Staff Augmentation vs. Outsourcing a dedicated team– What to choose?

Attracting the right suitable talent is one of the most crucial needs for any organization. Thus, choosing between staff augmentation vs. outsourcing is always a close call. The organization often needs extra skills and talents to fill the required gap for a particular project.

Having a dedicated team of experienced professionals helps the organization stand distinguished with a competitive edge. But, which amongst these two popular staffing methods would make the best choice for your needs?

Both staff augmentation and outsourcing fit comfortably within the same umbrella of staffing services; however, both of them are quite distinguished. Here is a quick analysis of staff augmentation vs. outsourcing a dedicated team to help you make a wise decision for your organization’s seamless growth and development.

What is staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation is the process of employing temporary staff to fulfill a particular skill gap for a project within the organization. Specifically, such employees are a part of the organization; however, temporarily.

When choosing between staff augmentation vs. project outsourcing, it is important to understand that with outsourcing, the organization sends the desired task outside to get it done. With staff augmentation, the organization temporarily adds people within to work for a specific project.

The staff augmented employees handle parts of the projects according to their talents and skills. Also, these employees are managed by the project leader, similar to the in-house teams.

Benefits offered –

• Staff augmentation ensures an easy scaling of talent according to the project’s needs. It is one of the most reliable ways of accessing on-demand skills within the organization.
• It focuses on better teamwork. This staffing service ensures that the augmented employees can relate to the client’s organization’s structure and work culture.
• The staff augmentation method is cost-effective as the organization only pays for the skills; without any additional benefits.
• This method ensures proper and more focused management control on the project; thus, it promotes better chances of success.

Drawbacks –

• As augmented staff does not work independently, it may increase the overhead for the project manager
• It may require time for the augmented staff to adjust to the company’s culture and policies. Introducing the augmented staff to the company may take time.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is when the business completely hands over the project requirements to the professionals outside the organization. Talking about the significant difference between staff augmentation vs. project outsourcing is that the organization hires a complete team of professionals to work on a particular project with outsourcing.

In this model, the professionals can work independently without worrying about the formalities of joining the organization. It won’t be wrong to say that both the parties agree to work on mutual trust and cooperation in outsourcing.

The outsourcing agency takes full responsibility for the quality and its successful outcome. Thus, the outsourcing agency must have a thorough and detailed understanding of the client’s needs and requirements. The better the understanding, the better will be the final outcome.

Benefits offered –

• The project managers have reduced management overhead as the outsourcing agency ensures delivering the required results
• The outsourcing agency handles all the requirements and formalities without any hassles to the on-going organizational projects
• Outsourcing the entire team for the project is easier than assembling different resources
• It also helps to incorporate the required flexibility in the changing business scenario
• Outsourcing also offers enough time to the organization to focus on the core competencies or strategies like marketing their products and services

Drawbacks –

• Outsourcing the project takes almost all the control from the organization’s management. It can be a serious problem if there isn’t proper communication
• It may have a slow start as the outsourced agency may take some time to understand the client’s needs
• The level of responsibility may make outsourcing quite expensive for the organization

When should you choose one model over another?

It is important to make a wise decision between staff augmentation vs. software outsourcing after referring to when to choose which model –

Choose Staff Augmentation when –	Choose Outsourcing when –
You need to add specific skills and talents to the on-going project	You need an entire team to work on a new project
You want to enhance the working of your in-house teams	You are okay to give complete control to the outsourcing agency
You need specialist professionals to complete parts of your projects	You want your in-house teams to focus on core competencies
You are ready to train and accommodate the additional team members	You don’t want to invest in accommodating additional teams

A quick comparative table between staff augmentation vs. outsourcing a dedicated team:

If you are still confused to decide between staff augmentation vs. outsourcing a dedicated team, here is a detailed comparative table to consider:

Attributes	Staff Augmentation	Outsourcing
Cost	The company takes care of all the expenses of hiring the augmented employees	The outsourcing agency will take care of all the needs to gather all the employees and resources
Duties	The company or project manager will take care of assigning and assisting the duties of the augmented employees	It is the full responsibility of the outsourcing agency to take care of the responsibilities
Purpose	To temporarily fill a specific talent gap for a particular on-going project	To hire an entire team to work on a new project from the scratch
Work management and structure	It involves the management overhead of the project manager	The outsourced agency works independently without any management overhead
Required knowledge	The client analyzes the knowledge and skills of the employees according to the needs	The outsourced team acquires and checks all the knowledge required from its resources
Onboarding process	It generally happens quickly as it is for an on-going project	The work cannot begin unless both the parties mutually agree on an agreement

Final Thoughts – which amongst the two methods you should choose?

Indeed, staff augmentation and outsourcing are closely related; however, staff augmentation vs. outsourcing cannot be interchanged.

On the one hand, if your company needs an entire team to work on a new project, outsourcing a dedicated team would make the best choice. On the other hand, you should choose staff augmentation if you want to fill the missing talent gap, for an on-going project, on an urgent basis.

Staff augmentation or outsourcing – the choice is hard to make. The model you choose should fit your organization’s needs and the right talents you want to hire.

Mount Talent Consulting is the leading staff augmentation service agency for all your staffing needs. We have the best and carefully chosen professional talents, contributing their talents, skills, expertise, and experience to ensure the best results.

Attracting the right suitable talent is one of the most crucial needs for any organization. Thus, choosing between staff augmentation…