In today’s business environment, companies need to stay agile and responsive to changing demands. This is where staff augmentation comes into play. But what exactly is staff augmentation? In simple terms, it’s a strategy that allows organizations to fill gaps in their workforce with external professionals on a temporary or project basis. Whether a business needs specialized skills for a specific project or extra hands during peak seasons, staff augmentation can be the perfect solution.
In IT staff augmentation is one of the ways to extend a development team. Having an in-house team can be tricky, not to mention the time and money needed in house team expansion to find the right engineers.
Staff augmentation combines the benefits of outsourcing and in-house development team hiring with remote team allowing companies to hire qualified programmers quickly.
What you will learn from this article:
- What is staff augmentation, and how does it differ from other hiring models in the IT industry?
- What are the key benefits of using staff augmentation for extending a development team?
- How can staff augmentation improve flexibility and capacity in an IT organization?
- In what situations is staff augmentation a cost-effective solution for companies?
- What factors should a company consider when deciding between staff augmentation and software project outsourcing?
- When is staff augmentation the most suitable model for IT projects, and what scenarios is it commonly used in?
- What are the key steps involved in finding the right staff augmentation company for a specific project?
What does staff augmentation meaning
At its core, staff augmentation is about supplementing your existing team with external talent. This means hiring professionals who are not permanent employees of your company but work alongside your team for a specified period. These professionals bring specific skills and expertise that might be lacking internally. The primary goal is to bridge the skill gap without committing to long-term employment contracts.
Key Features of Staff Augmentation:
Temporary Engagement: Unlike traditional hiring, staff augmentation focuses on temporary or project-based needs.
Flexibility: Companies can quickly scale their workforce up or down depending on the project requirements.
Specialized Skills: It provides access to professionals with niche skills that might be difficult to find on a permanent basis.
Service like this gain momentum because of the specifics of the industry's IT workforce and the global staffing shortage of tech talent. In the IT sector, staff augmentation companies can provide you with programmers, QA engineers, software developers, designers, marketing specialist and system administrators.
Types of Staff Augmentation Model
Generally speaking, this hiring model has two main types: short-term and long-term collaboration:
short-term services - used during periods of increased demand for developers or when in-house specialists are on vacation or sick leave.
long-term services - more suitable for longer projects, commonly used to fill a skill gap, cut operational costs or when the in-house team hiring process is too long.
We can further divide staff augmentation into the following three categories:
commodity - when you do not have reliable workers to perform a specific task but they do not need specific skills.
skill-based - when you require certain skills, but the level of them is not critical.
highly-skilled - when you require advanced skills and their level is important.
How Staff Augmentation Services Differs from Outsourcing
While staff augmentation and outsourcing are often confused, they are fundamentally different. In outsourcing, entire projects or functions are handed over to an external company. In contrast, staff augmentation involves integrating external talent into your existing team, allowing you to maintain control over your project.
How Staff Augmentation Services Can Improve your Business?
There are many possible scenarios where making use of staff augmentation will introduce many benefits to your company. For example:
to increase flexibility and capacity - it is easier to hire developers at the time you need them, for example during the holiday season.
time savings - specialists can be hard to find locally, sometimes the recruitment process can take months. Staff augmentation allows hiring specialists from around the world in a short period of time.
lower operational costs - although vendors charge fee, you do not need to worry about costs like office rental, bills, equipment. It is cheaper to outsource than to hire in-house.
close the skill gap - companies that lack IT talents can hire programmers outside the country.
bridge to hire - staff augmentation can serve as a temporary solution while you hire a permanent team.
business strategy - used to build an organization or augmented team to gain competitive advantage, increase time to market or be more agile.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
Workforce Transparency - you are informed about every detail of the work through advanced tools of communication and project management strategies. Full control over project development - you are hiring a team of experts while having full control over the development process.
Progress visibility - teams of developers often make use of agile and scrum principles which means you will constantly be informed on the progress of works.
Client-centric - in outsourcing client is the biggest priority.
Quality resources and skillsets - you can choose from an international talent pool.
Employees from the expert team - by contacting an outsourcing company you have the ability to choose the people who are you going to work with.
Complete flexibility - with staff augmentation you can have as many developers as you need at the given time.
No setup or maintenance costs - there are no hidden costs like equipment, office rentals etc.
A competent development team will quickly add value to your project. YYou will be able to find people and hiring employees with the right skills. You can also look at staff augmentation as a trial run for potential full-time employees.
Challenges of Staff Augmentation
Integration Issues with Permanent Staff - Bringing in external professionals can sometimes lead to friction with the existing team. It’s essential to manage this carefully to ensure a smooth integration.
Possible Higher Costs Compared to Full-Time Employees - While staff augmentation can be cost-effective in many cases, the hourly rates for external professionals are often higher than those of full-time employees. This can add up, especially for long-term projects.
Dependency on External Talent - Over-reliance on external staff can lead to a dependency, making it challenging to complete projects without their input.
Legal and Compliance Concerns - When hiring external staff, companies must ensure they comply with all legal and regulatory requirements, which can sometimes be complex.
Staff Augmentation vs. Traditional Hiring
Speed of Recruitment
Staff augmentation allows for a quicker recruitment process, as the focus is on filling temporary roles rather than finding permanent employees.
Flexibility in Contracts
Unlike traditional hiring, which involves long-term contracts, staff augmentation offers flexible contracts that can be tailored to the project’s needs.
Cost Implications
While the hourly rate might be higher, the overall cost can be lower when considering the savings on benefits, training, and long-term commitments.
Long-Term Impact on Company Culture
Traditional hiring focuses on building a long-term company culture, while staff augmentation might lead to a more transient workforce, which can affect the overall culture.
Managed Services
A cooperation model based on principles similar to project outsourcing but here you entrust the whole process or system. Usually, it a non-core part of the business and the partner has full control over it. Managed services are more complex and long-term solutions.
The pros and cons of such solutions are the same as in software project outsourcing including losing flexibility while gaining a variety of skills. However, there are fewer vendors that provide such services.
All in all, the main difference between staff augmentation vs project outsourcing vs managed services is the client’s involvement (the highest in staff augmentation) and control over the development process (again, the highest in staff augmentation).
When Is Staff Augmentation the Right Model for You
The most typical scenarios for staff augmentation are:
the company wants to save up, -when launching a new project and in need of extra staff,
the project requires specialized knowledge,
to test the product before the release.
Staff augmentation is a perfect way to scale a project when the in-house employees are not able to deliver all the solutions. Because it is temporary, it is also cost-effective and flexible.
7 Steps to Finding a Staff Augmentation Company
In general, the process of finding the right staff augmentation partner can be narrowed down to 7 basic steps:
Determine what you are lacking - whether it is a specific skill or number of people.
Specify whether you are interested in long-term or short-term collaboration.
Research the market - choose the most suitable outsourcing company. Consider both nearshore and offshore.
Find 3-5 staff augmentation companies providing services in the selected location.
Verify testimonials and references, check their portfolio, social media, company blog.
Hold a call, negotiate about pricing, discuss contract details.
Sign a contract.
Conclusions
Staff augmentation is a great option if you need to quickly scale your team or you are lacking a particular skill. It brings lots of advantages like flexibility, transparency and cost savings. Before you choose the outsourcing partner, make sure to conduct extensive market research to find the best-suited company.
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