How can your eLearning outsourcing partner demonstrate that they will bring higher returns to your company? They must be able to prove that their expertise will bring time, cost and quality performance that you simply couldn’t create in-house.
What Should you ask your eLearning Outsourcing Partner to Improve ROI
When it comes to purchasing an LMS, business case is king. When vetting an eLearning outsourcing partner, the discussion around ROI is a top priority. After all, you’ll never truly receive leadership support unless you can demonstrate how a highly skilled workforce positively impacts profits. So, what do you need to ask when you are choosing a Managed Learning provider? How can they demonstrate that working with them can save you money and time? Go into your discussions armed with the benefits you’re expecting from the collaboration. If there are areas where the eLearning outsourcing vendor is weak, you should ask serious questions. But how do you frame your discussion with your eLearning outsourcing partner to improve ROI? Here are the top 8 questions to ask them –
1. How are you Going to Deliver Cost Savings?
An eLearning outsourcing partner should be able to provide financial benefits in a number of areas. These must be focused on a well-negotiated licensing arrangement that takes advantage of their scale. People costs will be based on the lower costs of using ready-trained experts rather than taking on that responsibility in-house. If your eLearning outsourcing partner is going to provide user support, then this should be cheaper than adding to your in-house team.
2. How Will you Provide a Better End User Experience?
Your eLearning outsourcing partner should be able to take care of online training content maintenance, as well as software updates. Your corporate training learners must be able to access the best, most up-to-date content and technology, and focus on training. If you have a multi-national business, your eLearning outsourcing partner should set up to provide far easier language translation capabilities. Online training, focused on the end user, will be far more engaging and impactful.
3. What Will we Save in Terms of Development Time?
Ensure they are using rapid development techniques so that you can be involved in the review progress early on. The key time-saving element is that your managed learning provider already has in-house experts. These developers are at the forefront of eLearning trends and future technologies. They can support you with graphic design, curriculum, evaluation, and software. The time between eLearning development and delivery should be drastically reduced by eLearning outsourcing.
4. How Will the Relationship Work?
What will be the interactions between eLearning vendor and client look like? Will they provide a dedicated liaison that can deal with any issues and provide updates on the corporate eLearning project? Can they involve administrators and corporate learners in the eLearning development process so that the content and design of the online training courses is appropriate? Get all pertinent details in writing so that there isn’t any confusion or conflict, later on. Remember, an effective eLearning outsourcing project involves open communication and defined expectations.
5. Will the Online Training Courses be Responsive?
Your corporate learners should be able to access training anytime, anywhere, on any device. This is the key to reduce overall online training costs and improving User Experience. Your eLearning outsourcing partner should be able to use templates to produce online training courses that work on all platforms, environments, and devices seamlessly. It is also essential to ask which tools they use to develop and deploy the online training content. For example, is their LMS multiplatform friendly, and does it offer geolocation features?
6. How can I Track the Effectiveness of my Training Initiatives?
Your L&D administrators need to be able to access reports of all types, from completion rates to assessment results. Will the online training courses be built to support that need? How will the eLearning outsourcing partner work with your L&D team to ensure the reports are available as and when needed?
7. How Much Experience do you Have in the Industry?
The eLearning outsourcing partner you choose should have experience in not only the online training industry but also your specific niche. Ask to see past corporate eLearning projects with a similar use case or objectives. How many corporate training projects have they successfully completed? How do they stay updated on the latest learning technologies and methodologies?
8. Who Will be Working on my eLearning Project?
You may have already vetted the eLearning outsourcing partner online by looking up online reviews and perusing their website. However, you should also know the individuals on their team, specifically those who will be working on your corporate eLearning project. What is their background and area of expertise? Who will be your point of contact? Who is going to step into the role of the eLearning Project Manager? You might even consider meeting with the team to see if they understand your expectations and mesh with your in-house staff. Especially if they’ll be working closely with your L&D department.
The benefits of eLearning outsourcing over developing the online training course in-house need to be balanced. But if your L&D team is stretched already and would be better used in delivery and communication roles, then eLearning outsourcing makes a great deal of sense. It is more cost-efficient to outsource to experts than to hire and develop your own. The benefits go beyond the costs of in-house versus outsourcing. The fast turnaround of a high-quality eLearning course will lead to higher returns for your company. Compliance, legal, and other online training can be delivered quickly, in a creative and engaging way. This leads to a better-trained workforce that adapts their behaviors to respond to new developments. Which, in turn, leads to better customer experience, having a clear impact on the bottom line. When selecting your eLearning outsourcing partner, make sure that all these benefits can be realized in full, every time.
Have you been considering whether it is more cost-efficient to tackle the task in-house or outsource it? Have you tried hard at eLearning course development, but you’re still not achieving the desired results? Watch the replay of the webinar The Learning Experience: Delivering the Business Results that Matter Most to find out why many of today’s learning programs don’t meet learners’ expectations and how to transform your learning experience to achieve business outcomes specific to your organization.
