For Italian SMEs, external AI consulting is preferable to internal development when a dedicated technical team is lacking: lower initial costs (€5,000-15,000 vs €50,000+ for a hire), 3-5x faster time-to-value, and reduced risk. Internal development only makes sense with high volumes and an existing technical team.
The wrong question
When a business owner asks "should I hire an AI engineer or use a consultant?", they are usually asking the wrong question. The right question is: "How do I get to the first measurable result in the shortest time, without wasting 18 months on hiring, onboarding, and false starts?"
The real economic comparison: €60K consulting vs €100K/year internal team
An AI engineer with 3-5 years of real experience costs €55,000-75,000 gross per year in Italy. Add company costs: €85,000-120,000 per year. One person. A well-structured AI consulting project, from discovery to first production pilot, costs €15,000-40,000. An annual program covering 2-3 projects: €50,000-90,000. For the same budget, consulting delivers 2-3 productive projects in year one; internal hiring delivers, at best, one and a half.
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At IL DOGE DI VENEZIA we support Italian SMEs through every phase of AI transformation. The first conversation is free.
Tell us about your projectTime to first result
A structured AI consultant produces the first measurable result in 6-8 weeks. An internal team, starting from zero, typically takes 6-12 months — not because the people are less capable, but because they need to: complete company onboarding, understand existing processes, choose the tech stack, build pipelines, convince other departments to collaborate, and iterate through false starts.
When the internal team starts making sense
The practical threshold: around 200 employees AND at least 3 AI projects already in production. Below this, the volume of AI work in a typical SME is insufficient to keep an internal team fully utilized. The "third project" threshold is more important than the size threshold — by then you know exactly what profile to hire.
The hybrid model we recommend
For SMEs with 20-200 employees: external AI consultant handling projects and putting code in production, plus an internal "champion" — an existing employee (IT, operations, controlling) who accompanies the consultant, learns by doing, and becomes the internal point of contact for AI. This model reduces consultant dependency without paying a full-time salary, builds internal know-how progressively, and prepares the ground for a future hire with a much clearer profile.
If you want to discuss how to apply this model to your case, contact us.