In the fast-paced world of technology, businesses face the growing challenge of maintaining legacy systems while developing next-generation applications. This difficulty can strain internal resources, often resulting in delayed projects or compromised quality. Small and midsized technology companies know the frustration of juggling multiple priorities with limited staff.
But there’s a solution. Flexible staffing models can help organizations manage their aging infrastructure and innovative projects without overburdening in-house teams. By leveraging external technical expertise, businesses can achieve faster project turnarounds and remain competitive in an evolving marketplace. This blog post will explore how flexible staffing can help SMBs balance these conflicting demands.
The Legacy vs. Next-Gen Dilemma
Legacy systems are often the backbone of many organizations, providing reliability and continuity. However, maintaining them can consume substantial IT budgets and resources. On the other hand, next-gen applications—those powered by AI, ML, and cloud computing—promise new growth opportunities but require significant investment in skills and time.
For SMBs, these competing priorities can be overwhelming. Developing innovative solutions is necessary to stay ahead, but ignoring legacy systems could result in critical system failures or increased technical debt. The key is to find a way to manage both without overextending internal teams.
The Role of Flexible Staffing
Flexible staffing models offer a compelling solution to this problem. By bringing in external technical expertise through staff augmentation, managed service, or agile team models, businesses can scale their resources up or down as needed, ensuring they have the right skills at the right time for suitable projects.
Key Benefits of Flexible Staffing
- Agility in Project Management: SMB tech companies can respond quickly to workload spikes by integrating external teams for short-term or long-term projects. This helps manage the dual priorities of maintaining legacy systems while pursuing innovations.
- Cost Efficiency: Instead of hiring full-time employees—an expensive and time-consuming process that may not be justified due to the short-term and/or evolving nature of business needs—businesses can tap into specialized talent on-demand, saving both time and money.
- Access to Specialized Skills: Many next-gen projects require expertise in specific data, development, and DevOps platforms, which may not exist within the current team. Flexible staffing allows businesses to bring in this expertise without long-term commitments.
- Focus on Core Competencies: By outsourcing non-core functions like legacy system maintenance, platform migrations, or specialized development outside the current team’s skillset, internal teams can focus on strategic projects that drive growth and innovation.
Addressing Key Challenges with Flexible Staffing
Let’s dive deeper into SMBs’ challenges and how flexible staffing helps resolve them.
- Managing Legacy Systems: Maintaining legacy systems requires constant monitoring, updates, and troubleshooting. In-house teams can be bogged down with these tasks, delaying or extending next-gen initiatives. External teams can take over maintenance, ensuring legacy systems run smoothly, while in-house teams focus on more strategic projects.
Example: Your in-house team is busy developing a new mobile app, but a critical legacy application has an important backlog and technical debt. Rather than diverting internal resources, a nearshore team can step in to handle the maintenance. - Fast Turnaround for Next-Gen Projects: Next-generation projects, such as cloud migrations or AI implementation, often have tight deadlines. However, finding the right talent for these projects can take time and effort. With flexible staffing, businesses can quickly onboard skilled professionals to meet project goals without delays.
Example: A company looking to rationalize costs and reduce its data center footprint and associated costs. A deadline to complete the migration is before the current DC lease renewal deadline is reached. A cloud team can be onboarded to handle all or certain aspects of the migration. A technology services partner like Tangonet Solutions can step in with a team of professionals with specific profiles and under the best service model given the particular client circumstance, ensuring the migration is completed within a short timeline. - Bridging Skill Gaps: As technology evolves, so do the skills required to manage it. SMB tech companies may need to gain in-house expertise to handle complex new technologies like machine learning or data science. Flexible staffing gives businesses access to a pool of skilled professionals who can fill these gaps—on a short-, medium, or longer-term basis.
Example: A business wants to implement video-based AI to capture unauthorized vehicle access automation but needs in-house expertise. Hiring AI specialists on-demand allows the company to get the project off the ground without committing to full-time hires.
Case Study: Tangonet Solutions Helps Bridge the Gap
Tangonet Solutions recently worked with a mid-market SaaS company struggling with competing priorities: maintaining their aging application infrastructure while developing an AI-powered analytics platform. By integrating a flexible staffing model, Tangonet’s team managed the backend maintenance, allowing the company’s in-house developers to focus on the next-gen project. The result? Faster time-to-market for their new platform and uninterrupted support for their legacy system that was critical for ongoing operational and commercial functions.
How Tangonet Solutions Can Help
At Tangonet Solutions, we provide agile, scalable teams seamlessly integrating with your internal staff. Whether you need support for legacy systems or next-gen projects, our flexible staffing model ensures you have the right team to meet your goals. Our team can be up and running within two weeks, offering cost-effective solutions that align with your business needs.
Ready to find out how flexible staffing can help your business simultaneously manage legacy systems and next-gen projects? Schedule a call with Tangonet Solutions today to discuss your needs and discover how we can support your technology initiatives.
