Chicago Tribune follows up with 2005 INNOVATE Illinois Challenge Winner
1 October 2007
Since its INNOVATE Illinois award in 2005, NogginLabs has continued to push the envelope with creative e-learning programs. The Chicago Tribune wanted to follow up with them to see how they are two years after the award.
Sometimes companies make their own luck. When great work is performed in one avenue, many times it opens the door for further success. Just such a situation presented itself to Brian and Traci Knudson, the husband-and-wife team that founded NogginLabs Inc. When a former contact at the major insurance company Allstate switched jobs to Dell Inc, she recommended the Chicago based company for a diversity training program that Dell was implementing. In this case, NogginLabs hard work for Allstate led to more business with Dell, as well as many industry awards. Now, this small business is rapidly expanding its office space and adding new employees to keep up with growing demand for its award winning e-learning programs from many Fortune 1000 company. Many of these new contracts have been direct referrals from existing customers pleased with the company’s work, said Brian Knudson, chief executive of the ten year old company said.
From day one, the Knudsons aimed at something better than what the industry had produced, striving to beat expectations of even the most discerning clients. “For every aspect of the business, we are constantly trying to be best in class,” Knudson said. Often, going above and beyond expectations with one big client can open opportunities for expansion. Northwestern University recently asked the company to produce an online master’s program in medical informatics, leading to the addition of 10 staff members in the last four months, Knudson said. Still, the company knows when to say when: “We’ve learned through the years to turn some things down. Every project is interesting, but sometimes we’ll step back and say ‘Is this really what we should be doing?’”
Rapid expansion can have an effect on rank and file employees as well. NogginLabs makes sure that the effects are positive: “All the things we do for our clients, we try to do for ourselves” because taking care of employees is just as important as taking care of clients, Knudson said. Since the company specializes in training programs, that includes having a world class training program to train their own workers. In addition to the training, each new employee is paired with a veteran to show them all the ins and outs of working at NogginLabs. This helps to free up project managers while creating a sense of community evident from day one. “It gives us an edge,” Knudson said.
