How LBA University Simplified Recertification and Reduced Administration

LBA University provides recurring safety and compliance training to organizations and individual professionals. As the business grew, its LearnDash, WordPress and WooCommerce setup required more manual involvement than its team could sustainably provide. By moving to Firmwater, LBA created a faster and more reliable training experience, while giving business customers greater control over their learners, seats, and training records.

The Client: Helping Organizations Maintain Critical Safety Certifications

LBA University (LBA) is a North Carolina-based provider of RF safety, OSHA and workplace safety training. They deliver training to organizations across telecommunications, broadcasting, utilities, construction, manufacturing, public safety and other regulated industries.

While they primarily focus on B2B training delivery for organizations in need of employee training, they also serve individual professionals seeking certifications for career development or employer requirements.

Recurring training and recertification are important requirements among LBA’s target industries, so access to training needs to be simple and seamless. These organizations also need visibility into learner progress, certificates and training records. Many learners return regularly to complete required recertification.

The Challenge: Outgrowing a Plugin-Based LMS

Before joining Firmwater, LBA used LearnDash as their LMS, integrating with their WordPress website and WooCommerce plugin for eCommerce. But as they expanded, challenges arose in recertification management, customer self-service, and administrative efficiency: 

• Recurring certifications were difficult to manage and automate

• Enrolments and learner administration frequently required LBA’s involvement, creating additional administrative work

• Business customers had limited control over assigning seats and tracking learner progress

• Continued growth would have created even more manual work

Their primary goal was to find an LMS that better supported recertification, customer administration, and long-term growth. Ultimately, this meant that LBA needed an LMS built specifically for organizations that sell and manage online training rather than a general-purpose LMS plugin.

The Solution: Giving Customers More Control

Simplifying recertification through customer self-service

Firmwater’s Shopify eCommerce integration provides a suitable structure for training that must be completed repeatedly. LBA’s customers can take greater ownership of the recurring training cycle by:

• Easily browsing for courses on the LBA University website

• Seamlessly checking out and getting instant LMS access

• Inviting and managing learners

• Assigning available seats

• Monitoring learner progress

• Accessing certificates and training records

• Purchasing additional seats

This workflow has made recertification much easier for LBA customers to manage, as they can complete more routine tasks without contacting LBA. This has had two key positive impacts:

1. Customers appreciate having more control over managing their learners and training records, while also having a simpler way to continue or expand their training. This has led to increased customer satisfaction. 
2. LBA does not need to act as the intermediary in every administrative interaction, resulting in reduced admin and support time.

Creating a connected purchasing and training experience

LBA rebuilt its eCommerce experience around Shopify and Firmwater, creating a more flexible way to sell training to both individuals and organizations. Customers can purchase a single course seat, buy multiple seats for a team or choose a bundle containing several courses, all through LBA University’s online storefront.

The integration also supports LBA’s relationships with existing customers. When an organization needs to train additional employees, its administrator can purchase more seats through the connected Shopify experience and make them available within the LMS. This gives LBA the flexibility to support different purchasing needs while keeping course sales and training delivery connected.

A Continuing Partnership and a Stronger Foundation for Growth

Firmwater continued working with LBA after implementation, providing responsive support as questions arose and improving the platform in response to LBA's feedback. Although there was an initial learning curve, LBA’s requests for Firmwater support decreased significantly between its first and second years, reflecting greater familiarity, confidence and self-sufficiency with the platform.

“The improvements and updates over the past few months have shown Firmwater’s strong commitment to ongoing innovation.”

-Kristina Kennett

With less routine administration and a more manageable training experience, LBA can focus more of its attention on improving its courses, supporting additional business customers and refining its purchasing and recertification experience.

They also have their eyes on Firmwater’s Client Sites (branded B2B training portals). Client Sites represent a potential growth opportunity for LBA by enabling training delivery to larger organizations that need their own dedicated learning environment. 

Kennett sums up her organization's partnership with Firmwater well, noting that “the platform has provided a stronger foundation for expanding our online training business.”

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Give customers a simpler way to purchase and manage training while reducing your administrative work. 

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