IT staff augmentation vs managed services

Staff augmentation vs managed services what is the right choice for my tech company? Well, let us first explain each one and then take a closer look at the differences between these two services. We will also tackle the pros and cons of staff augmentation vs managed services model.

Increasing staffing implies the addition of additional staff for the project. This type of temporary employment ends once a project ends. Businesses use the collaborative option when there are fewer people on permanent contracts.

However, managed services are another kind of outsourcing practice. It requires the hiring of a highly-specialized team. This team takes over an entire aspect of your business and it also has experience in managing various departments.

What are IT staff augmentation services?

IT staff augmentation is a hiring model where you hire developers temporarily to fill roles on a project basis in your organization. It makes growing your staff simple and the best part is you only pay for what you use. Nothing else.

Another way to think of 👉 IT staff augmentation 👈 is as an expansion model. This is where your workforce gains support from experts from a third party. Different from regular hiring you get specialists from other companies on an interim basis. Typically through contracts. Simply put you can fill in temporary slots with professionals. While also integrating them into a company without making them part of your permanent IT workforce.

A quick rundown of how the IT staff augmentation model works:

1. Let the staff augmentation service provider know what skills you are missing
2. Review CVs and interview candidates
3. Pick the candidates that you want to hire & sign a contract
4. The developer or development team works on your project
5. Project completion or you can extend your contract

What are IT-managed services?

Managed IT Services is a way of outsourcing some of your IT activities to a managed software service provider. Support can cover almost every need – security, VoIP, backup, and much more. Organizations typically seek out outsourced services to provide IT services. Especially if they do not have the resources necessary to hire an outside IT team. As a result of an efficient managed services relationship, you will be able to focus more on your main business concerns than on IT management functions.

IT-managed services can take various aspects of your tech business such as:

• networking and security solutions
• backup and storage options
• give you management resources
• bookkeeping and administration
• and more

IT staff augmentation vs managed services advantages

IT staff augmentation has its own unique set of advantages just like the managed services model. Let’s take an in-depth look at the pros of both these staffing solutions.

Pros of IT staff augmentation

The top three pros of IT staff augmentation services include the flexibility you get when hiring developers. The second is it significantly reduces the risk of hiring a software engineer who is not up to your standards. Lastly, by using augmented staff you get to keep control of your project.

Staffing flexibility

The staff augmentation model offers you flexible hiring options. You can add as many developers as your project requires and once the project is finished your cooperation with them ends. Moreover, during your project, if something changes you can switch developers.

For example, let’s say you have an in-house team of back-end developers and you hired three front-end developers. Now let’s say that part way through the project you need a mobile developer. Perhaps your customer now wants his or her web application to work on mobile phones. But you no longer need one of your front-end developers. No problem. Give the staffing company enough notice and you can switch one for the other.

Also even if you do need all those additional front-end developers plus a mobile developer, you can do that as well. Here at Swyply, we can get you a new developer to extend your team in as little as one week.

Reduce hiring risks

So, if you are a CEO, the head of the human resource, or a hiring manager you probably have had the experience of hiring the wrong person. This can be stressful and expensive. You may spend weeks trying to recruit someone new the traditional way only to find out after a few weeks that they are not what you are looking for.

They could be:

• lacking in technical skills, they seemed great on their resume and at the interview. But when it came down to the actual job they couldn’t handle the tasks they need to complete.
• lacking in soft skills i.e. they have poor communication skills, toxic in the workplace, are not trustworthy, etc.

These types of mismatches are frustrating. Now you most likely have to let this person go and start the recruitment process all over again. The only thing you can do is cross your fingers to make sure you hire the right person this time.

Staff augmentation services can significantly reduce these risks. Swyply, can rent pre-vetted developers who are what they seem. Our in-house team of developers has been pre-vetted during our 👉 recruitment process 👈. Each of them meets our requirement of a minimum of 3 years of experience in a given tech stack. Plus they passed our technical skills test and they impressed us during the interview stage.

Also, when you hire software engineers from us, you are also given a 👉 14-day risk-free trial period 👈. During this time if you are not happy with our programmer after 14 days, you won’t pay a cent. Our guarantee gives you two options:

• we can exchange the developer you have for another one
• or if you want we can end our cooperation

This way you have a greater chance of hiring someone great and less liability. Staff augmentation is the perfect solution if you are looking to reduce your hiring risks.

Keep control over your project

So you have an in-house team of developers, QA testers, and a project manager. They can take on the task of new software development projects. But, you are missing a few key technical experts.

You have the option of giving your project to an outsourced team. They can complete it without your input but then you no longer have control over your project. So the best choice for you would be to partner with a staff augmentation company.

Staff augmentation companies can provide you with new employees to support your current team. The staff augmentation process enables to you pick and choose the developers you need on demand and add them to your team.

Experienced professionals will work with your entire team. All while under the supervision of your project manager. Software developers who are hired via staff augmentation can become part of your IT department for as little or as long as you need them. They will have the advanced skills that you need for project execution.

This hiring process allows you to hire programmers with specialized skills for both short-term and long-term projects.

Pros of IT managed services model

Since we are looking at augmentation vs managed services. Let’s take a closer look at the pros of working with a managed services provider.

Focus on core business projects /processes/ services etc.

A managed service company is a good option if you want to delegate a lot of IT tasks to a third-party provider. Especially, if these tasks do not make up the core of your business.

For example, let’s say you run a mobile app development company. Now a chunk of your clients come back for maintenance and support in regard to the apps that you created. Or perhaps you just get a lot of business that involves the maintenance of apps but you do not want to take care of this aspect yourself. You can partner with a managed service provider and they can take over the maintenance and support of the mobile apps department for you.

Thus relieving you from doing it yourself but this way you do not lose business either. Now your core team of developers can focus on creating futuristic mobile apps.

Strategies to future-proof your IT services

In today’s ever-evolving digital landscape, it is important to ensure that your IT services are future-proof. Managed services provide the strategies and technology needed to stay ahead of the competition. They can also help you keep up with changing customer demands. With managed services, you can enjoy having access to a team of experts who can help you create a plan for future-proofing your IT services.

They will provide you with various IT solutions. Solutions such as cloud computing, application modernization, and analytics. This will help you stay competitive in the long run. By leveraging managed services to future-proof your IT services, you can ensure that your business remains agile. Also, your business will be competitive in an ever-changing digital world.

Help with IT support desk or customer services

If you run a company that needs a support desk or customer service, managed services may be a good option for you. They can take on this aspect of your business and provide you with customer service or an IT support desk without using your internal team.

Staff augmentation vs managed services model disadvantages

So we have tackled the advantages of both these services, now it’s time to take a look at the disadvantages that you may encounter using these models.

Cons of the staff augmentation model

When comparing staff augmentation vs managed services we should also have a closer look at some of the cons. Let’s review the cons that exist with the staff augmentation model.

Some of them include things like onboarding new employees. You may also find that you gain poorly fitted programmers joining your permanent employees.

Onboarding new team members

Every time we hire a new team member they have to go through the process of onboarding. Onboarding takes place regardless of how you hired this new coder. But, with in-house recruitment, the onboarding process of a new developer may be prolonged. Whereas, with staff augmentation, the onboarding process can be accelerated. This is because you only need to introduce them to the things that are vital to their role.

Some popular aspects of onboarding may include:

• the development team they will be working with
• the tasks they will need to complete
• tools and methods of organisation along with communication
• any other software tools that are specific to your company

It is also important to note that Swyply also onboard its new developers. We onboard them with our communication tools and organizational tools. For example we onboard our developers to Slack, ClickUp, etc.

Poorly fitted new software engineers

As we mentioned previously that staff augmentation can help you reduce the risk of hiring a poorly fitted software engineer. Swyply gives you the opportunity to test out the pre-vetted developer for 2 weeks. During this time you can switch them out for a new developer if they are the wrong fit. Or you can end our cooperation.

Cons of using IT managed services

Now it’s time to check out the cons of working with managed services company. Some of them include reducing in-house knowledge along with security and control issues.

Reduction in in-house processes, procedures, knowledge, etc.

The managed service provider assumes control over all the processes and procedures of the area of your business they took control over. While they provide you with certain services they can also create new processes and procedures if something requires it.

Now, this is great for the time being that the managed services provider is running the show. But when it comes time for you to take back a specific area of your business, you may find that you lack in-house knowledge to continue with that given department.

For example, they take over and build the security and networking solutions part of your company. They run this aspect of your business for a year and then you decide you want to run it yourself and end the cooperation. You may notice that not all aspects such as processes, procedures, and knowledge are made available to you. This may make taking over more difficult.

Security & control issues

Turning over an entire area of your business to a managed service provider you may run into security and control issues. The third-party provider may even by accident leak your company’s information. You may lose data using such services.

Should I choose staff augmentation or managed services? Which is better?

The decision between staff augmentation vs managed services can be a difficult one. But when you narrow down your needs you may see which service is better.

Staff augmentation is a great option for those who need an extra set of hands. But don’t want the long-term commitment that comes with hiring full-time employees. So, managed services can be a better option for businesses that need a lot of IT services done externally.

Choosing staff augmentation vs managed services

Staff augmentation allows you to maintain control of the project execution. This is because you have supporting developers working with your in-house development team. Moreover, this model enables you to keep any documentation and procedures in your company. These may be procedures that are written during the development process. This hiring model allows you to take on developers for short-term or long-term projects. It all depends on your needs.

The cost-effectiveness of staff augmentation vs managed services model is a major selling point. Using staff augmentation you pay for the developers as long as you use them in your IT organization. Once their role is complete, you have no other costs associated with the said developer.

Also, it is worth mentioning that with staff augmentation you have better security. This is for a few reasons:

1. the project remains in-house
2. the augmented staff are only given limited access to what you need
3. you can sign a non-disclosure agreement with the service provider
4. software developers can sign over copyright laws to the code they produced to ensure that it’s yours after everything is done

Choosing managed services vs staff augmentation models

As mentioned above-managed services model will take control over an entire IT department within your business. They will manage it from A to Z and grow it steadily throughout a given period of time. Managed service providers take full control leaving you to deal with other core aspects of your business.

Any procedures and processes that they develop at the time of cooperation may not be given to the client company to use in the future. This leads to huge knowledge gaps which may make running that department by yourself an issue.

Managed service providers usually cooperate with their clients on a long-term and ongoing basis. This can be a great option for some who need this support but it can cost a pretty penny. Plus using this service model you are using more and more external resources. This only further limits the cost-effectiveness of this solution.

Lastly, using managed services may cause security risks as everything is handed over to a third-party provider. Your company information and data may be leaked. So you are at greater risk of cyber attacks. Also, if you hand over any financial responsibilities to such a company you may risk fraudulent acts etc.

A reliable company will try to ensure these things do not happen. But leaving private information in the hands of a third party can be dangerous.

Staff Augmentation	Managed Services
Control remains with the client company but provided additional developers to complete the project	Takes control over the execution of a project or control over an area of your business
Tools, procedures, processes, and knowledge are in-house and shared with augmented staff members	Tools, procedures, processes, and knowledge remain with the managed service provider
Help with core business tasks to complete them internally as opposed to outsourcing them	Can outsource a task that is not a core part of your business
The time frame of cooperation is defined for as long as need	The time frame of cooperation is extensive and ongoing
Lower costs as you only pay for the developer(s) that you need and only as long as you use their services	More expensive as you use more external resources and staff than internal resources
Have better security as you only share aspects of the project with augmented team members that are necessary, while everything else remains in-house.	Massive security risks because you hand over everything to a third party. Your information could be leaked.

TL;DR: Summary of managed services model vs staff augmentation

Staff augmentation vs managed services can be a difficult choice but let us give you a quick breakdown.

Staff augmentation gives you the ability to hire developers to add to your existing team for a project. Also, staff augmentation gives you some of the following benefits:

• control over your project
• reduced hiring risks
• flexible staffing

Some cons of the staff augmentation model include:

• onboarding new team members
• poor developer fit

Managed service providers take over an entire IT department in your business. Also, they provide you with directions as to how to lead your business. This is a long-term and ongoing partnership. Also, they can take on many IT tasks. Some key benefits of this service include:

• you can focus on core business tasks
• you are given strategies to future-proof your IT services
• you can gain help with your IT support desk or customer service

Some cons of partnering with a managed service company may include:

• Less in-house knowledge in the form of processes and procedures
• Higher risks of security breaches such as data leaks

Now that you have a clear picture of each service along with its pros and cons, you can make the best choice for you. If you are curious to learn more about renting a developer using staff augmentation, 👉 drop us a line 👈. We can connect for a free chat and see how staff augmentation services can help change the day-to-day functions of your business.