Nowadays, the business landscape is characterized by constant change and unpredictable shifts. In order to succeed, organization must ensure that their employees stay up-to-date by continually developing new competencies and skills. Whether you own a local start-up or a large multinational company, training your staff is very crucial. Your corporate training programs should be easy to follow, consistent and generate employee engagement.
One of the most popular mediums for employee training and development is e-learning. When it comes to e-learning development, you can either create your content in-house or outsource it to professional vendors. It is possible that the people that work in your company have the requisite knowledge that needs to be shared in a training program. However, they might not have the time or skill to create a complete e-learning course. This is why you should consider outsourcing your e-learning development to a professional vendor.
Here are some reasons why outsourcing e-learning development could be the best option for your company:
- Lower costs
Creating a course in-house will require hiring full-time staff with skills in e-learning development. In addition, you will need to acquire the technology necessary to run the course. This can end up being a very expensive and time-consuming affair. Outsourcing the work to an e-learning vendor will help you cut down on overheads such as employee salaries, allowances and training. The e-learning vendor will also be responsible for acquiring or upgrading technology.
- Get access to experts
An in-house team might not have necessary skill sets required to develop e-learning content. Outsourcing e-learning development gives you a chance to work with experts that are skilled and experienced in Instructional Design, Learning and Development (L&D), and other aspects related to online learning. Hiring such specialists will help you avoid blunders that you would have made working on the project in-house. Such experts are also likely to use the latest e-learning technology to ensure that your content is up to modern standards.
- Fast turnaround times
Since vendors have vast experience in e-learning development, they are likely to get the job done much faster than an in-house team. Such vendors have access to powerful authoring tools that allow them to produce content rapidly, while keeping it effective and engaging. Therefore, if you are working with a tight deadline for creating training content, it would be advisable to hire an e-learning vendor.
- Ability to handle global training needs
Nowadays, many companies have a diverse workforce spread around the world. If an e-learning program has been effective for your employees in Europe, you might want to offer it to other staff in USA or Asian countries. However, this could be a challenge since your employees are from different cultures and have varying language capabilities. An e-learning development vendor will help you create custom programs that are translated and localized for your global workforce.
- Easy to scale up or down
An e-learning program that has been developed in-house cannot be scaled easily. However, outsourcing allows you to create solutions that can be scaled on demand. Organizations can choose the pace at which they want to grow and leave the burden to the vendor. Most tools that professional vendors use come with asset libraries and inbuilt templates that make quick e-learning scalability possible.
- Higher employee engagement
Learners are usually stimulated by and attracted to training programs that have quality feedback and multimedia options. You can achieve this by outsourcing your e-learning development to experienced vendors. When your staff is properly engaged, they will feel more equipped for their tasks and their productivity will be boosted.
- Boost productivity
Outsourcing e-learning development will free up your time and allow you to focus on your core competencies and strong points. You can boost your productivity by thinking of new business strategies and creative ways of adding value to your customers. Your employees will also have more time to focus on their strengths, thus enhancing their overall efficiency.
Conclusion
Once you have decided to outsource your company online course development, the next step is to find the right e-learning vendor for the job. Look for a reputable company that has been in business long enough. Ask for sample training courses as well as recommendations from previous clients. Lastly, be sure to do your own research on social media and other relevant online communities.
A post by Charles Mburugu
