In most scenarios requiring IT services, a business can achieve success depending on the project teams ability to finish and deliver output on time, with the specifications of the clients met, and without going over the budget allotted.
In theory, developing an in-house workforce with the necessary skill set is a good enough solution. However, this option can be quite expensive and risky, keep in mind that like most industries, the IT needs of your company are consistently changing. This means that you should be able to keep up with these needs. If you depend on an in-house staff, you would have to worry about the necessary training and constant education.
The truth is that companies today often prefer going outside the organization to fill their pool of skilled persons. Two outsourcing strategy plans come in handy: staff augmentation and project outsourcing. Let us find out the similarities and differences between these two in order to determine which the right choice for your staffing requirements is.
Staff Augmentation
This delivery model lets companies add as many (or as few) contract workers as they require. Through staff augmentation, the staffing firm is the one that screens and hires employees. One advantage of this kind of service is that it lets companies quickly add or cut down their resources, especially in rapidly changing environments, ridding them of the need to incur more expenses and responsibilities for full-time, regular employees. Often, staff augmentation works best for projects with looming deadlines, projects inside a constantly changing work milieu, or short-term projects.
Here is an overview of the benefits of staff augmentation:
– Staff augmentation is significantly an easier option for initial deployment of resources.
– Your company keeps its control over all resources and is able to track their work every day.
– The risks involved are minimal to none.
– Compared to contractors and consultants, resources are a lot less demanding in terms of requirements and legal prerequisites.
– You enjoy the capacity to add or decrease your number of employees at any given time depending on your needs at the time.
– There is significantly less internal resistance as compared to an in-house project staff.
Project Outsourcing
This is also known as the Managed Services model. In this delivery method, you can outsource the entire needs of the project from an external service agency: from managers to operators to the workers who will deliver the processes. The idea is to reduce total costs of operations, especially for long-term work.
Here is an overview of the benefits of employing project outsourcing:
– You can enjoy a huge reduction in the costs of training and development, since the outsourcer will be fully responsible for these.
– They are also fully responsible for the adoption, maintenance, and improvement of industry best practices.
– It is easy to increase and decrease your resources.
– You have hefty leverage when negotiating and dealing with large contracts.
– You get less overhead costs for management fees, because the outsourcing service also acts as the manager.
– The outsourced staff also carry all risks and liabilities if the project fails or if there is a problem with outcome delivery.
– Companies can stop worrying about menial work and focus on their product and the future of their business.
– You get rid of all employee vs contractor problems and issues.
– Because of its variable cost structure, you can notice a great improvement in working your leverage.
Choosing the Right Model for Your Company
Every company has unique needs. Certain needs can be catered to best by staff augmentation, and some by project outsourcing. Some companies enjoy services from both delivery models.
Figuring out what your prioritized needs are can help identify which model fits your staffing requirements. This decision can be challenging to make, and it requires thought and a lot of consideration. However, once youve taken all factors into mind and have come up with the right choice, you can enjoy project delivery with high quality and efficiency. All you need to do is enjoy the rewards and spend your energy concentrating on your business.
