Modern business problems require modern solutions to accelerate business growth. Onboarding a suitable team is one of the major factors enhancing business expansion and scalability.

There are different models of hiring top talents, with each having its advantages and pitfalls. A dedicated team vs. an extended team, for example, are among the emerging hiring models that help companies source and hire the right talent at the appropriate time, depending on the projects at hand. But then, what makes an extended team unique from the dedicated team? When should you go for an extended team instead of a dedicated team? What about the vice versa?

This is what this guide is all about. We will discuss all the insights you need to understand about dedicated teams vs extended teams, including when to use a specific model, the benefits of each, and related challenges & solutions of each model, among many other valuable insights.

What is a dedicated team? Quick Overview

The dedicated team is a modern method of sourcing specialists by contracting a third-party vendor to carry out specific tasks within your organization. The team includes a number of specialists who handle a specific project or task for a given timeline. A good example is when sourcing for an app development or software development agency as a dedicated team to your organization. Such a team operates remotely by handling the assigned tasks or projects.

The dedicated team includes diverse expertise. It all narrows down to your project requirements and the budget. For instance, you can have a project manager, UX/UI designer, frontend developer, business analyst, backend developer, and quality assurance personnel, depending on your budget and project needs. Many business owners prefer this model due to its high flexibility levels.

Benefits of dedicated teams

Entrepreneurs are already opting for the dedicated team model when sourcing for specific specialists. This is due to the wide range of benefits this model gives businesses. Some of the core reasons for making dedicated teams a viable solution when hiring professionals include the following:

• Cost-effectiveness

One of the major benefits of dedicated teams is cost savings, hence the reason why businesses are adopting this approach.

One aspect where many misinterpret the dedicated team is its costly nature. Many assume that you have to spend beyond your budget because of sourcing industry-specific professionals. This isn’t the case because this model allows you to save more costs, especially with long-term engagements. For instance, you don’t pay employees monthly salaries and related overhead expenses since the team works remotely.

What’s more, dedicated teams focus on your current project, giving it maximum attention. This minimizes the chances of errors happening, which could, in one way or another, require reworking, hence more costs.

Therefore, collaborating with a dedicated team is a cost-effective hiring method when you need top talents to carry out a specific project or tasks, more so when collaborating on a long-term basis.

• Highly scalable

Dedicated teams, it is easy to scale employees and resources while adapting to emerging industry trends and end-user requirements.

For instance, when you need to include more talents in response to customer demands, innovative technologies & industry changes, you can add specific needed expertise to your dedicated team smoothly.

Again, when the workload is reduced, you can adjust the dedicated team by withdrawing some experts when their services are no longer vital in relation to the ongoing project. This helps you maximize resource utilization, which positions your business for better growth.

So, with a dedicated team, you will enjoy the efficiency of upscaling the team in the case of increased demand or the introduction of new concepts and ideas and downscaling the team when the workload is reduced, thus enhancing resource maximization within a company setup.

• Access to top-rated talents

Hiring a dedicated team involves finding top talented team in a relevant field. In fact, when your in-house team lacks specific skills and expertise, opting for a dedicated team model is the most viable decision you will ever make.

What’s more, is that you are not limited to sourcing specialists from a specific location. You can opt for nearshore, onshore, or offshore approaches. It all narrows down to the dynamics and requirements of your project.

This, in turn, gives you the flexibility to select the most appropriate dedicated team for your project when embracing the dedicated team model.

• Transparent pricing

You won’t experience hidden expenses when working with dedicated teams; hence no need to worry about spending beyond your budget.

After you share the details and dynamics of your project, you agree on a specific amount with your sourced team.

• Enhanced communication

Communication is key, especially when you want to accelerate the successful completion and delivery of a project.

With a dedicated team, you are working with experts who prioritize communication to ensure every step they take aligns with the vision of your company.

They have modern collaboration and communication tools that connect all the people handling the project to ensure timely feedback and updates on the project’s progress.

The best part is that when working with dedicated teams, you can have a scheduled session to discuss matters concerning the project to create better solutions and a positive working environment.

• High-quality service delivery

Dedicated teams often deal with one project after the other. This enables them to focus or concentrate mainly on the project at hand, ensuring no mistakes or errors.

In fact, focusing on one project at a time helps dedicated teams understand the project well and come up with practices or decisions that will enhance successful project completion.

• Highly flexible

With dedicated teams, there is ultimate flexibility. For instance, you are flexible enough to adjust the team based on your budget capability, changes in market needs, or emerging technology trends.

A good example is when you have a team of developers, but a new technology comes up, hence the need for another specialist. You can quickly add the new team or expertise required in a smooth manner, and the project continues well.

Again, the fact that dedicated teams embrace agile methodology means they are flexible and welcome changes at any given time based on the project’s needs.

When to hire dedicated teams

So, how do you know or when do you realize that you need dedicated teams in your company? Below are clear instances that you should opt for dedicated teams to carry out some tasks and projects in your company:

• When you have a long-term, complicated, or extensive project– these types of projects and time, resources, and effort-intensive, hence the need for specialized talents and expertise. So, when you have such tasks or projects, onboarding dedicated teams is the best decision you can opt for. Such a model will help you get the best team without much hassle.
• When you lack reliable in-house resources –For instance, when you are operating a new business and don’t have sufficient resources to keep the business in shape, it can be complex and costly to grow such a business. Instead of hiring full-time employees, opt for dedicated teams to work on specific projects & tasks and save yourself from spending more and investing a lot of time searching for talent.
• When you want to concentrate on business growth and expansion ideas–running a business can be draining. You need to strike a balance between keeping your company in the right shape and, at the same time, focusing on other tasks that will accelerate business growth. Instead of overwhelming yourself with more work, get dedicated teams to work on assigned tasks and projects and use the extra time for your personal gains.
• When you have many projects – while you can have a full and reliable internal team, there come seasons when projects keep flowing in, one after the other. When you don’t want to turn down some of the offers or projects, get dedicated teams to help relieve your team with some projects and tasks.
• When your project has unclear requirements –When you aren’t sure of the direction your project is heading, you can get dedicated teams to help you with specialized skills and knowledge in carrying out some complex tasks.
• When you need specialized expertise –some projects require specific expertise. When your in-house team lacks this expertise, you can opt for dedicated teams and fill the skill gap, thus enhancing project continuity.

Challenges of hiring dedicated teams and solutions

A dedicated team model has a lot of benefits it offers companies, including maximum flexibility, cost-efficiency, and team scalability. However, the same dedicated teams model has some challenges or disadvantages, which include the following:

• Data sharing and security concerns

Hiring dedicated teams entails giving them access to some private data and dealings of your business. What ifs the team uses the details to produce similar products? What happens when the team leaves? These are some of the fears that might make you think otherwise.

You can overcome this challenge by signing an NDA and any other crucial documents that protect your business data and dealings.

• Time zone differences

When you hire dedicated teams using an offshore model, you are likely to encounter time zone difference challenges. This can affect communication and the project’s continuity.

You can overcome this issue by discussing the appropriate communication channels and frequency that favor both sides.

A communication manager in this scenario will help solve the communication challenges.

• Selecting the ideal dedicated team

Different projects have different requirements. There are hundreds of dedicated teams readily available. As a result, you can easily get a qualified, dedicated team, but not align with the special needs of your project. In the end, you will waste time and resources for having selected the wrong vendor.

To overcome this challenge, start small with your selected vendor before committing to long-term engagement. Ask the team to create an MVP as you review their potential to deliver in relation to your business vision.

• Cultural differences

When you hire dedicated teams, you might face some communication issues, style of working, overall expectations, and corporate values all because of different cultural practices. This can lead to declining project development and poor collaboration as well.

You can overcome this challenge by planning effectively and enforcing regular communication. Integrate modern tools for collaboration and communication to keep the project and engagement alive.

• Costs of hiring dedicated teams

The cost of hiring a dedicated team contrasts in relation to the experience levels of the dedicated team, their region, the complexity of the project, and the delivery timelines, among other considerations.

With these factors in mind, hiring dedicated teams attracts an hourly rate ranging between $20 to $150 or even more. It all depends on the elements described above.

How to hire dedicated teams

When onboarding dedicated teams, simply follow the quick steps below:

• Define your project needs and requirements
• Determine the right scope and resources
• Select your ideal dedicated team based on your project
• Sign a contract
• Start small
• Scale up or down
• Continuous collaboration and communication

Good Read: How to Hire Dedicated Software Development Team

What is an extended team? Quick Overview

An extended team model is a hiring process where you add another team to collaborate with your internal team as an added team. The extended team collaborates with the in-house team remotely, ensuring all the business processes are accomplished as needed as both teams complement each other missing experience and expertise.

You have the freedom to choose either a nearshore (neighboring countries) extended team or an offshore (different continent) extended team.

Features of extended teams

The highlighted features below define what an extended team is all about when sourcing specialists for specific tasks.

• Mutual benefits

Both extended and in-house teams work collaboratively, allowing each team to learn from the other, share crucial information about the project, and make decisions together. Therefore, the extended team enhances efficiency in operations, ensuring no interruptions when the project is already on.

• You take full control

With an extended model, the project management team oversees all the progress and makes crucial decisions in relation to project completion. Therefore, you have the authority to take charge of all the internal processes in your organization.

• Complement not substituting

The team model does not handle or rather control the project’s proceedings. Instead, it joins and collaborates closely with the internal team to ensure they achieve the vision of the business.

Both teams work together using the available resources effectively to attain the core vision of the business.

• Fully-focused

An extended team has experts and specialists for specific tasks or functionalities. When handling a project, such a team carries out the processes in a professional manner, ensuring high standards throughout and, above all, timely delivery of the project. The engagement with the extended team does not end with a successfully completed project. The teams continue to collaborate, helping one another in different ways.

When to hire an extended team

So, How do you know when your company needs an extended team? Below are clear signs that you need an extended team in your company.

• When the rates in the market keep changing based on specific projects & tasks, here, you need to optimize resource utilization to minimize wastage by hiring extended teams.
• When your project calls for precise skills and knowledge that your internal team doesn’t have.
• When you are new in the business and you don’t have adequate facilities and resources to hire full-time employees.
• When the deadline for your project is closer, thus making it hand for your internal team to handle a lot of work on the go.
• When you have a limited budget, yet you need specific specialists faster.
• When the project is a huge and hard project, hence a need for an added team to speed up the completion of the project while maintaining higher standards.
• When introducing advanced technologies, trends, and concepts for future projects.
• When you have many projects, and you don’t want to turn down some offers.

Benefits of extended teams

There are many reasons why organizations opt for the team extension model. Below are some of the benefits of extended teams:

• Access to global experts

You have the flexibility of choosing the best-extended team across the globe. You aren’t limited to a specific team from a specific region. You choose the best expert according to your business needs, and this will enhance the overall quality and accelerate the development timeline.

• Transparent pricing

You won’t incur hidden expenses when you hire an extended team. Once you get your extended service provider, you simply share the business requirements and discuss the pricing. You can either agree on an hourly rate or monthly payments based on the nature of the project and your budget.

• Seamless hiring process

It is faster, smooth, and easy to hire extended teams. You don’t need to spend time searching for top talents as you review their background experiences and skills. Your service provider does all this for you, ensuring you get the best. You only need to perform interviews to determine the perfect match according to your company’s needs.

• Fast time to market

Your extended team blends with your internal team to offer extra manpower. This speeds up project development and completion to high standards, thus enhancing fast time to market, which gives your business a competitive edge.

• Motivated teams

In most cases, extended teams engage in long-term collaborations, and they are actively involved in your work progress and making crucial decisions. Such a team will share all the valuable insights to improve the final project delivery.

• Better flexibility

You have the flexibility and freedom to choose part-time or full-time teams based on the budget and project dynamics. This flexibility enables you to onboard a team that aligns with your business vision in an easy manner.

• Enhanced scalability

In a working environment, there are times when you need more dedicated resources in your team, especially when the projects are complex & when you need to meet tight deadlines, hence the need to scale up. Again, when the workload reduces, you will need to cut down on some employees to save on resources, hence the need to scale down.

• Saves costs

You will save more with extended teams. For instance, you don’t need to spend on employee salaries, benefits, training costs, bonuses, and related expenses. You pay only for the services provided and at the agreed price.

Challenges of hiring extended teams

Yes, extended teams have several benefits; however, the same model has some challenges or pitfalls, which are:

• Team assimilation

When you decide to hire an extended team, both teams take some time before they are accustomed to one another.

Communication skills and leadership styles are some of the contributing factors affecting team assimilation. Treating all teams fairly gives the extended team a motivating and welcoming working environment, hence faster integration.

Don’t forget to highlight the vision of your business and project needs to the extended team in a timely manner to avoid inconveniences when the project is already on.

• Cultural differences

With team extension, you enjoy the flexibility to source offshore specialists. This means hiring a team located in a different continent, hence different time zones and cultural practices.

These differences can affect the project’s progress. Communication, for instance, will impact collaboration and work progress.

You can overcome this issue by discussing the project needs with the team in a timely manner and settling on communication and collaborative tools that will streamline workflows and processes.

• Ongoing expenses

While extended teams prove to help companies save on the costs of hiring full-term employees, extra costs may arise during the collaboration and this can affect your budgeting. Maintenance expenses, for instance, will be required as the project keeps moving.

You can overcome this challenge by setting some budget aside for emerging expenses to avoid inconveniences when the project is already on.

How to onboard an extended team

Are you on the move to onboard an extended team? Follow the steps below:

• Know the experts you need
• Understand your project needs and vision
• Conduct initial interviews
• Integrate the teams

Which one should you choose? Dedicated team or extended team?

We shall compare extended team vs dedicated team based on the following:

• Flexibility
• Services offered
• Collaboration with the in-house team
• Project management and control
• Hiring Process
• Communication

• Flexibility

Well, dedicated teams offer some flexibility. However, the flexibility extended is limited in accordance with specific project conditions and terms required to promote project continuity.

On the same note, extended teams have enhanced flexibility. The team becomes an integral part of the internal team, thus working collaboratively, including making crucial business decisions.

• Service delivery

The extended teams carry out project progress services according to the team’s capacity; the dedicated team carries out the processes according to your business needs.

• Collaboration with the in-house team

The extended teams work with the internal team, while the dedicated teams carry out all the requirements of the project from the beginning to the end.

• Project management and control

Extended teams allow business owners to take charge, control, and oversee all project processes and proceedings. Dedicated teams, on the other hand, handle all the project proceedings, thus giving business owners time to focus on business activities.

• Hiring Process

Business owners select the appropriate teams according to project requirements in the case of extended teams. The dedicated teams, on the other hand, take charge of all the processes in hiring.

• Communication

In the case of extended teams, all communication protocols are handled internally, while in dedicated teams, communication is partially external.

Dedicated team or extended team? which one should is the best?

Both models are ideal when hiring top talents. You only review your project needs and the capability of your existing team before selecting the perfect model for your business.

So, before you select the ideal model, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have the right team?
• Do you need extra manpower? Is it long-term or short-term engagement?

Once you define these concerns, you should be able to choose the right model.

A dedicated team, for instance, will enable you to get a team that will focus on your project. However, you can opt for this approach when your internal team is incapable.

What’s more, a huge or complex project can overwhelm your internal team, hence the need for extra manpower; this is where dedicated teams come in.

Above all, you can have many projects on the waiting and you don’t want to turn down some. Instead, you can hire a dedicated team to help manage some projects.

With extended teams, you simply hire to add extra manpower to your internal team. This is especially vital when you need to accelerate project completion.

Conclusion

Dedicated teams and extended teams are all modern solutions for organizations searching for flexibility, cost-effective, and scalability measures sourcing for specialists.

Both models allow sourcing top talents from across the globe, thus giving a company an advantage of working with the best team within limiting to specific regions or local talents.

However, they both have their ups and related downs. That is why it is key to perform business analysis and the dynamics of your operations before settling with a specific model.

Looking to hire a dedicated team for your project? Get a free quote from our software development company, Aalpha Information Systems, a leading IT partner!