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 software and support.

Here, we’ll consider how Cognota is working to streamline learning administration services and create a robust community of learning and development (L&D) professionals in the process.

From Siloed to Streamlined

Learning administration sets the tone for the learner experience. Ineffective administration can quickly frustrate learners when things inevitably go awry, whether it’s an instructor who didn’t get the memo about an updated course time or 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-related operations are siloed, with some L&D teams using a combination of anywhere from 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.

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 real-world 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.”