Entrusting a challenging job to a skilled third party could be a useful business solution in many cases. If you need some web development work done but don’t have your own developers on staff (or don’t have enough), there are several “third-party” options for you to choose from. Outstaffing web development is one of these options.
Although outstaffing is often confused with outsourcing, there is actually a significant difference between these two models of cooperation.
Read on to find out more about what outstaffing is, how it differs from outsourcing, what its main benefits are, and how this phenomenon was developed in Ukraine — one of the most popular countries to find skilled web developers.
Outstaffing web development: the essence of the term
Outstaffing means hiring specialists (developers, designers, QA engineers etc.) from another company. They continue working there, but effectively you become their employer, and they work on tasks you give directly to them.
For you, these specialists are not on staff — they are “out of the staff.” Outstaffing companies are responsible for their specialists’ official employment, taxes, insurance and all that stuff. But you manage their work, guide their activities and control the whole process.
Outstaffing VS outsourcing web development
This term is less popular and less common than “outsourcing”. Even when you try to Google “outstaffing”, the search engine suggests “outsourcing” instead. But the two terms represent different philosophies.
The key difference is in outsourcing, your service provider takes the responsibility of the whole project from A to Z. Outstaffing is more about hiring individuals whose work is up to you to manage. An outstaffing provider is only responsible for the qualified staff offered to you.
When is outstaffing a better solution?
Outstaffing works better when you need specialists for a certain project and are ready to manage the process of their work. It often implies that you have your own project managers who work directly with the remote specialists. Thus outstaffing is the option that gives you more control and more flexibility in handling the project, but imposes more responsibility for the project outcome.
What are key outstaffing benefits?
Cost-saving is a great advantage of outstaffing. As compared to employing in-house specialists, you save a lot due to the fact that outstaffing companies handle the official employment, tax, and insurance issues. As compared to outsourcing, outstaffing can be cost-saving as well, because your contract will only include the specialist’s work. However, remember that you will have more managerial work if you use outstaffing.
Time-saving is evident for outstaffing as opposed to on-staff employment, because it will release a pressure your accounting and HR departments in handling the above-mentioned employment issues. However, outstaffing does require more time than outsourcing, because more control is required from you.
A prompt reaction to your business needs is another advantage of outstaffing. You can increase and decrease the number of experts working for you when necessary.
Outstaffing web development to Ukraine
In terms of outstaffing, just like outsourcing web development, Ukrainian developers are a very attractive option. They have long been famous for their high level of skills. What makes them such a great choice for IT projects? They have a high quality of coding with affordable prices, solid higher education, a convenient location and time zone, shared values and other advantages that we have discussed in the “Reasons to work with a Ukrainian web development outsourcing company” article.
According to the information of Miratex Company, the first big wave of outstaffing web development in Ukraine took place as early as in the 80s. Computer science was on the rise here and lots of skilled developers became available for work at international projects. Maybe because of some language barriers, western companies preferred to appoint their own project managers who worked directly with Ukrainian developers. Thus, the working model which is now called outstaffing worked perfectly!
Today, this model still proves very convenient and efficient. The linguistic barriers, however, have become almost unnoticed because learning English is a priority for Ukrainians, and good Ukrainian development companies have special programs for teaching their employees English.
How common is the outstaffing phenomenon in Ukraine?
The statistics on that is very encouraging. Here is an extensive study about the popularity of this phenomenon in Ukraine conducted by Promotion Staff Group that specializes in outstaffing. To analyze the demand for outstaffing services in Ukraine, they interviewed the experts responsible for the HR processes from 1,000 domestic and international companies working in various fields. According to the results, 60% of these companies have used (or are still using) outstaffing services, while 10% have not used them but are planning to.
Also, according to the estimates of Promotion Staff Group, the number of outstaffed specialists in Ukraine exceeds 25,000. Companies, especially international ones, prove to be very well aware of the term “outstaffing” and how it works.
Find an outstaffing provider
Does outstaffing web development look attractive to you? InternetDevels Drupal development company offers both outstaffing and the outsourcing options, so you can choose whichever works best for you. You are sure to find great developers here for your project. We will offer you the people who have exactly the skills and the experience you need, and we can guarantee their expertise. Drop us a line and tell us about your needs!