Is Outsourcing eLearning Content Development Right For You - EI Design

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Is Outsourcing eLearning Content Development
Right For You?

• Part of Outsourcing Series
• Presented by
• www.eidesign.net
• Author-Asha Pandey
• Chief Learning Strategist, EI Design
• apandey_at_eidesign.net

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About EI Design (www.eidesign.net)
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Our portfolio and the range of our services
Core services 

• Core services Our rich portfolio includes
• Custom Course development eLearning / mLearning
• Migration of legacy courses to HTML 5
• Localisation
• ILT / VILT and Blended Learning
• Performance Support Tools
• Off-the-shelf Products
• Suite on Instructional Design
• Suite on generic Compliance

• Value added Services Comprehensive evaluation
  strategy (cuts across various training formats)
• Efficacy of learning (the learnability and gain
  for learners)
• Impact of training (the gain for business)
• Return of Investment (ROI) on training
• Beyond Learning We also offer several Learning
  Support services that can be used to promote
  eLearning adoption or specific mandates like
  change management.

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Is Outsourcing eLearning Content Development
Right For You?

• If you are reading this article, you are probably
  evaluating outsourcing of eLearning content
  development or are looking at alternatives for
  your existing outsourcing approach. There are
  several compelling business reasons to outsource
  and there are certainly plenty of possible
  partners you can engage with. However, the
  evaluation and selection of the right partner is
  a tough job. Tougher still is to make the
  partnership work effectively and consistently
  once you sign up. So, how do you determine if
  outsourcing eLearning content development is
  right for you?

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How To Decide Whether Outsourcing eLearning
Content Development Is Right For You
In this article, I begin with the start point,
that is, identification of the need to outsource
(the triggers) with which you begin the hunt for
an onshore or offshore partner. Next, I will
outline the advantages of outsourcing your
eLearning content development. This reaffirms why
outsourcing eLearning content development makes
business sense. I will then touch upon the
challenges that are inherent to outsourcing
eLearning content development.
In my next article, I will walk you through how
you can offset these challenges and share
insights on how to choose the right partner to
outsource your eLearning development.
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Why Do You Want To Outsource Your eLearning
Content Development?
Having clarity on why you want to outsource is
obviously the start-point. At the outset, define
if the outsourcing is strategic for you or
opportunistic (possibly on account of a large
project execution).
Think about the gains youre looking at from your
outsourcing initiative. You can consider
outsourcing if youre looking to

• Scale (to handle higher volumes).
• Reduce the time to deliver or time to market.
• Reduce costs.
• Access talent that you do not have.
• Add more innovative solutions to your portfolio.

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Why Does Outsourcing Your eLearning Content
Development Make Business Sense?
There are several advantages of outsourcing your
eLearning content development. Heres my list of
the top 7 advantages

1. Reduction in costs.This is certainly the first
   and the probably the biggest benefit of
   outsourcing. Through outsourcing, you can get
   access to large talent pools that map exactly to
   your requirement and yet pay a fraction of the
   cost that you would incur if you were to hire
   them in-house.

1. Flexibility to scale the team up and
   down.eLearning content development
   outsourcing offers you greater flexibility by
   allowing you to rapidly scale up and down the
   required team exactly as per your business
   dynamics.

1. Access to new skill sets and more varied talent
   in a given domain.With rapidly changing learner
   expectations, tools, and technologies it is not
   possible to have all combinations of skills that
   you or your customers may require. Outsourcing
   offsets this challenge and offers you the
   flexibility to have more than one partner to be
   able to address varied solutions.

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Why Does Outsourcing Your eLearning Content
Development Make Business Sense?

1. Reduction in development time leading to a faster
   turnaround time.Typically, an outsourcing
   partner will have a dedicated team addressing
   your requirement including focus on shorter
   development cycles. This gives you a significant
   edge in managing a quicker turnaround time for
   your projects particularly when your internal
   teams may not be available.

There are several advantages of outsourcing your
eLearning content development. Heres my list of
the top 7 advantages

1. Access to best practices leading to optimization
   of your development practices.Remember your
   partner will be servicing the needs of several
   organizations and therefore, is more likely to
   have development practices that are optimized for
   globally distributed development. You can use
   these cues to enhance your own development
   practices further.

1. Addition of more innovative solutions to your
   portfolio.You can leverage on your partners
   skills to enhance your portfolio with
   additional innovative solutions to service more
   varied or more complex needs.

1. Enhanced focus on your customers.Leveraging on
   the partners development strengths enables you
   to bring higher focus on customer interfacing
   activities rather than day to day execution.
   Besides creating better customer satisfaction,
   this may enable you to address new opportunities.

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What Are The Challenges In Outsourcing Your
eLearning Content Development?
The success of your outsourcing strategy for
eLearning development can go belly up on account
of

1. Hidden costs.In your budgeting, you would have
   factored for the pay-out on account of
   outsourcing as well as time and budget for your
   Project Managers who would work with the
   outsourced team. The outsourced teams inability
   to follow the brief accurately can often lead to
   higher review times adding to your costs. They
   may also add delays in your project schedules.

1. Aspects that you can identify only after you
   begin outsourcing.During the evaluation phase as
   well in the pilot phase, you get to interact with
   your partners top notch talent. Once you start
   scaling (after looking at the initial success),
   you find the talent pool has changed. Often this
   leads to additional costs for you to cover the
   re-briefing, additional reviews, and quality
   issues.

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What Are The Challenges In Outsourcing Your
eLearning Content Development?
The success of your outsourcing strategy for
eLearning development can go belly up on account
of

1. Inconsistency in performance and quality
   standards.Closely linked to the challenge
   outlined above, you often see a variation in the
   quality or lack of consistency. This too leads to
   additional review time and adding days to your
   project schedule to mitigate these challenges.

1. Inability of your partner to adapt and align
   effectively to changing dynamics.Often, the
   business dynamics change, the kind of solutions
   your customers require now can change, and this
   can lead to a gap in what you gain from an
   existing partnership. (For instance, significant
   transitions like Flash to mLearning or the
   current need of fully responsive mobile learning
   solutions that need a different expertise set)
   can play havoc with your further planning. If the
   partner is not in sync with changing market
   expectations or what more is required, you may
   have a show-stopper.

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Can Most Of These Challenges Be Mitigated To
Create A Successful Outsourcing Partnership?
The good news is that the challenges mentioned
here can be mitigated to a large degree leading
to a successful outsourcing of your eLearning
content development.
In my next article, I will outline measures that
you can use to offset these challenges (you can
use these pointers during your evaluation
process). Additionally, I will share my pointers
on how you can choose the right partner to
outsource.
Meanwhile, do refer to my earlier articles that
cover various facets of outsourcing eLearning
content development.

1. 6 Pros Of eLearning Content Development
   Outsourcing
2. 10 Tips On How To Choose A Custom eLearning
   Company In India
3. How To Evaluate A Custom eLearning Development
   Company In India
4. Too Many eLearning Companies In India How To
   Find The Best?

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Is Outsourcing eLearning Content Development
Right For You?

• I hope this article has provided you the insights
  to help you weigh your options for outsourcing
  eLearning content development. Do contact me if
  you have any questions.
• You can Also Download Free eBook
• An informative guide onIs Outsourcing of
  eLearning Content Development Right For You

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EI Design Pvt Ltd Corporate Office and
Development Centre 160, Arun Arch, 9th Cross,
Indiranagar 1st Stage Bangalore - 560 038,
India. www.eidesign.net
Asha Pandey, CMD and Chief Learning
Strategist Tel (Direct) 91-80-25202679Board
91-80-25202677 / 25202678 Mobile
91-98450-61484Email apandey_at_eidesign.net