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Xpert.Digital expert know-how in various countries as an in-house solution in the areas of business development, marketing and PR

Published on: December 19, 2024 / Update from: December 19, 2024 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Xpert.Digital expert know-how in various countries as a quasi-inhouse solution in the areas of business development, marketing and PR

Xpert.Digital expert know-how in various countries as a quasi-inhouse solution in the areas of business development, marketing and PR - Image: Xpert.Digital

The challenges of modern corporate strategies and the hybrid approach with Xpert.Digital

The efficiency of internal structures compared to external expert solutions

Many companies are faced with the challenge of implementing their strategies as efficiently and purposefully as possible. It is often decided to cover the majority of the tasks involved internally in order to retain full control over content, processes and strategies. At the same time, however, practice shows that purely internal structures often do not have the necessary agility, market relevance and innovative strength to keep up with the rapid development of modern markets. The desire for stability, continuity and company-specific know-how is therefore in tension with external offers that offer highly specialized expertise and can react flexibly to short-term requirements. Against this background, an interesting model is emerging that can be understood as a kind of “best-of-both-worlds” approach: the integration of external experts such as Xpert.Digital as a kind of quasi-inhouse solution. This creates a hybrid approach that combines both the stability and cultural anchoring of internal teams as well as the current market expertise and innovative spirit of external specialists.

Global expertise as a key advantage of Xpert.Digital

Xpert.Digital brings an additional decisive advantage: global know-how that others often lack. While many internal teams and even some external providers focus primarily on the domestic market, Xpert.Digital has cross-border experience and an international network. This makes it possible to address different cultural circumstances, market conditions and consumer trends in different regions of the world. Whether it's about the intricacies of the US market, the dynamic digitalization in Asia or the special challenges in neighboring European markets - Xpert.Digital is able to bring in global expertise based on needs. As a result, companies not only benefit from current knowledge, but also from geographically diverse and broad knowledge, which internal structures often cannot develop alone. In this way, the strategic scope for action expands enormously and the company is better positioned to react to international market changes and growth opportunities.

Advantages and limitations of purely internal structures

Companies that organize their activities entirely internally often do so out of a deep-rooted need for security and control. Internal processing guarantees you always have an overview of who has access to sensitive data, how brand messages are defined and communicated to the outside world and how quickly you can react to unexpected events. One imagines that it would be easier to put an internal team on a leash and hold the strategic reins. The brand, its values, the target groups and the market positioning are known internally, the employees identify with the company and can consistently implement long-term strategies. An internal team feels the company culture every day, understands the internal processes, knows the information channels and knows how to integrate other departments to achieve optimal results. In this way, such an in-house team can build a consistent brand image over the years without external influences having a disruptive or diluting effect.

But the other side of this coin is revealed in the high fixed costs that come with internal structures. A company must hire staff, provide ongoing training, introduce them to new tools and technologies, provide salaries and benefits, and ensure that the internal team stays up to date with the latest technology at all times. In addition, it is not always easy to build up specialist knowledge internally when the market is changing quickly. New platforms, algorithm updates, innovative forms of advertising and changing consumer trends require the highest level of agility. Anyone who operates purely internally runs the risk of stewing in their own juices, suffering from operational blindness and thereby overlooking interesting opportunities or new ideas. It can happen that a company becomes less willing to experiment due to its internal structures because it relies too much on established processes. Once the internal department is established, scaling it can become a problem. New projects or short-term peak periods cannot simply be absorbed by quickly adding specialized staff.

 

The role of external service providers in corporate strategy

This is where external service providers come in, often offering a high degree of flexibility, specialist knowledge and fresh ideas. They observe the market, know the latest trends, bring experience from different industries and can also provide specific skills at short notice. Nevertheless, the question arises as to why companies still rely so heavily on in-house solutions despite the advantages of external providers and although they often perform better in a direct cost-benefit comparison. One reason is the fear of dependencies. Anyone who outsources their business development, marketing or PR activities to an external agency makes themselves dependent on their availability, priorities, staff fluctuation and cost structures. In addition, external parties do not necessarily have the deep understanding of the brand that internal teams develop over the years. This can lead to tensions, for example if external solutions do not fit seamlessly into the established corporate culture.

The hybrid approach as a solution to modern challenges

The way out of this dilemma is a hybrid approach that combines the advantages of both worlds. This is exactly where the idea of ​​integrating external experts like Xpert.Digital into your own company structure as a quasi-inhouse solution comes into play. This form of collaboration can be compared to the concept of intrapreneurship, in which internal teams act like entrepreneurial units, but are enriched by external expertise. Such external partners then no longer act as mere service providers that can be switched on and off as needed, but rather appear as an integral part of the internal structures. They understand the brand, take part in internal meetings, work closely with internal employees and are planned for the long term. This creates long-term continuity and stability, similar to an in-house team. At the same time – in contrast to purely internal solutions – they continually bring in fresh expert knowledge, keep their finger on the pulse of the market and ensure that the in-house structures do not ossify.

The advantages of the hybrid model and the role of innovation

This hybrid approach offers enormous advantages. By permanently integrating external specialists, the internal department can react more flexibly to new market requirements, as these experts always stay on the ball and constantly expand their knowledge. If, for example, a new social media channel becomes relevant or an innovative analysis technology becomes more important, the team is prepared. The company saves time-consuming and expensive training for all internal staff and the risk that months may pass before internal employees have familiarized themselves with new subject areas. The external experts already have these skills or acquire them more quickly because they work in different contexts and industries and therefore have broader horizons of experience.

Furthermore, such hybrid models promote the ability to innovate. Instead of sticking with the same ideas that have been developed internally over the years, new impulses from outside flow directly into the strategic process. The internal structures thus gain in agility without losing their stability. The result is a concept that is not only more efficient, but also more creative and resilient to changes in the market. The learning curve of the internal teams is increased through continuous exchange with external experts. Over time, a knowledge pool is built up that combines both internal and external strengths. This knowledge pool remains anchored in the company because the external experts, like in-house staff, work in the same environment over longer periods of time. In this way, hybrid teams are created that enrich each other, learn from each other and share common experiences of success.

Clear distribution of roles is the key to success

Another important aspect is the clear distribution of roles. While pure outsourcing models can often seem opaque and erratic, the integration of external specialists as a quasi-inhouse solution offers the opportunity to define clear responsibilities. The internal employees retain their core tasks, their strategic control function and their role as brand ambassadors with a deep understanding of the corporate culture. The external experts expand this set-up with specific specialist knowledge, methodological strength, technological know-how and current market insights. This creates an organic structure in which everyone involved benefits from each other. Communication becomes easier, identification with the company increases and external experts are not perceived as “outsiders” or “foreign bodies”, but as part of a common team.

The expansion of the intrapreneurship idea

This setting can be compared well with the idea of ​​intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship describes employees or teams who act like entrepreneurs within a company, driving their own ideas, taking responsibility and pushing for innovations. If you transfer this picture to the involvement of external experts, a kind of expanded intrapreneurship emerges. The external experts act like internal entrepreneurs, bring in their own perspectives and solutions, strengthen the culture of innovation and can still be integrated into the established structures. This means that the entrepreneurial spirit remains within the company, but at the same time is supplemented by external perspectives.

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Scalability and adaptability

The advantages become particularly clear when you think about the scaling options. If a company grows quickly or needs new skills in the short term, it can use this hybrid model without having to shoulder long-term personnel costs for permanent specialists. Instead, you can adapt the capacities flexibly and increase or decrease them as needed. This agility is crucial for long-term success in fast-moving markets. Anyone who relies too heavily on a purely internal, firmly established structure can easily slow themselves down. However, if you only rely on external service providers, you may lose internal cohesion and strategic depth. The quasi-inhouse solution is a clever middle ground in which you benefit from a kind of constant proximity to the market without losing sight of the company's internal identity.

Efficiency and cost-effectiveness through long-term integration

Such a holistic approach ultimately increases efficiency and cost-effectiveness. At first glance, it may seem cheaper to simply buy in external experts on a selective basis rather than integrating them as internal partners. But in the long term, there are synergy effects because you avoid frictional losses, complex briefing processes, frequent changes of agency or constant renegotiations. Over time, the external experts get to know the internal processes as well as if they were an integral part of the company. This reduces training time for new projects, coordination runs more smoothly, and strategic changes can be implemented immediately. Employees also benefit because they don't have to constantly train new service providers, but instead work with familiar faces who speak the same language, understand the corporate culture and pursue the same goals.

Trust and long-term growth

Ultimately, this hybrid path leads to a long-term partnership that focuses on trust and mutual growth. External expertise is no longer perceived as just a cost factor or external service, but rather as a strategic investment in the future of the company. With every joint campaign, every joint project and every successfully mastered challenge, the shared know-how, identification with the brand and understanding of the market grows. This creates a cycle of continuous improvement that is significantly more efficient in the long term than pure in-house or pure outsourcing solutions could ever be.

Quasi-inhouse as a combination of control and flexibility

This approach helps to soften the often rigid demarcation between internal and external. The term “quasi-inhouse” already expresses that this is about a seamless connection, a merging of two areas that were previously often viewed as opposites. The result is a concept that at the same time has the reliability and brand loyalty of an internal team, but also brings in the flexibility, innovative strength and efficiency of external specialists. This makes it possible to create the best possible balance between control and freedom, between brand understanding and market dynamics, between long-term stability and short-term responsiveness. This is exactly where the key to sustainable, successful business development, marketing and PR lies: an environment in which internal and external forces do not work alongside each other, but rather together - to the advantage of everyone involved.

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