Increase or outsourcing of personnel? Understand the differences and benefits to make an informed decision that aligns with your business objectives and project needs.
- Staff augmentation and outsourcing are cost-effective and viable solutions for IT managers working to meet performance goals and deadlines across different phases of development. While they are similar in some ways, these two options have unique differences that company managers should consider before deciding what will work best for their business.
| Staff increase | Outsourcing | |
|---|---|---|
| Popularity | Popular for companies needing temporary skilled workers or dealing with short-term projects. | Widely used by companies looking to offload non-essential tasks or gain access to global talent. |
| Forms | Ideal for companies that want to maintain control over their projects and need temporary skills improvement. | Ideal for companies that want to focus on core operations and outsource secondary tasks. |
| Main advantages |
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| Main disadvantages |
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| Cost benefit | It may be cost-effective for short-term needs, but long-term costs can add up. | Often more profitable in the long term, due to potentially lower salaries and operating costs in certain countries. |
| The infrastructure | Requires existing infrastructure as an increased team will utilize your company's resources. | The infrastructure is usually provided and maintained by the outsourcing provider. |
| Training | May require some initial guidance or training. | Minimal training is required as the outsourcing company is expected to have the necessary skills and knowledge. |
| Communication | Communication can be seamless as an augmented team works directly with their teams. | It is necessary to establish communication mechanisms; could be less immediate than in staff increases. |
| Flexibility | High as you can size the team according to the project requirements. | It depends on the contract; expansion may require contract revisions or additional costs. |
| Security | Medium to High; you have control over the data, but increased staff access needs to be managed. Explain: You will have to ensure that the augmented team follows your safety protocols. | High; Outsourcing providers are expected to follow high security standards. Explain: The service provider is responsible for security and must adhere to agreed standards. |
| Tools and Processes | Follow the tools and processes established in your company. | Tools and processes are typically established and managed by the outsourcing vendor. |
| Agreements | Short-term or project-based, can be extended as needed. | Often long-term and comprehensive, covering a range of services. |
Choosing to increase or outsource personnel is a decision that must be made considering the needs of your company. These are the key points worth noting when determining what will work best for your business .
What is staff augmentation?
Staff augmentation is a temporary addition to your team that usually employs a person with specialized knowledge in a specific area . The augmented team arrives at various stages of development and uses their specialized experience to move your project forward.
Some companies add staff at the beginning of a project, while other managers hire additional staff just before the product launch for review purposes. If there are any faults or weaknesses found in the system, the augmented team can fix the issues within their capacity.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing is the hiring of staff through an outside company that provides workers for a set period of time or for a specific project. Companies that outsource workers are professionally managed services with an emphasis on helping your company achieve specific company goals. The company receiving the service and the contractor always establish a contract before work begins. With the growing popularity of this approach, development outsourcing is predicted to grow 70% by 2023.
Staff augmentation is for companies looking for flexibility
IT managers can speak directly to augmented staff to discuss their progress and tasks can be reassigned at any point in the development phase with worker consent. Unlike outsourcing, augmenting staff does not require companies to limit themselves to specific tasks for the entire duration of a project.
If your management team has effective communicators and needs a flexible worker who can quickly adapt to new responsibilities in a changing environment, staff augmentation is the way forward.
Outsourcing is for companies without room for additional management functions
Your company may be better suited to outsourcing if IT supervisors are unable to manage additional employees. An outsourcing company will provide you with a team that will fulfill the terms outlined in your software development contract . The outsourcer is responsible for training this team, explaining their individual responsibilities and carrying out performance evaluations.
Contract workers create a less stressful learning environment, giving your permanent team more time to adapt to new processes. Assigning tasks to contract workers will help your company make a smoother transition during these transformative periods that require your internal team to adopt new technologies or project management approaches.
Outsourcing helps companies scale by providing flexibility to add new team members or release them as needed during IT development. This capability also allows companies to operate effectively at the desired scale.
Consider the hybrid approach
If neither suits your needs, consider a combination of the two. Combining outsourcing and augmentation is a hybrid approach that allows you to work interchangeably with outsourced teams and augmented staff at different points in the development process from the initial development phase to project completion.
In-house workers have a range of responsibilities to fulfill. In the IT world, these tasks are often set to tight deadlines to meet project goals. Whether you choose staff augmentation, outsourcing or a hybrid approach, companies and employees will benefit from additional staff that saves time and money.
