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Four Reasons to Outsource Your E-learning

A retail outlet specializing in food and beverages made huge profits over the last fiscal year and wants to expand its business across the city. However, with new business outlets come new employees who must learn about its existing customers and transactional processes. They must also learn/know what items the outlet sells and about the latest food products. As is the case with any other business, expansion leads to the need for training.

Now, here’s the problem. They have a very strong in-house e-learning design team but lack the expertise to develop such large-scale courseware. What do they do?

Outsource e-learning development. Wondering what benefits that would bring to the table? Read on.

1. Reduces development costs 

It is better to outsource your eLearning training rather than have an expensive in-house developer/development team. By doing so, you are not only hiring workforce professionals but also the resources required for the job which alone can cut down the expenses of constantly acquiring and upgrading technology.

In addition to this, you can have more courses in the pipeline at lower rates when you have multiple projects spread across a varied timeline.

If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you’re putting yourself out of business.”

– Lee Kuan Yew

2. Brings depth of specialized expertise: 

Like I mentioned earlier, when you hire a vendor who specializes in eLearning projects, you tap into their skill sets and knowledge. An eLearning vendor works with numerous clients at a time. You can access their case studies and study their clients to “capitalize” on their depth of experience.

You will have access to advice from experts who have probably worked with big brands. If they have worked on a project similar to yours, they will be able to offer you valuable advice on how to improve the functionality of your courseware.

Note: When you go for outsourcing, ensure that the vendor has a sophisticated background in learning and the expertise to understand learning design principles.

3. Reduces project risks: 

The development process of your eLearning training is handled by highly specialized vendors who manage documentation (such as sheets, storyboards, project plans), and delivery strategies for prototypes (Alpha and Beta versions), and work with you closely until the completion of the project.

If you wish to be even more careful of how the project must be handled, you can always distribute it among multiple vendors, provided the volume of your project is large enough.

4. Enables convenience of work across time zones: 

If the vendors you hire for outsourcing eLearning development belong to a different time zone than that of yours, it gives both of you the flexibility to make changes to the course without wasting any time.

For example, you can provide feedback to the vendor regarding the project at the end of your day and expect them to make changes by the time you get back to work the next day. This greatly reduces development timelines and causes no delays whatsoever.

The decision to outsource your eLearning development is a strategic decision and one that should be taken after much consideration of certain factors such as: 

  • Expertise in using authoring tools
  • Availability of in-house Instructional Designers who can provide valuable inputs
  • Profusely skilled in Learning & Design

Outsourcing e-learning development makes a lot of economic sense; and if done correctly, it can bring in abundant value to your training. But the key component is to understand what your organization’s needs are and to make the right choice based on these needs.

eLearning Development Outsourcing: A Comprehensive eGuide to Select the Right Vendor