Thought Industries Reviews

“Best-in-class learning Platform

Pros

I truly value Thought Industries commitment to allowing companies to deliver top-notch learning experiences for their audience. Their user-friendly platform streamlines both content creation and delivery which makes it engaging. They offer a wide range of tools and services to ensure customer success, with regular updates and enhancements. Their customer service is exceptional and their pricing models are both flexible and affordable.

Cons

The main drawback I see with Thought Industries is its customization options. It can be restrictive if I want to create a highly personalized learning experience. Additionally, the platform lacks some advanced features that other platforms offer like quiz creation and detailed analytics.

“Leaves much to be desired

Pros

What I find most beneficial about the solution is the progress bar that highlights the items learners need to complete to advance through their course.

Cons

The software leaves a lot to be desired. We moved from an old provider to this solution but it has unfortunately been a step backward. The UI is dreadful, clunky and not intuitive. The platform lacks features and the reporting capabilities are quite poor. Nothing about this solution comes easily.

“Easy to deploy, would use again

Pros

I found the product easy to use and our developers had only positive feedback. Additionally, Thought Industries was very responsive and efficient in making custom changes when requested.

Cons

I have not come across anything that causes trouble for me. Any changes I personally requested were addressed quickly and implemented as we were able.

“Best solution

Pros

Thought Industries stands out as the only company offering all the capabilities we require. They are also continuously working on system improvements and expanding the available languages.

Cons

I understand that Thought Industries will soon add additional capabilities that will address most of our requests, so at this point, I cannot identify what I like least.

“Great LMS that prioritizes usability and transparency

Pros

The greatest benefit of Thought Industries is the simplicity of creating and launching new courses or webinars. There's a good level of customization available but it is not overwhelming or difficult to navigate.

Cons

Importing questions to build quizzes and assessments is challenging with a large external question bank. The GIFT format is not very user-friendly and often does not align well with typical syntax.

“Thought Industries works to provide a great experience for both the designer and end-customer

Pros

What I like the most about Thought Industries is how seriously they take our feedback and their continuous efforts to enhance their software which improves our and our customers experience.

Cons

What I like least is that the native course authoring tool does not auto-save my work. I have to click the Save button manually. This becomes even more frustrating when creating an activity, as I must first save the activity and then save the page separately.

“As we near full launch of our school...

Pros

I have found that configuring the school and authoring courses is pretty simple. There are numerous ways to tailor the learners experience. The Thought Industries team is excellent to work with, particularly member who guided our team through the process of setting up our school. Additionally, the support team members I've worked with are very good, providing quick responses and recorded video explanations. The Office Hours and the academy are excellent resources for learning the platform.

Cons

I like that reporting continues to improve but understanding how report "dimensions" align with the platforms fields can be unclear due to different terminology. This process involves some trial and error. I also wish there were more options to target messaging to different Panoramas at the page and course detail sidebar levels. Additionally, learning paths could use more customization options.

“Solid eLearning platform with ability for multi-instance setup

Pros

The course authoring tools are the best, supporting various page and media types. For us, the Panorama functionality is essential and performs well which allows us to create unique instances for each client.

Cons

Some functionalities and page types are clunky. Also workbooks are difficult to edit, sublicenses do not provide the expected functionality and while the reporting is extensive, it lacks some crucial connection points for our needs.

“Good Experience

Pros

The presentation, appearance and ease of use are impressive. It allows individualized program pages which simplifies management and administration.

Cons

The reporting functionality is not what we were promised when we bought the software.

“Great B2B and B2C eLearning Platform

Pros

The ease of use is outstanding. I also like the Office Hours which the support team organizes for weekly customer education on new and existing features.

Cons

There are features I wish the software had but improving my proficiency with it might reveal solutions that are already available. Learner tracking is one area where I wish the process were easier for my needs.

“Good value, constantly growing

Pros

It is user-friendly with a wide range of features, both included in the base product and available as upgrades. I am grateful for the ongoing efforts to integrate with other software. There are several integrations available now, with more coming soon.

Cons

I find there is limited flexibility within scripted setups. When creating content or a panorama, I have many options but once I select options for a particular reason, there are no workarounds for other use cases. It is quite rigid: I can choose this or that but not a combination of both.

“Thought Industries LMS

Pros

Integrating the platform was smooth and course authoring is intuitive. Navigation from a learner's viewpoint is also very simple. I love how we can customize our various sites, not just the theme but also the site navigation and widgets for each site.

Cons

One issue that holds us back is the lack of a comprehensive report on learner progress in courses. While I can see who has started and completed a course, I cannot identify who has not started it. Compliance training is important for us, so to get the data we need, I have to export the available report and then compare it to a complete list of learners to determine who hasn't started their course.

“A lot of potential, but not ready for the big leagues

Pros

Unlike most learning platforms that focus on HR and internal training, Thought Industries emphasizes customer training. It is designed for distributing (and selling) training to customers and has excellent features for creating Panoramas or customized environments for specific clients.

Cons

I feel the system struggles with usability and flexibility. Its one of the clumsiest CMSs I have used as a developer and it seems like they are figuring out the systems development as they go. This is frustrating when building customer-facing content as UI and UX are essential and currently lacking. Additionally, they have had challenges distributing content globally, despite this being a requirement during our evaluation and sales discussions. We have encountered significant issues with compliance, payment and legal matters outside the US.

“eLearning

Pros

The standout feature of this product is its customer service. Thought Industries truly goes above and beyond for their clients.

Cons

I am frustrated by the inability to track user completion at the section level. Currently, I can only track if a user completes the entire course. I cannot see which sections the user has completed if they have not finished the course. We are working with Thought Industries to address this, which is another example of their excellent customer service.

“Thought Industries, more partner than vendor

Pros

Our team is now fully using more features of Thought Industries since our system is up and running. What I like the most is how the content is organized, the ease of setting all available options and the simplicity of assigning access and using Panoramas to keep different audiences organized.

Cons

We are having trouble getting a stable certification exam running on the system. I also wish the details page could be visible regardless of the subscription model assigned to the user. Lastly, I wish the "back" arrow in the left-hand navigation truly functioned as a back "one page" button.

“Learning As I Go Teaching Myself

Pros

Thought Industries offers unique features that other platforms do not which is great as it keeps us committed to the platform.

Cons

The certifications feature has limitations; navigation on mobile is restrictive, the search function is inadequate, the help center is confusing and support is rarely responsive. When they do respond, they are often unable to resolve the issue.

“Thought Industries - Fast & Easy Course Creation, Fantastic Training & Support

Pros

The platform is very user-friendly. It offers various page types that help create engaging, dynamic courses rather than static boring ones.

Cons

Some page types, like the recipe page can only be used for recipes. I would prefer to customize this for training that requires step by step instructions.

“Great!

Pros

The customization options are fantastic! I can display a lot of information in an easily digestible format.

Cons

I encounter various bugs from time to time and its sometimes challenging to make specific client requests.

“Everything our company was looking for!

Pros

Thought Industries met all of our company's needs for the software.

Cons

So far, I have not received any negative feedback about using this software.

“Great Company, Great People.

Pros

It is an excellent platform for teaching as it offers an easy to use and understandable approach to learning.

Cons

Nothing is perfect but Thought Industries is getting closer!

“Clean LMS with Great Developers

Pros

The customer facing interface of Thought Industries is very clean and user friendly. We have had no issues with customers finding what they need. The support team meets with us regularly to address any issues and they are fantastic to work with, always aiming for our best interests. Thought Industries is also continuously improving, so I'm excited to see what's next.

Cons

While the customer-facing interface of Thought Industries is impressive, the back-end has room for improvement (which is better than the other way around, but still not ideal). Support is very responsive but developments often seem to disappear into a black hole, though TI claims they are working on this. Additionally, the built-in gamification and translation features are currently quite limited.

“Thought Industries LMS

Pros

I like how simple it is to add and deploy courses as well as manage users.

Cons

The reporting capabilities are lacking and customizing user reports is challenging.

“An effective LMS with great customer support

Pros

Thought Industries is a robust LMS with leadership that consistently seeks to add new features and functions. As the LMS Admin, I hardly need to do anything daily to ensure users can access and complete their content. It just works!

Cons

Reporting has improved significantly since I first took over this platform at my company. However, the biggest issue remains the lack of rules. For instance, I cannot easily set a rule to assign all new hires in the Customer Service Department the following training courses.

“Thought Industries has saved me hours per week

Pros

Thought Industries is highly intuitive and easy to use. By having all content accessible in one place, the learning paths have saved us a lot of time by reducing repetitive emails. The learner notifications also save us time by sending reminders for action items instead of us sending emails manually.

Cons

I did like Thought Industries to offer more flexibility with "required" and "elective" courses in the learning path. Sometimes, we want certain modules to be required, but we also want members to advance to the next milestone.

“Excellent Learner Experience, Back-End can be Finicky

Pros

The learner experience is excellent. The UX is very intuitive and Learning Journeys excellently guide learners through required content. The platform includes many interactive elements which makes the learning experience much more engaging than just text and videos. Thought Industries is also constantly releasing new updates and features, which we are excited to use. We are particularly looking forward to improvements in Content Management features.

Cons

Thought Industries has so many features and can be configured to meet most of our needs. However, programming in the back-end can be quite finicky, with related options scattered across different parts of the back-end. We have had to create many convoluted processes to get everything to work as desired.

“Food for Thought!

Pros

Even though I am just starting out, I am already appreciating a fresh perspective. I frequently refer to "The Customer Education Playbook." The resources let me work at my own pace, which is important for me since diving deeply into one quality idea provides the best results. On the other hand, when I am in quantity mode for ideas, there is no shortage of resources! Either way, I benefit.

Cons

I am finding it challenging to find the time to implement so many new ideas!

“Seeing is believing.

Pros

Purchasable content has been a game-changer for our organization! We initially used this platform for internal training, but when COVID hit we started using it for client training. Before Thought Industries, we manually created certificates, sometimes hundreds at a time so this has definitely saved us a lot of time.

Cons

Some features are way too much customizable, and it is easy to get tangled up. I also think the software is very expensive.

“Great System

Pros

I like how interactive the system is and also enjoy the "white label" option for our clients.

Cons

So far, I do not have any major complaints.

“Thought Industries Makes Life Easier

Pros

The training course has proven to be excellent for us and managing the set-up has been pretty simple too.

Cons

Our biggest challenge is getting our entire team to understand how to use it.

“Great Implementation!

Pros

The feature set is fantastic especially for a paid training business. The standup was superb literally the first implementation that lived up to its promises without the typical 'overpromise underdeliver' issue that many software vendors have.

Cons

No issues so far. Everything is as we were led to expect.

“LMS

Pros

The platform is very user-friendly. Most content options follow the same steps which makes it relatively easy to switch to different methods of building content.

Cons

After an update, some features are relocated and hard to find. Additionally, some settings are disabled when an update is released.

“Great professional development product

Pros

The best aspect of Thought Industries for me is the variety of page styles. The platform offers over 25 different page types, all of which are highly interactive, fostering an engaging asynchronous environment. I am also very satisfied with the ADA compliance features and the mobile-friendly formatting.

Cons

The analytics and direct email functions need improvement. Segmenting and automation are challenging to achieve.

“Not your standard LMS

Pros

I really like the ability to subgroup our customers, which allows us to assign a "manager" who can then assign and manage content for users. I value the mobile responsiveness and the clear content access from anywhere. The course build-out functionality is very user-friendly and offers numerous ways to engage learners. The reporting feature is extensive and lets me customize reports to suit my needs.

Cons

The native webinar functionality still needs some work, but I am happy with the planned improvements.

“We are happy customers

Pros

Customer support is excellent. They are always improving and adding features to improve the experience for both admins and learners.

Cons

I am still looking for more features to enhance our use of the software and additional training manuals to help us build internal training as we grow our team and train new admins.

“Wide range of features

Pros

Thought Industries provides a wide range of options for building courses and for our clients to manage their users.

Cons

The site can be confusing to navigate at times.

“Taking our e-learning to the next level!

Pros

The biggest advantage is definitely the course authoring. The built in features are both robust and user friendly.

Cons

The reporting could be better, but I believe they are working on updates to address this.

“Good Value and Better Integration

Pros

I use Thought Industries for both external and internal training. Our business cases are complex, but Thought Industries generally meets our needs. The integration with Salesforce is also worth the extra investment. It creates a dynamic link between our Sales/Service pipeline and training data.

Cons

Thought Industries currently does not support recertification for our users, who need to recertify every 2 years. We have to create a new course to address this issue. TI is working with us to add this feature, though.

“Great For Course Subscription and eLearning

Pros

Setting up and customizing content for users in specific areas relevant to them is easy which helps us deliver the required content that generates revenue streams.

Cons

Managing the exported data files can be confusing at first and requires some effort to understand and use properly.

“A Growing Product With Lots of Potential

Pros

I like that Thought Industries is continually working to improve the platform. They are not hesitant to introduce new features to stay current.

Cons

We have had several instances where things stopped working as expected, affecting user admins. Sometimes changes in TI occur without warning, putting us in a difficult position.

“Versatile LMS with Loads of Options

Pros

Thought Industries LMS offers a wide array of learning arrangement capabilities and delivery methods, making it a highly versatile platform for creating, storing and distributing learning content.

Cons

From an administrative perspective, Thought Industries LMS requires a significant investment of time and testing to become familiar with its many features. However, they are making noticeable ongoing efforts to improve the user experience.

“Beautiful, still evolving

Pros

Thought Industries delivers beautiful user interfaces and pages which makes it enjoyable to use as an administrator. It handles our live-online Zoom-based learning well through Learning Paths and effectively supports SCORM-based on-demand learning.

Cons

Learner management is just "OK" finding learners is difficult since you have to type the full name instead of just part of it. While learner progress tracking is available, it is only at a high level. Some reporting options are flexible and powerful but others are very limited.

“Great for Learning Management

Pros

This software works great for our company which operates as an online on-demand continuing education platform.

Cons

I wish there were more customizable features but they are open to feedback and often implement the suggestions we provide.

“TI Overview

Pros

The platform offers a high degree of flexibility. It specializes in delivering customer education unlike many other LMSs that focus on internal training.

Cons

For new users, some of the functionality is not immediately obvious. Reporting can be overly complicated for simple tasks.

“Thought Industries Customer Experience

Pros

Customizing the frontend was a major advantage for us, along with integrating our own SSO. Additionally, Thought Industries supports a BI Connector which allows our analytics to be delivered to our data warehouse nightly. We also have a custom middle layer that supports complex third-party integrations. Combined with the exceptional customer service we have received, they are a distinctive partner.

Cons

We faced challenges during onboarding due to all the customizations, which was expected. It required strong Project Management from our side to complete. Additionally, we have had SEO challenges and Thought Industries is working closely with us to resolve them.

“YOU DO NOT WANT MY REVIEW

Pros

I cannot say anything positive about this software, the implementation process or the lack of required features. Choosing this was a mistake and now we are stuck with it.

Cons

This lms should never be used to teach courses. We have had problems with configuration, grading discussions, uploading media, developing pages and even had to know html. the issues are endless.

“The next generation LMS and authoring tool in one software

Pros

Thought Industries provides robust features that enable our instructional design team to create meaningful and highly beneficial learning experiences for our learners and clients.

Cons

The reporting tool might need further adjustments to help us mine the data we need more efficiently. It would also be beneficial to have the ability to set due dates for discussions, quizzes and workbooks, so students can easily track their progress.

“Just started

Pros

We just started using this last year, and so far it meets our needs. We are still exploring everything it can do.

Cons

We have found ourselves requesting many new functions to better assist our users. It feels like there is a gap between user and admin roles, with not enough options for managers who need to see some things but not others. They do offer some of this but not to the extent we need, especially in the reporting section.