Staff augmentation vs.
outsourcing a dedicated team: difference, pros, and cons

The basics of staff augmentation and dedicated
teams

Staff augmentation or dedicated team? Which is best? Well...let's slow down a bit. These two concepts are similar in some ways but
very different in others. You'll need to get a couple of definitions down before you make your choice. Take a look at what staff
augmentation and dedicated team outsourcing actually mean.

• 

  Staff augmentation

  Staff augmentation means outsourcing workers to increase your current staff's capability. You already have a team in place, but you identify some shortfalls. So you outsource a few extra workers here and there to fill the gaps.

  Staff augmentation can work in different ways. You may have a strong team but are lacking in numbers. So you outsource a number of lower-skilled workers to handle some of the more basic tasks. Or you might have a team that lacks some of the key skills you need. So you outsource a few highly qualified workers to plug the skill gap.

  It all comes down to knowing what you are working with and what you need. This gives you the insight required to augment your staff in the right way.

• 

  Dedicated team

  A dedicated team is similar to staff augmentation, but it works a little differently. With a dedicated team, you are bringing in a group of professionals to help you with a broad set of challenges. They provide everything you need and work with you as an extension of your own staff.

  But how is this different from staff augmentation? With staff augmentation, you are plugging a skills gap. Maybe you are only bringing in outsourced staff for a specific project with a defined endpoint. With a dedicated team, you are adding an entire outsourced team to your roster. The project parameters can change, and the dedicated team will adapt to these changes.

The pros and cons of staff augmentation

Staff augmentation can be great for your business. You'll gain the skills you need without worrying about long-term staffing costs. But, like anything else, there are downsides too.

Let's look at some of the pros and cons of staff augmentation:

• 

  Staff augmentation — the advantages

  It's always nice to start with the good news, and there is plenty of good news. Here are a few of the advantages you can expect from this approach:

  Highly flexible scaling

  Need to increase your capacity? Bring in team members to augment your staff. Need to scale back now that the project is done? This is straightforward too. With staff augmentation, you can scale your capabilities to meet specific needs. If the situation changes, you aren't stuck with the ongoing cost of hired in-house personnel.

  Immediate skills and capabilities

  Skill and experience take a long time to develop. Training your in-house personnel is a lengthy process, and this is a problem if you need those skills right away. Staff augmentation enables you to access these assets without delay. You'll also get to know which outsourced experts are the most valuable to your business. If you need to augment your team again in the future, you'll know who to call on.

  Predictable costs

  There are many costs associated with bringing in staff. Training and onboarding are some of the most immediate costs. Wages and employee benefits are ongoing costs that can burden your organization. Staff augmentation avoids these unpredictable expenses, making budgeting easier.

• 

  Staff augmentation — the disadvantages

  Okay, now let's look at the bad. There are some disadvantages associated with staff augmentation. However, you can avoid some of these downsides with the right planning and budgeting. Here's what we mean:

  Disconnection with corporate culture

  The staff you bring in may be very good at what they do, but they might not be so familiar with what you do. It may take some time for the outsourced staff to get up to speed with your corporate culture. You may also need to help them achieve this connection. This may not be so hard to achieve, as your outsourced staff will be used to slotting into the teams they work with. However, you still need to think about how you will make sure everyone is on the same page.

  Management requirements

  You'll need to manage the staff you bring in. While these outsourced staff will have the skills you require, you'll still need to consider how you will oversee their work. This can add to the workload of your management staff. In order to gain advantages from staff augmentation, you'll need to overcome this hurdle first.

  Potentially higher costs

  Staff augmentation gives you predictable costs. But this doesn't necessarily mean lower costs. Hiring an outsourced expert could be more expensive than training one in-house. If you are using these outsourced experts in the long term, you will end up spending more. Plan your project needs carefully, and make sure you are getting value for money.

The pros and cons of a dedicated team

For longer projects, a dedicated team might be the right choice. It really depends on the specifics of what you need, and you may experience advantages and disadvantages with this model too.

Learn more about the pros and cons below:

• 

  A dedicated team — the advantages

  We'll kick off with the good stuff. Here are the advantages you can expect when outsourcing a dedicated team:

  A team that's ready to go

  When you choose a dedicated team, you are essentially adding a unit to your own staff. This unit has the expertise you need and the resources ready to make it happen. There's minimal training and onboarding, as the team is already whole and equipped to get to work on the project at hand.

  Straightforward management and collaboration

  A good dedicated team will know what it takes to get the job done. To ensure this, they'll have a range of communication tools at their disposal. From instant chat to video conferencing solutions and cloud collaborative platforms, all the tools should be in place. This means you can enjoy a good working relationship right from the start. As the dedicated team is a cohesive unit, they should also be easy to manage. The team should already have a management structure in place, making this even easier.

  Better cost efficiency

  The dedicated team model is designed for longer-term projects. If there is no defined endpoint for the project, staff augmentation can quickly get expensive. This is not quite so true with the dedicated team model. That's why it's better suited to projects that can evolve or have broader parameters.

• 

  A dedicated team — the disadvantages

  To fully understand what a dedicated team can do for you, you need to tackle the downsides head-on. Here are a few of the disadvantages:

  Not great for shorter projects

  These dedicated teams are wonderful when your projects are growing and evolving. When you have everything already laid out, not so much. You like certainty, so it's natural to plan everything in advance. But this might not be the best way to use a dedicated team. Instead, dedicated teams are suited to longer projects that grow and develop. You may be better off using another outsourcing method for shorter, pre-defined projects.

  Unsuitable for adding specific skills

  One of the big benefits of the dedicated team approach is comprehensiveness. You are essentially adding a whole additional department to your business. But what if you already have a skilled team, and you just want to add a few extra capabilities? Unfortunately, you'll need to pay for the whole dedicated team. As a result, this is not the best approach if you just want to add a few specific skills to your own staff.

  Different teams have different backgrounds

  Dedicated teams are not made equal. Some teams have experience developing software for B2B organizations. Others handle PPC ads and social media marketing services for the pharmaceutical market. Different teams have different areas of expertise, and it might be difficult to find a dedicated team in your field. This is especially true if you operate in a niche industry.

Comparing the two models

Now that you know a bit more about these two models, let's get into the head-to-heads.

Read on to find out how the two approaches stack up against each other.

Flexibility

Both outsourcing models provide flexibility to your team. If you're hiring in-house personnel, there's basically no flexibility. You are now responsible for these personnel and all of their benefits and wages for the full term of their employment. Staff augmentation lets you add and remove skills quickly and easily. Dedicated teams also give you control over the people who will be working on your project.

Staff augmentation is more flexible because you can add specific skills on a short-term basis. Dedicated teams are a little less flexible because you'll need to hire a whole team and work with them for longer. But, as we'll see below, this is not the only aspect of flexibility to keep in mind.

The winner

If we're talking about scaling quickly and easily, staff augmentation wins. If we're discussing projects that grow and evolve, the dedicated team option comes out on top.

Costs

Cost efficiency is a big plus point for both methods. But which option is the most cost-efficient? It really comes down to your own specialized needs. The cost of staff augmentation can quickly get out of hand if you are using these personnel on long projects.

Dedicated teams also have their own cost considerations. These teams may have higher onboarding costs, so you'll need to use them for longer to get the best value.

The winner

For shorter projects with a defined endpoint, it's staff augmentation. For longer, evolving projects, a dedicated team is better.

Level of control

You spot a shortfall in your team. You know which skills you need to get the job done, so you use staff augmentation to overcome this shortfall. You bring in top-notch professionals, and the project is a winner. Here, control is fairly minimal. The outsourced professionals have a job to do, and they do it. Simple as that.

With a dedicated team, there's a bit more control. You will be working together with this team. Collaboration and communication are key to success, so your direction will be very important. Dedicated teams work as an extension of your own in-house teams, with you in control.

The winner

Dedicated teams offer a little more control over your project.

Security

As long as you choose the right partner, both outsourcing models are secure. Take time to learn about the security solutions and practices your outsourcing partner uses. Examine past client reviews to discover more about these security features.

All reputable service providers will be serious about security. However, dedicated teams are slightly more secure than staff augmentation options. This is because you are working with the same team over a longer period. You won't be bringing in personnel on a short-term basis and then changing these personnel in the future.

The winner

Dedicated teams just about edge it in the security stakes. But both options should provide a good level of security.