In-house content creation vs. Third-party content creation: What works better and why?

Viren Kapadia June 14, 2021
In-house content creation vs. Third-party content creation: What works better and why?

Learning Management Systems are robust tools for administering and tracking employee courses. Moreover, they help new employees successfully manage all their course material, making it great for the corporate looking to improve employee performance. But, an age-old question arises constantly, is in-house creation better than third-party content creation.

The difference between the two is quite distinct. A combination of both is usable in an effective manner. In-house content gets used for creating training materials that need to be company-specific, whereas third-party content is, as you may assume- sourced from other writers and educators. The latter gets generally used for compliance-based training.

Moreover, with an LMS, teachers can create tests, clear out learning goals, and communicate the objectives. But, some sources are cheaper than others.

Introduction

As one may have witnessed, the growth in the corporate LMS market has been staggering. But, companies are looking to organize, present, and test employees on extensive content. And an LMS tool cannot create content from scratch. Without LMS, employee performance will remain stagnant because learners cannot track and monitor their progress.

If there is no reliable content, they will not make any progress.

How do companies create content?

Companies have many options when it comes to creating training content. They can either develop it in-house with the help of content authoring tools or source third-party content creators. The content for corporate work environments can be as generic as a PowerPoint Presentation and as comprehensive as a fully interactive e-learning course that tracks your progress and suggests future lessons. Also, reliable course materials will often offer assessments for tracking employee understanding of the course material.

When it comes to pre-made content, it is obtainable from blogs, articles, videos, etc. And an LMS can create professionally structured content and should have simple integration of such content. But, LMS cannot ensure suitable pre-made content for companies. After all, third-party content is less costly but offers little to no reconfigurability.

The state of In-house content generation over Third-party content

Finding reliable content for employee training is a costly endeavour now. But, in-house content is a suitable option for generating trustworthy niche content for select industries. Therefore, companies need to choose between in-house content creation and third-party content creation based on their requirements and costs.

In-house content allows for more control, and content creators can include corporate branding, goals, and company ideals. Furthermore, in-house content is sellable on e-learning marketplaces. By licensing in-house content, companies can make money through training. Also, creating quality training materials requires both time and resources at hand.

These two things, smaller companies can quickly run short of while training employees. Third-party content is obtainable for free and at a low cost from multiple sources. Thus, companies choose this option to train employees at a lower expense.

The Challenges to Content Creation

Content creation is a lengthy process. Therefore, companies rarely change up the third-party content they invest in to offer specific training. For instance, having tailored content for workers' safety training for chemical companies is a must. Here, in-house content ticks all your boxes because it allows you to configure the content.

You can create a new material that works well in a niche industry where communicating specific content is crucial. Therefore, there should be a mix of in-house and third-party content. And many companies term it as an industry best practice. Companies need to acknowledge that in-house material ensures that a learner gets the full spectrum of learning.

And with third-party content through engaging videos and text-based materials, they can enable optimal cost-effectiveness. Let us talk about why a video is a good option.

Some insight into third-content

The most popular third-party training content is the video format (85%) and text-based materials (65 %.) A lot of research and data shows that less resource-exhaustive content gets done through text or slideshows. Games or real-time simulations take much more time. Can you guess which gets done in-house?

Insight into In-house content

Text or slideshows get obtained from in-house sources usually. These two are among the most common forms of content types among all content types. However, video is the leading content type. For in-house content, video editing software such as Final Cut, Pro X, and screen-capturing platforms are reliable tools to put together quality in-house videos.

Although there is much more affordable video-editing software out there, there are still many other tools required to create reliable training videos. Having all of these tools can ensure your training models are of high quality as well as beneficial. That is what most LMS systems offer: effective management of learning through various devices. And a good LMS offers all the tools to upload high-quality videos and smoothen out any potential issues.

Conclusion

LMS systems are essential to a corporate working environment. They help effectively train employees in specific company processes and give them a general overview of their field. If your company needs an LMS system that offers a seamless learning experience with robust analytics and reporting on employee progress, check out Gyrus Systems, a reliable US-based learning management systems provider with 34 years of experience in providing employee training tools that are fully scalable. They offer cloud-based solutions that are easy to implement and integrated with various systems to enable a seamless, robust learning experience.

Their LMS systems tailored for training managers help simplify the teaching and assessments for them. Overburdened with training material and a need to streamline courses for their employees, most managers need to follow compliance. They aim to optimize the learning process for companies all over the globe. Furthermore, with their learning management system, you can manage classrooms, virtual, electronic, and mobile learning.

They offer a healthy user experience across all mediums and platforms with accessibility to a blend of in-house and third-party content. Gyrus Systems strives to ensure your business follows strict compliance regulations in industries like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, etc., with the necessary training. Their vision is to deliver exceptional value for a robust, multi-functional learning management system.