how we can help you with your learning management. But more important, let’s talk about how we can help you deliver the best, most appropriate training to your learners. Training that will motivate them and move them. Together, we’re sure we can help. After all, we’ve been doing just that for hundreds and hundreds of companies for nearly three decades now.