When Outsourcing Training Makes Sense—An Instructional Designer’s Perspective
When you’re the one to pull the trigger on training and development initiatives for your organization, you have to make countless decisions. One of the most pivotal is whether to develop training internally or outsource it.
Training: Outsource or Develop Internally
Having sat on both sides of this equation—as an internal learning team member and as an external training provider—I can confidently say: there are real advantages to outsourcing training. It’s not always the right fit, but it can be a game-changer when it is.
Three benefits of outsourcing training
1 Fresh Perspective and Industry Expertise
In-house teams are great at capturing an organization’s culture, tone, and context. However, the trade-off is that they often lack exposure to what’s happening across the broader training landscape.
When you bring in an external team, you’re not just paying for custom content creation—you’re tapping into a well of industry insights, best practices, emerging trends, and specialized tools. They live and breathe training, and because they work across many organizations, they bring fresh, unbiased perspectives that help elevate your learning solutions.
Bonus: They stick to deadlines. External partners aren’t juggling the same internal priorities and meetings your team is—they’re focused on delivering your project.
2 Eliminating Blind Spots
One of the most dangerous assumptions is, “What we have is good enough.” Internal teams may be too close to the problem to see the gaps—or they may accept limitations as “just the way it is.” An outsourced partner approaches your challenge with curiosity and a diagnostic mindset.
Custom training partners ask the questions you’ve stopped asking and work to design precise and purposeful training. From identifying hidden performance gaps to proposing a more modern delivery method, a good training consultant can help uncover opportunities you didn’t realize you were missing.
3 Real Costs and Real Capacity
In-house isn’t free. Even if you’re not writing a check to an external vendor, you still pay in time, capacity, and opportunity cost. Pulling your team off other work can slow down key projects. And let’s be honest—internal training initiatives often get bumped when priorities shift.
Conduct a fundamental analysis of the internal resources you need and the likelihood they will be able to stay engaged in your project. If they can, then great. If your project is essential and you are working to a deadline, outsourcing allows you to maintain momentum on all projects.
Beyond the Project: Building a Trusted Advisor Relationship
One of the overlooked advantages of outsourcing is the relationship that can develop over time. A strong training partner becomes more than a vendor—they become a trusted advisor who understands your business, goals, and learners. Over time, they acquire deep organizational knowledge and are better equipped to design training that lands.
And this isn’t about being “too” external. The sweet spot is finding someone who brings the outside view and becomes embedded enough to understand your context. You want someone who doesn’t just hand over content but who also cares about the outcomes: Did they learn the material? Were there measurable units of change?
Final Thoughts
Not every training need warrants an outsourced solution. But for those that do—whether it’s a complex rollout, a skill-gap initiative, or simply something you don’t have the capacity for—outsourcing can save time, unlock insights, and drive better results.
Interested in seeing how we can partner with you to bring your training vision to life? Book a free discovery call.
About TouchPoints Learning & Innovation
We are an enthusiastic team of experts in learning, change and innovation. We help organizations solve business problems through facilitated creative problem-solving, team development services, outcome-driven innovation, and custom training development and delivery.
