Who Is The Perfect Outside Expert For Your Business?

Whether you run a large company or you’re a one-person business, you have to accept one hard reality. You can’t be an expert in everything. Freelancers and independent self-employed are likely to expand their skill sets and wear more than one hat at a time, but ultimately, when it comes to expertise, you can’t replace the experience of a specialist.

In a large company, specialists are typically hired or kept on retainer. Once you’ve found an expert you can trust, the next best move is to make sure you can get your hands on them as quickly as possible. In small or medium businesses, things are different. You may need an expert for a single project only. So where do you find them? Where do you go to source the right expert for the job and ensure they are trustworthy?

Do they have professional qualifications?

Contracting with an expert is not quite the same as hiring new talent for your team. As such, you can’t deploy the same recruiting strategy. If a business needs help to move to the latest tech and innovative solutions, the easiest and most cost-effective approach is to outsource to an IT expert. The current IT outsourcing trends show a surge in specialized software skills and AI implementation. Leaving your project in the hands of someone who isn’t as qualified as they promised can have dramatic consequences. But there are ways to check their qualifications and avoid inaccurate profiling. Make sure to review their certifications and success stories. Most professionals have a LinkedIn profile. Check for recommendations and testimonials on there.

Do they fulfill your business’s needs?

If you’re contracting an expert to advise you or provide specific services, you’ll need to make sure you’re getting the right expert for the job. People who have very in-depth knowledge in one area tend to be focused on a narrow field, and may not be able to help you with anything outside their remit. So, what do you need your outside expert to do? And do you need one at all? If you need someone to run the numbers and test your distributions, can you do this yourself using a z score calculator, or do you require a more in-depth analysis of any results, and therefore an expert to enact this for you. Outsourcing to an expert for complex and unique tasks can be a lifesaver for your business, however, it only works if you’re finding the right expert for the job.

Does the presence make the expert?

Building an online presence is surprisingly easy. Many experts have launched a podcast or a blog to share their experience and views on their industry. However, as informative as the Internet can be, you have to remain cautious. Being visible online is not the same thing as being knowledgeable. With plenty of blogs and websites, it’s easy to create a digital presence for almost anyone. The bottom line: Don’t trust the first expert website. Always double-check your information and sources. It’s easy for passionate bloggers to appear more knowledgeable than they might be!

The expert is in all of us

The quickest and safest way to spot an experienced professional is to review their previous work. Not all experts are happy to share details of confidential projects. But most will be willing to explain their contributions.

Open source projects and platforms, however, can provide new insights into someone’s expertise. An open-source project is, in essence, a task to which anyone can publicly contribute. What makes open source a valuable source of innovation is the fact that all contributors can review and amend the work in progress. In other words, if someone makes a mistake, it’s unlikely to stay part of the project for long. It will get noticed and corrected. In an open-source environment, fake experts don’t survive long. They are easy to spot. If you’re reaching out to a freelancer who is active in open source projects, you can be sure that their work stands against the critic.

Finding experts outside the business can be challenging. Yet it isn’t an impossible task. Professional qualification, online presence, and active contributions to public projects are some of the key factors to consider when contracting an expert. The question you want to ask yourself, though, is: how can you ensure your business is good enough for your expert?