"Outsourcing is too expensive."

At first glance, the hourly rates of documentation service providers may seem high. However, compared to a permanent employee, you only have to pay for productive time that was actually spent on the project. There are no ancillary wage costs such as social insurance contributions, days of illness, vacation, training, etc. In most cases you also save the cost for a workplace at your company, including special software.

So, below the line, a documentation service provider will rarely be significantly more expensive than a company employee. However, you are much more flexible in times of unsteady workload.

"An external documentation service provider will never understand our products as well as we do."

Of course, every new contractor will have to learn a lot about your products and about your clients. This will take some time, but there is also one major advantage: No one will be able to produce as user friendly technical documentation as somebody who has to learn the same things as the user. Company employees close to the research and development department will take many things for granted that are not evident to users. As a result, when they write technical documentation it often lacks vital information and is very hard to understand for novice users.

"Outsourcing makes us dependent. What happens if a contractor terminates service or becomes too expensive?"

Yes, there is some risk, but it is small. And isn't the risk with company employees just the same? They can fall ill or leave the company, too.

The important thing when you contract a documentation service provider is that you reserve all rights regarding templates, style sheets, texts, and source code (especially in the case of online help / online documentation). All processes should be designed in a way so that they can be mirrored in your company. This means: All documentation processes should be documented. Only software should be used that can be licensed by everybody. If any custom software is involved, it should also be sufficiently documented and available to you with an appropriate license.

"When I outsource documentation I will have to spend a lot of time on project management."

Indeed, the need for some project management is a fact that many documentation service providers do not like to mention. Of course your management times must be taken into account for your individual cost-benefit analysis. No project will go without planning, meetings, interviews and reviews. However, remember that most of these tasks are just the same when a company employee writes your documentation. A good documentation service provider will always endeavor to minimize the time you have to spend on the project.

So below the line, you will only have to add up some time for contractual issues, plus maybe some time for one or two initial meetings.

As you could see, most doubts are not without any reason, but if you choose your contractor carefully, advantages can outweigh disadvantages by far: