Outsourcing certain aspects of your employee training initiatives can provide your business with a number of advantages. From access to industry-leading subject matter and instructional design expertise, to reduced cost of developing and conducting training, these advantages are too big to be ignored.
With that said, these benefits are only experienced by those businesses that are careful in choosing their outsourcing partners.
The task, however, can turn out to be a confusing one, especially for beginners. The elearning industry is growing rapidly and as a result, new players are emerging in the market every now and then.
With an overwhelming abundance of options present, choosing a dependable outsourcing company for elearning content development can be difficult.
To make the process easier, we have dedicated this article to a list of considerations that you should make while looking for an elearning provider.
Without delay, let's jump right into it:
Online Presence And Reviews
One of the most basic criteria for filtering out unwanted options is to check for a reliable and credible online presence. Service providers that have not invested in creating an online presence that communicates credibility may not, in fact, be credible.
With that said, creating a seemingly credible online presence is not a difficult or a new practice. For this reason, it is important to check for online reviews. Now, many businesses try to manipulate the system by posting fake positive reviews. For this reason, it is advisable to check for reviews of your potential options on multiple platforms, from search engines to business directories to social media, check out as many reviews as you can find.
It is also possible that you may find a few bad reviews for an otherwise trustworthy business with several positive reviews. If you end up shortlisting them, make sure you take a note of the bad reviews and enquire about what went wrong that led to their customers writing those reviews.
The way they handle such a query will tell you a lot about them and their work ethic. If they blatantly bad mouth the customer for posting such a review, that probably means they would do the same to you in case problems arise.
If, however, they explain the situation in detail and accept any shortcomings on their part, while explaining how they have rectified the situation to avoid future problems, then you can consider this a green flag.
Specialisation
This one is a no brainer. There are countless industries and hence, countless topics for which employees need training. There is no way that a single outsourcing company employs subject matter experts related to all the industries.
Hence, finding a partner that works within your niche is important. This way, you will be able to ensure your course contains knowledge that has come from true experts.
Check For References
Any outsourcing partner that is legit, and has genuinely helped their clients in the past, will have at least one customer willing to vouch for them in front of a stranger.
This step will ensure you don't fall for anyone's extensive efforts in filling the web with fake reviews. However, in the case of many outsourcing partners, there is a non-disclosure agreement in act, and getting in touch with their past customers may not always be possible.
In such cases, you can ask for examples and samples of their past work. In fact, a truly genuine and credible company will present you with their portfolio of past work before you even get a chance to ask for it.
Conclusion
Choosing the wrong outsourcing partner can turn out to be an expensive mistake. While the steps mentioned here may be a bit time consuming, and it may seem like they are slowing down your decision making process, they are important to ensure the decision you make is in the best interest of your organisation.
