The role of an in-house creative department in today's businesses

Companies have a choice to make when deciding on creating an in-house creative department or out-sourcing the work to an established agency. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods of action, but companies that choose to utilize an in-house team often seen a bigger return in investment.

Although we are in a tough economic time where debt ceilings and rates are constantly changing the way we do business, there were 117,000 new jobs created in July 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As companies begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel and take more risks in hiring new employees, there becomes a greater need for in-house departments to create and conceptualize effective designs and campaigns.

In a recent study conducted by The Design Management Institute, effective in-house design teams were found to produce services up to 40 percent cheaper than those that had the work outsourced. Whittling down the budget while being able to speed up creative turnaround times greatly benefits businesses with several tasks at hand. With the creation of in-house departments would come dozens of new roles in the business world. Employees who have creative talent and a basic business understanding would thrive in these environments.

Having an in-house team can turn the concept and design phase into reality faster because they have easy access to the sales and upper management departments. The communication between departments is much more fluid than having to outsource work through conference calls and chain emails.

Outsourcing creative projects can easily be mismanaged because simple questions and design alterations must be answered through indirect communication, often leaving the door open for misunderstandings and miscommunication. Having an in-house design team limits the possibility of projects running off-target due to mismanagement.

Beyond their proved effectiveness, in-house creative departments present many money-saving opportunities.Having a well-staffed in-house agency can help with managing multiple high-priority tasks at once.

However, there are technological disadvantages of having an in-house creative team. Many businesses buy software and equipment in bulk, and their decisions are based on the majority of employees on staff. A creative department requires much different software and technology in order to compete with outside agencies.

A company looking to create new roles within its business for creative tasks would need to budget its spending in order to ensure the in-house creative team would have updated software and equipment needed to produce effective results for its clients.