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Staff Augmentation Myths and Realities

Subhash Parameswaran
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Subhash Parameswaran
It has been observed that organizations using contract resources long-term for onsite staffing will face increasing costs and decreasing productivity year over year. Whereas, organizations that have effectively implemented outsourcing models using offshore vendors have significantly improved the productivity and value of their internal team. However, the internal teams require a different mindset to manage a global delivery model.
Why are organizations reluctant to change their staff augmentation model?

Managers that continue to use the staff augmentation point to certain reasons for continuing with the staff augmentation model. A careful look at these beliefs clarify that most of these are just some myths and the reality is quite different from these beliefs. Some of these myths are explained below.

Myth 1: There is higher level of protection for intellectual property when using staff augmentation

Reality: A well written contract with an outsourcing provider can be much more enforceable than any contract with an individual contractor. The vendors are likely to have assets and insurance coverage that can be recovered in case of any breach of intellectual property. Also, it will be easier to trace the vendor clients to identify breach of intellectual property rights than to trace the individual contractor’s future assignments.

Myth 2: The contractors have institutional knowledge and it will be difficult to replace them

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