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By Brant Wilkerson-New
February 11, 2025
Almost all businesses need technical documentation. Think of software companies that need technical documentation for their products. Or the healthcare industry, which requires technical documentation for medical devices and software systems. And then there is the financial sector, which needs technical documentation for its security protocols.
Technical writing is a strategic asset that impacts an organization’s success. Nearly every industry requires some form of technical documentation, and the key is to match the type of documentation to business needs.
The complexity of modern products and services, as well as increasingly sophisticated technology platforms and demanding user experience expectations, have transformed technical documentation from a simple support function into a business asset on its own. Companies across industries are discovering that traditional in-house documentation approaches often struggle to meet these demands effectively, on time, and within budget.
Outsourcing Technical Documentation
To be efficient and productive, organizations and businesses are increasingly turning to outsourcing technical content as a strategic yet creative business decision.
This shift is more than just a cost-saving measure. It reflects a fundamental transformation in how companies approach knowledge management and user support. By partnering with specialized documentation service providers, company professionals gain access to expert resources, advanced methodologies, and successful processes to create user-friendly documentation that meets the expected standards.
Instead of dedicating resources, time, and money internally, businesses can focus on professional technical writers to supply them with the technical documentation they need. This is cost-effective, practical and efficient — not to mention it delivers technical documentation that perfectly fits the needs and expectations of users.
Cost-Effective Resource Management
Compared to maintaining an in-house documentation team, which can be expensive, outsourced technical documentation is by far a more cost-effective option.
Outsourcing technical writing eliminates the substantial fixed costs associated with full-time employees, including salaries, benefits, and workspace requirements. This approach also lets organizations scale their documentation resources up or down based on project needs without making long-term commitments.
Companies gain access to specialized processes and procedures without the need to invest in extensive training and development programs. This means that they have significant cost savings; an added cost-saving solution that many businesses take into consideration.
Access to Specialized Expertise
Many organizations and businesses can’t keep up with the training and professional expertise of an expert writing team.
Professional documentation service providers bring expertise that many companies find difficult to develop internally. These providers maintain teams of specialized technical professionals with specialized product documentation experience.
Their documentation team of technical specialists uses different documentation tools and frameworks and brings about best practices and efficient workflows to every project. As outsiders, they have a fresh outsourced technical writing outlook and outside-the-box thinking that boosts processes.
These teams also include subject matter experts who understand complex technical concepts and can translate them into clear, user-friendly documentation. After all, the point of a technical manual is to be read and understood by people who are not familiar with the topic.
Quality and Consistency
Professional technical writing services focus on quality standards.
Technical writers work on documentation processes and best practices that deliver consistent, high-quality output. Their quality assurance procedure requires a deep understanding of the writing field and includes multiple review stages to catch errors and improve clarity. Thanks to their experience, they can spot mistakes early on and fix them.
API documentation teams work within defined style guides for maximum consistency across all documents, while regular peer reviews and editorial oversight add accuracy and readability. These technical writer providers keep up with industry standards and trends and incorporate new best practices as they come out.
Improved Time to Market
Professional documentation must be speedy and match product launch timelines. An in-house team will probably need time to assess software user needs and write the technical manuals that accompany new services or products.
Not so for experienced technical documentation writers. Their dedicated resources focus solely on documentation tasks. This specialized focus gives them the flexibility to handle documentation surges during releases so that documentation never becomes a bottleneck in the product launch process. While the team develops a product in-house, the outsourced professional documentation provider is already working on the document.
Focus on Core Business
Why should you dedicate valuable internal resources when you can use them more efficiently?
Outsourcing technical writing allows companies to maintain their focus on actual business operations. Internal teams develop products and innovate rather than work on documentation tasks. Management focuses on its job instead of streamlining documentation processes.
Outsourcing technical documentation lets both internal and external teams focus on their core competencies, making it an efficient, practical, and time-saving solution.
Scalability and Flexibility
Documentation service providers can offer scalable solutions that match changing business needs.
They can handle multiple projects simultaneously, and documentation resources are always available when needed. They support many documentation formats and deliverables and are adaptable to whatever specifications the client requires.
Many also offer multilingual documentation capabilities, perfect for global market reach. The quick ramp-up capability for new projects or requirements means documentation never delays product development or market entry.
Risk Mitigation
Outsourced documentation providers comply with industry standards and regulations through their specialized knowledge and established processes.
They also keep backup resources for critical documentation needs. Their disaster recovery and business continuity plans protect documentation assets, and they have the proper security measures to safeguard sensitive information.
They have established comprehensive risk management approaches for peace of mind and protection of valuable intellectual property.
Measurable ROI
The most impressive benefit of outsourcing technical documentation is that it saves money.
Organizations benefit from reduced operational costs compared to in-house teams, often by a significant margin. Faster time-to-market documentation processes bring in more revenue as products and services can quickly be marketed with their relevant documentation.
Users can adopt a new product or service faster and enjoy it more if it’s accompanied by friendly, easy-to-understand documentation.
Finally, businesses don’t need large customer support centers as users can find the answers in the documentation independently and on their own.
Implementation Strategy
Even if you outsource your technical documentation, there is still a need for a structured approach.
Organizations should assess their current documentation needs and challenges. This will tell them what sort of new documentation requirements they have. They can then assign their documentation needs to a dedicated technical documentation provider.
The right documentation provider is experienced and professional, and fits with the culture and process of the organization. Once selected, they establish clear communication channels and processes for smooth collaboration. They also define metrics and performance monitoring to assess how successful their technical documents are.
Outsourcing Technical Documentation: the Smart Choice
Instead of spending money, time, and effort to develop technical documentation in-house, you can outsource technical writing.
Outsourcing technical documentation can improve an organization’s documentation quality and reduce costs, all while increasing operational efficiency. A professional technical writing team provides access to specialized expertise and can scale up or down their documentation services depending on your needs. This leaves organizations the time and space to focus on their core business objectives.
Cost savings, quality improvements, and strategic advantages make technical documentation outsourcing the best option for organizations looking to keep their competitive advantage in their market.
If you feel your organization could benefit from outsourcing its technical documentation, contact us today to share your project’s goals and find out how we can help. TimelyText is a trusted professional writing service and instructional design consulting partner for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
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Exactly how I’ve told stories has changed through the years, going from writing college basketball analysis in the pages of a newspaper to now, telling the stories of the people of TimelyText. Nowadays, that means helping a talented technical writer land a new gig by laying out their skills, or even a quick blog post about a neat project one of our instructional designers is finishing in pharma.
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