How to bring in external expertise for digital development?

As your organization strengthens its digital capabilities, it becomes easier to onboard the right talent through the right models. The specific model you adopt is crucial; it dictates an expert's team fit, the pace of their impact, and the degree of organizational control.

Here are three common models for bringing in external experts without going through a full recruitment process.

• You get a list of CVs and choose the expert yourself.

• This model can be fast and affordable, but you carry full responsibility for the selection and results.

• If the choice is wrong, it can lead to delays, extra work, and wasted resources.

• The partner finds a qualified expert that fits your needs

• The partner supports onboarding, so the expert becomes productive from day one.

• You stay in charge of the project and can scale the team up or down as needed.

• A vendor delivers the project with their own team.

• Works when the scope is fixed and there’s no expected change.

• If your needs evolve, making changes can be slow and costly.

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Choosing the right model depends on your situation: project scope, internal capabilities, and how much control you want to keep. If you want to stay hands-on, develop your capabilities, move quickly, and get support from a partner who takes responsibility – team extension can be the smartest choice.