The reduction of the costs was always one of the main priorities of businesses. Yet, it seems that doing that today is easier than ever before. Advanced technology is part of every business field. Because of that, a huge number of IT projects have been started in the last couple of years.
However, completing those projects requires time and budget. Because of that, we can consider them risky for many businesses. People that work on IT projects do not have the option to make a mistake. Additionally, a lot of changes are happening in this field as well. The needs for different aspects of IT are changing daily. Because of that, if you do not understand them, that could lead to disaster.
Because of all the reasons that we mentioned, business owners are deciding on two moves. One part of entrepreneurs chooses stuff augmentation while others would rather choose the project-outsource option.
We know that choosing between these two things is a tough challenge. As we said, there is no place for mistakes. Because of that, analyzing both ways would be a great choice to decide on one that meets your requirements and expectations.
However, before we start, it would be good to describe them both.
What is Staff Augmentation?
In short terms, we can describe staff augmentation as hiring several developers for a specific duration. For example, let’s imagine that you need a web application. However, neither one of your employees has the necessary skills to develop that app. You will have to hire someone to do that instead of you. However, you will only need that person (or team) for a certain app. The need for developers in the future won’t exist. Well, in that case, you can decide on staff augmentation. Your collaboration with an individual or group of people will stop when the IT project is finished.
Advantages of Staff Augmentation
We can give you some directions on why this might be a good choice. More precisely, we would want to highlight three of them.
Control
The external developers that you will hire won’t have complete autonomy. They are your workers and you can give some instructions at every moment. Despite that, people that they will collaborate with already know your plans and ideas. They can also give them some instructions in which direction the project should go.
Cost-Effectiveness
You are not hiring full-time developers. There are also no hiring and e-hiring costs. It is a perfect choice for people that have the problem with the budget.
Flexibility and Convenience
Okay, these two things are important in every business. We are sure that these two things already exist. However, thanks to the new skills that these developers will bring, you will raise convenience and flexibility to another level. More precisely, the will raise the effectiveness of your company.
The collaboration will end sooner or later. However, if there is a need for another app sometimes in the future, you will know who deserves to participate. Of course, this counts if the ending results are satisfying.
Disadvantages of Stuff Augmentation
Is everything perfect? Well, everyone would use this option if that’s the case. Our goal is to stay objective so we would want to analyze the cons of stuff augmentation as well.
Difficulties to Find Good Fit
Indeed, you will have to be careful when choosing the new developers. There might be a need for organizing some additional training for different tasks. They do possess skills that you are looking for. However, they need to adapt to your team and the rules of your company. Only under those conditions, the project can be accomplished.
More Time Means More Money
You might have a plan to end the project in the next 2 months. However, what if the project lasts longer? You need to prepare yourself for additional costs. Trying to accomplish the project faster won’t be an effective option.
And…What Is Project Outsourcing?
Well, let’s imagine that you would not want to hire new people. Instead, you would want to completely execute the entire project by using the resources of another company. Indeed, you also have the option to outsource some parts of the projects. In this way, you can be sure that the project is going to be accomplished.
Advantages of Project Outsourcing
We will start with some positive words. From the pros and cons of project outsourcing, you will see the differences between these two things.
Reduction of Training Costs
Remember what we said about training costs and staff augmentation? Well, these concerns do not exist with project outsourcing. All the skills and training developments are the responsibility of outsources. How the team functions or do workers respecting deadlines is not your concern.
Time-Saving
You can hear quite often people saying “time is money”. Well, every entrepreneur can confirm that this quote is completely correct. Entrepreneurs have to take care of many things associated with their business. Because of that, they are also looking for ways to save time.
It doesn’t matter if you are somehow not involved in the project. However, organizing your workers requires time and patient. This especially counts when we talk about hiring staff augmentation. The new developers that will come will have to get some clear instructions. Anyway, all these things won’t spend your time if you pick this option.
Disadvantages of Project Outsourcing
There are two disadvantages of project outsourcing that we would want to highlight – lack of control and finding a quality outsourcer.
Indeed, control of everything can be a tough challenge. However, that doesn’t mean you can have peace of mind if you are not controlling anything. Everything associated with the project is under the outsourcer’s control.
Finally, finding the right outsources is always tough. You must find someone who will share the same core values as you. Fortunately, the Internet has brought us opportunities to find good outsourcers more easily.
Bonus Tip: You Can Try It Alone
Logically, trying to finish an IT project alone is always possible. Logically, there are many disadvantages and advantages of this move. However, the first step that you need to do is to improve the level of your knowledge. For instance, if choosing the right python web framework is a problem, you can check ncube.com. For each question that you have, there is an answer online. We recommend you be stubborn and always research everything that bothers you.
