User documentation forms a vital component of your service or product. Where your engineers are trusted to build the best quality solutions, technical authors are the link by which you communicate your wares and services to the outside world. Technical writing and technical communication forms an integral part of any successful engineering business and is a professional field that needs to be entrusted to the right people.

Documentation projects for your products or services need the same consideration and planning as any of your engineering efforts. Depending on the complexity of your product, there may be a temptation to save costs and reduce expenditure on the creation of supporting materials. The argument of "Our customers don't read our guides anyway" isn't supported by industry statistics. Even though users may not read documentation from cover to cover, it's still the first item of reference when they're stuck and looking for help.

Good documentation provides your customers with their initial impression on how your company handles its user support. Unfortunately the industry provides a plethora of examples where bad user documentation is shipped with otherwise good products, the results of which are often clear to see. The Consumer Electronics Association provides statistics on the billions of dollars in product returns every year.

Avoid user frustration, product returns and becoming a statistic. Ensure that your customers are catered for by providing quality documentation.

Consult with the Experts

IDS staff have over a decade of experience in developing technical user documentation. Our consultants and writers are experts at understanding complex engineering concepts and translating these into quality documentation for your customers. We work with your engineering and management teams to provide you with the right kind of solution.

We also offer:

• Technical writing services for the production of supporting materials such as online help systems, product brochures, white papers or specifications.


• Developer services for the automation of common documentation processes and tasks.


• Documentation management services to assist in the versioning and tracking of all your communication assets.


• Multimedia Projects Management through our partners. From sales support CD/DVD's through to videos and corporate presentations, we can ensure that everything ties in with your product and service documentation.