Body shopping: A flexible approach to IT staffing

This type of flexible resourcing differs from outsourcing, which also presents one of the key ways of introducing change into business culture through outside innovation. Outsourcing is often defined by external firms being contracted to deliver ongoing management and delivery of a defined set of services to a prescribed level of performance.

Body shopping offers businesses the option to source specialist skills to meet staff shortages, emergency IT projects and stay ahead of its competitors.

It also presents considerable HR benefits. Hiring additional professionals on a temporary basis is a painful process – it can take a long time to find and train the right professional, and the liabilities, training costs and other overhead expenses of recruiting new employees is very high.

This proactive resourcing solution offers organisations the option to access a wider talent pool and utilise individuals tailored to their needs, as and when required. It also enables the employment of specialist resourcing solutions, which in the IT sector can often be difficult to find.

In my experience, the greatest upside to body shopping is that a business does not need to worry about recruitment costs or employee liabilities, which can deliver significant cost benefits to an organisation.

One of the major reasons I see it becoming an increasingly popular recruitment strategy is the benefits it provides in terms of output while allowing companies to retain control and focus on their core business.

Today, organisations are seeking better ways of recruitment and resourcing to meet their changing needs. They want an innovative resourcing solution to meet the peaks and troughs of demand. Flexible IT resources open new opportunities to support the evolution of a business.

I believe that as long as a company has the confidence in the quality standards and capabilities of the business supplying a body shopping service, it is a cost effective remedy for any technical resource issue, and can prove to be a vital tool to prevent a negative impact on productivity and operations.

The future for IT staff recruitment

There is an exciting IT horizon out there, but the ability to deliver it rests with the business committing itself to an innovation-led future. As competition increases daily, organisations cannot afford to be burdened with technology skills shortages that prevent them from keeping up with the pace of change.

Delegating IT technical tasks to a 'body shopper' can add business value, help fulfil the potential of technology innovation, and enable IT to function as it should; in a central role within an organisation, driving its competitive future.

In the coming months I believe that a band of companies will emerge to take advantage of flexible resourcing approaches, such as body shopping, and it is these businesses that will lead their organisations into a new era of growth and innovation.