Staff Augmentation vs. Dedicated Teams: Which One To Choose?

Staff Augmentation: Definition

Staff augmentation refers to the extension of an in-house team with third-party specialists in order to respond to a business need. In other words, staff augmentation involves specialists who fill in skill-related gaps for a certain period and for specific projects. It is highly valued by companies as it is much easier to find the necessary skill set by partnering with an agency, without having to invest in the recruiting and onboarding processes.

Dedicated Developers & Dedicated Software Development Teams: Definition

Dedicated developers or dedicated software development teams come from software development organizations with a full-time commitment and a wide range of services. As a rule of thumb, such a significant partnership usually turns a temporary service provider into a trusted partner.

Staff Augmentation Model

The staff augmentation model enables organizations to choose relevant candidates and manage them through the methods that run within the company. It is a great opportunity for the in-house team to focus on the company’s core activities and processes.

There are several types of staff augmentation and staff augmentation services. Hence, it is crucial to understand how to choose the relevant staff augmentation model for your case. The most appropriate model depends on the specific needs of the organization.

How It Works

If your organization is considering using  the staff augmentation model for certain projects, there are two main factors to take into consideration: what goal do you want to achieve, and what are your priorities? In this way, you will clearly understand the required time of the project, its cost, and consequently, the specialists you need to add to your team.

Without a doubt, team augmentation brings unique value to companies by filling the skill set gaps. However, this model is not relevant for every business and project. First of all, while software team extension is not the best option for long-term projects, it is the perfect solution for short-term utilization. Furthermore, we strongly advise you to avoid staff augmentation practices for very complex projects, which, consequently, require a lot more time to be realized.

What Types Of Businesses Fit The Staff Augmentation Model?

Any collaboration model works better for certain types of businesses and relies on numerous key factors. IT team augmentation is a perfect fit for a business with a strong internal IT team and reliable management team in the first place. On the contrary, if the in-house team is too occupied with other tasks and the project needs to be completed urgently without internal management, it is very much advisable to consider other options, e.g. outsourcing.

Software team augmentation will work well for your organization if:

• You are planning on hiring programmers with rare stacks from other locations as they are difficult to find in your local market;
• You are planning to hire several professionals from other locations as there is a shortage of relevant talent in your local market;
• You expect to manage and communicate with your new team members on a regular or daily basis;
• You want to integrate the remote specialist into your in-house team.

What Are The Benefits Of IT Staff Augmentation?

Organizations tend to augment software teams because of the many benefits they gain from this collaboration model. If your business or project is quite similar to the ones described above, here are some of the most prominent expected advantages your company will obtain.

Flexibility

Staff augmentation provides availability to a vast talent pool of professionals from different locations. Regardless of what kind of specialist you are looking to add to your skill set for a certain project, the possibilities to find a perfect one are endless.

High Productivity Levels

The staff augmentation process engages IT specialists in one project at a time, so they stay focused on it 100% of their time. Working on only one project leads to the better dedication, and consequently, higher productivity.

Control Over All The Procedures

Such collaboration involves strong management over the process and its resources, so if you plan on keeping an eye on every level of the procedure, software development team augmentation is the best option.

Cost Efficiency

There is no need to worry about any organizational or administrative expenses, as the agencies that provide staff augmentation services arrange everything for you, including all the legal paperwork. In fact, it is a great opportunity to focus on the core processes of your business.

Meeting Tight Deadlines

As stated before, staff augmentation perfectly works for short-term projects. So, if you have an upcoming deadline, it is typically the best variant to get the job done on time.

Dedicated Developers & Teams Model

Outsourcing dedicated developers or teams means partnering with a software agency located elsewhere and entrusting its team with your projects. It is a much wider type of collaboration as it involves independence in the execution of a particular project. So, when companies finally find a well-trusted software agency, they tend to keep on collaborating with them for upcoming projects  tead of considering them as a temporary technical service provider.

How It Works

Dedicated developers and teams usually work from their agency on long-term projects. Generally, all the requirements and details are negotiated between the vendor and the client. Hence, it is possible, for example, to carry the management or hand it to the agency. The providers establish the pricing, as well as the working plan that includes the working hours, possible business trips, and so on. Moreover, all the administrative expenses are taken care of on the vendor’s side.

This collaboration model works best for long-term and complex projects, especially if you prefer to get an independent service that does not require regular control. The team composition depends on the necessities of the project and may include full-stack, back-end or front-end programmers, UX and UI designers, DevOps engineers, or product and project managers, among others. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify your business needs before hiring dedicated developers or teams.

What Types Of Businesses Fit The Dedicated Developers & Teams Model?

The dedicated developers and teams model is a perfect choice for complex, long-term projects. Indeed, if your project is expected to face the need to be extended in the future, such a collaboration model is the perfect solution. The more complex the project, the more developers you need to support it along the way, and dedicated teams ensure to take care of the product from start to finish.

Dedicated developers and teams work well for startups, which allows you to find programmers quickly without investing much in the hiring process. Moreover, if your product still needs to pass the discovery stage, such a collaboration model involves the time and  to help you settle down without overspending. In this way, the in-house team can focus on the core activities, while your dedicated team will quickly deliver additional activities and processes.

What Are The Benefits Of Dedicated Developers & Teams?

The dedicated developers and teams model is considered one of the most demanded models because of the many benefits it offers. Here are the main advantages that companies obtain when relying on this type of collaboration.

Cost-Effectiveness

The cost of hiring dedicated developers and teams for certain projects is lower than that for maintaining a full-time employee. Moreover, software agencies care about finding the necessary talent for your company, so you don’t need to spend on recruiting and onboarding.

Complete Team Engagement

The team that you partner with works exclusively on your project, and is therefore as devoted and motivated as your in-house team. Moreover, it allows internal and external teams to work together on the same project in order to r  the same goal, thus offering the opportunity to tightly collaborate and learn from each other.

Add Or Remove Team Members

The dedicated developers and teams collaboration model permits you to add or remove professionals whenever the project requires it. So, if a necessary activity has to be completed in order to proceed with the project, such collaboration lets you add specialists without any additional costs.

Experienced IT Specialists

Many software agencies spend lots of resources to obtain the best talent. Dedicated team providers are specialized in finding only the best professionals worldwide, who perfectly match software agencies’ business goals and needs.

Control Over All The Procedures

The management details are usually discussed between the client and the provider before collaborating. Therefore, it depends on whether the clients want to keep an eye on everything or need an independent service. However, the dedicated teams model allows you to always be in control of all the procedures o f your project. You can assign tasks, stay informed about what is working on each team member, set priorities, and so on.

Staff Augmentation vs. Dedicated Teams: Comparison

Both collaboration models have particular uses and are valuable to the business cases they fit. Technical staff augmentation is one of the most effective ways of carrying short and unexpected projects with tight deadlines and limited budgets. However, the more complex the project is, the more practical it would be to partner with a dedicated team, as companies are provided with reliable professionals and can turn these into long-term trusted partners.

Below is a comparative table that will help you choose the most appropriate collaboration model for your organization.

To Wrap Up

It would be fair to conclude that both the staff augmentation and dedicated developers and teams models are useful for particular cases. Both of them aim to support internal staff and meet a specific company’s needs. So, before jumping into any of those collaborations, you should clarify the bigger picture. What are the needs, goals, and deadlines of your project? What are the priorities? Where exactly can any of those models strengthen your in-house team? How can you integrate new members into your team to establish a fruitful collaboration or partnership? Clarifying these key points will help you choose the right collaboration model for your project and bring you as many benefits as possible.

Now that we discussed and compared in detail the staff augmentation and dedicated developers and teams models, it will be much easier to identify your perfect way of collaborating and put it into practice as soon as possible.