Managed Service Vs Staff Augmentation

 

If you are a business owner and are considering using a managed services provider or staff augmentation model, it’s important to understand the difference between the two. Both models can provide benefits to a company, but the best choice depends on your unique business needs. In this article, we will compare the pros and cons of each to help you make a decision.

Scalability – Are you looking for project or operational scalability?

 

Both managed services and staff augmentation offer different scaling alternatives to meet your organization’s specific needs. Managed service providers are ideal for businesses that need ongoing support and a dedicated team of experts, while staff augmentation is an excellent alternative to hiring full-time employees when you only require additional resources for a short amount of time.

 

Cost – When you choose staff augmentation, your fees are typically pre-determined by the provider, so you know exactly what to expect. With a managed services provider, your fees are not pre-determined and can vary significantly depending on the scope of work you need.

 

Control – With staff augmentation, you have more control over the processes and outcomes of your projects. This means you can directly oversee the development of a project, make critical decisions and changes, and work with your supplemental staff to minimize risk of sensitive information getting into the wrong hands.

 

You can also request that your supplemental staff sign NDAs to ensure that any confidential data they create remains within the boundaries of your business. This reduces your overall risks and makes the project much more manageable.

 

Seamless integration – In staff augmentation, you can quickly onboard new team members and get them up to speed on your internal processes. This helps you stay on top of the project and avoid delays and miscommunications.

 

Need for well-established internal processes – You’ll need to develop a comprehensive set of standardized workflows, communication channels and reporting procedures. This can be challenging and time-consuming, but it’s necessary to keep your team productive.

 

Lower risk of intellectual property loss – With staff augmentation, you can work with supplemental employees who have signed NDAs and ensure that any sensitive information remains within your organization. This helps you to avoid issues such as sensitive information falling into the wrong hands and can be a huge benefit for companies who are developing a product or service that has high-level security requirements.

 

Doesn’t aid IT strategy – While staff augmentation can supplement your existing IT team, it doesn’t help you build a comprehensive IT strategy or improve your current process. This is more useful for short-term project requirements, such as cloud migration, setup of new IT infrastructure or a flurry of support requests after a new product launch.

 

Moreover, it can be more expensive than hiring in-house employees. It also requires an extensive training program and a commitment to full-time employment, so it’s not a solution for companies that only need temporary support or have long-term IT staffing needs. You can get more enlightened on this topic by reading here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-reasons-employee-engagement-matters_b_599d8e69e4b0b87d38cbe673.