The learning and development (L&D) landscape has seen a shift in learning technology over the past few years, with organizations pushing to consolidate into larger finance and human resource platforms. However, although these systems provide a lot of functionality, they may not be able to support the type of immersive learning experience modern learners need to be successful.

As a quick fix to the problem, some organizations invested in a learning experience platform (LXP) only to discover that they were overpaying for functions they wouldn’t use — and the learner experience itself was still missing something vital. What’s more, having many different systems created yet another challenge: potential incompatibility or poor integration capabilities between systems that resulted in fragmented communication within the technological infrastructure, making the user experience more frustrating and data more difficult to gather and use effectively.

Now, L&D leaders have to pick up the pieces. They still have to fix the learner experience to make it engaging, applicable and transferable to real-world responsibilities. However, they must also find ways to cut costs while ensuring systems are compatible with one another.

Does this sound like a challenge your organization faces? If so, you’re not alone. Here are a few strategies other organizations and leaders like you are focusing on to do more with less when it comes to L&D technology.

Define the Technology Challenge

Understanding how your organization uses technology today and comparing it to how you want to be able to use it in the future is the first step to bridging the gap. Begin by defining the unique challenge your teams face. Ask yourself:

• How much do we currently spend on technology?
• What’s working well with the technology we have?
• What frustrates me? What frustrates other users?
• What functionality do we use the most? What have we never used at all?
• What’s missing from the learning experience that our current technology can’t cover?

Use your answers to these questions to create a vision for what your tech stack could be. Then, you can work to break down that vision into what’s actually possible with the resources you have to meet the objectives most critical to your learners and business.

Analyze Your Current Tech Stack With Learners in Mind

Next, think about your technology through the lens of the learner experience. This may require more technical expertise than you currently have, and that’s okay. Consider collaborating with your tech team, or even with an external vendor who specializes in consolidating L&D systems, to strategize your approach to technology from an L&D perspective.

Jump-start the analysis process with a deep dive into the anatomy of a highly engaging, successful learner experience. Define the performance gaps and goals the learning solution must address, as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help measure progress. Once you have this information, you can start to assess how your current systems can enable the design — or where key functionality may be missing.

For example, many leaders look at how their technology is (or isn’t) able to:

• Allow for a simple, easy-to-navigate journey.
• Create personalized touchpoints to develop skills, improve performance and build confidence.
• Encourage social collaboration through tools like discussion boards or peer-to-peer activities.
• Provide on-demand support with resources and toolkits.
• Gather meaningful data to gauge effectiveness and measure performance.

After you have a better understanding of the type of functionality you need to facilitate the learning experience you want, you can expand the analysis to consider what specific systems will complement upcoming training initiatives. Look for creative ways to use the technology you already have to fulfill the needs you identified. Define at a deeper level which components of your tech stack you should continue to invest in — and where you can stop investing, or rearrange costs, to reduce redundancies in functionality and get better value out of your investments.

For example, AllenComm recently partnered with an organization to reduce spending on their infrastructure. They realized they were overpaying on a system package that contained more features than they needed, and they wanted help determining which functionality was most important and what could be left out. The organization was able to improve the learner experience, save money and simplify their tech stack to include only what was necessary by augmenting their current ecosystem with a streamlined web service approach.

Break the Process Down Into Manageable Steps

Many leaders can get overwhelmed at the analysis step, which leaves them unsure of where to begin actually implementing changes. But you don’t have to do everything at once. Start small and plan around what’s immediately manageable. Let’s look at some ideas:

1. Gather data to prepare for the technology conversation: Have a list of facts or reasoning behind the tech and design changes you want to propose. This will help you prepare to articulate your ideas to other leaders and executives.
2. Get approval and define the timeline: Work with your tech, HR, and other leadership teams to receive approval on adding or removing any technical investments, as well as determine a potential timeline for these changes.
3. Connect with your own L&D team: Collaborate with other members of the L&D team to confirm that any design or functionality changes will be possible to make within that time frame.
4. Create one cohesive governing body to guide the tech ecosystem: Establish a central open communication channel between key team members to keep everyone in the loop on progress and decisions while providing opportunities for individuals to share expertise or insights.
5. Be a future-ready leader: Proactively consider potential hesitations or resistance to change and implement strategies that can help team members overcome these challenges and get up to speed on new processes quickly and confidently.

Not all of these steps may be relevant to you right now. What matters most is that you come up with a plan of action unique to your own situation and prepare ahead of time to facilitate conversations about technology that prioritizes an enjoyable user experience, learner-centered design and business goals.