Staff Augmentation Vs Managed Services

The terms staff augmentation and managed services are often confused to be the same thing, that’s why many people use them interchangeably. But although both have their similarities, the two are entirely different solutions. If you’re interested to learn more about staff augmentation vs managed services, keep on reading. 

What Is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation refers to using temporary personnel outside your company to address capacity issues within the business. This can be in the form of part-time, project-based contractors. 

Rather than spending your time and energy on hiring permanent in-house personnel, staff augmentation allows you to work with skilled specialists as projects come. It gives you access to a pool of the best talent in the industry when your need arises. With staff augmentation, you can meet looming project deadlines by hiring the right people. 

To help you, staff augmentation firms will provide personnel based on your needs. You will be presented with qualified candidates for the job. Once you give the go signal, the augmented staff will follow your directions to carry out the project. 

Benefits Of Staff Augmentation

There are various benefits to staff augmentation: 

• Hire People When You Need Them: Staff augmentation allows you to hire people only when you need them, rather than onboarding new people for a project only to let them go later when the project is done. It allows you to scale your staff according to your current needs. 
• Reduce Cost: With staff augmentation, you only need to pay for what you need, which helps eliminate the costs of hiring and retaining full-time employees. 
• Project Autonomy: Staff augmentation allows you to retain your autonomy over a project. Once you have chosen your augmented staff, they will adapt to your company and follow your directions.

What Is Managed Services

Managed services allow you to outsource management responsibilities and other strategic functions to a third-party provider. The provider will be responsible for the work, people, training, processes, and tools, to complete the work. Think of it as having a strategic partner with a wide area of responsibility. 

A managed service provider will cover and take care of many operational processes. To ensure a successful service, they and your organization can use key performance indicators to measure performance against your service level agreements. 

Benefits Of Managed Services:

There are several benefits to managed services:

• More Time For Other Business Needs:  Managed services allow your company to focus on other operations since the provider will provide its own project management processes. The provider will monitor processes during the project and also assume responsibility for finding the necessary tools and resources.
• Save Time And Money In The Long Run: Managed services allow you to get the technical expertise and management resources you need, allowing you to save both time and money. 

Difference Between Staff Augmentation And Managed Services

Staff augmentation involves a certain job description. The service is paid according to time and materials. For example, an augmented staff team member can join your organization to write lines of code for an application. In this case, they would be paid by the hour. 

On the other hand, with managed services, you subcontract management responsibilities or strategic methods to another company. Compared to staff augmentation, a managed services contractor will create a specific application and accomplish key performance indicators. The payment is sent when the project is finalized. 

Compared to managed services, staff augmentation has a more narrow focus. It focuses on one area to solve a problem. It is aimed at solving skills gaps for your organization for a specific project. Not only that, but it’s suitable if your business is struggling to meet project deadlines. 

On the other hand, managed service providers have a wider area of responsibility. It’s a good option if you’re considering your existing situation and future business goals.

Both methods will save you from spending too much time and energy on recruiting the right experts needed to reach your company’s goals. Both staff augmentation and managed services providers employ some of the best talents in the field, helping you find success in your projects compared to hiring in-house staff. 

Key Takeaway

Now that you have learned about staff augmentation vs managed services, you have a better idea of what will suit your organization’s needs. If you’re interested in these services, you can contact us here at Atticus. We can provide you with vetted candidates that will fit the job position you need to fill, and we can do this in the fastest time possible.

Aside from that, we also provide managed services as well, as we can help companies strategize, deploy, and manage NetSuite, AWS, ServiceNow, Salesforce, and other SaaS-based verticals. To learn more, you can send us a message!