An Overview of Offshore Staff Augmentation Vs. Managed Services
                     An Overview of Offshore Staff Augmentation Vs. 
Managed Services
Satya K Vivek
Writes for Gadgeon.com, IT outsourcing services 
and product engineering services company.
 
The severe consequences of COVID-19 have left many organizations to 
seek help from business models associated with IT outsourcing and out 
staffing. Two of the most important models are known as offshore staff 
augmentation and offshore managed services. Both have their roots in IT 
outsourcing but are completely different in their functionalities. 
Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation is the process of hiring a remote employee or a team 
for a specific project for a certain period. They may not fully integrate into 
the in-house team of the organization.
Managed services
Managed service is the process of outsourcing management 
responsibilities and strategic operational functions to a managed service 
provider (MSP). The MSP assignments between two organizations are 
typically longer-term engagements.
Staff augmentation vs. Managed services
1. The staff augmentation model enables an organization the flexibility to 
fill any resource gap during project execution, while avoiding hiring 
people into fixed positions. Staff augmentation serves the organization 
better when skills are required for immediate and short-term 
engagements. While MSPs provide a wide range of expertise, skills, and 
solutions to an entity for a longer period to address to the changing 
business demands.
2. You’ve complete control over the result of the project. This business 
model enables you to monitor every phase of a process and ensures high-
quality service delivery. MSPs take charge of the project right from the 
initial phase till the end. The provider keeps an eye on every process of 
the project. However, the vendor is responsible for the outcome of the 
project.
3. The short-term employee engagement saves the cost of hiring full-time 
employee. You get the expertise of highly skilled team by paying the fees 
for the number of hours worked. The MSPs fix the cost of services. 
However, the cost may vary depending on the type of technical skill 
required. The market costs for a certain skill adjust according to the 
demand of a specific technical skillset.
4. For staff augmentation projects, subject matter training may not be 
required, though new staff augmented resource may require training in 
client-specific processes, tools, and technologies. While, MSPs might 
require quite some subject matter awareness, and knowledge transfer to 
deliver the outcomes.
5. Staff augmentation model doesn’t commit to provide a desired 
outcome from the performance of an activity. They are committed to give 
technical resources who will put in the hours of effort. While managed 
service is a service commitment. MSPs are committed to deliver an 
outcome at a defined price.
6. The pricing under staff augmentation is tied to the availability and 
hours worked. While pricing under managed services is tied to service 
levels, and outcome.
Managed service providers offer resources not only to solve problems but 
also to understand the reason for the occurrence of the problems. 
However, staff augmentation is only about getting the tasks done. 
Sometimes it is difficult for staff augmentation resources to produce a 
desired result by only using the same defective internal processes that 
prevent in-house employees from solving an operational problem on their 
own.
Overall, if you as a decision maker in an organization can effectively 
choose between these models considering their advantages and 
disadvantages, you can accomplish your business goals. Both are great 
options for IT outsourcing especially in an offshore model.
About Gadgeon
Gadgeon is known for its expertise in Industrial IoT and engineering 
excellence. We connect devices, operations, and processes to create 
business value, and revolutionize enterprises with the power of data. As 
an end-to-end technology services company, we successfully enabled the 
digital journey of customers with critical digital services ranging from 
embedded systems, cloud app development, mobile app development, 
data & analytics, application modernization, emerging technology based 
solutions, and testing & test automation across the industries such as 
connected factory, telecom & datacom, digital healthcare, CSPs, and 
home & building automation.
Thank you for time in reading this article!