AI Consultant vs in House AI Team Which Is the Right Choice

AI is transforming how various industries operate. Whether it be the automation of jobs, the analysis of data, or the improvement of business processes – the potential of AI is tremendous. Nevertheless, there is a key question that many organizations wonder: Should we hire an AI consultant, or just create an in-house AI team?

There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, and the right one would fit the scope, financial resources, internal expertise and the expected duration of the project.

Hiring AI Consultant

AI consultants are often engaged on a transactional basis, deploying specific expertise to pre-defined projects. They are focused primarily on helping businesses set up an AI strategy, develop the AI product and integrate it into their business.

AI consultants have a lot of expertise that relates to various domains such as machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and the like. They gain quite a lot of practical experience across several industries and use that knowledge to create better solutions.

Key Benefits of Hiring an AI Consultant 

• Expertise - AI consultants are pretty much self-reliant experts focused specifically on their field. They practice with a number of tools and technologies available and keep themselves up to date with new trends in a particular area. In short, they can devise and implement solutions to complex problems and are able to employ the appropriate cutting-edge technologies that an in-house team would not have access to. 
• Cost-Effective Solution - Building an in-house AI team can be expensive, especially for small and medium enterprises. Employing data scientists, AI engineers, machine learning specialists, and even the software, and hardware tools and training them add up to be quite a cost. Employing an AI consultant means that you will incur the cost for only the service/ services you seek, and therefore avoid the cost of maintaining an in-house or full-time AI-engineered team. 
• Quick Project Turnaround - AI consultants tend to be more objective to the projects thereby often performing and completing tasks much quicker than the in-house team. This is because they identify their job position with a specific problem and therefore have ideas, processes, and best ways of doing things that have already been developed. If having an AI project with time constraints or requiring a fast pace, consultants may be the best option.
• Flexibility and Scalability - AI consultants are quite flexible. They may be brought on to help with a particular assignment, and their involvement can be modified as the requirements change. This coverage ensures that the services are employed only when necessary, thus being economical with resource use.
• Minimal Risk - There is very little risk of the client and consultant failing to establish a useful relationship. Since companies can easily terminate consulting arrangements without resorting to contract termination or changes in the organization, it is safer and more flexible.

When is it Appropriate to Hire an AI Consultant?

• You are in need of performing short-term or specialized AI projects.
• You are in need of particular AI skills that are not available within your internal resources.
• You are planning to use AI solutions with minimal time delays and do not want to incur the cost of recruiting permanent employees.
• You have a limited amount of resources such that you only need to use services that are relevant to your situation.

Building an In-House AI Team

An in-house AI team is composed of recruited employees who are paid as full-time staff in an organisation to only work on AI related issues. This method also offers the advantages of ensuring that the support and the development of AI projects are done on a permanent basis, thus embedding AI gradually into the operations of the firm.

When to Consider Building an In-house AI Team?

• Your projects are long-term and require consistent refinement and upkeep.
• The firm is planning to make substantial investments, as its ‘A’ strategy.
• You want to fully ensure data protection and compliance liabilities.
• You have the requisite financial and organizational capabilities to recruit and retain a dedicated team.

Challenges When Hiring AI Consultants

Though there are plenty of advantages to hiring AI consultants, it would also be wise to note those disadvantages as well:

1. Loss of control: Since they do not belong to the organization, external consultants may not be on the same page with respect to the organization’s culture and internal politics. This could lead to the provision of remedies that do work but are not strategically sound.
2. Added Weakness: Over-dependence on consultants creates an added weakness that’s usually the case if the organization lacks the internal capability to sustain and/or scale the remedies once the consultant’s contract is over.
3. Heavy upfront costs: While hiring a consultant may seem to be cost-effective especially for one-off engagements, over time this could become costly.

Challenges of Creating an In-house AI Team

On the contrary, creating an in-house AI team does not come without its challenges:

1. Significant recruitment costs: Even in terms of salaries, training, and required equipment, it could be very expensive overall.
2. Time-consuming: Finding and educating appropriate people requires time and there may be a shortage of AI skills in the companies.
3. Ongoing support: After the team is formed there is a constant requirement for further investment in them to be abreast with the latest developments in the technology.

Making The Choice: Some Factors To Consider

So, when should you hire an AI consultant, rather than put together a team in-house? There are a number of factors to ruminate over:

• Finances: If you don’t have deep pockets, or only plan on using the AI for a small project, it makes more sense to hire someone on a consultancy. However, if you foresee AI being at the center of your strategies, then investing in an in-house team will tend to be more financially advantageous.
• Lead time: When looking for urgent solutions, consultants make for quicker implementation. Otherwise, in case an in-house team is to be developed, that would take time but in the future, much control is expected.
• Experience: In the case when a company doesn’t have enough know-how concerning AI and the latest developments for implementation are needed, then a consultant should do the trick. However, in case a company can hire top specialists and also invest in their development, then an in-house group would be more profitable.
• Nature of the Project: In cases of small or rather microscopic projects, an AI consultant can be efficient in rendering service at the snap of the fingers. On the other hand for big detailed projects, an in-house team may be beneficial as timeliness is maintained.
• Data Security and Ownership: San Francisco is well-known for its high-level concerns regarding the security and compliance of proprietary information. And having an in-house team might help alleviate such concerns if your project possesses sensitive data. Simply put, securing the business and legal terms of relation with the AI consultants, who would need internal documents, and IP data in the course of performing work, may be a challenge for organisations.

Conclusion

In the end, it all boils down to whether companies want to hire an AI consultant or employ an in-house AI team, mostly the question is in the specific context of the organization. Those firms that wish to integrate AI in a short time period and with low costs will usually choose to hire an AI consultant who is most suitable for short-term projects.