Co-Creation in Content Production –

Co-Creation in Content Production: Why 'Make or Buy' Isn't the Whole Story

For over 15 years, we at youknow have been developing digital learning content for companies across a wide range of industries. During this time, one thing has become increasingly clear: The traditional “make or buy” decision rarely works as straightforwardly in practice as it sounds. Between “doing everything in-house” and “outsourcing everything” lies a whole spectrum of possibilities—and that’s often where the best results come from. In this article, we’ll show why rigid production models are reaching their limits and how co-creation helps companies implement learning projects faster, better, and more resource-efficiently.

Make or Buy? The Theory Is Simple—the Practice Isn't

On paper, the decision is clear: Either the L&D department produces learning content itself (Make) or it commissions an agency (Buy). In reality, things look different:

• Sometimes there’s only rough content or a collection of ideas.
• Sometimes a fully written script is available.
• Available resources—time, budget, and capacity—vary greatly.
• Requirements range from quick process training to story-based training with gamification elements.

On top of that: 60 percent of L&D departments fail due to limited resources. At the same time, expectations are growing—as is the frequency with which new content is expected to be produced.

In other words: “Make” or “Buy” alone are rarely the right answer. In between, there are numerous options that are much better suited to the actual circumstances.

The 'Make' Approach: Flexible, but Often Underestimated

In-house production sounds appealing at first: fast, independent, and cost-effective—especially with the growing support of AI tools. But time and again, it becomes clear: Technical implementation is rarely the problem. The real challenge lies in didactic quality. When subject matter experts are expected to create content alongside their day-to-day work, they often lack:

• Time
• didactic know-how
• Consistency in quality

Furthermore, AI can provide support, but it cannot replace experience in instructional design.

The Outsourcing Approach: A Relief, but Not Always Feasible

Outsourcing the entire process to a service provider solves the resource problem—at least at first glance. In practice, however, new hurdles arise:

• The effort required for coordination is often underestimated.
• Full-service solutions don’t always fit within the budget.
• Valuable knowledge about learning strategies remains external. In short: The “buy” approach is also not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Co-Creation: The Customized Blend of In-House Efforts and Expertise

From over 15 years of project experience, we’ve gained a key insight: There are many practical paths between “make” and “buy”—and one of them is right for your project. We call this Co-Creation: a seamless collaboration in which your team and our experts share tasks flexibly and according to your needs. Co-Creation isn’t based on what you need, but on what you want to achieve.

The Co-Creation Scale: Seamless Flexibility

To make this flexibility tangible, we use a continuous co-creation scale. It ranges from nearly complete in-house production of learning content (with occasional support) to full development by youknow.

There are no packages, no rigid models, and no one-size-fits-all solutions. Each project is considered on a case-by-case basis.

Three Real-World Examples

Scenario 1: In-House Production with Professional Polishing

• Starting Point: A subject matter expert has clearly structured content but little experience in didactic design or visual layout.
• Solution: The content is created using the AI Authoring Tool knowtion. We handle the didactic and visual fine-tuning.
• Advantage: Fast implementation, lower costs, high quality—and knowtion further simplifies the creation process with didactic support.

Scenario 2: Scaling Through Know-how Transfer

• Starting Point: The goal is to create many similar training courses (e.g., 20–30 modules). Objective: to be able to produce them independently in the long term.
• Solution: We develop an initial training program as a benchmark. We then support the subject matter experts with templates, coaching, and quality checks as they work toward independent production. Advantage: Long-term skill development within the team, scalable production, reliable quality.

Scenario 3: From PowerPoint to a Learning Experience

• Starting Point: The content is available as a traditional PowerPoint presentation, but the goal is to create an immersive, creative training program featuring storytelling and interactions.
• Solution: We analyze the learning objectives, develop an experiential didactic concept, and implement the training—in close collaboration with the subject matter expert.
• Benefit: A training program that truly leaves a lasting impression—without the need to build up internal teaching or creative expertise.

How Co-Creation Works—and What It Offers

In our initial consulting session, we never focus solely on the question, "What do you need?" We want to understand: What do you want to achieve? To do this, we analyze the project situation holistically—from requirements and available resources to long-term goals. Based on this analysis, we develop a customized approach that delivers concrete benefits:

• Quality at various levels: From AI-powered didactic design in knowtion to feedback loops and reviews by instructional designers
• Speed through scalability: After the initial setup, production accelerates significantly—especially for larger volumes of content
• Know-how transfer as added value: Building in-house instructional design expertise through collaboration
• Technological flexibility: Works with knowtion, Storyline, Rise, or other preferred tools

The key point is: The solution fits the situation, not the other way around.

knowtion: The Tool That Makes Co-Creation Easy

Technology alone doesn’t make for good co-creation. But the right tool can make all the difference—and that’s exactly why we developed our Authoring Tool knowtion.

Unlike traditional Authoring Tools, which are often complex and suitable only for professionals, knowtion focuses on intuitive design and AI support. The goal: to enable subject matter experts with no prior knowledge to create high-quality learning content—with didactic quality assurance built right into the tool. This makes knowtion the ideal tool for co-creation projects.

Conclusion: The best solution rarely lies at one end of the spectrum

The future of content production is neither "make" nor "buy"—but rather a customized mix of both. A mix that takes your goals, resources, and processes into account.

How do you organize your content production? If you’d like to find out what mix of “make,” “buy,” and “co-creation” makes sense for your project, we’d be happy to discuss it with you. In just 30 minutes, we can work out which mix is right for your situation.