6 Factors to Consider When Outsourcing Your Online Training

Ever growing business needs and shrinking training budgets are prompting organizations to outsource their online training projects. Outsourcing training development helps your organization concentrate on its core functions. You will benefit from the training partner’s domain expertise and get quality training material for your employees. Considering these benefits, it pays to outsource your training needs to a custom e-learning solutions provider. However, you will have to do some ground work before outsourcing your training requirement.

Considering these six factors will help you prepare adequately for outsourcing your training . Let’s check them in detail.

1. Decide the Scope of Outsourcing

When you choose to outsource, you need to decide the extent. Organizations with a strong design team might outsource only the development process whereas others might outsource the project end-to-end.

When you outsource, mention the expectations clearly, specify all elements such as the inputs provided and expected output, timeline, and criteria for success. Deciding the scope of outsourcing is a must to estimate project costs and timelines.

2. Measure the Outcomes

If the target of your outsourcing is to improve quality, formulate a rating system to measure that. If it is to decrease training costs, compare training costs before and after implementation. This will help you know whether you are getting the expected results or not. Both parties should know the expected outcomes and work toward them collectively.

3. Research Training Vendors Thoroughly

When you think of outsourcing your training requirement, start researching for training providers. Advance planning and extensive research enhance your understanding and bring more clarity about the industry, market, and pricing. This will help you shortlist training providers more easily.

Check for customer reviews, ratings, and search comparison sites for more information about the expertise and experience of the various training providers.

Talking to their existing and former clients will also give you a clear picture of their ability to work across time zones, deal with cultural differences, handle large projects, and other aspects. This exercise will enable you make an informed decision of which provider best suits your outsourcing.

4. Take Small Steps

If you are not sure of the outcome of your outsourced training, it may be better to go for a pilot project. Starting with a small project is a practical way to see how outsourcing works. You can manage a small project easily and also get to know the nuances of outsourcing.

5. Take a Call on Control

Some organizations outsource most of their training to gain a competitive edge and focus on their core responsibilities. Others prefer to retain control of the critical process in the view of quality or sensitive information. Before outsourcing, you need to take a decision on this. You can enter into agreements to protect confidential data and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of patented products, which will avoid information misuse and related issues, later.

6. Build a Relationship

When you think of outsourcing training, don’t view it as a contract, but as a relationship. Giving timely feedback on their work and being open to taking suggestions from them will improve the performance of your vendor-partner and quality of the project. It also builds a trusting relationship between your organization and the training provider. This is a win-win situation for both.

The vendor and you may differ in time zone, geography, language, and culture. You need to consider these things before stepping further. Despite these differences, your vendor and client relationship will flourish when you have constant communication.

Periodical calls and status reports will ensure everyone is on the same page.

Considering these six factors will help you prepare a workable training outsourcing strategy, and select an effective solution that meets your training needs, within your budget.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.