Managed services and staff augmentation are two distinct approaches that organizations can use to meet their staffing needs.
Although they can have similar end results, the services they provide are not the same—and it’s beneficial for organizations to understand the difference between managed services and staff augmentation. That way, you can determine the best solution for your hiring needs.
Let’s see what makes these two approaches unique—plus selecting the right one for your current needs and organization.


Defining Managed Services and Staff Augmentation
Managed services outsource specific functions or tasks to an external service provider or team of experts. They take on hiring, training, and managing the experts—essentially managing and delivering a set of services, like IT or applied engineering, for a client.
The managed services partner is then responsible for planning, implementing, and managing the outsourced project or efforts, allowing the client to focus on its core function.
You may have even seen managed services compared to professional services and while they’re similar, they do slightly differ. Professional services are typically project based and used to meet the needs of a specific business issue while managed services might offer ongoing support or respond to a larger scope need. The services can be consultative or strategic for either employing specific tactics to solve the problem. Businesses often use either—or both—depending on the challenge and the solution needed. Check out our Evergreen division to learn more about how it can work for you.
In contrast, staff augmentation involves hiring temporary or contract professionals to help supplement an organization’s in-house teams. This staffing up might be for a specific deadline or meeting a need for an area of expertise, but it’s often for a limited time and not a forever hire. These temporary workers are sourced by the staff augmentation solution but often managed directly by the client.
Both can provide excellent support for IT teams and projects with technical resources and expertise required to bring things together successfully—but are not limited to only this field.


Spotting the Difference Between Managed Services and Staff Augmentation
Starting with how they are delivered and what the client can expect, we can break each down in more detail to help you home in on what might be the best choice for your business.
1. How the Services are Delivered
In both cases, the provider delivers the needed teams to solve the business need.
Staff augmentation is primarily focused on sourcing and recruiting specialized talent (like IT contractors in DevOps or App Dev) for short-term needs. (It can also be leveraged for permanent hires.) But, most often, temporary, skilled professionals are sourced and vetted by the staffing provider (like Insight Global) to build up or enhance your staff for the project and then managed by you and your team.
In managed services, the provider (like our Evergreen division) is going to own the entire process from end to end. They help identify the needs and specialized services for the project or client and determine the best way to deliver it—truly owning the staffing, management, and execution from start to finish.
Both can be made up of local, remote, or international talent and have an incredible impact on the success of a project or the business. So if you’re not sure which one you need, it can be very helpful to reach out to an expert.
2. Level of Engagement
A managed service provider will provide hands-on support throughout the project. The goal is to make the experience turnkey (more on that in a minute) and ensure everything is running like a well-oiled machine.
With staff augmentation, once the expert talent has been found, the hiring manager gets to own the workload, day-to-day assignments, and their management rather than the staffing and recruiting agency. The staffing agency, though, may check in with both the manager and the new staff to make sure the relationship is going well.
3. Scope and Responsibilities
Another thing to consider when it comes to these two approaches to staffing is how involved you want to be in the day-to-day operations and management.
Managed service providers were created to provide comprehensive, turnkey services like:
- End-to-end service delivery
- Collaboration with the client on strategic planning
- Proactively optimizing the performance of systems
- Scalability and flexibility to adapt services based on business needs
- Troubleshooting challenges and issues
- Continuous monitoring of IT systems, networks, and infrastructure
- Implementing cybersecurity measures
Staff augmentation is great to extend your existing team (often rapidly) allowing you to continue to manage them. It can include things like:
- Providing temporary staffing solutions to address short-term needs or peak workloads
- Recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding the new talent
- Executing specific projects as directed by the client
Related: How to Hire a Staffing Agency to Discover the Best Candidate
4. Level of Control
Managed services often have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place to track specific benchmarks for the projects. Many managed service providers (MSPs) will support IT planning and ongoing improvement initiatives, but they can offer support across a variety of areas like project management, applied engineering, space planning, and more.
In staff augmentation, the hiring manager or company will retain management and direction of the temporary staff. The staff augmentation provider may offer support and expertise with resource planning or timing, but the client will manage staff directly.
Both require regular communication about current and future needs.
5. Areas of Expertise
Managed service providers will have specialized expertise in the service areas they provide, such as IT areas like network management, cybersecurity, or cloud infrastructure management. They collaborate with their clients on strategic planning and can help to align technology with business goals.
Staff augmentation can be used to bring in experts to fill temporary skill gaps, often without the need for long-term placement—and the related budget. They can be experts in specialized areas such as IT staffing or healthcare staffing.
Related: Managed Services Pave a Path Forward in the New World of Work
What to Consider for Your Organization
Both services are essential and can significantly assist organizations in their recruitment endeavors. Still not sure which service is best for you and your organization? We’ve broken down some things to think about:
Should You Use Managed Services? You may consider a managed service provider if you want to outsource the entire management and operation of a specific project, function, or system—especially when it’s an ongoing, essential part of your business operations.
Should You Use Staff Augmentation? This might be ideal if you have short-term projects or workload requirements and need specific skills or have temporary resource gaps.
Should You Use Managed Services AND Staff Augmentation? There may be instances when you can leverage the benefits of both! It’s common practice for organizations to use both services in tandem.
You could use managed services to cover core IT functions and staff augmentation to staff-specific projects that require additional support. The choice between services ultimately depends on the organization’s strategic objectives, resource needs, and the nature of the work at hand.
Make the Best Staffing Decision for You
Knowing which services (or both) are right for you will take some consideration. Remember, working with a staffing agency or manager service means you always have someone in your corner who can offer that expertise—even when you don’t have an open position, but are planning for the future.
Plus, staffing agencies can also support you through a full range of services like executive research or providing DEIB or culture consulting.
If you’re unsure about the most appropriate staffing solution for your needs, connect with us today! We can help you assess your current IT posture or identify the best solution to support your tech staffing needs.