Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2024 - 64

CLOSING
DEALS
LEARNING OPERATIONS, SIMPLIFIED: HOW COGNOTA IS
STREAMLINING LEARNING ADMINISTRATION SERVICES
BY SARAH GALLO, CPTM
Effective learning administration services
- a group of processes that includes
course scheduling, registration, instructor
management, tracking and reporting, and
other support functions - are essential
for great training. In fact, Training Industry
research found that administrative
services is a key process capability of
great training organizations.
However, the training organizations
that excel in this area are few and far
between: The research also found that
only 18% of organizations surveyed have
" optimized " their learning administration
processes. It's also worth noting that
administrative services is one of the
few process capabilities that has seen
significant growth in terms of how
people rate its importance over the past
10 years.
The need for effective learning
administration is reflected in Cognota's
recent $5.5M Series A funding round,
which comes off the heels of its $1.9M
funding round in January 2023. Ryan
Austin, Cognota's CEO, says that
securing the Series A funding as a
startup wasn't easy, and that Cognota's
ability to do so in an uncertain economy
validates the industry's need for learning
operations support.
Here, we'll consider how Cognota is
streamlining
learning
learning and development
professionals in the process.
(L&D)
administration
services and create a community
of
learners who are struggling to find their
pre-work before logging in to a course.
Learning leaders need to be " agile,
strategic growth drivers " for the training
function to move away from being seen
as a cost center, Austin says. " That's when
we started thinking about the framework
of LearnOps. "
Many training operations are siloed, with
some L&D teams using a combination
of 3-8 disparate tools, Austin says. This
leads to a lack of data and visibility. " The
concept of LearnOps software is to bring
all these different work processes into one
platform, removing the silos so you can
get access to operational data analytics. "
The LearnOps platform offers increased
visibility
into
training
intake requests,
project planning and progress, resource
management, data and metrics, and more.
These insights enable L&D leaders to
" become better decision-makers on how
to prioritize, how to resource and how
to execute learning programs, " and to
" ultimately, be able to do more with less, "
Austin says.
BUILDING AND SUPPORTING THE
LEARNOPS COMMUNITY
Cognota's mission is to power learning
operations for enterprises globally.
Although Cognota is " first and foremost
a software company, " they're doubling
down on providing support to help L&D
professionals " become more of a catalyst
to business growth, " Austin says.
FROM SILOED TO STREAMLINED
Learning administration sets the tone
for the learner experience. Ineffective
administration can frustrate learners
when things inevitably go awry, whether
it's an instructor who didn't get the
memo about an updated course time or
64
Cognota was the first technology provider
to sponsor the LearnOps Community,
an online forum for L&D professionals
looking to connect, collaborate and grow
their skills. " Our intentions are really to
build this for the industry and to help move
the ecosystem forward, " Austin says. " If
there's a residual benefit of people trusting
us and learning about us over time ... that's
great, but that's really not why we're doing
these things. "
The LearnOps community currently has
around 5,000 members and is expected
to reach 10,000 members in 2024.
WHAT'S NEXT?
In terms of what's next for Cognota, Austin
says to stay tuned for:
* LearnOps
Academy: A free
certification program for members
that will offer access to accredited
content and will pair learners
with a chief learning officer for
supplemental coaching and support.
* The LearnOps Roadshow: Cognota is
hosting a series of in-person and virtual
workshops in its first-ever roadshow.
* Continued Software Innovations:
The recent funding round will support
continued software advancements
and innovations.
* Career Support: Recently launching
LearnOps 360™ Cognota will
remain focused on helping L&D
professionals find jobs and navigate
career transitions moving forward.
Doing things that are mission- driven takes
time, Austin says. " But we're in this for the
long run. We're being very patient, but are
also being very aggressive in helping to
push the industry in the right direction with
the right people [and] the right thought
leaders - so that we can do it together. "
Sarah Gallo, CPTM, is a senior editor
at Training Industry, Inc., and co-host of
" The Business of Learning, " the Training
Industry podcast. Email Sarah.

https://trainingindustry.com/what-makes-a-great-training-organization/ https://trainingindustry.com/what-makes-a-great-training-organization/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/measurement-and-analytics/cognota-raises-5-5m-series-a-for-learnops-platform/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/learning-technologies/cognota-receives-funding-from-feddev-ontario-to-further-develop-learnopsr-technology/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/learning-technologies/cognota-receives-funding-from-feddev-ontario-to-further-develop-learnopsr-technology/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/professional-development/cognota-acquires-learningoperations-com-and-launches-free-job-board/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/professional-development/cognota-acquires-learningoperations-com-and-launches-free-job-board/ https://trainingindustry.com/training-industry-podcast/

Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2024