How to Choose Compliance Training Software for a Small Team

If you are tasked with finding a compliance training platform for a 50-person company, your needs are drastically different than a 5,000-person enterprise. Here is how to evaluate your options without overbuying.

The two paths: LMS vs. Lightweight Delivery

Most buyers assume they need a full Learning Management System (LMS). This is often a costly mistake.

Path A: The Enterprise LMS (Cornerstone, Workday Learning, Docebo)

These are massive, complex platforms built to handle internal certifications, custom learning paths, skill matrices, and integrations with enterprise HRIS systems like SAP or Oracle.

• Pros: Does literally everything; integrates deeply with enterprise architecture.
• Cons: Takes months to implement; requires a dedicated administrator; often costs $10,000+ per year just to start.

Path B: Lightweight Delivery Platforms (Ethica)

These platforms are laser-focused on one job: get this mandatory training or policy document securely delivered to this list of people, track who finishes it, and remind the slackers automatically.

• Pros: Sets up in 10 minutes; employees do not need to create passwords (training arrives via secure email link); highly affordable.
• Cons: Does not handle complex custom skill development or massive internal course catalogs.

What a small team actually needs

If your primary goal is compliance, you strictly need the following four things:

1. SCORM Support: If you buy off-the-shelf training (like Harassment Prevention), the vendor will send you a ZIP file. That is a SCORM package. Your software must be able to host and play it.
2. Policy Acknowledgment: Not every requirement is a course. You need the ability to upload a PDF (like an Employee Handbook) and collect a verified digital signature.
3. Automated Reminders: The system should email employees when they are assigned training, and automatically nag them if they are approaching the deadline. You should not have to do this manually.
4. Audit-Ready Reporting: You need to be able to export a clean roster of names, dates, and certificates when an auditor asks for it.

Features you can safely ignore

Enterprise sales reps will try to sell you on features that sound impressive but are useless for a 50-person team:

• Custom course builders: Unless you are creating your own proprietary training from scratch, you don't need this. Buy high-quality off-the-shelf SCORM courses instead.
• Gamification and leaderboards: Nobody wants a leaderboard for Harassment Prevention training. It is an inappropriate feature for compliance.
• Complex HRIS integrations: If you only hire 10 people a year, typing their email addresses into a platform takes 30 seconds. Paying $5,000 for a Workday integration to do that is a bad trade.

Questions to ask before you buy

• "Do my employees have to create accounts and remember passwords, or do they just click a secure link in their email?" (Password resets are the #1 IT support ticket).
• "Can I cancel anytime, or am I locked into a 3-year contract?"
• "Does this support both SCORM packages and simple PDF sign-offs?"
• "Is there an implementation fee, or can I just sign up and start assigning training today?"

Ethica was built specifically for this.
We built Ethica because small teams shouldn't have to buy a six-figure enterprise LMS just to get their team to sign an employee handbook. Ethica delivers SCORM courses and policies directly via email, tracks completion securely, and costs $49/month — no contracts, no complex setup. Start your 30-day free trial.