Training Budgets: How to Set, Optimize, and Track Them

training budget calculations

Your training budget needs to be more than a shot in the dark, but how can you go about calculating it and producing an accurate prediction of your training costs? Not only will those approving your training budget want to see some justification for your calculations, but your budget allocation also plays a significant role […]

Learning and Development Planning Guide [With Templates]

L&D team planning

As the pace of business increases and unpredictable market forces continue to influence strategy and decision-making, it seems like it’s never been harder to create a plan and stick with it.  Many organizations are still creating 3-5 year strategies, but they need to be more agile and flexible than ever. Successful businesses (and successful functions […]

We’ve Got a New Name! Synapse is Now Cognota.

Cognota Logo

We couldn’t be more excited to share the news that we’ve changed our company name to Cognota. This change has been in the works for quite a bit and was a big decision. But we couldn’t be more pleased with it and the new visual identity that was developed to support the change. It comes […]

Introducing Our New VP, People Ops & Culture: Ara Cruz

ara cruz people ops and culture intro

We’ve worked hard as a team at Cognota to create a strong culture and lay the foundation for successfully striving towards our shared goals together. Now that the team is growing (and growing quickly!), the time was right to welcome a new team member who could take our People Ops and the company culture to […]

Introducing Our New CISO & Director, PrivacyOps: Sabino Marquez

sabino marquez chief information security officer

As a SaaS company, the security and protection of our customers’ data is paramount. So, as we continue to grow our team, this is an area of critical importance: ensuring we have the right people on board to secure and maintain the protection and integrity of the data our customers entrust to our software. Enter […]

5 Training Needs Analysis Templates (Excel, Word, and PDF)

ipad showing data analysis graphs

Needs Assessment Templates to Guide Your Learning Solutions You can operate on hearsay when it comes to understanding the training needs of your organization – but hard data is always better. That’s where training needs analysis comes into play. By standardizing the way you understand the skills gaps in your organization and the training needed […]

Cognota Product Tips: Creative Ways to Use Your Design Outputs

design output options from Synapse

Our Customer Success Team shares some interesting ways we’re seeing our customers use the Cognota design outputs. Cognota’s Design features have been used by customers to streamline their instructional design process, create alignment with subject matter experts and rapidly design content that can be launched within a Learning Management System.  But over the last few […]

The Ultimate Guide to Running Training Projects Effectively

learning and development specialist working from home

Projects of any kind are fraught with the potential for derailment. Budgets can be stretched to their limit, deadlines can be missed, and the core project team can struggle to maintain cohesion.  Training projects in particular are prone to these issues and more. They require input from multiple people at different stages of the project […]

How to Conduct an Actionable Skills Gap Analysis

training budget template

Skills gaps are on the rise. With a labor shortage still in full swing and predictions that a huge proportion of jobs will be obsolete in the coming years, L&D leaders have long been focusing on upskilling and reskilling programs to help solve these challenges. But upskilling and reskilling programs require careful and detailed analysis. […]

Cognota 2021: A Year in Review

What a year it’s been! Full of challenges, surprises, celebrations, and opportunities, 2021 was a true rollercoaster. Through it all, the Cognota team has been busy working hard and enjoying the journey together. So, while we’re preparing for the year ahead, we wanted to take a look back at all the exciting developments and causes […]