Internal & External Training Defined

According to Talented Learning, more than 700 Learning Management System (LMS) vendors compete in today’s learning platforms marketplace. But of course, not all platforms are created equal. Before investing in an LMS, it’s important to understand which type of tool would be a good fit for your use case.

Not sure where to start? Check out our eBook, “Choosing the Right Technology for External Training.” We’ve also outlined a few key differences between internal and external training programs below.

What is Internal Training?

There are three main reasons companies choose to implement an internal training program:

1. Compliance training: An example of this would be courses on sexual harassment in the workplace, which all employees are required to take.

2. Skill-based training: Also known as performance management, this is usually “off the shelf” content, which relates to a particular job function, like customer service, information technology (IT) or management. These courses may even be built into compensation structures.

3. Company-specific training: The use case here is typically onboarding new employees, getting them up to speed on your product, company values, and policies within the office. Most often, these goals align with an organization’s Human Resources (HR) team.

What is External Training?

External training, on the other hand, is designed for customers and partners. It is often run by a training team within the organization. Their goals may be to:

1. Decrease inbound support tickets
2. Increase product adoption and retention
3. Improve customers’ time-to-value

Unlike internal training, this type of training is not mandatory, which means it’s essential for courses to be engaging and well-designed.