Creative Ways of Dealing with Your Capacity Problem

A lot of Microsoft Dynamics partners are dealing with a capacity problem. Qualified and experienced specialists are scarce. Partners could do more business if they’d approach this problem more creatively. They could outsource to third parties, train juniors and make temporary use of resources from other partners.

As a Partner Account Manager I often talk to partners who are looking for experienced professionals. There’s a huge demand for technical consultants, functional consultants and developers. A problem so severe that partners sometimes even have to turn down projects. Or delay the acquisition of new projects. All of which have a negative effect on sales.

Not only is it hard to find the right people, but it’s also very costly. Recruitment agencies charge high fees. Specialists’ salaries are high. And it takes time and therefore money to get new people up-and-running in their new job. And just when your new specialist is finally billable, one of your own people receives a better offer and leaves. Meaning you have to start your search all over again.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a great solution for partners. There are a lot of specialised third parties available that can help you with tasks like upgrading and development. They can also do performance optimisation and even make functional designs. These parties, often abroad, are incredibly experienced and charge favourable rates, which are big advantages. Partners using subcontractors for those tasks in general work more effective and efficient and they are able to sell and implement more projects.

Juniors

Another solution is the use of juniors. Partners are often looking for highly experienced seniors to do all the work, but much of the work can be done by juniors as well. In projects I generally see seniors involved, maybe a few mid-level consultants. But no juniors. Assign at least one junior to every one of your projects. Get them involved. That way your more qualified staff have their hands free to do other work.

Getting juniors involved also helps to solve the problem in general. Because by doing so, juniors gain experience and have the chance to someday be seniors themselves. Especially if you offer them training and coach them on the job. In the long term that leads to more qualified specialists and a bigger pond to fish in. Juniors also will give a fresh view and new ideas in to your team, they aren’t spoiled with history.

Seniors should function more as a mentor or coach. These people are too scarce to do all the work by themselves. And by solely relying on them, you’re creating your own problem.

Resources from other partners

And last, but not least, you can also make temporary use of resources from other specialised partners. Customers are expecting more and more integrated business solutions. For partners it will be difficult to have enough capacity for all specialisms themselves. Pro-actively sharing (specialised) resources is an upcoming trend which partners should join.

So yes, qualified staff is hard to find. A problem which leads to extra costs and missed opportunities but let’s deal with it more creatively so not to stop us from achieving our ambitions.

Do you need more information or do you have any questions? I’m here to help so please let me know!