When staffing for NetSuite, organisations face a fundamental decision: should you hire in-house staff, use external consultants (staff augmentation), or adopt a hybrid model? Each option has pros and cons. In this article, we explore both approaches and provide guidance on when each makes sense.
In-House Hiring: Pros & Cons
Pros
- Greater control and ownership: In-house staff become part of your organisation’s culture, understand your business context deeply, and are aligned for the long term.
- Knowledge retention: Skills stay in the company, reducing reliance on external firms.
- Cost predictability: Salaries and benefits are known; less risk of steep consultancy day-rates.
- Long-term support & continuity: Internal team supports upgrades, ongoing maintenance, customisations over time.
Cons
- Longer recruitment and ramp-up time: Finding NetSuite-skilled professionals takes time; training may be required.
- Fixed cost: Even during slow periods, the staff cost remains.
- Risk of mismatch: If the hire is wrong, fixes can be costly.
- Limited peak expertise: The Internal team may lack deep specialisation for large go-live projects or rare integrations.
Staff Augmentation (Consultants/Contractors): Pros & Cons
Pros
- Speed: Consultants can be deployed quickly, especially for implementation peaks or specialised tasks (e.g., unique integrations).
- Flexibility: Scale up or down based on project needs; cost is linked to effort/time.
- Access to specialised expertise: Very large NetSuite firms or niche consultants may bring rare skills (global rollouts, complex customisations).
- Lower long-term commitment: For short-term needs, you don’t have hiring/termination issues.
Cons
- Higher hourly/day rates: Consultants tend to cost more per hour than internal staff.
- Knowledge loss: If they leave, knowledge may walk out too. Unless a careful handover is done.
- Less cultural alignment: External staff may not fully integrate with your business.
- Risk of reliance: Over-dependence on external firms may limit your internal capability building.
Hybrid Model: Best of Both Worlds?
Often ,the most practical approach is a hybrid:
- Use consultants for implementation, major upgrades, or specialised integrations
- Hire permanent staff for ongoing support, maintenance, optimisation and user training
This allows flexibility, specialist expertise, and long-term knowledge retention.
How to decide which route to take
1. Assess project timeline and scope
If you’re about to go live with NetSuite for the first time or performing a large multi-subsidiary roll-out, you may need a strong consultant presence. For smaller enhancements/ongoing support, in-house staff may suffice.
2. Examine your internal skills and capacity
If you already have some NetSuite staff with good domain understanding, you may lean more towards internal. If you lack internal NetSuite experience entirely, consulting staff may be necessary initially. Learn more about NetSuite staffing here!
3. Consider cost implications
Do a cost-benefit: cost of hiring (salary, benefits, training) vs cost of engaging consultants. Also consider time-to-value: consultants may speed up implementation, which may justify higher cost.
4. Think about long-term strategy
If you want NetSuite to be a core system and part of your business competence, investing in in-house talent may pay off. If NetSuite is a one-off project and you anticipate minimal ongoing change, a consultant-heavy approach may work.
5. Build knowledge-transfer mechanisms
If you use consultants, ensure there is an explicit plan for knowledge transfer: training internal staff, documentation, “shadowing”, ensuring your business is not left dependent on external resources after consultants leave. Tools and solutions addressing staffing/contractor management in NetSuite specifically emphasise contracts, assignments, and the management of personnel deployed. SuiteCorner
6. Plan for sustainability
Post-implementation, you still need NetSuite support, upgrades, user training, enhancements, and optimisations. Without internal staff, you’ll either keep paying consultants or risk the system degrading. One staffing-industry-specific NetSuite solution emphasises managing placement data, contracts, locations, billing, labour cost etc for staffing firms using NetSuite. RSM US
Example scenarios
- A mid-sized manufacturing company implementing NetSuite for the first time across two subsidiaries: Use 3-4 consultants for Go-Live (project manager, functional consultant, integration specialist, developer) + hire 1 permanent internal NetSuite Administrator for support and ongoing tasks.
- A staffing agency already lives in NetSuite but is expanding internationally: Hire a permanent “Global NetSuite Specialist” (multi-entity, multi-currency) + engage a consultant for integration with a local ATS in a new country.
Summary
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to “should I hire in-house or use consultants for NetSuite”. It depends on your project scope, internal skills, budget, timeline, and long-term strategy. A hybrid model often offers flexibility and resilience: use consultants for big lifts, in-house staff for longevity. Whatever path you pick, ensure you build for the long term (knowledge transfer, retention, training) so you’re not left with an unsupported system.
