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Staff Augmentation vs Outsourcing vs Hybrid Approach: A Detailed Comparison
Posted: Mar 19, 2021
IT companies must deliver projects on time with quality. However, the needs in software development are ever-changing. As a result, it becomes impossible for one company to possess all the skill sets needed to deliver challenging projects. This is where the three IT models become important, namely-
Staff augmentation
IT outsourcing services
Hybrid approach
Is one model better than the other? What motivates companies to choose one over the other? Let us discuss.
Staff AugmentationStaff augmentation is when a company hires external personnel temporarily to augment its capacity. Such a company may hire people from other companies offering staff augmentation services for fulfilling its requirement.
Some common reasons why company choose augment staffing are:
Companies may need specialized skills such as brand and logo design technology or facilities.
Sudden spikes in customer demand, increased production, seasonal businesses, etc, lead to a higher demand for staffing.
As a bridge to hire capacity while they hire a permanent team for long- term needs.
A change in strategy in terms of core skills or projects with faster time to market leads to staff augmentation.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
People, hired from staff augmentation services, can be easily blended into internal teams.
A good way to hire future long-term employees based on performance.
Staff can be hired based on per-project; saves cost and time
Companies can increase decrease staff based on their needs
Limitations of Staff Augmentation
Not recommended for projects that need a contextual or deep institutional knowledge
Augmentation is always third-party dependent
In case of long-term on ongoing projects, it may be not suitable
IT Outsourcing Services
When companies need to execute a whole IT project by using the resources of an IT outsource company, it’s called project outsourcing.
This is a more specialized form of cost-effective staffing because it limits the hiring to just getting the job done by a specialized set of professionals. You may focus on their core operations while hiring the skills or expertise of professionals hired through outsourcing.
When do companies need IT Outsourcing exactly?
When they want their in-house employees for other productive tasks
Sometimes, IT support outsourcing is needed to accelerate time-consuming business processes
When they want access to skills that are not available as per the need locally
When they want to give away the responsibility and related risks to a third-party vendor by delegating a part of non-focus functionality
Benefits of IT Outsourcing:
There are many benefits of IT outsourcing services. Some of them are:
Overall cost reduction and better ROI
An outsourced IT company saves time invested in recruiting and training in-house team member
Access to a global pool of talent
IT outsource services make way for onboarding new domains and clients.
Limitations of IT Outsourcing
An overseas IT outsourcing company may have significant time differences that may affect progress.
Language and cultural barriers
Different work habits
Hybrid Approach
Many times, IT staff augmentation and project outsourcing are blended in a way so as to meet the specific needs of the project within a company. A hybrid approach combines the benefits of IT staff augmentation and IT outsourcing.
Benefits of Hybrid Model
Access to a pool of global talent that can be increased or decreased depending on niche projects
Full predictability of recurring costs
Unlike offshore outsourcing, no need to extend office space
You get the best of both worlds in no extra cost
Limitations of Hybrid Model
May require an additional position of a project manager to manage all the teams
Costing may turn out to be fluctuating that may affect staffing budgets
Conclusion
Outsourcing in general has helped several businesses post-pandemic. Software and application development requires an updated talent pool - a factor that may not be possible with remote working. As a result, a combination of IT outsourcing and staff augmentation is the future.
If you are looking to adopt a hybrid model, or need staff augmentation services or IT outsourcing, feel free to contact us.
Chapter247 Infotech is a full-service software partner specialized in architecting, designing & developing tech solutions by binding Web, IoT, Analytics, AI and Cloud technologies. Our global clients include organizations right from Enterprise, Midsi