Should I use in-house talent or a consulting firm?
As a consultant to the SMB/SME space, I am frequently asked: "Why should we hire your consulting firm to do XYZ? We have a guy in-house that could do it. "
While having staff in house that can do things is great, you need to ask yourself some questions.
Does your team have the time for the project?
Even the best-laid plans can fall short if you do not have the time to execute them. Before deciding that your staff can take on a project, you should evaluate what their work load is, and how many hours they are currently spending on current projects. Also take into account any up coming projects or vacations that may delay or cause issues for the scope of the project.
If they are unable to take on the project at the current time due to workload or anticipated workload, you need to determine if this project can wait until there is an available opening or is a time sensitive issue.
If the project is time sensitive, you should then determine if other projects can be paused to take priority.
Consulting firms can also help by adding additional skilled professionals to your work force, and scale back when you don't need the extra resources.
Does your team have the skill needed for the project?
You hired your team for a set of skills, but what happens when a project comes along that is outside your team's skills?
You can see if someone on your team is interested in learning, but that then takes time for them to learn the skill and get proficient enough to work on the project. This can get compounded when it is a large project and requires multiple people to learn new skills.
You could also choose to hire a new employee to fill the need for the project, but that comes with its own drawbacks like finding talent, payroll and work beyond the initial project.
Consulting firms make this sort of scale up easy with skilled professionals that can be utilized for the length of a project, leaving proper documentation and path for future support if needed.
Consulting doesn't have to be forever...
A common misconception about consulting is that it is a long-term solution for a project. Any consulting firm should give you the option to transition responsibility to in-house staff. If your firm won't allow that, you need to have a very serious talk with them and find out why.
This is not to say using a consultancy on projects regularly is a bad thing; actually, it is quite the opposite. Consulting firms allow you to focus on your core business while still being able to take on projects that your staff may not normally be able to take on.
Ultimately, you want to use a consulting firm that you trust. Have them scope out the project, planning everything from onboarding to documentation and training for your staff. Have a report schedule put in place and a way to track milestones.
Extended support may be an option if there is a need to account for potential issues or maintenance that the company is not geared to address. In cases like that support should be addressed as a separate project, not a continuation of a project.
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