A complete guide to MLSS
There is constantly rapid change in today’s corporate learning and development (L&D) sector. There is a great demand for businesses to offer powerful, efficient, measurable training programs. The main challenges are the lack of skills, rapid digitalization and the need for workforce agility. Managed Learning Services (MLSS) is the most strategic choice for fully transforming your training features. Today, MLSS is considered an important element for L&D leaders. Companies encounter situations where the supply of talent is declining, forced to rapidly digitize, and the workforce must be agile.
Managed Learning Services quickly provided solutions to L&D readers who need to servicing their performance tracks through learning. In this article, we are familiar with the concepts of managed learning services, their key components, their benefits, and why market leaders present them.
What is a managed learning service?
Outsourcing end-to-end learning and development operations to external providers is called recruiting managed learning services. Service providers handle everything from strategy to content development, delivery, management, analytics, and vendor selection. MLSS revolves around injecting expertise, technology, and available economies of scale into learning and development capabilities, but internal talent addresses strategic parts and does not address task execution.
It is estimated that by using managed learning services, organizations can reduce the amount they spend on training by 23%, improving the quality of their training by 34% in just 18 months. According to a report from the Training Industry (2024), “organizations using managed learning services reported a 23% reduction in training costs and a 34% improvement in training quality within 18 months of implementation.”
Core Components of MLSS
While organizations may require each MLS partnership to be shaped to meet the organization’s specific objectives, most providers typically offer the following combination of services:
1. Learning Strategy and Consulting
The leading MLS providers offer strategic consulting services that are not only consistent with the company’s business goals, but are closely linked to learning initiatives. This is a combination of these consulting on competence and competency audits, learning needs analysis, and the L&D conversion roadmap that constitutes strategic consulting services.
2. Educational design and content development
Not only is managed learning services providers customized, they can also create or curate high-quality learning content that is flexible and perfectly matched to the needs of the company and employee preferences, and deliver it through a variety of modern modalities such as microlearning, gamification, and mobile learning.
3. Delivery and smooth training
Managed learning services can provide both virtual and in-person instructor-led training (VILT and ILT). There is also a flexible and scalable blend learning solution.
4. Learning Management
MLS handles all the backends of training logistics. The role of learning management is broad, ranging from scheduling courses and student enrollment to communication with students, feedback collection and providing assistance through help desk support.
5. Technology and Platform Support
Additionally, MLS partners not only manage platforms such as the Learning Management System (LMSS) and Learning Experience Platform (LXPS), but also ensure that all learners have the best learning experience.
6. Vendor and Supplier Management
In many cases, companies use a variety of training vendors. MLS also deals with obstacles to procurement, negotiation, vendor performance tracking and contract management.
7. Analysis and Reports
With the help of powerful data analysis, outsourced learning management can provide data on not only learner performance, but also about company costs per learner, learner satisfaction, and company output.
Why do L&D Leaders invest in managed learning services?
The benefits of partnering with an MLS provider exceed cost-effectiveness. The key benefits that L&D readers motivate to switch are:
1. Scalability and flexibility
Managed Learning Services are actually one of the best options for businesses that want to invest in the most efficient way to provide learning to everyone convenient for personal development. Your company can use MLS to achieve high learning gains and eliminate the company’s carbon footprint.
2. Accelerating time to competition
By leveraging professional education designers and content creators, MLS providers can help reduce the time they need to expand their employees. According to Deloitte, organizations using managed services experience a 35% faster onboarding process.
3. Cost Optimization
By centralizing learning operations and leveraging technology, companies save large amounts of management overhead, instructor fees, and technology maintenance. A report from Brandon Hall Group found that organizations using MLS reduce training costs by an average of 22%.
4. Access to cutting-edge technology
Key service providers have learning tools at the highest level of technological advancement. This can be too expensive or complicated for an organization to invest on its own.
If your organization needs to consider MLSS
Below are the situations where companies should consider adopting managed learning services as part of their learning strategy.
The internal L&D team is overloaded with administrative tasks. Training needs are increasing exponentially due to the expansion or evolution of companies. There are none in any company that is tech-savvy in the AR/VR, AI, and gamification fields. Training is conducted in different ways across different sectors and regions. The organization is clarified in its learning outcomes and return on investment.
Choose the right managed learning service provider
The effectiveness of an MLS partnership is determined by selecting the best provider for your company. The following are factors to consider:
Industry experience
Choose the professionals who worked in your business line. Personalization
Make sure your provider has the solution they are trying to offer is already custom made and not shelves. Adopting technology
MLS business doesn’t have to be in the same field as you, but if your service provider includes the technology area of your business, you will be even better. Global operation
If you are a company operating in multiple countries, it is essential that your provider has the ability to serve you in all the countries you are in. Data and analysis
Please contact us about the provider’s ability to provide data to track performance indicators and the services offered. Scalability
See if you can grow with future requirements changes. Suitable Cases: Global Examples
One of the top 500 manufacturers has worked with leading managed learning services providers to implement global training standards in 15 countries. In a year, the company was able to disclose:
Improve employee productivity 27% The 40% reduction cost of compliance training is four times more cost than the deployment of technical training programs
These points are clear demonstrations of the positive effects of managed learning services on huge, complex global companies.
The Future of MLSS
Learners requested a based approach to the learning process and business alignment of learning, and made managed learning services the next stage of development. MLS expands further by introducing AI-based learning customization, leveraging AR/VR technology to provide an immersive experience and providing in-time skill analysis. Furthermore, rather than leaving it to the role that supports learning, it will address the trends that companies use as strategic tools to amplify/increase growth. Therefore, managed learning services are considered implementation cores and unlock the L&D teams that Tom thinks strategically.
Conclusion
In a world driven by agility, upskills and innovation, the competitive advantages of managed learning services provide are a full-fledged, strategic impact solution for modern L&D landscapes. By being open to MLS, professionals in the corporate learning industry can optimize operations, improve learner outcomes, and bring training to match business priorities.
With well-documented benefits such as reduced costs, reduced training times and more effective learner participation, managed learning services are not only an outsourcing trend, but also a major driver of business-wide transformation. The future is owned by those preparing it now. Managed Learning Services help organizations by creating a training ecosystem that is scalable, data-driven, and focused on learners.
