Staff Augmentation Vs Outsourcing: Which Model to Choose?

In this article, we are going to explain the differences between Staff Augmentation and Outsourcing model briefly.

Here, you will quickly analyze which model is best for the growth and profit of your industry. This article will also help you to decide which model most effectively fulfills your project demands.
 
Both Staff Augmentation and Outsourcing models are the most predominant outsourcing strategies for industries and companies. 
Now, Let’s start with the definition of the Staff Augmentation model. 

What is Staff Augmentation?

The Staff Augmentation model is a process that allows companies to hire experts or professionals for a short time in their in-house development team. Depending on the project demands, you can add employees who have complete knowledge of that project. 

This outsourcing strategy allows companies to fill the skill gaps for a project within the industry. Here, software firms pay external skilled engineers on an hourly basis and the material required to finish the project. 
Suppose you are working on a mobile development project for your company, then you can set up a team of talented and skilled react native developers through the Staff Augmentation strategy. 

Types of Staff Augmentation

Staff Augmentation is categorized into the following three categories:
1. Commodity Augmentation
2. Skill-based Augmentation
3. Highly-skilled Augmentation

Benefits of Staff Augmentation model

Following are the various benefits of the Staff Augmentation model:
1. This model is cost-effective because the organizations only pay for the actual hours spent by the worker on the project. The organizations do not have to worry about the additional expenses.
2. There is a CTO or project manager who has full control over the development process of the project.
3. The Staff Augmentation strategy is flexible in nature because you can add or remove developers according to the project requirements.  

What is Outsourcing?

The Outsourcing model is a process where companies assign their whole project to another software development company for better results. 
In simple words, we can say that when an organization contracts its business processes to another organization in the same or another country, it is outsourcing. Compared to Staff Augmentation, it is all about hiring a whole new team for a new project.  
 
This process covers all the required specialists, including UI/UX developers, quality assurance engineers, designers, support managers, and project managers.   
In this strategy, skilled and talented outsourcing professionals can work independently from your in-house team.  

Suppose you have a web development project, then this strategy hires a whole development team from an IT outsourcing company to work on that project. 

Benefits of the Outsourcing model

Following are the various benefits of the Outsourcing model:
1. The cost of the Outsourcing model is flexible because the cost depends on the project or task.
2. Those organizations which do not have specialized departments can hire the team to fill those gaps from other development industries.
3. The projects and tasks of the Outsourcing strategy are more scalable.

Differences Between Staff Augmentation and Outsourcing Strategy model

The following table shows the comparisons between both strategy models:

Staff Augmentation	Outsourcing
1. The cost of Staff Augmentation is based on the hourly wages and the material required to finish the project.	1. The cost of the Outsourcing strategy is fixed.
2. It is best for short-term solutions.	2. It is best for a long-term basis.
3. This strategy is used when you want to add new staff to the ongoing project.	3. This strategy is used when you want to hire a team of professionals for the whole new project.
4. Its purpose is to fill the specific skill gaps for a project within the organization.	4. Its purpose is to assign the whole new project to another development company.
5. It involves the role of the project manager or CTO for managing and controlling the in-house development team.	5. There is no involvement of the project manager because the outsourcing company works independently.

Which Model to Choose?

After comparison of both strategies, now it's time to make a wise decision that which model to choose from these two strategies for the industry. 

Staff Augmentation is the best model for your industry when -
    • You have the requirement to hire an expert for the specific skill on the ongoing project. 
    • You want to extend an existing in-house development team. 
    • You are ready to work as team lead for training the additional team members. 
    • You want to grow your business quickly. 
    • You want to save cost and time.
    • You have a project manager (PM) or chief technology officer (CTO) who keeps things under control in an in-house development team. 

Outsourcing is the best model for your industry when -
    • You want to develop your whole project from the initial position.
    • You want a separate expertise team to develop the whole new project.  
    • You are fine to give complete control to the outsourcing company.