To Outsource or to Augment IT Staff: That is the Question

Are you thinking about hiring extra help to manage a surge in demand or fill a skills gap in an IT project? You have options to address this staff shortage, but you’re trying to decide between staff augmentation and outsourcing. Let’s break it down for you!

We will cover the pros and cons of both staff augmentation and outsourcing and what they mean for your business.

Why Hiring on Demand is Popular

Hiring flexible staff is the go-to solution for many companies today. Here’s why because the needs are short-term, specific known skills are required, some extra hands to finish the job and onboarding is required to be quick:

• Short-term needs – Not every job requires a full-time employee. You can hire staff for temporary needs, like covering someone on leave or handling a short-term project. Once the job is done, the extra staff moves on.
• Specific skills – Your company won’t always have all the expertise in-house. For example, if you’re expanding into a new region, you might need to bring in a tax or finance expert.
• Extra hands – When a deadline is approaching, and you realize you won’t make it, hiring more people can help you finish on time without lowering quality.
• Quick onboarding – Hiring new employees takes time, but on-demand hires can start almost immediately, often without the long interview process.

Staff Augmentation vs Outsourcing

Once you decide you need extra help, the next step is choosing the right type of support.

• Outsourcing
  
  This means handing over the entire project or specific tasks to an external team. For example, you can outsource website creation or just parts of it, like writing content or designing the logo. Many businesses outsource non-core tasks so they can focus on their strengths.
• Staff Augmentation
  
  This involves bringing in extra workers to collaborate with your team. For example, you might hire additional web designers to help your team meet a website launch deadline. IT staff augmentation is common when companies lack specialized technical skills.

 When to Choose Staff Augmentation or Outsourcing

The key difference is whether you want the additional staff to work directly with your in-house team. With outsourcing, you give up some control. The external team decides how, where, and when to work. However, outsourcing a project to a reliable team can ensure it gets done on time, and you can focus on other things.

On the other hand, staff augmentation gives you more control over the work and the team. Augmented staff work with your existing systems and data, which can be important for industries with strict regulations or where data must stay in-house.