Why Outsourcing Technical Writing Services Makes Sense?

Is your company engaged in the development or sale of software products? In many cases, there is not enough time and specialized staff to describe in detail each application. That is why we recommend outsourcing technical writing. For example, the main concept of your projects is big data.

It makes sense to have several developers of different qualifications in the team, as well as testers. It is unlikely that you will want to pay the programmer’s working time at development rates, while he will write a manual for the application’s users. To save the company’s budget, it is most reasonable to choose technical writing outsourcing. Also, many engineers do not have the relevant experience to explain the complex points of programming to users in an accessible language.

The importance of technical documentation

Some executives may get the impression that strict technical documentation is basically unnecessary. For work, rallies in the zoom and e-mails with customers are enough. In fact, the larger the company gets, the more important documentation becomes.

As the number of projects grows, so do the requirements for documentation standards. After scaling, many companies were forced to rewrite existing documents, as there were many inaccuracies. In addition, well-written technical documentation is just as important a guarantee as a legal contract for software development.

Why is it profitable to entrust the technical writing of documentation to third-party specialists?

To hire even one technical writer on the staff, the company has to be really big. Otherwise, you simply will not have enough work for him and you will pay him a disproportionately high salary. Also, any full-time specialist is the cost of training, internships, vacations, and sick leave. When you hire a third-party specialist, you only pay for the result.

Remember who you are writing the documentation for:

In the case when you write instructions for programmers and testers, there are only 2 main criteria:

1. Comprehensibility

When it comes to drafting business requirements for a customer, it’s also about readability. For such a task, you need a professional editor who will select the appropriate presentation style and at the same time will not harm the correctness of the data. Sometimes it makes sense to order different technical documents from different specialists based on the purpose. Particular attention should be paid to instructions for potential users.

If we are talking about the B2C sector, then competent and interesting documentation is a guarantee of user confidence. Market research shows that the engagement of website and mobile app buyers depends not only on design but also on quality descriptions. For example, the number of downloads of an application from PlayMarket directly depends on the creativity of its brief description. This can also be called technical documentation with a touch of marketing.

2. A staff member or third party author

Some executives fear that a third-party specialist will not provide the required quality of work. We can agree with this in terms of contacting freelancers. If you hire a specialized company that provides specialists, the risk is reduced to zero. The supplier company is interested in high-quality documentation no less than the customer. It’s not only about paying for the order, but also about maintaining a business reputation.

A specialized company definitely receives a large number of orders and can completely load several editors with work. Which even a medium-sized IT company cannot do. Also, the staff of a specialized company always has authored of various orientations. You can choose the type of documentation and presentation style depending on the source of the publication.