Outsourcing or having your own technology team: which one is better?
Before the pandemic era, requirements for technology professionals were growing, and with the pandemic, the need for professionals in this area has intensified. So how to equalize the demand for production VS the shortage of qualified people in the area VS rapid and volatile market growth?
It's a fact that: despite the rising unemployment, the Information Technology sector is going against the flow, where there are 3.98 million jobs for IT professionals in the US, according to BLS data analyzed by Janco.
It is common for managers and directors to have doubts when creating or growing a technology team, as the choice depends on several factors, such as knowledge of technologies, time to monitor the team, and available budget. For this reason, I decided to list some possible alternatives that you can adopt:
- Internal team
The good side of having your own team are autonomy and speed in decision-making, considering that changing the scope along the way can take time or be bureaucratic. The cost of having your own team does not depend on the requirements, which does not happen with outsourced companies: an increase in demand can mean an increase in costs.
Some of the disadvantages of having your own team are that the market is superheated, so it is challenging to find a workforce, in addition to the longer time spent on the onboarding process. It is also necessary to add the labor costs in hiring an employee.
- External team
The advantages of having an outsourced team are the ease of hiring and the reduced bureaucracy since we will not be dealing with a selection process. In addition, you have greater control over turnover, considering that you will be hiring a company to take over the project. Onboarding is faster, and the company still has the possibility of increasing the team in the short term, in addition to a lower cost with dismissal;
When you hire an integrated development and design team, you end up establishing a culture of agile and healthy development for your product/company, organization of deliverables, and an organized discovery process.
On the other hand, the cost of an outsourced team can vary greatly. In general, companies usually charge from $25 - $99 / h (you can see it at Clutch Review). So, just multiply the rate by the hours worked per month (8h/day X 20 working days) multiplied by the number of people in the project to get an average.
- The best of both worlds: internal and external team
There is also the possibility of making a mix. It is ideal for companies that have received investments and are rapidly growing, companies where the internal team focuses on core businesses and the external team focuses on new functionality for the site/system, or even when the technology team needs to consult with people with more experience.
This format can also happen when most of your team members are junior, and the company wants a consultancy to help mature processes and products.
And what is the best format?
In order to make the best decision for you and your company, it is essential to weigh the negative and positive aspects of each format according to your needs. It is also important to note that a positive point in one format will not necessarily be harmful in another. The company will have to really assess its real need x the available budget, which is the best cost x benefit, if you have time to train people or if it is preferable to get a prepared team.
Creating a system is not just creating a website; it's being attentive to the user experience, bugs, fixing errors, and being available to improve the project.
Here at Labcodes we help companies improve their digital performance, whether creating products or improving existing ones. As a consultancy, we work side by side with the client, available around the clock, helping to discover problems, solving bugs in real-time, and establishing a partnership relationship to understand priorities.
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