IT Staff Augmentation Vs Delivery Teams: Know the advantages, disadvantages of both the outsourcing models and decide which one to choose for your company
2. Quick Summary:
The world of IT has touched new
dimensions, especially in the post-COVID
era. With constant flux of new technologies,
software outsourcing has become one of the
most significant business strategies to
manage new trends and achieve desired
business goals.
In this blog, IT Staff augmentation Vs
Delivery teams, I have covered the two
most preferred outsourcing models of the
software industry. Find out which one is
ideal for your organization.
4. As per Capital Counselor, the global IT
outsourcing market will be worth $397.6 billion
by 2025. Citing Security Magazine, Capital
Counselor informs that as a result of COVID-19,
89% of the surveyed industries needed to
expedite their digital transformation in 2020.
This expedition was fraught with the danger of
cyber attacks as the existing resources needed
to be stretched beyond their capacity and
efficiency. Therefore, in 2021, 83% of IT leaders
are likely to outsource their work to a managed
service provider (MSP).
Citing Infosec, Capital Counselor reports that
the MSP market would reach $41 billion by 2022
due to outsourcing security functions. As per
Orient, the IT industry will be worth $413 billion
by the end of 2021. And, 70% of the estimated
money will come from outsourcing.
5. As per, Statista, and Globe Newswire, the
global IT outsourcing market will be worth
$425.19 billion by 2026, and India’s IT
outsourcing market is expected to be worth
₹8,830.14 billion ($120.67 billion) by 2025.
Citing Deloitte’s outsourcing statistics
graphs, Capital Counselor writes that for
the 70% of respondents in the survey, the
top reason for outsourcing was a decrease
in cost. 40% of the businesses outsourced to
have flexibility. And, for 20%, speed to
market was the reason for outsourcing,
while for 15%, it was tools, processes, and
agility that drove them to outsource.
In the light of these statistics, it is crystal
clear that the rationale of software
outsourcing is to realize the highest
business potential along with building
sustainable employee and customer
relationships.
6. The software outsourcing industry came up
with two models— autonomous Delivery
Teams Vs Staff Augmentation to meet these
expectations.
Let us then explore various dimensions of
IT staff augmentation vs delivery teams.
Planning to add varied skillset to your
existing in-house development team for
short or long terms? Bacancy can be your
one-stop shop.
Add the extra talent on your terms and
conditions
8. In this resource augmentation model, an
external team consists of a seasoned
manager, software engineers, and testers.
The main task of these delivery teams is to
accomplish the software process seamlessly
without much help from the in-house team.
Let us have a look at the advantages of
delivery teams over staff augmentation.
Advantages of Delivery
Teams
Following are some of the major benefits of
hiring delivery teams:
9. In this resource augmentation model, an
external team consists of a seasoned
manager, software engineers, and testers.
The main task of these delivery teams is to
accomplish the software process seamlessly
without much help from the in-house team.
Let us have a look at the advantages of
delivery teams over staff augmentation.
Advantages of Delivery
Teams
Following are some of the major benefits of
hiring delivery teams:
10. Delivery Teams Allow Businesses to
Focus on Their Core Business
One of the major reasons why businesses
choose to hire delivery teams is that it lets
them focus on their core business. Delivery
teams primarily engage in tedious software
development processes. It frees executives,
project managers, and owners from
participating in daily project management
responsibilities, including supervising and
monitoring the entire project and its
people.
This freedom allows the executives to focus
on the main software product. It also lets
them maintain customer relations,
brainstorm next projects, and build
sustainable business strategies that help
grow the business.
11. Delivery Teams Allow Managers to
Respond to Industry Developments Faster
The best part of hiring autonomous delivery
teams is that they are ready to start the
project immediately. This saves a lot of time
that is usually involved in hiring an in-house
team. Also, to hire an in-house team,
businesses first need to have a clear concept of
the product as hiring would be done keeping
in mind the requirements of the stipulated
project and other future products.
When businesses go for delivery teams, they
don’t have to have the entire plan ready as
these teams are so very experienced and
accessible that they can start working
immediately. Also, their adaptability to
constantly evolving market trends makes
them create a product that satiates customer
needs quite well and faster.
12. Delivery Teams Help Reduce Financial
Risk
Creation of any customized software involves
a lot of time and money. It is a huge
investment in human resources and other
logistics required to complete the project. The
huge scale obviously involves huge financial
risk, especially if the expected software fails.
The autonomous delivery teams play a
significant role in reducing this financial
burden in two ways:
1. The delivery teams include specialized
engineers with vast experience of the work.
This aspect means they are super-efficient to
overcome any challenge during the software
development process.
13. Delivery Teams Ensure Improved
Software Security
2. This outsourcing model of delivery teams
often involves payment after successfully
completing the project. This means it does
not require huge investment at the project’s
outset. And, this means that the financial
risk is divided between the outsourcing
company and the delivery teams. Hence, it
gives much relief to all the stakeholders
involved in the project.
At a time when the whole world is going
digital, there are many instances in which
sensitive data gets compromised. When a
business creates a customized software
product, it cannot afford to let this happen
to its customers. One of the goals of hiring
efficient delivery teams is to ensure robust
software security.
14. These teams have experienced engineers
who are specialized in the matters of cyber
security and data protection. These teams
appoint qualified and efficient engineers to
take care of an outsourcing company’s
cyber security and data protection needs
whenever it needs.
No model can be perfect. There are some
disadvantages of autonomous delivery
teams. Let us have a look at them.
Looking to hire skilled, motivated, and on-
demand IT resources on an immediate basis
on your terms and conditions? Leverage our
Staff Augmentation Services to upscale and
up-skill your enterprise
16. Lack of Control
As they say, every idea has a contrary to it.
The idea that delivery teams allow the
hands-on managers to focus on their core
business has its contrary in the form of
reduced control. Yes, though getting freed
from the tedious daily responsibilities of
software development is one of the goals of
this outsourcing model, it creates confusion
and frustration when executives, managers,
and owners lose control over the project.
This often arises due to a lack of clear
communication channels and
accountability. When there is no clear
communication about the daily updates and
the project’s progress, the outsourcing
company does feel a loss of control.
17. Finding the Suitable Delivery Team
This can be easily resolved by setting up clear
communication channels. These
communication channels keep the project
managers posted about each crucial step in the
development process daily or as stipulated in
the contract. This makes the outsourcing
company quite at ease and in control.
A highly efficient delivery team that is ready to
work immediately and on cue is indeed difficult
to find, if not impossible. The outsourcing
company needs to have a trustworthy delivery
team and meets or exceeds its expectations.
An outsourcing company may check the team’s
business credentials with regard to its
requirements. It is possible that a delivery team
may be an outstanding leader in the industry.
However, it does not mean that it would do
justice to the requirements of every project.
18. Investment in Training
Therefore, when an outsourcing company
wants to hire a suitable delivery team, it
needs to check their portfolio or give them a
sample work to make an informed decision.
A consciously chosen delivery team indeed
proves to be an asset to the outsourcing
company.
While it is true that delivery teams can start
the projects immediately, they would still
require some basic training to get oriented
to the company and its culture. And, this
would require the investment of time and
money.
Many a times, delivery teams are hired for
one or two projects. So, it does mean that if
an outsourcing company wants to hire
other delivery teams for some other
projects, it would need to give them the
necessary training from scratch.
19. And, this would certainly mean investing
again and again whenever an outsourcing
company wants to hire a delivery team for
its different projects.
Staff augmentation is another software
outsourcing model that an outsourcing
company can consider to overcome the
inherent challenges in delivery teams’
above-discussed software outsourcing
model.
Also Read:
Trending Approach To Build Next-Gen
Products
21. In this model, you can hire dedicated teams
to fulfill the existing tech skill gap in
emerging technologies. This additional staff
is tasked with providing their specialized
expertise during the critical stages of agile
software development process. At this
point, staff augmentation proves to be a
better alternative to delivery teams as it
saves a lot of time and money for the
outsourcing company.
Advantages of Staff
Augmentation Over
Delivery Teams
C-level executives are always under a
dilemma when choosing in-between Staff
augmentation vs delivery teams. So, here’s
the clear justification.
22. Delivery teams need to be hired for the entire
project, whereas staff augmentation is about
adding specialized experts to an existing team.
In this sense, an enterprise does not have to
worry about finding an experienced team for
the entire project. It only has to hire
specialized experts that are efficient enough to
complement the existing team.
For example, suppose an organization is
working on a WordPress project. In that case, it
needs to hire an entire team to execute the
project if it is opting for delivery team model
for software outsourcing.
But, in this software outsourcing model of staff
augmentation, an enterprise can hire
specialized WordPress developers who can
make a real difference in the existing team’s
roles and responsibilities to create a brilliant
website for the clients.
23. As staff augmentation is about hiring
specialized individuals for specific
needs of the ongoing project, it gives an
outsourcing company access to niche
talent across the world without any
inhibition of border, race, or gender.
The experienced and specialized
individuals are hired for specific
business objective. This helps the
business retain a lean and agile in-house
team.
This then eliminates the need to hunt for a
group of individuals to execute the project
seamlessly. The project is better served by
the services of a couple of specialized
experts in this software outsourcing model
of staff augmentation.
Following are some more advantages of
staff augmentation over delivery teams
when comparing IT Staff Augmentation Vs
Delivery Teams.
24. An outsourcing company gets flexibility
as the staff augmentation model has no
long-term employment commitment.
It also gives the companies tremendous
scope to upscale or downscale their
teams based on market trends or
demands.
Staff augmentation also allows
enterprises to create correct budgets
and future business strategies.
26. In this discussion regarding IT staff
augmentation vs delivery teams, it is quite
clear that each software outsourcing model
has its advantages and disadvantages.
Enterprises can choose the one that serves
their purpose the best.
However, staff augmentation services can
be preferred when an enterprise wants to
bring in specialized skills that are missing in
the existing team. It can also be a better
choice when an enterprise wants to scale an
in-house team quickly without getting into
the intricacies of hiring an entire delivery
team.