What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation means putting together a temporary team of talented employees instead of a permanent one. It enables a business to employ seasoned experts temporarily.  

In specific ways, it gives people on-demand access to the best people in the field. Because of this, staff augmentation is an excellent option for short-term projects that might not ultimately benefit the company. 

What are the Benefits and Limitations of Staff Augmentation?  

Benefits of Staff Augmentation  

• Complete Control of the Project 

Adding additional staff helps you retain control over the project. You are not required to alter workflows, add or remove components, or change deadlines. This way, you can keep quality in check.  

• Decrease Management Challenges 

Staff augmentation is an alternative to hiring more people directly, which can save money and avoid legal problems. It lets you keep track of the whole process, stay in charge of the details, and be involved at every step.  

• Boost Efficiency 

Typically, welcoming a new employee to your company means that you must manage their taxes, vacations, sick days, regular salaries, and other expenses. In staff augmentation, you only pay for the work an employee completes if you choose to use an enhanced team. You don’t need to worry about the other issues because your outstaffing partner will handle everything independently.  

• Broad talent pool 

Tech talent is dispersed in several ways. Some countries lack programmers with a particular skill set, while others overflow with people with that profession. Alternatively, the workers’ hourly wages are affected. Also, every nation has its own difficult-to-fill positions. By focusing on overseas markets, this issue can be resolved. By selecting staff augmentation, you gain access to a global talent pool. It increases your likelihood of discovering qualified specialists at a fair price.  

• Flexibility and scalability 

You can scale the project up or down to accommodate more workers. When it comes to traditional hiring, this is more complex. You cannot recruit and fire individuals whenever you like. With staff augmentation, human resources management is not your responsibility. As a result, you can scale down if necessary, replace developers, and add more team members.  

Drawbacks of Staff Augmentation  

• Communication Gaps 

If you work on an internal team, you know it can be challenging for new employees to establish a relationship with the rest of the group immediately. It typically happens when the new hires will work remotely while your current internal team is based in the office. But this will be fine when most people work remotely. It would help if you asked your outstaffing partner for advice on integrating new members into your team.  

• Need for Stringent Processes 

Staff augmentation may be needed when working with people in different time zones and from other parts of the world. Establishing rigorous processes is required to maintain the work’s constant progress.  

The professional must know what must be done and how at each workflow step. Even the reporting procedure must be well specified to prevent misunderstandings and missteps.  

• Need for Training 

Your additional staff needs to be trained on the internal business procedures because they will differ from past projects.  

• Not suited to Long-Term or Heavy IT Support 

Your new employees need to know how your business works on the inside because it’s likely to be different from what they’ve done before.  

What are Managed IT Services?  

Managed IT services are an additional well-liked outsourcing strategy. With managed IT services, your business outsources IT operations to a different company.  

The IT company acknowledges its need to operate within the constraints and guidelines established by the parent corporation. However, the managed IT service provider takes charge of IT project management, personnel, and execution.  

Before drafting a contract, your company and the IT firm will decide on the deliverables or the desired result. Managed IT services could be a good choice for companies needing a particular technical output but being only somewhat involved in the process. This strategy is also suitable for businesses with evolving, labor-intensive long-term needs.  

Benefits and Limitations of Managed IT Services  

Benefits of Managed IT Services  

• Maintain Focus on IT Operations 

The parent firm can take a back seat and concentrate on its offerings because managed IT services offer their own internal project management procedures. The IT business will handle technical tasks and development when your personnel focus on other operations.  

• Save Time and Money 

Thanks to the managed services approach, you can hire a whole team of qualified and experienced experts with the necessary technology and resources to work on your project. By doing it this way, you can get what you need while saving time, money, and effort. Their set rates for services vary depending on the volume of work completed.  

• Control and Monitoring 

What is excellent about managed IT services is that they are with you from the beginning to the end of the project. They also monitor every step of the process and ensure they have all the tools and resources they need. The vendor decides how the project will turn out. The MS organization evaluates each risk and creates a suitable project strategy.  

• Access to Superior Talents 

MSPs are usually bigger than staff augmentation companies, so they can offer a broader range of skills, knowledge, and solutions to meet the changing needs of their clients.  

• Sure Results 

Managed IT services are based on a service level agreement (SLA) that spells out the parameters and length of each project. To be paid and improve the value of their position, managed service providers will make every effort to keep their word.  

Drawbacks of Managed IT Services  

• Higher Cost 

It may be more expensive to outsource your technical procedures to an IT company than to hire more workers because managed IT services include IT tasks and project management.  

• Decreased Autonomy 

If your business wants to keep full control over all activities, it might not be in your best interest to let a managed IT services provider handle the development of your products. Companies would do better working with contract workers with IT staff augmentation services and bringing project management in-house.  

Choose Managed Services, Choose ECF Data 

Managed IT services are the best option if you’re in need of a long-term fix. ECF Data has been a managed services provider for more than a decade, working with companies of different backgrounds, including healthcare, education, and government, among others.  

Working with us also means that we’re in it for the long haul. Let’s propel your business to its full potential! Contact our team by clicking the button below.