Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: Choosing the Right Model for Your Business Needs

Staff augmentation and consulting offer companies the necessary expertise and efficiency to deliver their projects. However, selecting an appropriate one depending on the project-specific requirements is tricky and one wrong decision can affect the ongoing progress.

That is why, a detailed comparison between both heads provides a better understanding which helps with choosing the correct approach. Therefore, this blog covers staff augmentation vs consulting to explain what they do, how they benefit, and when you need them.

So, let’s begin.

Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: An Overview

Here’s a general overview of staff augmentation and consulting:

Staff Augmentation: An advanced approach allowing companies to hire personnel on a contractual basis to enhance their internal workforce capabilities.

Consulting: It helps businesses connect with external experts to consult them for their knowledgeable suggestions and information about technological advancements.

Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: Basic Differences

Here’s a detailed differentiation between staff augmentation and consulting:

Contract Length

In staff augmentation, companies can make both short-term and long-term contracts with the hired employees. However, it depends on the project requirements and deadline, creating an urgency to augment staff. 

On the contrary, consulting also offers short-term and long-term contract lengths similar to staff augmentation. However, this depends on the requirements, immediate response, or continuous support.

Additional Expenses

In staff augmentation, the hiring company is not obliged to provide additional employee benefits to the staff members they bring in. Since they bring temporary staff to work with their internal team, the company does not invest in providing medical allowances, paid leave, etc.., benefits.

However its totally depends upon the company who hired the IT Staff Augmentation Services to give the incentives or rewards if the company is satisfied with their work.

In consulting, the hiring company only offers the employee benefits when there is a long-term engagement. In most cases, the consultants are hired with a short-term agreement. If the contract is long-term, the company can provide long-term incentives other than their payment.

Ideal Consideration

Staff augmentation can be ideal in a few situations when a company wants to fill the expertise gap or match the staff requirement to complete and deliver the project. 

With consulting, the ideal consideration is when a company faces complications with its tasks and seeks expert guidance or an immediate solution to its problem.

Scalability Features

In staff augmentation, companies can utilize the scalability feature easily to increase or decrease the staff requirement to match urgent changes. This helps the companies adjust to sudden or unexpected changes in the project requirements.

In consulting, companies can use the scalability feature but with a complication. The team is prepared with a specific understanding and count so any shift in team size affects coordination, and increases overlapping efforts giving an inefficient outcome.

Personnel Communication

In staff augmentation, communication is easily possible with the hired staff as they work under a designated head. Since they work on a single project, they report directly to a specific person delegated to oversee the project.

In consulting, the hired professionals are involved in multiple projects. Since each project has a different requirement and priority, they must ensure it reaches the desired outcome. Due to that, they are under a heavy schedule, making it difficult to communicate with them instantly.

Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: Other Differences

Here is a detailed distinction between staff augmentation and consulting:

Work Infrastructure

In staff augmentation, the augmenting company is responsible for providing the necessary resources to the hired staff. Whether the staff works on the business premises or in a remote location, the external team relies heavily on the company’s existing infrastructure to complete the assigned task.

With consulting, the consulting firms fulfill the hardware and other infrastructure requirements and absence. However, in some cases, the company can provide or arrange the necessary system or infrastructure for the consultants to work during their tenure.

Prioritized Function

With staff augmentation, the priority is to work on the specified project from the beginning. Since they are hired to improve the internal team’s efficiency, they work on a specified project for their entire tenure, which depends on the project’s duration.

With consulting, the company brings clarity on the kind of role and responsibility they will handle. It can include working on a single project from its planning to execution or it can include working on multiple projects, all depending on the needs of the company.

Planning Responsibility

In IT staff augmentation services, the external team must follow the leads and information the augmenting company provides. They cannot work independently and participate in the planning stage. The hiring organization initiates planning before hiring the external team and they are temporary staff with pre-assigned tasks to work on.

The approach in consulting with planning or strategic responsibility is different. The professionals are brought in to share their input in the planning stage. Their responsibility is not specific to a single task but oversees various projects throughout their contract. These hired consultants offer valuable notes and insights that play a significant role in the planning stage.

Work-Based Training

In staff augmentation, the company provides essential training to the hired staff to inform them of the tools, practices, and technologies for the specific project. It allows the company to reduce any extension on the working period through on-the-job training for the hired staff. Thus, it initiates smooth integration with the internal team and immediate task delegation.

In consulting, the hiring company prepares training sessions for the hired consultants to help them experience the internal work operations. They learn about the company’s internal systems and details related to the project, which became the stepping stone for their extensive analysis to understand the reason behind the complexities.

Implement Modifications

With staff augmentation, the company hires staff to work on a specific project. Their role is to ensure on-time project deliverance, but they can also implement a few changes to make it more efficient. However, their primary task and focus is to work with the internal team to complete the project and achieve the desired outcome.

On the contrary, consulting offers more authority to professionals in suggesting changes or modifying the approach. Since they examine and analyze the organization process from within, they can develop better advice and ideas to help the company avoid challenges affecting operational progress.

Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: The Appropriate Choice

Companies fluctuate their decision to choose between staff augmentation and consulting. Such decisions should not be rushed but thoroughly analyzed before implementation.

Staff augmentation and consulting are two different approaches or means to an end. Both help the company complete their projects by removing complexities, but which one is appropriate? A company should examine various options like, feasibility, project requirements, pros & cons, and their effects. These are some factors to consider but the point is to understand these heads before acting on your choice.,

Still doubtful? Do not worry. We will assemble a team of experts that can help you amplify your efficiency and acquire the best results.

Read Also: Staff Augmentation vs Managed Services: A Complete Guide