Being the IT decision-maker at your organization, you may often wonder if you should fortify your internal teams by hiring more talents on the company payroll or work with an IT consulting services provider, the more popular practice in the market. Over the years, you have heard of the multitude of advantages of working with a reliable outsourcing vendor and might have even experienced the flexibility and the high quality of work outsourcing offers. The following analysis of managing internal teams against working with an IT vendor would help you choose the one that best suits your business.
Costs
Hiring permanent employees may be tempting and even profitable but it comes with a high price tag. If the monthly operating budget is your concern, partnering with an IT consulting services company is the right option for you. Outsourcing firms usually charge just a fraction of the costs involved in running in-house teams and this explains why companies of all sizes embrace the outsourcing model as an integral part of their operations. Outsourcing relieves your HR team of the hassles of the payroll formalities and you don’t have to arrange for any elaborate training for the vendor professionals.
Focus of the USP
Not having a clear-cut unique selling point makes you a cookie-cutter in the market and there would be no plausible reason for your prospects to opt for your products or services. Another challenge businesses are faced with is the constant need to evolve and innovate to stay relevant in the market. But in reality, the focus of the core team in charge of driving the growth gets diluted as it immerses itself in handling the daily operational challenges. This is where the outsourcing firm redeems you as it takes care of all your IT concerns and provides a platform to scale the business.
Project timeline
Most projects that need substantial IT backing are time-sensitive and hence, timeline adherence assumes primary importance whether you opt for an internal team or an outsourcing engagement. IT outsourcing gives you a massive advantage – upsizing or downsizing the workforce as per the requirements. Since vendor teams aren’t functioning on your payroll, adding or removing individuals is quicker and simpler. On the flip side, hiring and onboarding internal teams, training them, and empowering them to contribute substantially should only be considered for the company’s long-term goals.
An outside eye
No matter how hard you try to avoid it, but at some stage or the other, your teams develop the tendency of operating in silos with no concern about what’s happening around them. But the IT landscape is a rapidly changing one and you must be on top of things to stay in the race. The IT consultant can be your watchdog and keep your apprised of the latest developments that can add to your team’s productivity and drive your business towards profits and growth. You can count on the vendor to come up with innovative ideas to harness technology to tackle all your business worries.
Both direct hiring and IT consulting services have their unique advantages and drawbacks and you should decide on one only after matching these points against your requirements and budget. Bear it in mind that option that works perfectly well for one company might turn disastrous for the other, and hence you must be extremely cautious. Adhering to the above-listed points would be immensely helpful in making the right choice.
