Pluralsight Skills vs. SilkRoad Learning

Awesome tool for teams looking to gain new skills or refine and update existing skills. I love the convenience of using this tool for recertification credits (i.e. PMP). Instead of identifying which classes I need to take, I can identify my interests and have recommendations presented for what paths I should take. It is a really helpful tool to create ladders for my team to transition from one role into the next. I think this is going to be a really beneficial tool.

Incentivized

It is very well suited as a web based LMS. They have excellent customer service and support. Ask about the reporting features - these are challenging in many LMS applications. The training they provided for administrators is also very good. Overall a great company, and they are constantly working to improve the product

Incentivized

• Pluralsight has hundreds of authors that are constantly producing new content, which is valuable for the tech industry that is constantly moving at a brisk pace.
• Many content authors are respected leaders in the topic they're presenting. You are able to trust that their content is thorough and authentic.
• Niche expert-level topics are presented in a curated video format which is difficult to find anywhere else.

Incentivized

• GreenLight is very good at keeping track of employee requirements through the use of qualifications. It is the backbone of how courses, classes, requirements and activities are assigned and monitored.
• The content objects (development) portion of GreenLight is robust. It allows you to mix various content objects from different sources. For instance if you import a SCORM ecourse, an AICC ecourse and want to add an HTML page as an introduction, the software will allow you to combine all seamlessly into one course. In addition, the navigation and sequencing tools offer considerable functionality.
• The reporting feature of this software is very good (but not best of class). The number of standard reports is fairly extensive and cover most needs. Having the ability to output files for further analysis and manipulation in Excel takes care of a number of areas where the standard reports fall short.

Incentivized

• Companies don't change technologies in their products often. For example a product that was built on AngularJS is still viable and the company may have no plans to upgrade it. Pluralsight could do a better job of providing new courses on technology that's still useful, though somewhat dated; like AngularJS for example.
• Pluralsight has a bad habit of throwing all their courses in a large bucket. For example, when I log-in and look to see what new I often have to wade through courses on tools that a web artist or designer would use. I wish Pluralsight would categorize course and let us (their customers) flag what types of videos we wanted to see, or better yet exclude from our view.
• Years ago, Pluralsight would let its customer download the courseware and that was great. I was disappointed when they stopped this feature.
• I'd love to see more course where the goal is to build a particular type of software. For example, lets have one where you build a blog using ASP.NET and deploy it to Azure. Let have one where you build a survey application, etc. Learning technologies is great, but I'd love to see courses where the goal is to build a particular type of application.

Incentivized

• 'my profile' has been a little glitchy for us but we are a very small team and don't use that element much, photos don't load or stay loaded
• Sometimes the main list with due dates, type of training etc. seems hard for people to completely understand some more customizable sections here would be useful for us
• On the whole, is not a customizable as other platforms we've used. Is good at tracking but not so much the kind of cataloging we need.

Incentivized

Great product and service so far. Awesome new content almost every week.

Incentivized

Our training director has determined that the customer service and ease of use is too difficult. She intends to check into other LMS systems and end our contract with Silkroad.

Incentivized

Very, VERY easy to use.

Incentivized

I have a better understanding of the system and so it is easier for me to use. The student side is very easy and simple for anyone to use.

Incentivized

There have been many times when the site was unavailable for a short time. Also, glitches and unexplained ed activity such as sending training notifications out to terminated employees.

Incentivized

It works well most of the time.

Incentivized

Each feedback I do for them, I get no response. Minimal communication and followups!

The questions regarding how to implement in the system are answered quickly and efficiently. If there is an issue with the technical side or integrations it takes forever to get results and after much escalating.

Incentivized

some are thorough and others are not. I like that they are available for review.

Incentivized

Before using Pluralsight, staff was using YouTube to help them with developing certain aspects of their knowledge. However, YouTube is much less structured/organized than Pluralsight. Pluralsight has a very wide offering of courses and it has lot of good content. One quick search and we can get started.

Incentivized

SilkRoad Learning is much easier to customize and roll out globally. The Skillsoft product was expensive, cumbersome, and required a large ramp up time. When working with clients on Skillsoft, too much had to be predetermined, the languages were not fully developed and learners had to pay each time they accessed a module and get reimbursement from the company - it was not effective.

Incentivized

The system went down/offline for 5 or 6 days in January. This is the month we have 3400 employees taking annual required training. It had several glitches afterwards that took months to correct.

Incentivized

• One positive impact is it has kept our employees engaged in the material they work with every day. Instead of becoming stagnant and complacent, they are actively searching out ways to develop skills and do more with the tools available to them.
• It saves money when it comes to offering training and development opportunities company-wide. It would be much more costly to invest in specialized training for that number of employees.
• One potential negative is the amount of company time spent on coursework over work responsibilities. A balance must be struck and individuals should be encouraged to explore the training on their own time.

Incentivized

• GreenLight has provided an easy route for our users to receive training online and in-class. They can quickly and easily search and sign up for anything on the catalog. Being in healthcare, we provide a lot of training on a constant basis. GreenLight has provided a great foundation for our company to accomplish it's training needs and goals.
• Employees can quickly access and complete online trainings so that they can get back to their jobs.

Incentivized