Development teams organized by company department, not technology. One team supporting manufacturing, another supporting finance and so on. After a while, these teams will develop an affinity and loyalty to their end-user group. They can begin to be proactive about implementing technology that helps the business. You should even think about hiring into your group from those end-user departments.
Consulting firms hire from their clients all the time.
This may seem odious to your staff, but all respectable consulting and professional service firms bill by the hour. The system doesn't have to be complex, and you don't have to use it for chargebacks. But you will need an experience base in order to do a top-notch job of project estimating and costing. And project estimating is an important skill for any professional services organization. Training in the business units.