Likelihood to Recommend In an office where you're planning to do a large amount of module-based training, Articulate Storyline will prove useful. A consideration to make, however, is whether your team members focused on training design will have the capacity to learn the software enough to create interesting and effective training modules. The basic functions can be simple, but the more advanced capabilities of the software take considerable effort to master and employ to create the more visually appealing presentations/modules you see in much of the promotional materials. If you have a small training team (or even without anyone dedicated specifically to training and development), Storyline is not a wise choice as the cost and effort required to fully make use of the software would be far too much of a commitment to make it worthwhile.
Read full review This software is perfect for any company that has document/pdf-based training files that they want to convert into actual training modules for new employees. It is easy for new employees to use and navigate, and the quizzes that can be added at the end of each section/module are great for ensuring new employees' understanding of your content. It probably wouldn't be best suited if you need more interaction during your training process - but for those that just need employees to view and read text/images/videos and to be quizzed after, it is great.
Read full review Pros Storyline integrates with the Canvas LMS fairly seamlessly. There have been a few glitches, but for the most part, the interactions we have created will play directly in the Canvas LMS. Storyline is great for creating short drag and drop interactions for self-reviews or even graded assignments. Its many options for quizzes such as "answer reveal" or using tabs help the student get a different perspective on the content rather than just an "A, B, or C" answer. Storyline is great for tutorials or training sessions. There are many options to help guide the learner (or employee) through a process. it is not just linear, but you can branch the slides based on the answers. A great way to engage the learner or employee. Read full review Assign a predefined route to a certain place User interface is very good and clean Very effective user experience Issues or problems are handled rapidly by their customer support team Read full review Cons I wish that you could customize the UI ribbons to bring features you use frequently to the front and to hide options you rarely use. It would be great if there was a way for non-technical collaborators (SMEs, management, etc) to be able to open a *.story file directly and provide comments. You currently have to publish the course, load it to the LMS, update the LMS, and then hope that users can find it in the LMS. A Storyline Viewer/Previewer standalone application would be awesome. The price is too high for freelancers to purchase and use. I no longer contract and work exclusively for the firm, but even with our resources, the high price limits the number of licenses available to use. Read full review We have courses that are required for each employee based on their job title, and then, many courses we consider to be elective for that job title. We have not found a method to distinguish between those in order to view an employee's performance on required courses only. Reports are only available by user ID or user name. We have some facilities or managers who need the user ID (based on payroll entry) and some that need names (employees they interact with each day). Read full review Likelihood to Renew We are moving away from the standalone eCourse model, so depending upon when that shift happens, we might choose not to renew since we won't be supporting eCourses built in Articulate Storyline anymore. As long as we are still selling and supporting those eCourses, we will continue to renew the licenses we have.
Read full review We have not had any problems with TalentLMS. It has worked well for all of our employees.
Read full review Usability The basics are easy to learn but you won't get really robust activities from using just the basics. However, if you can invest the time in learning how to use all of Storyline's features, you'll have tremendous learning development power at your fingertips. I do have to say, though, that there is a beautiful logic to how everything in Storyline works. Once you learn a few of the advanced features, you can learn them all because there's a similar underlying logic. The interface is also very appealing and friendly.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Installed software so alway available
Read full review Support Rating They are support-superstars and the software they use for support is excellent too (I don't know what it is). The model they use for support should be followed by all companies. It is a conversation/discussion forum model that shows everyone's questions in a knowledge base capacity so you can get the help you need in a speedy way.
Read full review The support is great, you can either go online and get the training you need or you can work with talent directly to get the support you need, they are readily and easily available and are very friendly, the support structure that they have is great. The other thing is that from a bug's perspective Talent has never had any issue so I really haven't had to use the support outside of trying to figure out how to do certain things.
Read full review Online Training I love the fact that both a demonstration AND text version of the tutorials are available. Our firewall was blocking the demos until I requested my company allow them! Having the text version available still enabled me to learn from the tutorials. They are very well done and informative, and there is a tutorial for just about anything you need to learn to do with Storyline. I have always been more than satisfied with the support and training available to us for all Articulate products and I love the community!
Read full review Implementation Rating Outside of having to dedicate a powerful enough PC for the installation and having to update Flash in our browsers there really isn't much pain involved in using Articulate. For the most part this is an easy to implement and roll-out product. The installation occurs quickly and smoothly with no additional steps needed.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Articulate Storyline is the only authoring tool we have used with our LMS to date. We are seeing different platforms now, as opposed to LMS platforms. And, many of those have their own content. However, we will always need to create/author our own because of the nature of what we do and how we do it. I'm a big fan!
Read full review TalentLMS is more all-inclusive with a lot of great options and the ability to upload PowerPoint presentations. Some of the other LMS companies required other software ad-ons, oftentimes with a cost, to meet functionality. Some other companies use a different format for training reports. Unlike TalentLMS, in which Excel-based reports are very easily generated.
Read full review Scalability It is easy to train new users and manage content. Being able to import older projects and PPT files makes it very easy to use for a lot of "moonlighters" in our department.
Read full review Return on Investment Allows for on-demand training that is accessible to anyone in the organization instantaneously. Heavily reduces travel expenses by eliminating the need for in-person training classes. Gives my department creative liberties in designing content that can be customized to each and every subject/business group in the organization. No two courses are ever the same. Read full review Dramatically more cost-effective than alternatives, with greater feature sets. Made our eCommerce training deployment a breeze. Hard to attribute an ROI to just the LMS specifically but it would be a high multiple in a period of just a few months. Read full review ScreenShots