"Innie" or "Outie" In-house Digital Experience vs. Outsourcing

I N - H O U S E D I G I TA L E X P E R I E N C E V S . O U T S O U R C I N G

or l NNIE   O UTIE  

.  @ trump29  

Did you redesign internally or use an external agency?

Survey of 164 in-house marketers

This presentation is full of generalizations. Your situation may be entirely different (though it probably isn’t).

“All generalizations are false, including this one.”

–Mark Twain

WARNING

n idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think.

-Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

A  

trengths S  

In-house

•  Cost per hour

•  Strong business understanding

•  Design shepherding

•  Ability to change directive

Outsourced

•  Up on trends and innovations

•  Built for speed

•  Attractive to strong talent

•  Not as subject to entrenchment

•  Ability to house niche skillsets

is not which to choose, but how to balance the relationship.

T  he real question

Implementation Shops

Strategic Partners

Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. -W. Edwards Deming

-W. Edwards Deming

The result of long-term relationships is better and better quality and lower and lower cost.

hese may make the T  decision for you

C OMPANY SIZE Small companies will benefit from outsourcing, where large companies have an opportunity to hire internal teams.

“All generalizations are false, including this one.”

–Mark Twain

T EAM AVAILABILITY Digital team demands tend not to be consistent. Even large in-house teams will have overflow.

“All generalizations are false, including this one.”

–Mark Twain

R ECRUITING APPEAL Many in-house corporations don’t have the cool factor to recruit top talent at reasonable cost.

“We don’t need your money, money, money. We just wanna make the world dance.”

–Jessie J, Millennial

T URNOVER High turnover eliminates much of the value of having internal teams handling your digital experience.

“All generalizations are false, including this one.”

–Mark Twain

Fast Good

Cheap

Pay for quality

Low priority

Low quality

Pick two:

ast F  

•  Are there internal politics that will slow internal teams?

•  Is there high user or business complexity that will require longer ramp-up time for an external team?

FAST

heap C  

•  Is the need consistent?

•  What is more important? Cost per man-hour or cost predictability?

•  Is niche expertise required that would require training of internal resources?

C HEAP

ood G  

•  Is the product customer-facing?

•  Does your company have the “cool-factor” to attract top talent?

•  Is this a long-term initiative (e.g. a product that is intended to continuously evolve)?

G OOD

Fast Good

Cheap

Pay for quality

Low priority

Low quality

Pick two: Strategic Partner

Hire up Implementation Shops

Speed to market

Budget

Desire for quality

•  This project is the business’s main source of revenue

HIGH VISIBILITY LOW VISIBLITY

HIG

H U

SER C

OM

PLEXIT

Y

LOW

USER

CO

MPLEX

ITY

STRATEGIC PARTNER

OUTSOURCE IMPLEMENTATION

SHOPS

IN-HOUSE

Speed to market

Budget

Desire for quality

•  We’re behind, and it’s hurting us

HIGH VISIBILITY LOW VISIBLITY

HIG

H U

SER C

OM

PLEXIT

Y

LOW

USER

CO

MPLEX

ITY

STRATEGIC PARTNER

OUTSOURCE IMPLEMENTATION

SHOPS

IN-HOUSE

Speed to market

Budget

Desire for quality

•  We have moderate turnover and recruiting struggles

HIGH VISIBILITY LOW VISIBLITY

HIG

H U

SER C

OM

PLEXIT

Y

LOW

USER

CO

MPLEX

ITY

STRATEGIC PARTNER

OUTSOURCE IMPLEMENTATION

SHOPS

IN-HOUSE

ips for partnerships T  

•  Don’t choose… partner

•  Also outsource bad news

•  Outsource your weaknesses

•  Find a partner locally

•  Limit the number of partners

•  Choose a partner with scale who can implement end-to-end

•  Don’t rely on reports

•  Bring content owners in-house

•  Core business should be created internally

•  Use design reviews and workshops to combat entrenchment

AKE TRUEMPER  J @ trump29   -- truemper@ gmail.com