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Retaining skilled workers is quite a big challenge for many companies as they either face managerial issues or budget. As stated in FinExtra, Manpower Group surveyed that 77% of employers all over the world find it challenging to hire special-skilled candidates and 78% of these employers are from the Information Technology.
That is where they either opt for staff augmentation or prefer outsourcing their IT projects to an offshore company. On the other hand, the average spend per employee in the IT outsourcing market has reached US $152 in 2024, according to Statista. Both practices staff augmentation and outsourcing have been in place for years as they benefit enterprises, especially from first-world countries, to save time and money without compromising on IT outsourcing quality.
Let us learn staff augmentation vs outsourcing battle with pros and cons for both.
Table of Contents
According to Entrepreneur, the simplest definition of staff augmentation is a type of cooperation model wherein businesses of all sizes and kinds outsource talent through staffing agencies. On the same page, it mentions that staff augmentation has become a mainstream practice with nearly US $500 billion annual spending for global IT staffing services. You can opt for staff augmentation services to fill the talent gaps promptly though temporarily and benefit your company with astounding advantages.
The tech magazine giant Gartner describes IT outsourcing as the use of external IT agencies to deliver Information Technology services effectively. You can outsource app development for customized solutions for any industry vertical. Other IT outsourcing services include web development, IT infrastructure solutions, or even automating business processes to ease administration and management.
Staff augmentation vs. IT outsourcing, whatever you think or opt for, the purpose of staff augmentation and IT services outsourcing is clear – to save money and time without burdening yourself with a heavy budget, complexities of having full-term employees, and get quality products without any hassle.
There are ample benefits of staff augmentation and outsourcing. Primarily, when businesses face a skill gap or project deadlines, they leverage two major IT staffing solutions – staff augmentation or IT outsourcing. The staff augmentation typically fills the specific requirements with transient and skilled work deployment into the existing systems; IT outsourcing, on the other hand, involves handing over the entire project to external offshore IT agencies relinquishing a bit of control but ideally getting efficiency.
Flexibility
Flexibility is a key benefit of IT staff augmentation. If you need an extra helping hand for a project with a short deadline, then IT staff augmentation helps you seamlessly scale your IT team up or down. This you can bring temporary but skilled IT staff. You can avoid full-time employment commitments for workloads. In the same way, if you have a specific skill gap, for instance, AI app developers, you can fill it without hiring long-term contracts. IT staff augmentation can bring special talent to you.
Control
In IT staff augmentation, the control remains with you when you opt for this method. Businesses can maintain close oversight of their projects and integrate the augmented staff easily with their present workforce. This helps them communicate clearly and collaborate to ensure that everybody is on the same page. Various engagement models are available with renowned companies that offer control over your teams. With IT staff augmentation, one can ensure alignment with business culture and workflow. IT augmented staff is temporary and they can sync with your workflow and existing culture.
Cost efficiency
Cost-effectiveness is another advantage of IT staff augmentation. It can potentially bring down the overall costs compared to hiring full-time IT employees. The expenses of onboarding, training, recruitment processes, and infrastructure can be easily cut. You can also pay for the time and material used. Full-time employee recruitment is not associated with overhead costs when you opt for this model.
Pool of talent
Staff augmentation for IT services can get you access to a wide range of specialists in software solutions. You are not limited to the experts available locally. You can get the right talent for the right niche at the right time by having augmented IT staff at your company. Though temporary, you get highly skilled IT professionals who can make a great impact.
Management issues
IT staff augmentation also brings some challenges and one of them is increased management overheads. This is because when businesses integrate new team members, though temporarily, it requires some effort and training to sync. You need to invest time in their onboarding into your existing team to make them understand the project details and the company’s culture. In addition, you also need to establish communication channels to ease the complexities between augmented and internal teams.
Integration
Another concern is the integration though it is the primary goal of IT staff augmentation. It takes time for augmented staff to get fully accustomed to the enterprise’s existing systems and flows. This could initially lead to decreased efficiency because everybody is adjusting. Hence, technical capability and knowledge sharing could take some time and effort.
Dependency
The IT staff augmentation system can create some sort of dependency on the external staff. Your business is relying on the third-party workforce with special skills and hence it would be a bit riskier if the talent pool dries up or they back off abruptly. If the IT augmentation staff gets completely involved in some crucial project, their withdrawal will create a big gap and to fill it will be challenging.
Cost saving
IT outsourcing will get you several benefits to your business. The biggest one is cost-effectiveness because businesses that outsource IT services cut down heavily on all IT expenses such as reduced costs linked with hiring and training full-time IT experts and also get rid of overhead expenses such as office space and administration plus infrastructure.
Focus on core activities
IT outsourcing allows business owners to focus on their high-valued core activities. When you outsource IT projects to an offshore company to get external specialists, your core internal team is freed up to think and concentrate on essential things such as business strategies and strategic initiatives. Ultimately, IT outsourcing can bring increased efficiency and productivity to a company.
Wider expertise
Another benefit of IT outsourcing to an offshore software company is to have a wider pool of IT expertise. Outsourcing can often be provided to a team with high programming skills. You can get experienced IT professionals specializing in mobile and web app technologies. Ultimately, you tap into a broader IT expertise that could be otherwise difficult to get locally. And even if you get them, it will be a costly affair.
Scalability
The IT outsourcing can offer immense scalability – that said you can scale up or down your IT workforce as and when your business needs change. It is easy to adjust the IT outsourcing team services according to the scope changes according to market or customer demands. Most IT outsourcing companies offer scalability in their engagement model to hire mobile app and web app developers.
Control issues
The IT outsourcing can bring in several control issues. The businesses that outsource IT services completely actually hand over the project to an agency in another country. The project is in their hands and hence you don’t have total control. You get periodic updates about the progress and cannot expect to know about your project between the milestones.
Quality risks
Quality risks are another concern when you outsource IT services. You may not always have total oversight of the project. outsourcing IT agencies are many and hence if you get trapped on an inferior one, your project is at quality risk.
Communication barriers
There are many IT companies with inferior communication skills. The biggest hurdle could be the language because the developers may not be fluent in English. Also, cultural and dialect differences could get you a setback. Communication channels are also hurdles at times.
Dependency
IT outsourcing creates dependency and, therefore, you will have to ask your IT agency offshore for the minutest change you want in your project. the dependency may also cost you some bucks because that will be considered a project scope change. Any alteration is asked to your tech partner as you depend on them completely.
Staff augmentation shines in many incidents wherein flexibility and access to specialized skills are a priority.
businesses have project-based needs and hence IT staff augmentation can fulfill extra IT gaps needed. IT staff augmentation will allow you to bring in temporary IT experts who can simply come and sync with your project to make it successful.
At times, unforeseen scenarios or seasonal fluctuations can create transient spikes in workloads, and IT staff augmentation can provide a good solution to these challenges. Businesses can easily scale the IT team up or down depending on the surge or dip in activities and concerns.
As per the project needs and market demands, you can add resources or remove a few to manage your budget and time. This gives businesses the power to finish the tasks earlier and within budget.
even established MNC IT teams can face challenges in skill gaps that might hinder their projects. IT staff augmentation can help you fill these gaps by bringing specialized talents from outsourcing.
Non-care functions like maintenance of an app or network management, businesses can free up their time to focus on more essential things.
Cost-driven projects IT outsourcing can get you significant savings. Lower labor costs, currency differences, and budget-friendly engagement models can save tons for your business.
You get access to innovative teams of IT programmers. You can get the best staff with experience and expertise in various mobile and web app development technologies.
By partnering with an IT offshore agency, you have global reach with round-the-clock support. This is crucial for businesses that seek diverse knowledge and tech veterans.
Clearly define the project scope, timeline, and desired outcomes to determine if temporary expertise or long-term delegation is best.
Assess how much control you require over day-to-day operations and project execution.
Compare upfront costs, ongoing expenses, and potential hidden fees associated with both options.
Determine the specific skills needed and whether staff augmentation provides the right niche expertise or if a broader range of skills from an outsourcer is necessary.
Evaluate potential risks associated with each option like quality control for outsourcing or knowledge transfer challenges with augmentation.
Consider how your IT needs can fluctuate and if you require the flexibility to easily scale your team up or down.
Assess how well either approach aligns with your company culture, communication preferences, and existing workflows.
Thoroughly research and vet potential staffing agencies or outsourcing providers to ensure quality and a good fit.
Understand any legal or compliance requirements that might impact your decision (like data security regulations).
Evaluate the ease of integrating either approach with your existing technology and infrastructure. Consider factors like data security protocols, system compatibility, and ongoing maintenance.
Now that you know IT staff augmentation vs. IT outsourcing, it is easy to decide what exactly you want to go for. Both offer flexibility, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and global-pool talent acquisition. If you are still confused, our experts can help you get the perfect fit.
He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Prismetric . An enthusiastic entrepreneur, interested to discuss new app ideas, rich gadget tricks and trends, and admires signature tech business styles to readily embrace. He enjoys learning most modern app crafting methods, exploring smart technologies and passionate about writing his thoughts too. Inventions related to mobile and software technology inspire Ashish and he likes to inspire the like-minded community through the finesse of his work.
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