Outsourcing Technical Documentation or Producing it In-House? Your Decision-Making Guide

The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing technical documentation

The benefits of commissioning a service provider

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Who performs the translations? Who designs the product visualizations? And who takes care of the PDF layout? These are questions that you don’t need to answer when you outsource your technical documentation. As a rule, a service provider takes care of all the tasks involved in producing your documentation.

High degree of flexibility

You have no long-term ties to permanent employees. Outsourcing technical writing tasks is particularly suitable when workload peaks are temporary and predictable, and can therefore be planned for. Before working with a service provider for the first time, allow a few weeks’ of preparatory time to clarify all the details. Also bear in mind that good contractors do not always have capacity available right away.

Concentration on core tasks

As a manufacturing company, it is unlikely that your primary area of expertise lies in writing, but rather in innovation, development, and production. If you outsource some of your technical documentation tasks, this frees you and your employees up to concentrate on the activities that you do best and that are critical to your business success. You should avoid outsourcing technical documentation completely, because you need at least one person who is responsible for this area, briefs the service providers, and performs quality control.

Extensive expertise in technical documentation

Service providers are specialists in their field; they create technical documentation on a daily basis. They are familiar with legal and standardized requirements and they know what is important. If you outsource your technical documentation, you will benefit from this specialist knowledge. However, given that the title “technical writer” is not protected and there is no standardized access to the profession, you should pay close attention to specialist qualifications when selecting a service provider.

The disadvantages that come with outsourcing technical documentation

Time-consuming transfer of knowledge

If you outsource technical documentation, you must make sure that the service provider is given all the information they need. Training is required at the outset, because the technical writer must first familiarize themselves with the technical details of your products.

In other words, even if you outsource tasks you will need to provide support—both at the beginning and over the course of the collaboration. This brings with it the risk of information being lost or misunderstood. When working together with a service provider, you therefore need clearly defined processes and a controlled exchange of information.

Lack of contact with colleagues

Many in-house technical writers know from experience that it is sometimes tricky to obtain information from other departments; this is not made any easier when external parties are responsible for the research and there is a degree of personal distance from the points of contact.

Unfamiliar internal routines

Every technical writing department complies with certain rules to ensure consistency and match the tone of the brand. External service providers must first be briefed on this. They are also unfamiliar with the internal processes for obtaining and approving information, for example. If you commission a service provider, there is no way of avoiding the need for detailed technical writing guidelines.

Long-term dependency

If your technical documentation tasks are ticking over internally and you outsource as many of them as possible, your company will not develop any further knowledge in this area; on the contrary—knowledge will be lost. You will remain permanently reliant on “buying in” this expertise externally and you’ll become dependent to a certain extent.

High costs with high demand

You won’t incur expenses for salary, social security, and further training if you outsource technical documentation rather than hiring your own staff. When opting for a service provider, you should expect a daily rate of at least EUR 1,000. This solution is therefore cost-intensive if it is used on a regular basis.

Risk of unplanned costs

Expenses that were initially unforeseen can quickly lead to added costs, for example, if there are last-minute changes to the product and therefore also to the technical documentation. Additional reviews or improvements to quality can also result in an unplanned rise in costs.

Changing points of contact

Employees are transferred or resign; although this can also happen internally, you have no influence on the working situation at the service provider. Make sure that you are assigned a technical writer (and not just an account manager) as a permanent point of contact when you commission the service provider. If there are different technical writers at work, the quality can of course fluctuate.

No editing authority

You will usually receive a non-editable file from the service provider, such as a PDF. This means that you won’t be able to adapt your operating instructions yourself in future—you’ll have to rely on external support for every change, which incurs costs. If you require the source documents, you should stipulate this in the contract. If you use a component content management system internally, it is recommended that the service provider works in and with your system.

What you should look out for when selecting a service provider

Allow yourself sufficient time to find a service provider that meets your requirements. Recommendations from other technical writers are very valuable during the search process. Look around to identify service providers who contribute their knowledge to the technical writing community—for example, as speakers at events, by participating in standardization committees, or through contributions to specialist media.

Quanos collaborates with service providers: Bronze partners use the SCHEMA ST4 content management system in their work with customers, Silver partners also assist with the introduction of SCHEMA ST4 and offer support, while a full service package across the entire content management system is available when working with Gold partners. You can find contact details for our partners on our website.

Take the time to get to know selected service providers personally. Ask about the qualifications of the technical writer who will be looking after you. You should receive a transparent cost overview before signing the contract.

Producing technical documentation in-house—the pros and cons

Reasons in favor of in-house technical writing

Sensitive information is protected

Information about innovative products, for example, is your capital. If you pass it on to an external company, you need to be completely confident that your data will be well protected there. If you produce your technical documentation internally, the product knowledge will remain within your company.

Predictable budget

Although salaries and social security contributions can go up, it’s still easier to calculate your budget with a permanent team than with fluctuating expenses for external parties, for whom you may need regular approvals “from above”. What’s more, the invoices generate work for the accounting department.

Guaranteed quality

You accumulate and consolidate expertise in the field of technical writing and you can ensure that your documents satisfy all requirements—including those from legislation and standards. You do not have to (blindly) rely on a service provider to deliver high quality. Not least because technical documentation is also associated with liability issues. Changing personnel at the service provider, a lack of product expertise, and communication hindrances between the contractor and the client also bring with them a risk that the quality of the externally created documents will not be as high as you expect.

Internal collaboration

The close proximity between colleagues as “information suppliers” facilitates exchanges between departments; lines of communication are shorter and communication itself is less complicated. This means that tasks can be completed faster.

A wealth of product knowledge

With internal staff, you have a better chance of ensuring that the same people always work on your technical documentation, which enhances quality as the technical writers build up in-depth product knowledge.

Rapid availability

Your technical writers are always on hand and at the ready for the company. When something urgent comes up, you don’t have to rely on your service provider freeing up capacity at short notice.

Easier further development

If you take technical documentation into your own hands within the company, it is easier for you to expand and further develop it, for example, as digital product information for online users. When working in this field, you’ll see new potential and be able to implement it.

You should be aware of these challenges when producing technical documentation in-house

Hiring staff

Building a team can be more time-consuming than you would like; depending on the geographical location of your company, it may be difficult to find qualified personnel. Be sure to plan for this.

Further training

The quality of your technical documentation is dependent on the qualifications of your employees. Some individuals in the technical writing profession are career changers who have a high level of technical expertise but may still have room for improvement when it comes to writing for specific target groups and communicating complex issues. As such, further training is essential to strengthen these skills and improve the overall quality of the technical documentation.

Career changer or not: new legal requirements and digitalization generally demand that your team stays up to date. If you employ technical writers, you should offer your employees the opportunity to participate in regular further training.

Optimum workload

The workload in technical writing should be structured in such a way that it corresponds to the contractual number of hours your employees work. This will help you avoid stress or, conversely, prevent your team from being underutilized.

Conclusion: Accumulating your own expertise in technical documentation

If you produce technical documentation internally, you retain full control and don’t have to rely on service providers. As soon as you have a constant requirement in this area, you should assess whether you can appoint at least one person. In the long term, this is more cost-effective than hiring an external service provider on a regular basis.

Nonetheless, outsourcing offers you a certain degree of flexibility and is a particularly suitable solution if you simply wish to cover peaks in the workload—although if you opt for this solution, be sure to keep know-how-intensive topics within the company wherever possible and only hand over routine tasks. Outsourcing is also useful if you want to “buy in” special expertise from an external provider to complement the skills available internally.

If possible, avoid outsourcing all your technical documentation work. You need at least one employee in your company who is familiar with this field, who can brief a service provider, and review and approve the quality of the documents created.

As you can see, both options have their inherent advantages, but there is no way around having at least a small technical writing department in your own company.