Staff Augmentation Vs. Outsourcing Vs. Hybrid Approach: Which One Do You Choose

staff augmentation vs outsourcing

Accelerate. Create. Ship.

In the era of breakneck software creation and product iteration speed, meeting deadlines is not just an added benefit, but is often a precursor for success, without which product firms and enterprises perish against competition.

Organizations, thus, must be laser-focused and adapt to keep up with technological innovation.

Now, when speaking of adapting, we are not just talking about the tech stack used.

We speak of the kind of teams hired, the kind of talent engaged, and other multitudes of factors that go into making a successful software firm.

We talk of the premise of setting up teams, engaging 3rd party vendors and getting a leg-up in the development cycle.

As a result, most IT firms rely heavily on software outsourcing companies to meet quality goals and not just get the project done.

However, the concept of IT staff outsourcing services is not limited to a single work model. To ensure that the hired professionals understand the requirements, pain points, delivery schedules, and cultural requirements of the IT firm – you can consider the following delivery models while outsourcing a project:

  • Staff Augmentation
  • Project Outsourcing
  • Hybrid Approach

Each of these aspects target the requirements of a software firm – offering advantages in terms of deliverables, alignment, smoother engagement.

Staff Augmentation, Project Outsourcing, & Hybrid Approach remain the main development work models in IT outsourcing - whether it be for FAANG firms or any bootstrapped startup. Click To Tweet

These three models address a variety of needs that companies must reflect on before finalizing a vendor.

Since most business heads and CTOs continue to have trouble finding the most suitable model for their unique business needs, we’ve prepped a simple guide that helps you ascertain the offerings in these work models – comparing their benefits and the feasibility.

Let’s begin.

The Cost-effective & Flexible: Staff Augmentation

Staff augmentation is the perfect option for firms that need added flexibility without compromising on the quality and product schedule. If your IT department lacks a specific talent stack, adding temporary specialists will make your team stronger & more efficient – particularly so when you’re creating a new product.

You can even plug-in a few developers from a trusted vendor to help you work on feature additions and align complex projects through distributed teams.

You can add or reduce resources based on the project requirement and be quite flexible with the additional resources.

According to a report by Statista, the global outsourcing market in 2019 was $ 92.5 billion before the coronavirus spread around the world. And after the pandemic, the IT staff augmentation market grew to $ 132.9 billion.

IT staff augmentation is considered a popular solution because it is cost-effective and efficient to expand your development team. Moreover, Staff augmentation allows businesses to control projects by hiring temporary teams or lone developers, picking project managers, and delegating work to the staff. This IT model facilitates coordination with external teams and integration with internal processes.

Add a temporary specialist to the team & reach the product deadlines quickly with enhanced productivity. #ITstaffaugmentation Click To Tweet

Hiring full-time employees is expensive and poses a risk of attrition and HR problems during the project development life cycle. IT staff augmentation allows everyone to meet deadlines and enhance productivity.

It’s simple really. Hire additions to your team as and when needed. Churn or scale when required.

Thus, instead of training the whole in-house team, just bring the experienced talent to ensure a seamless workflow within budget.

Managed Teams & Common Goal Achievements: Outsourcing

IT outsourcing helps businesses to use the resources of third-party providers to outsource an entire IT project or focus on specific project activities. On the other hand, this allows internal teams to focus more on their internal business activities and core competencies.

The statistics have shown that the IT industry across the globe has shown IT outsourcing contract value worldwide to be 66.5 billion while the Global Market Size of Outsourced Services was found to be 92.5 billion.

IT outsourcing - A solution for businesses to assign responsibility for an entire IT project or a specific part of it to a third-party vendor promising 100% quality results. #outsourcing Click To Tweet

IT companies often transfer their software project requirements – like hiring new staff, training, maintaining contracts, and delivering results – to an outsourced company. However, the company which outsources staff has the complete authority to choose the size of the team based on the project requirements. Also, any change in the staff requirement could be managed to ensure there is no hassle during development.

But, this would need you to ensure that the firm you are choosing as your outsourcing partner must be a reliable resource with a proven track record. Since you may have to face trouble with your staff, you can simply approach your team on their job safety to ensure that the outsourcing process could be made smoother.

Combined Benefits: A Hybrid Approach

For many companies, a hybrid approach is not as simple as following the IT staff augmentation or outsourcing the project. There may be an overlap of requirements to get the job done on time. Therefore, if this happens, the hybrid approach may be the best option.

An Accenture report says, “Hybrid work models are used by 63% of high-growth companies.”

The hybrid model combines project outsourcing options with the staffing model to meet the project requirements. It can be done at different stages of the product development cycle but requires careful planning for effective mapping.

The hybrid approach eliminates the internal issues and improves the development process by delivering both – outsourcing and staff augmentation benefits. The hybrid approach is applicable at any phase of the development cycle to meet specific project requirements. Having such an approach to project development helps avoid losing focus for deadlines, team strength, or collective goals.

Explore and ascertain the kind of advantages that any engagement model can offer you #Hybridapproach works for some, #Outsourcing for others, Staff augmentation for others. Find what suits you and bring the requirements to fore… Click To Tweet

When it comes to hybrid approaches, there is a whole new trend towards outsourced software development teams. You partner with an outsourcing service provider to build a product development team – offshore, onshore, or nearshore – leveraging external expertise without extra expenditure. But, before including this trend in your business operations, you should know when to take on these hybrid approaches.

Conclusion

It can be challenging to figure out which model is ideal for your project. At times, there might be a situation where outsourcing would be an excellent pick and sometimes staff augmentation.

But, there might be such a situation as well, where you need both the models. That’s where the hybrid approach comes. Also, seeing the current scenario, all three models are massively used by businesses to enhance their business operations. Suppose you are not sure which process would best serve your needs. In that case, all you need to do is simply think about the project’s goal, assessment of your team, knowledge, and resources accommodating the staff for productive collaborations.

If you still have any doubts or questions left in your mind about making the right move with staff augmentation, outsourcing, or a hybrid approach, all you need to do is have a quick consultation call with our experts.

Contact us today!

Summary

Name
Staff Augmentation Vs. Outsourcing Vs. Hybrid Approach: Which One Do You Choose
Author
Anup Mehrotra
Published on
April 26, 2021

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