Product Based Company (SaaS Firm):-
A Technology Company that is developing their own Platform or Software through which they are providing different services to the industry following different model such as B2B or B2C are called Product Based Company or SaaS Firm. They themselves decide what they want to develop, how they want to develop and how they want to deliver their product to the world. Everything regarding the product will be decided by the Company themselves. Some of the popular Product Based Companies are Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Adobe, etc.
Service Based Company (Consulting Firm):-
A Technology Company that is providing IT services to other companies or individuals are called Service Based Company or Consulting Firm. They majorly operating in B2B service model. Their client may be Companies who want to develop a product or platform so either they hire specific resources on Staff Augmentation module or outsources the whole project to Service Based Company. In such cases, there might be a situation where sometimes client themselves decide the requirements, technology, or other things related to product and ask Consulting Firm to develop or in some cases, they give freedom to Service Based Company to take their own decision on such things and come up developing best product. Service Based Company provides their services in different ways which we will discuss later. Service Based Companies work with multiple clients at the same time allocating different resources for different projects. Some of the popular Service Based Companies are TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, etc.
Also, go through the below articles which provides quite good understanding about the few of the services offered by Service based Company,
Recruitment Process in Product Based Company (SaaS Firm):-
As Product Based Company work on their own product, they hire in very limited numbers based on the need and the scale of the product. They do not hire in bulk like Consulting Firms as they can not deploy resources on any other project or product. So if they really need then they hire else manage internally or hire on contractual basis for any short length of assignment.
If there is any plan to hire with SaaS Firms then make sure the talent is right fit in the job so the evaluation process is stricter than the consulting firms. They try to see the fitment of the applicants from other perspective also like cultural fit, team fit, vision and tech stack is obviously there. Cracking interviews can be difficult as they may go through multiple rounds as positions are limited but applicants will be in higher numbers.
Recruitment Process in Service Based Company (Consulting Firm):-
Consulting Firm normally work on clients outsourced projects or is providing dedicated resources to the clients which is called Staff Augmentation Services. Consulting Firms are more aiming to see the resources from an overall perspective and their tech stack so they can be used in multiple projects. They even train resources before deploying to any client project.
When client is working on a Staff Augmentation Services or modules with Consulting Firms, the resources that Consulting Firm aim to hire must be very well techie and good in communication as the resources need to communication with the client team on a regular basis integrating themselves in to the Client team whereas when the whole project is outsourced to Consulting Firm, they more focus on tech stack then communication because normally in such cases the person who is communicating with client will be different like Project Manager or Business Analyst or may be Product Manager/Product Owner.
Consulting Firms keep on hiring Freshers or Graduates on regular basis, train them to deploy to the client project and help them to get the experience on real world project or problems. They even train the resources on soft skills apart from tech stack required for that particular projects. Recruitment Process can be easier in Service Based Company compared to Product Based Company.
Other General Difference:-
Learning curve in Product Based Company will be higher than Service Based Company. Flexibility and Work Life balance will be higher in Product Based Companies. Also the job security in Product based Companies are higher than Service Based Companies. Whether you are in a Product based Company or Service based Company, if you want to find the top talent for your company then go through this article - Killer Sourcing Strategies to find the Top Talent