Staff augmentation is considered one of the most effective ways to maximize profit and keep your company lean and mean. Staff augmentation use cases are so ubiquitous that you might be surprised to learn that there are successful and experienced professionals who have never tried them!
A staff augmentation model can help IT companies minimize operational costs while maximizing productivity and efficiency. Before adopting the staff augmentation model, it is essential to know what it means, its benefits, its use-cases, and how to be successful with the augmented team.
We have demystified the concept of staff augmentation services and pointed out its impact on business operations and technology.
Defining the concept is the first step.
Also, Read Here – Which Option is Better for Your Enterprise: IT Staff Augmentation or Project-Based Consulting?
What is Staff Augmentation?
In business, staff augmentation refers to supplementing an organization’s in-house staff with additional external human resources. You can do it in several ways, but most commonly, it is accomplished through temporary workers, independent contractors, or consultants.
Staff augmentation can be an effective way to address a variety of business needs, including peaks in workload, skills shortages, and gaps in knowledge. When done correctly, staff augmentation can save an organization time and money while improving quality and efficiency.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
- Trims Recruitment Time: An increase in efficiency in recruitment time means that the company has more time & money to invest in their core product or service, where they’ll see their most significant ROI.
- Decreases Cost Per Employee: Staff augmentation is cost-effective because it saves a company from hiring staff on payroll.
- Quick Access to Expertise: The success of staffing companies proves that experts are always at any given moment. The trick is analyzing where to find a reliable staff augmentation development company. Staffing companies can act as a go-between by having relationships with experts worldwide, giving businesses access to the expertise they need without looking for it themselves.
- Flexibility for Non-Permanent Hires: With staff augmentation, companies don’t have to worry about whether an employee will be staying long-term or not. They can just choose an expert you want and hire them only when needed.
Top 4 Use Cases of IT Staff Augmentation
#1. Expands the In-House Team
It may be prudent to augment your in-house IT staff to continue making strides with the next generation of projects and maintain its customer base. For example, when your firm struggles with recruiting IT professionals, it may be time to look into outsourcing via the staff augmentation method. Staff augmentation use cases give you greater control over the people you work with and can offer expert advice.
#2. Ideal for Fulfilling Immediate Deadlines
Job recruiting is lengthy with job posting, testing, interviews, and onboarding. You don’t have two months for this; typically, it’s more like two months. Hiring IT staff augmentation means you won’t have to worry about meeting your needs or your contract. Contacting software developers worldwide is among the most rapid staff augmentation use cases.
#3. Fills Specific Skills for the Job
You might want to create your team within a short period by bringing in an engineer, technician, data scientist, or business analyst. When enterprises suffer from low staffing levels or are held back because they fail to find qualified candidates, they consider turning to staff augmentation for filling desired positions.
#4. As a Master Bridge Builder
Hire short-term workers as engineers to meet your immediate needs while you recruit for long-term jobs. Staff augmentation is a proven effective method for bridging the gap between hiring shortages and ever-increasing project demands via a dedicated development team. Staff augmentation is also beneficial when high-level expertise is needed on an ad hoc basis but isn’t required full-time (e.g., filling in temporary staffing gaps).
Critical Tips to Succeed With Staff Augmentation
Define the Skills and Experience You Need
You must clearly know what you need before starting your search. Try to find the answer to the following questions before you proceed with any other aspect of the staff augmentation:
- What is the end goal?
- Do you need someone who has experience with a specific type of coding or programming language?
- Whether you want the person to have an MBA or CPA certification
Identify these early on to ensure that your candidate will be successful on the job.
Find a Reputable Agency
When choosing an agency, ensure they are credible, trustworthy, and reliable. Check reviews online, ask them about their success rate, and research how many years they’ve been in business.
The chosen staff augmentation development company must possess work visa processing, insurance coverage, matching professional certifications, and education. Choosing an agency with all of these necessities is essential to avoid jeopardizing your staffing project.
Manage Expectations
It’s essential to set pragmatic expectations from the beginning of the process. Staff augmentation doesn’t always mean that you’ll get just one person. In some cases, you may only receive one individual for a temporary position, while others could provide two candidates depending on your needs and budget constraints.
Before hiring a staff augmentation firm, make sure that they understand how this process works from start to finish, including when it comes time to negotiate compensation packages for both parties after the project duration.
Leverage Regular & Clear Communication
A key element of successful staff augmentation is establishing open lines of communication between the agency and the employer. There should be regular meetings or calls between employers and agencies throughout each project step.
These meetings should be scheduled in advance to occur once every week or two weeks (depending on the frequency) until you feel comfortable handing over complete responsibility to your new employee(s).
Develop Healthy Bond Between the In-house & Outsourcing Team
Working with outsourced talent is often seen as an unglamorous affair. However, it brings significant value to your team if managed correctly. The best way to develop a healthy bond between in-house and outsourcing teams is by encouraging people to ensure clear communication together.
Bringing your team members together can help strengthen relationships and lead to better working relationships through increased understanding of each other’s cultures.
Final Takeaways – Choosing an Ideal Staff Augmentation Model
Staff augmentation use cases can be broadly classified into four categories: one-time, project-based, on-demand, and time/location. The most common are one-time and project-based uses. One-time staff augmentation is used when a company needs additional resources for a short period. At the same time, project-based staff augmentation refers to the outsourcing of specific skills required for a defined period.
In both these cases, the client would contract an external provider for their staffing needs in the form of either contract workers or permanent employees with their workstations at the client’s premises.
On-demand refers to the situation where the contractor will provide skilled professionals as required by the customer. For example, this could involve having a professional service engineer dispatched immediately following an emergency event like a natural disaster.
Time/location staff augmentation applies to situations where specialists are needed only during certain hours or days of the week; for example, accountants must work full-time during business hours but only need weekends off.
In all cases, all parties involved must know what they’re getting into beforehand, so there aren’t any surprises down the line – especially if it’s not a one-off job!
I hope the article answers all your queries related to Staff Augmentation.
All the Best for Your Project!
