Each year, learning technology professionals from all around Europe come together to form the Learning Technologies, one of the leading Human Resource (HR) events on the continent. Though this event is usually hosted in person, this year’s event Learning Technologies Digital Experience (LTDX) came as a two-week virtual conference that welcomed companies and professionals within the realm of HR, Learning and Development (L&D) and other growth-focused roles.
For this year’s conference, LTDX chose to highlight—and bring conversations to—how we can best execute learning in the very new, post-pandemic world. Presenting with this theme, our LMS365 Senior Business Manager, Travis Damgaard Campbell hosted a session with Alessandro Giacobbe—General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Learning at Microsoft—where they discussed the importance of digitally transforming corporate learning for the new work environment, and how Microsoft’s new Employee Experience Platform, Microsoft Viva can help companies carry out this transformation.
It was an honor to present in this digital conference with so many other learning and corporate development professionals. And with so much change happening for industries of all kinds, this year’s LTDX focus on the future of workplace learning, digital transformation, and socially engaging learning tools was perfectly aligned.
See the full Learning Technologies Digital Experience 2021 Program.
In our session with Microsoft General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Learning, Alessandro Giacobbe, we offered attendees an overview of how digital transformation is shaping the role of corporate learning in 2021 and beyond.
“The Digital Transformation really starts with people transformation, and more specifically, with a learning transformation and a culture transformation, where change is the new normal.”
– Alessandro Giacobbe, Microsoft General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Learning.
Along with this informative setting of the digital environment we are now operating in, we introduced how Microsoft Teams and Microsoft’s new Employee Experience Platform, Viva, are set to become the tools for companies looking to modernize, automize and integrate their learning for company success and longevity.
“When change is the new normal, then you need to build an environment that enables you to acquire skills and acquire information as you need it to get something done, because the way we do our jobs today are unlikely to be the way we do our jobs six months from now or a year from now.”
– Alessandro Giacobbe, Microsoft General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Learning.
Our session stressed the importance of bringing change to the way we approach corporate learning and training in 2021, as companies struggle to thrive in hybrid workspaces and overcome uncertain industry futures. Alessandro shared incredible insights into how Microsoft is working with companies of all sizes and industries to build a new, digitally transformed landscape for learning and working in modern times. Among those insights were trends that he began seeing while collaborating with L&D and HR professionals around the globe.
Towards the beginning of our LTDX session on Corporate Learning and Microsoft tools, Alessandro shared some professional insights from his own personal experiences collaborating with learning managers all over the world. During his time working with Chief Change Officers, Chief Transformation Officers and the like, Alessandro found there were a few standout trends that were represented in businesses of all sizes and industries:
In addition to presenting the LTDX audience with these observed corporate learning trends, Alessandro also introduced the audience to Microsoft Viva, the very first Employee Experience Platform built for the digital age.
What makes Microsoft Viva so revolutionary is its flexibility and dynamism: The Employee Experience Platform combines the required workplace elements of communication, knowledge sharing, employee learning and resource analysis, all in one integrated tool.
In the session, Alessandro shared how Microsoft Viva was actually built as a response to all of the valuable feedback that his team had received from learning professionals around the world. The Microsoft team saw that their dynamic suite of tools already had the makings of a powerful experience platform, and so, Viva was born as a logical evolution of the Microsoft 365 toolset and adapted to best support the current corporate learning needs.
The Microsoft Viva platform is composed of four specific modules—all of which are accessible through Microsoft Teams:
As the Microsoft Viva Platform is still in the early release phase, each of the four modules will be made available as 2021 progresses. However, that doesn’t mean that companies need to wait for the full Viva platform to be released before beginning their learning transformation.
During our joint presentation, Alessandro took time to highlight the importance of having the right set of integrated tools when planning and executing a successful digital transformation. He also stressed the increasing value of having an agile learning management system (LMS) that can act as a foundation for learning and development, while integrating easily with expansive tools such as Microsoft Viva. Alessandro shared with the audience that when it comes to providing quality employee learning and training opportunities, employing an comprehensive learning management system is a top priority.
“The LMS is really where critical things like compliance, professional development, and others happen take place. We do not, absolutely, mean to replace the LMS. We are not going to be in a position to have the same level of specificity that an LMS can offer.”
– Alessandro Giacobbe, Microsoft General Manager of Enterprise Corporate Learning.
An LMS by itself brings immense value to L&D and other training-focused professionals. However, having an LMS that is intuitively integrated into your other suite of tools, such as Microsoft 365 brings incredible benefits.
LMS365 is that integrated learning management platform, enabling companies in all industries to effectively manage their employee onboarding, learning, training and development needs. As LMS365 is the only learning management system built into the entire Microsoft ecosystem, it fits seamlessly into your current digital workspace while also providing quality learning management tools.
One of the most dynamic pairings in the ecosystem is between LMS365 and Microsoft Teams. This allows L&D and training managers to provide employees easy, quick access to learning content in the flow of work and in the comfort of the Teams collaboration platform. And now with the addition of Microsoft Viva’s Learning module, Teams and LMS365 will only become a more powerful duo.
Though the addition of Microsoft Viva will no doubt improve corporate learning and training structures, it won’t be able to handle all the necessary L&D tasks on its own; this is where an LMS fits in. More specifically, this is where LMS365 really steps in and showcases how its dynamism, flexibility and easy-to-integrate capabilities help create a secure and structured learning development program.
Compliance Training: Bring safety and awareness through quality compliance and data security trainings, or perhaps offer change management courses to build workforce resilience. No matter the course, you can easily enroll employees to any mandatory trainings through the Teams portal while you house and track all training data in LMS365.
Professional Development: LMS365 allows you to create, delivery, analyze and enhance corporate learning content. Build quizzes and training plans using the LMS365 course creator and assess the current skillsets of employees to better map their personal and professional development. You can even share this information with the employee themselves through a secure Teams chat.
Managing Virtual Trainings: Hosting a virtual instructor-led training becomes interactive and easeful with LMS365 and Teams. Build learning content in the LMS365 platform, and deliver it through designated channels, chats or even share it in while in a Teams meeting. Any recorded notes during the instructor-led training can be saved and stored in Teams and training content can be analyzed in LMS365.
Certification & Gamification: LMS365 is built with a whole host of social learning and gamification tools, such as polls, leaderboards and personalized dashboards. You can also issue certificates for completed quizzes, courses or training directly from LMS365 and delivered through Microsoft Teams. Employees are engaged, informed and rewarded for good efforts, building a culture of learning and support.
We learned so much from collaborating with Microsoft’s Alessandro Giacobbe on our LTDX session. Above all, we took away the critical nature of bringing structure and resilience to our corporate learning environment and taking care of our employees’ growth and development in the process. The session also enhanced our own excitement about the innovative Microsoft Viva toolset and how much potential it is already showing in regard to empowering companies, teams and individuals with a modern, integrated employee experience.
“Microsoft Viva is a firm confirmation that staying within the platform is the right choice for the future of learning and being the seamlessly integrated learning solution built for the Microsoft eco-system, we’re way ahead of the pack!”
Microsoft Viva is very aligned with our LMS365 mission of providing people with the best tools, assistance and security all in one seamless space. The combination of integrated technologies like Microsoft Viva, Microsoft Teams and LMS365 creates a myriad of new opportunities for businesses to streamline and upgrade their learning structure, while still making content easily accessible through one login.
In short, LMS365 serves as an all-in-one learning arena, bringing together various sets of tools to provide organizations with a single point of truth for all of their learning needs.
You can find more thought-provoking sessions from the 2021 LTDX on their program page. And if you’re ready to transform your corporate learning management for the future, request a demo of our LMS365 learning platform to see just how it can bring structure, security and success to your organization.
