Cognitive GRC is a Hong Kong-based consulting firm specializing in Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC). It helps licensed firms – including startups, investment managers, and international companies entering the Asian market – build strong governance and compliance practices and manage risk.
At first, Cognitive GRC used iSpring Suite to create more interactive compliance training courses for its clients. Training has always been an important part of the company’s consulting services but the availability of trainee friendly systems for boutique firms was somewhat lacking as they required a lot of technology expertise to deploy within secure environments.
The team then looked for a way to stand out from competitors and share its expertise with more people. The solution was to launch its own consulting academy using iSpring LMS.
Today, Cognitive GRC trains up to 250 learners each year and continues to grow by making its training available to a wider online audience – while maintaining the high quality and personalized approach that set the company apart.
Let’s look at why Cognitive GRC chose the iSpring tech duo, how it built its academy, and what results it achieved.
Derek McGibney , LLM, BBLS, Managing Director & Founder of Cognitive GRC
Derek McGibney is the founder of Cognitive GRC, an independently owned, institutional-calibre governance, risk and compliance consultancy that has advised internationally regulated firms since 2005.
He’s directly involved in setting the scope, standard, and direction of the organization’s training programs and this is something intrinsic to their rebrand in 2020 with a focus on key learning objectives.
The Challenge The company was already providing training and development for employees and external learners. The next step was to scale this training to better meet the needs of boutique firms.
But the team found themselves caught between two extremes:
Large platforms were overly complex, requiring heavy IT knowledge just to maintain basic controls and structure. Smaller platforms lacked the functionality their clients needed. As a result, production times were high due to manual, inefficient workflows. The company needed a solution that could create practical, high-quality training quickly without relying heavily on IT or design experts.
We were looking for the ‘Goldilocks’ engine that was powerful enough to enhance our clients’ cognition of a complex subject, but light enough to deploy fast.
Derek McGibney, LLM, BBLS, Managing Director & Founder of Cognitive GRC
The Solution Easy course creation, a wide range of features, and the ability to deliver effective learning were some of the most important things for us. We also needed useful quiz formats and automatic certificate generation.
Derek McGibney, LLM, BBLS, Managing Director & Founder of Cognitive GRC
At first, Cognitive GRC used iSpring Suite to create courses and delivered them through other LMS platforms. Later, they moved to the fully integrated iSpring solution, combining iSpring Suite and iSpring LMS.
They evaluated and trialled other platforms. Following iSpring’s trials, they found that it simply worked – nothing else compared to the integrated «Suite-and-LMS» solution .
iSpring’s functionality lets us bring the best of the classroom into an engaging online version.
Derek McGibney, LLM, BBLS, Managing Director & Founder of Cognitive GRC
The Results Faster course creation Before iSpring, they had to allocate roughly 100 hours for creating and updating courses. It also took years to create genuinely useful, user-ready content.
Now, course creation and tailoring are fundamentally faster. The team can develop tailored jurisdictional versions in approximately 20 man-hours combining our technical compliance knowledge and experience with a platform that can be leveraged to deliver it.
The operational improvement has also sped up the process . When systems don’t work together, you lose a great deal of time fixing poor integration between production and delivery.
Using iSpring Suite and iSpring LMS as an integrated platform removes that friction entirely and lets them focus on the quality of the learning rather than the plumbing.
Reduced training costs Their overall training costs per learner were around $1,000 USD if you factor the knowdege development and technology needs. That’s now been reduced to about $800 USD per learner , including content and this cost now reduces down as learners are added.
Delivery costs have also gone down from $200 USD (FTF/Web) to $120 USD per learner.
Higher course completion and lower admin efforts 98% → 100% (with much less admin work and learner check-ins)
Course completion rates were already high because their learners are generally required to complete the training. However, the real gain is the enormous reduction in chasing – for them and, just as importantly, for their clients, who now spend far less time following up thanks to the integrated solution.
The company used to spend many hours reconciling who had completed a course and producing certificates, all because of issues between systems. That has completely disappeared.
Increased learner engagement One of the standout stats was learner engagement. Before, it was roughly 75%. Now, it’s risen to 100%.
They still run face-to-face sessions, but can now deliver standardised training that works on PC and mobile, and be confident it is actively reviewed and understood – a world away from courses that are simply clicked through without attention. Training is moving from obligatory to becoming a genuine assurance tool that is immeasurable in terms of reduced admininistration from costly misunderstandings or errors.
Faster onboarding and implementation Onboarding duration dropped significantly from about 60 days to under 1 week .
Another standout metric is the time saved compared to previous implementation: about 1 month per year, and growing , as the savings compound each year because they can now maintain and extend content so much more easily; every new module they add increases the annual time saved.
Wrap up The next step is to make Cognitive GRC’s training available to a wider audience through Shopify and online marketplaces.
They have already soft launched CognitiveGRC Knowledge Bar
The team also plans to help clients set up and use the LMS themselves. This will allow clients to access Cognitive GRC’s training and create and deliver their own learning content on the same platform.
The team is also planning to add short microcourses to its compliance policies and procedures. This will give members quick, on-demand access to the information they need.
For us, iSpring has turned training from an administrative burden into a value-adding service – we save our clients time, and they receive more effective, more convenient training than the basic offerings available elsewhere.
Derek McGibney, LLM, BBLS, Managing Director & Founder of Cognitive GRC
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