The forgotten cost of expertise

In our role as a provider of external expert IT-resources, we are often involved when businesses want an independent expert to assist them in their selection of a new system such as a new CRM, CMS or even full-fledged ERP-solutions. In general, we observe that companies have a sustainable and thorough approach to such a large investment, where they take into account the core aspects such as functionality, adaptability, affordability etc. However, there is one factor that is often forgotten; the people.

No system is static

Realistically, all systems of this scale require some external input from time to time. Business needs change and new functionalities are , or existing plugins are no longer functioning properly after the last update. For whatever reason, sometimes you will be reliant on external expertise and when that situation occurs, how can you ensure that you have access to that expertise?

The simple answer is: you can’t. Sure, you can hire a full-time employee to always have an expert on hand when you need one, but if you don’t need these skills more than a few weeks a year that would be a very expensive decision. More realistically though, you can source assistance in the market of freelancers or contractors to assist you.

Check the supply of expert skills before you choose a system or technology

However, no matter how good your sourcing partner is, they cannot conjure up expertise that does not exist in the market, and this is what most companies’ fail to account for when they select their system. Consider the following two alternatives with the same functionality; an affordable system with a small userbase, a more expensive solution that is being used by a lot of different companies in your country. If all functionality is equal, the best choice right now would be the affordable solution, but what if you were to account for the limited expertise available to you in the future? Needless to say, that it can end up being way more expensive for your company to have a system that does not support your business as it should, because you cannot find a developer to implement the changes or updates that you need.

Make an informed decision

Considering the amount of, sometimes desperate, requests we get for external expertise, we know that the availability is something many still forget to consider when choosing a new system. It’s not easy to know how access to resources in a specific field will develop, but if you’re curious about the current state, we recommend you to get in touch with your local consultant manager and ask them about the availability of a certain expertise skill in your area. We like to say we can solve anything, but we are also not afraid of admitting when something will be a challenge, so you will always get an honest answer from us.