Impact Report Banner (1)

Insource or outsource?

Insource Or Outsource

One of the biggest challenges of any ESD strategy is deciding whether to do it in-house or work with a service provider. There are pros and cons to both internal and service provider strategies, but which one is best for measuring your ESD results?

  Insourced Outsourced
Cost: ·         Often cheaper to run an internal team.

·         Training can drive costs up.

·         Initial cost benefits may be traded off.

·         Costs more upfront than internal team.

·         No training costs involved.

·         Overtime already paid for.

Efficiency/ Capability: ·         Takes a long time to build specialist competency.

·         Hiring skilled staff can drive up costs.

·         Difficult to source skilled staff.

·         Distraction from day-to-day business activities.

·         Service providers are experienced in the SME field.

·         Have already incurred staff costs.

·         Better equipped to deliver on ESD initiatives.

Capacity: ·         Blurred line between what’s relevant to core business and delivering on ESD.

·         Supervision time.

·         ESD often de-prioritised.

·         Dedicated resources available.

·         Initiatives delivered on time.

·         Will operate within a budget.

Whichever choice you make, your ESD programme should be measured like any other business intervention. One of the most important pillars of an ESD strategy is a customised scorecard that measures those KPIs that are aligned to business objectives.