Have you heard about this extra tax you have to pay for eLearning?
It’s optional but it’s hidden. Sometimes an eLearning company will see opportunities to add something extra. Something you don’t need. A complicated interaction, custom code, a game. The do this because it’ll “look good in our portfolio”.
We call this the portfolio tax.
How It Works
Here’s the pattern: A client comes in with a straightforward need.
The vendor sees an opportunity. “This needs gamification”, “What if we added videos. We’ll come out and film them!”, “We strongly recommend adding 20 more minutes of interactive branching scenarios”.
Suddenly the scope is bigger. The timeline is longer. The cost is higher. And the course is… not any better for it.
But it looks amazing on their website. It wins awards. It gets presented at conferences. It becomes the portfolio piece that impresses the next prospect.
That’s the portfolio tax. You’re paying for their marketing.
Why It Happens
eLearning vendors (think they) need to win awards and impress prospects. Unique gets attention. The owner pops by the developer’s desk and says “Oh that looks good but can we add more animation here? We need an example for a big tender that’s coming up”.
The vendor gets their portfolio piece. You get a extra stuff that doesn’t add any value to the effectiveness of the course. It takes longer to build and it’s harder for you to update. (or more expensive if you pay them)
The Hidden Costs
The portfolio tax isn’t just in the price tag. It’s in:
Development time. It takes longer to build. That either blows your timeline or inflates your cost.
Review time. Now you have more to review and more time needed to make revisions if you want anything changed.
Maintenance. Fancy features break. They require updates. They depend on technology that becomes obsolete. A simple course is easier to maintain.
Learner experience. Your people don’t care about award-winning interactions. They care about understanding the material. Interactions are good but don’t need to be overly complicated. Games can work well. Video, custom animation, custom html… all things we do too if they client actually needs it. Quite often they don’t. Extra complexity gets in the way.
Updates. When you need to revise the course next year, those fancy custom features are expensive to change. A straightforward course is easier to update.
How to avoid the tax
Like we said at the start, it is an optional tax.
- Take care when selecting an eLearning company.
- Be clear on exactly what you need.
- Question additions. Dive deep into why they’re being suggested and just how exactly they’ll improve the learner experience, and what is learned.
- Have them quote the standard course vs their proposed course. Get them to break it down for you so you can see not only the extra money, but extra time, involved for you.
The vendor who builds what you need, not what impresses award judges, is the vendor who understands that your success is their success.
Not the other way around.