One of our prospective clients asked a really good question today, “Why should we outsource the use of authoring tools, instead of using them ourselves?”
For the purpose of this question, authoring tools are defined as those used for rapid e-Learning development such as Lectora and Articulate.
While considering outsourcing options, clients would usually have these questions at the back of their mind:
- Is this service core to our business?
- Can the outsourced vendor do it better and/or cheaper than us?
While learning and development is important (some more than others) in many clients’ business, it is usually non-core. Therefore, I prefer focusing on the second part of the question – can the vendor do it better and/or cheaper?
In my experience, I would recommend that clients take on the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach when more than one of these factors happen:
- Complex content that requires client’s subject matter experts (SMEs) to explain to the vendor, and for the vendor to comprehend – outweighs the benefits
- The content has not been tested in classroom training, therefore the SMEs frequently find gaps, and add more content during the development of the e-Learning project. This results in re-work and prolonged schedule.
- The course objectives are mainly informational and contain concrete concepts that are easily understood by learners.
- Short course duration that results in short delivery time – It would be faster for SMEs to produce something quickly, without the need for formal processes and methodology.
These reasons call for outsourcing:
- Instructional design that are not found within a client’s organization, which are needed to break content into logical bites for better learner’s retention.
- Interactivity levels that require higher effort.
- Media production that requires skills that may not be available internally – such as illustrators, video producers, talents for acting or audio narration etc.
- To leverage on consultants’ knowledge of best practices, to avoid making the same mistakes as others in the past. This is especially true in early stages of e-Learning.
- Quality control with different members of the team looking at different aspects of the project, and having a second pair of eyes to check for errors.
- Project management for large scale projects to ensure that all stakeholders are managed, and a common ground is reached after balancing all parties’ interests
Having said so, clients should still have a mix of internal capabilities and a trusted vendor partner. Building up the relationship with a trusted partner will save cost and time in the long run. As the partner gains more in-depth understanding of the organization with every completed project, they will be more aware of the client’s product offerings, what works with their audience and the list goes on.
An unbelievable but true thing is how a partner is seemingly part of their client’s organization after working together for a substantial period. After all, successful partnerships occur when clients see the value in outsourcing even the simplest things to a trusted partner.
Do you have such a partner?
Theresa is responsible for the development and growth of Datacraft Training Services’ e-Learning & consulting business lines across Asia. She has more than 15 years of experience in the IT and learning industries. She currently serves in the National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF) Steering Committee, as well as the Chairman of the Adoption sub-committee. She was also previously the chairman of the e-Learning chapter in the Singapore IT Federation (SiTF), an association body of IT professionals.
