SmartExpert is an LMS that helps companies adapt, train and evaluate their employees. All of its functionality is designed for corporate use and is aimed at facilitating the work tasks of HR managers and department heads. At least, that’s what is stated on its website. It can’t be attributed to popular services, and yet, it has been running since 2020. Let’s see what this LMS consists of and analyze its pros and cons.

SmartExpert: overview, features, pros, cons and reviews

The structure of the platform is the same for all types of users: for the student, for the curator and for the author. The following is an overview of the functionality on the curator’s side. The LMS consists of the following items:

• Education
• Games
• Knowledge base
• Surveys
• Rating
• Schedule
• Checking tasks
• Constructor
• Admin panel
• Reports

In addition to them, the platform also has an item with rating and points. A place in the rating is determined by the number of points earned, which are awarded for certain completed tasks. Points can be exchanged for gifts, which are available in the “Gift Shop”.

There is a separate page with a selection of courses from SmartExpert (as far as you can tell from the branded logos on the cards of each course), an alert button and a button to log into account settings.

Explanation of the purpose and features of using the platform are placed not on the platform itself, but under the question mark in the header, aka “Help”. These buttons are divided by user role – for learner, curator and course author. They are clickable and lead to google files with a list of instructions on the learning platform. Let’s take a look at the main sections of the LMS to see how they are organized.

Education. This is a section that contains 3 categories:

• Active – courses that are going on right now.
• Completed – courses that have already been studied.
• Course catalog – all courses that the account user owns or has access to. In the trial version only the list of courses from other users is visible. Judging by their content, these are trial courses, which were practiced to create others, and they were made visible for example. But there is no clarification about this on the platform.

Games. A section with a list of active and inactive games, that is, available and unavailable to the user, and their catalog. There is a sorting point where several dozens of competencies are listed from the point of view of a hired employee. Exactly how this item works and what can be gained from it is not fully understood. It seems that this section acts as a storage point for the.

Knowledge base. SmartExpert calls itself a platform for systemic employee development. Therefore, one of its solutions is a knowledge base. Its main purpose is to collect and systematize data about the company, its rules and processes in one place and in an accessible format. But this purpose is communicated by the website. And the section itself on the LMS simply says “You don’t have materials yet”. And what the user should do with it is unclear.

Surveys. A section that contains two lists “Surveys” and “Completed”. It’s not clear what you can do in this section other than search for surveys, because there are no buttons or information about it in the manual. It seems that it, like the previous sections, acts as a folder for storing sorted data.

Rating. A section where you can see the entire list of users with names and avatars, as well as the number of points from the highest to the lowest. Here you can find your account, view your points history, find out how to earn rating points (there are 3 points: admin points, for passing products and for achievements), go to the gift store and the point with achievements. All you can do here is find out your place in the rating, exchange points for gifts and find out what achievements there are and what you need to get them.

Schedule. A section where you can create events in the calendar grid and mark important dates, send reminders about them. Very reminiscent of Google calendar. The settings allow you to send reminders to individuals or specific groups of people to their e-mail accounts. To create an event, you need to fill out a form where you specify: name, date, time, duration, location, recipients, and the message itself. The only obscure item is “Messages.” It opens a descending list with a small list of times: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day. 

Checking assignments. A section for platform administrators where 2 lists are available “Check Homework” and “My Products”. Each should contain a list of assignments or courses to process.

Constructor. A section where you can create products. There is a top-down list that you can use to filter the list of finished products. There is also a “Create Product” button that opens a page with a list of cards:

• course
• adaptation
• competence assessment
• game
• knowledge base

Each card contains a “Create product” button. Clicking on it opens the editor of a course or other type of product. Standard settings are available in it: course name, catalog image, brief description, competency list for further sorting (it contains several dozens of competencies used by HR specialists). There are also additional settings concerning the course order and its availability for users. The course consists of modules, and modules contain lessons. The lesson editing page has six items where you can create training modules and lessons, customize accessibility, gamification and the like. The lesson editor contains 11 types of content that can be added to a lesson – from a block of theory to tests and helping others (an item for encouraging course students). An interesting solution is a feedback request that can be added to a specific lesson. All unpublished courses are stored as drafts.

The course editor also has a “Gamification” item where you can customize ways to reward learners: enable rating on certain parameters from a list, add prizes for the course, and enable a certificate for everyone who completes the course to the end.

Admin panel. A section with two items: “Users” and “Gamification”. In “Users” you can add managers and apprentices to the platform manually and automatically, and assign them to groups. Here you can also filter users by positions and adjust the list of more than 66 competencies – change names, set specifications, etc. The function is entirely focused on the work of HR specialists.

In “Gamification” you can activate the “Global Rating” element, and select from a list of items with actions for which users will receive points. There is an editor on the achievements template. Gift Shop, where you can create gifts from the company and specify their value in points for users. There is also a virtual mentor for platform users with a list of triggers that will activate its work. There is also an EasyEdu item, which is not accessible from the admin panel, but can be accessed via a button in the platform header.

Reports. Section with four paragraphs:

• user reports
• product reports
• competency reports
• report archive

One of the few sections where each item is signed with short explanation sentences.

Benefits of SmartExpert

The platform is designed for corporate clients who are dedicated to the development of their employees. Therefore, sections such as “Gamification” are very appropriate here, where a dozen options are available to reward platform users with points and ratings. The “Shopify” section is a place that supports the effect of gamification, as it allows a company to create its own list of gifts and set “prices” for them for its staff, so that they are better motivated to earn points and exchange them for valuable items.

The builder makes life easier for admin users or user-authors because it already has layouts of different types of products ready to be populated.

Disadvantages SmartExpert

LMS SmartExpert is a simple platform, but its simplicity leaves a lot of questions for the user in some places. Many sections lack short hints or explanations, and the google doc instruction is incomplete and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. To contact tech support, you need to read about it in the instruction paragraph and learn that there should be an online chat on the platform. But it is not visible in the trial version, and there are no other communication buttons available.

It should also be noted that the platform is built for corporate education, and therefore less flexible than universal LMS systems such as Softbook or AcademyOcean..

One of the big drawbacks is the trial button on the platform’s website, which doesn’t fulfill its purpose. The next thing is the short trial period. SmartExpert gives free trial access to its platform only for 14 days and is very persistent in offering advice from its managers. At the same time, LMS Softbook, which we mentioned above, allows you to use the full functionality of the platform for free for 30 days. And tech support is available 24/7 and can be contacted via the platform.

Also, only 3 payment systems are available for integration on SmartExpert. No messengers, mailing lists or live broadcasting services like on Softbook LMS are offered here.

Another drawback is unclear data delineation. Many sections show courses, gifts in the store of other companies, etc. The “Schedule” section when setting up message distribution gives a list of corporate mail addresses of several dozens of users of different companies. 

SmartExpert rates

The LMS SmartExpert is offering a demo before revealing the prices. Our team has managed to get the actual pricing at the day of writing this article.
The company offers monthly, quarterly, or annual subscriptions. Final cost is based on the amount of users for the following modules:

• Knowledge base
• Adaptation and training
• Competency assessment
• Gamification and retention

You can customize your plan depending on your needs. These items are called modules and provide for 50 to 1,000 employees. Their prices are as follows:

• Knowledge base – $25 for 50 employees. And every +10 employees increases the amount by 5$.

Features include: file repository; prompt alerts; easy-to-use structured display; title search; learning and passing statuses; mastery testing.

• Adaptation and training – $50 for 50 employees. And every +10 employees increases the amount by 10$.

Features include: onboarding and onboarding system builder; course builder; ready-made onboarding and training templates; sequential learning trajectory; virtual assistant (buddy) to help a new employee every step of the way; calendar of events; gamification elements to engage the employee in training; testing and monitoring; feedback; reporting to the manager and HR.

• Competency assessment – $100 for 50 employees. And every +10 employees increases the amount by 20$.

The functionality contains: competence assessment according to Lamenger method; potential matrix (9 box grid); individual path of employee development; assessment of employee motivation level; convenient constructor of positions and competences; library of ready competences; catalog of ready positions – 20 pcs; reporting for manager and HR.

• Gamification and retention – $50 for 50 employees. And every +10 employees increases the amount by 10$.

Features include: AI assistant that helps, motivates, reminds; business games and competitions; corporate gift store; points as an internal currency; ratings and other reporting.

There is a discount for annual payment.

SmartExpert Reviews

There are reviews of LMS SmartExpert only on the platform’s website. There are four of them in total. There are also links to company reviews on the Capterra, G2 and Cranchbase websites, but they only open company description cards with an empty reviews section. Surfing the internet only brings up reviews of a repair shop with the same name and of SmartExpert as an employing company.

So, SmartExpert LMS, as it says on its website, specializes in corporate clients who are engaged in the development and training of their employees. It has a simple and sometimes confusing structure, many minor bugs on the site and platform, limited instructions, and problems with the interface, trial access, and technical support. 

Suitable for companies that want to get first dibs on course templates, knowledge bases and motivational tools for their employees.