What is an extended team model and can it work for you?

An extended team model (ETM) is the new alternative to traditional outsourcing. It combines the best of both worlds your existing team skills and expertise with an extended team of professionals who come on board to work on a collaborative basis. Organisations that may have mid to long-term projects, may not have sufficient resource or skills house, which make an extended project team the right solution.

In this article, we will look at what exactly an extended team model is, what the main benefits are and how to make it work for you.

What is an extended team model (ETM)

An extended team model is a team of experts that work with you on a project basis, whether that is just to provide an extra pair of hands or provide specialist expertise that you may not have in-house. An extended team is a form of outsourcing that allows you better control and increased involvement in the development of the project. This highly effective form of collaboration offers a wealth of benefits to businesses.

Key benefits of an extended team model

There are several benefits which make the ETM model a success for many organisations and they include:

Access to expert skills

With the ETM model, you can work with software engineers that have expertise and specialist skills within a specific domain. For example, if you have a skill gap where you don’t have UX skills, with the ETM model you can find those specialist skills to fill the gap.

Cost saving

The ETM model is the cost-effective solution to hiring the complete team in-house allowing you to save time and resources where recruitment is concerned.

Higher quality end product

Working as a cohesive team with skills and knowledge of the software and software development, there will be a high-quality end product. With the ETM model, you can work with experienced developers who may make recommendations and suggestions to further improve and evolve your product.

Control of the project

As opposed to outsourcing, the project is being carried out in-house with additional help. This means that your organisation and core team have control of the project, where you can clearly and visibly track progress and monitor development.

Handpick the team

With an ETM you can handpick your team based on your requirements as you will be involved in the recruiting and training process. Therefore, you can build a team that has the expertise you require, has relevant experience and fits in with your business culture and way of doing business.

Better team focus

Without your team having to carry out all activities and work without support, with an ETM model they can focus on high-value work and improve their efficiency and the value they offer the project.

Speed to market

Recruiting in-house can take months to find the right person. With the ETM the process is much quicker and streamlined. This can speed up the process of getting started with the project. This will then result in quicker speed to market for the end product.

How to get started with an ETM model

You may not initially invest in an ETM model for your project, whether it's costs or other complexities. However, if you get started with an ETM model for your mid to long-term project you are already setting up for success. If you hold out till you need additional help, resource or skillset then you may face significant delays with your project.

We recommend in the project planning phase you carry out an audit of your in-house resource to determine what level of assistance you will require. Then you can find a company that offers a project-based extended team to get started on your project with success in mind.

Ardent project-based extended teams

We have found working with a wide variety of clients offering our managed teams services, that there was a demand from project-based extended teams. Catered to your unique business requirements and challenges, our highly skilled team of both software and data engineers can come on board on a project basis to help make it a success. Whether you have already got started with your project and need assistance to push it to the finishing line or are looking to start from scratch we can help. Our teams can:

• Fill skills gap quickly and efficiently
• Support with an overflow of projects (either software or data or both)
• Scale as per project requirements
• Teams built with your business requirements in mind

Get in touch to find out more about how we can build a project team that can help bridge resource and skills gaps for your mid to long-term projects.

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