When You Need Online Learning Content Developed Fast, Who You Gonna Call?

Content Development Companies: Move Learning Online
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Summary: Choosing a vendor to build your training can feel overwhelming. You want to be sure you’ve found the right partner, one who understands your needs, keeps you in the loop, and most importantly, delivers what they say they’re going to deliver.

Custom Content Development Companies Can Move Learning Online In A Flash

It’s crunch time. With workers not ready to come back into the office, or a company-wide decision to stay remote, you need to transition all your face-to-face, Instructor-Led Training online. The problem? You and your training department have spent years perfecting your in-person training to deliver a highly engaging learning experience packed with personal interactions and pizazz. Now you’re wondering how you’re going to recreate those interpersonal experiences in an online format—and how you’re going to do that on a deadline. Your solution? Engage with a content development company that specializes in immersive, interactive online learning.

Working with an external vendor enables you to leverage their years of experience and the different talents on their team that you might not have on yours. You’ll have access to more manpower to meet tight deadlines.

And, they’ll be able to bring you innovative ideas for eLearning that you might not have thought even possible, like hosting an interactive, virtual health fair online or embedding social polling and commenting to keep remote learners connected to each other.

What To Look For In A Content Development Company

Remote work isn’t going away anytime soon, so you’ll want to ensure that whatever digital training solution you implement now is one that won’t feel outdated in a year or so. And you’ll want to pick a vendor that you can envision a long-term working relationship with, as you continue to adapt to the changing world and define new organizational goals or learning needs.

Choosing a vendor to build your training can feel overwhelming. You want to be sure you’ve found the right partner, one who understands your needs, keeps you in the loop, and most importantly, delivers what they say they’re going to deliver.

3 Key Qualities To Look For In An eLearning Vendor:

  1. Solid Project Management And Development Process
  2. Ability To Stay On Time, On Budget
  3. Depth And Breadth Of Experience

1. Solid Project Management And Development Process

If you’re trying to move all your in-person training online as quickly as possible, you want to choose a vendor that has an efficient and defined process for eLearning development. Having a smooth process and good project managers will keep your training project moving swiftly, without a lot of backtracking or rework-causing errors.

There are lots of development methods (waterfall, agile, etc.). You may already know that one process works better for you, so if that’s the case, be sure to ask the vendor how they work. Then you’ll know if your working styles are going to mesh. Some content development companies can even tailor their process to match yours, creating a smooth partnership that increases project efficiency.

2. Ability to Stay On Time, On Budget

The coronavirus pandemic is causing new shifts every day as we learn more about it, instilling a sense of caution in many. No one wants to spend more money than necessary right now when we don’t know what tomorrow might bring.

Find out if a vendor can keep your project on time and on budget by asking:

  • How big is your staff?
  • How many of those people will be dedicated to my project?
  • Do you have enough people experienced with ____ to complete my project on time?
  • How do you handle it when a project ends up out of scope?

The eLearning Brothers Custom Solutions team has developed a time-tested and proven way to avoid changes of scope. CEO Andrew Scivally wrote about it on LinkedIn.

3. Depth And Breadth Of Experience

Since eLearning knowledge and experience is one of the key reasons you’re looking for a content development company, you’ll want to ask any potential vendors how long they’ve been in the training industry and what sort of companies they’ve previously built training for. Are any of their current or former clients in your same industry?

You could also ask if their team members have any formal training or certifications and what kind of continuing education they do to stay current with the field. Are they constantly exploring new technology and learning methods?

It takes creative thinkers and experienced problem solvers to convert Instructor-Led Training into effective and engaging online learning. When you hire a custom content development shop, that’s what you should be able to expect. Following the tips outlined above will help you find the right eLearning development partner.