Managed Team Model: Definition & Benefits for Business Growth

Innovate or die. This is the phrase we hear often, especially when industry experts talk about how businesses can remain competitive in a hyper-competitive domain. Tech-driven companies irrespective of their size are typically burdened by the weight of innovation and the need to evolve at the rate of knots.

Some can do it, and some can’t because bringing about innovation through the use of cutting- edge technology isn’t easy. It’s expensive. It’s resource intensive. It requires advanced skill sets. It requires immersive thinking.

With one in three businesses slow to adopt tech innovations, this inability is becoming a real challenge for businesses. One reason for this is the lack of knowledge and incapacity to invest the required resources for leveraging tech to cause disruption.

So, what is the answer?

A dedicated or managed team is the answer to your tech innovation problems. The dedicated or managed team model is playing the role of an innovation and tech-enabled growth catalyst for businesses across the globe.

WHAT IS A MANAGED OR DEDICATED TEAM? 

There are two entities in this model – The client and the Service Provider.

The client can be a tech company that has a need for certain skill sets and resources to meet specific product development or service goals that it can’t satisfy internally. On the other hand, the service provider brings specific experience and expertise to the table that can help the client satisfy their objectives. Both the client and service provider sign a long-term or short-term contract depending on the nature of the client needs.

LET’S EXPLAIN THIS MODEL WITH THE HELP OF AN EXAMPLE:

The client is a company that wants to implement custom software that helps them make better use of the immense amounts of customer data they have gathered through various steps of the customer journey. This data must be converted into intelligence and this then needs to be used to make better business decisions.

The company cannot develop this in-house as the development and implementation process demands certain skill sets this company doesn’t have and more importantly doesn’t want to invest in, on a more permanent basis.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

It contacts a services provider that can establish a group of product development experts with just the kind of experience and skill sets demanded by the project. This company can assign a project manager that oversees the team and the project, chosen from its internal workforce or ask the managed team services provider to assign a project manager on their behalf.

While the core objective of the ‘team’ in this particular case is to build and implement the customer intelligence software, the client can choose to work with a managed team setup over the long term if he believes they are perfectly placed to optimally utilise and maintain the particular software. A long-term relationship also makes sense if a client has continuous product development needs that need to be fulfilled externally.

WHY IS MANAGED TEAMS A GREAT WORKING MODEL?

If you are working with a company like Innovify that has a proven track record of working with diverse clients irrespective of their size and scope, you get the benefit of comprehensive and concrete service level agreements that define deliverables and their scope and quality.

With us, you have a guarantee that you are working with experts with hands-on knowledge of the various next-generation technologies that drive the successful development of sophisticated solutions. With managed teams, you really don’t have to worry whether you will be able to get the best people to work on your project and whether the delivery will be on schedule and the outcomes will come good on the desired parameters.

What’s more, you also don’t have to worry about adding to your internal overheads or investing in new technology to the make the work environment more in sync with your needs.  Your managed team will be your team of experts, working exclusively for you, but remotely.

A managed team is a win-win scenario for you, as it empowers your journey towards innovation and tech-enabled change cost-effectively and in a more assured manner.

There is no doubt that a Managed Teams model will help scale your business and bring about digital transformation without all the associated overheads. These overheads can include hiring professionals (if needed), training, maintenance of the new team and other ancillary expenses that go up as time goes by.

But, it is important to understand that a managed team’s value proposition goes beyond costs. Cost efficiency isn’t the single most important benefit they bring to the table.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these benefits:

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION/INNOVATION

Various studies reveal that businesses in the UK are falling behind in the race towards digital transformation. In a hyper-competitive world, these businesses are missing out by not capitalising on digital innovation to add to their capabilities and transform their business processes. A dedicated team model helps drive digital transformation in a company and that too without the said company encountering the associated challenges.

SCALABILITY

Businesses must be able to scale at will and this means scale-up or scale-down depending on their needs. But, very often, they are unable to scale their development processes in step with business growth. The reasons are many including the inability to attract the right talent, management problems or financial constraints. With managed teams, you have the ability to scale as per your need and scale back if you are facing business reversals or revisiting your needs. In this particular case, the scalability is need-based and doesn’t substantially increase your overheads.

AVAILABILITY

Businesses must be available 24/7 to meet the needs of their customers. The question is – are they able to satisfy this requirement? Continuous availability is expensive to maintain, but not if you are working with a managed teams model. You can strike an SLA that ensures the managed team is available, long after your offices have closed for the day.

There is another element to availability. A dedicated team is available all the time to take care of your development needs. They are completely focused on ensuring a designated team handles all your requirements, and make themselves available all the time.  An experienced managed team services provider ensures, that if a particular team member is unavailable, another member takes his/her place.

The work goes on without interruption.

A SMORGASBORD OF CHOICE

Think of your managed team services provider as a buffet table from which you can pick your food of choice. What the provider offers you are professionals with specific technical skillsets that you need. You have the ability to pick and choose the professionals who you think are a perfect fit for your project. You can interview them, judge their skill sets and only then make your choice. And the great thing about this process is that one dedicated team services provider can provide you with professionals with diverse skill sets. They act as the one-stop-shop for experience and expertise.