As the global IT industry grows rapidly, the demand for IT specialists is on the rise. This, in turn, has created a lack of skilled software developers, and the industry is finding ways to deal with and adapt to this new market reality.
IT outsourcing models like Staff Augmentation services are becoming the buzz in the IT job market due to their numerous benefits – optimizing project costs and tapping into the knowledge base of a skilled IT partner, increasing productivity, and allowing enterprises to focus on their core business.
As more companies and more companies start to hire remotely, the global staffing industry has clocked rapid growth, generating a whopping $490 billion in annual spending in 2018.
The pandemic also played a significant role in the growth of the IT staff augmentation services industry. As many businesses went online, the demand for qualified software developers and other IT specialists grew faster than ever. This made it harder for enterprises to hire experts with the required skills and experience and paved the way for staff augmentation solutions to emerge as a powerful tool for IT organizations.
Startups also gained significantly by outsourcing their resource requirements to IT staffing services as they look for experts in particular technologies to manage specific tasks and enhance the overall capabilities of their in-house team.
Staff Augmentation consultation is clearly, here to stay. Let’s dive in to decode the what, why, and how of Staff Augmentation.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Modern enterprises need flexible contracting strategies to hire global talent to easily meet their business needs. IT staff augmentation services fit the bill by empowering businesses to pick the people best suited for the job and by empowering them to grow their augmented teams as per business needs.
Staff augmentation solutions enable enterprises to cut recruitment and employee retention costs. The model is also gaining traction because it is easily scalable. Since there are no hassles with hiring processes and employment contracts, companies can increase or decrease their headcount easily. The costs and liabilities of making new, full-time hires are reduced. What’s more, the HR department is also less stressed as hiring formalities are reduced.
How Staff Augmentation Compares with Other Hiring Models
Staff Augmentation services are not the only model of cooperation that software providers can choose from. Let’s compare it with the others:
Managed Services
In this model, you pay a fee and the project outsourcing company does the rest of your product development work. They structure the team and manage the project and the processes. You don’t need to provide any tech expertise. The company takes care of all the work aspects throughout the development of the project.
With Managed Services, IT companies get a bird’s eye view of the project development. They don’t know who’s working on their project, what developers are currently doing, and which decisions are made throughout the process.
How does Managed Services compare to Staff Augmentation services? The latter allows the project owner to have a complete say in the progress of the work, allowing them to have more control over their project.
Own R&D Center
Companies establish an R&D center in a foreign country in order to tap a broader talent pool. It requires adding a large number of employees to your team, delving into the legal system of the country, and learning the cultural nuances.
Staff augmentation solutions do not require enterprises to undertake these actions while adding a vibrant workforce to their team.
Get to know more about the IT Staff Augmentation Vs Managed Services
Models of Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation solutions can be tailored as per a company’s goals and are hybrid, dynamic, and flexible. To decide on which model works the best for you, you need to define your company’s goals. Why do you need to add more people to your team? What are your end targets?
Here are some points to consider to arrive at a seamless staff augmentation plan:
Consider the length of the project: Staff augmentation services prove particularly beneficial for short-term projects, as they allow companies to do projects that need a quick turnaround, without investing in additional manpower.
Note the ramp-up time: This is the time it takes for an IT team to understand the intricacies of a project before execution. Highly complex projects require a long ramp-up time and are not best suited for staff augmentation solutions.
Check for security protocols: If a project falls under the high security or high secrecy category, then you should pick a reputed staff augmentation company for maximum efficiency and professionalism.
There are different Staff Augmentation models that organizations can pick from:
In-Country Staff Augmentation: The outsourced team is located in the same country as the in-house team, resulting in negligible cultural and language barriers. On the flip side, enterprises have access to a limited talent pool of resources.
Nearshore Staff Augmentation: The augmented team may not be present in the same country as the in-house team but are in the same time zone. Think of the UK and Ukraine. This outsourcing method reduces problems of time zone lags and increases the talent pool size that enterprises can have access to. However, costs can remain on the higher end.
Offshore Staff Augmentation: The outsourced team and the in-house team reside in different countries and different time zones. This gives companies access to a global talent pool at competitive prices.
When is Staff Augmentation the Right Choice for You?
Staff Augmentation is the right choice for your enterprise if you have the following requirements:
● Your in-house team does not have the experience to work on a project that requires a specific skill.
● You have just bagged a big project and urgently need to grow your team of software developers. Staff augmentation services are a quick way of meeting the resource demand.
● You want to work with outsourced teams but also want control over your projects. You also want to communicate directly with your team. Staff augmentation solutions provide the benefits of outsourcing combined with giving enterprises the handle to control and monitor how the development work progresses on a micro-level. This way, organizations can ensure that the results are produced as per their policies and processes.
● You want to add experts to your in-house development team in order to add strength to the company.
● You are finding it a problem to hire permanent employees due to resource shortages in the market.
● You are looking at saving costs by offshoring talent and building a remote team culture that collaborates and works online.
● You want the best developer brains who have the experience of working on the disruptive technologies that are a part of your project portfolio.
Read our new blog on Challenges of IT Staff Augmentation and How to Solve Them
How Staff Augmentation Works: A step-by-step Guide
Enterprises require the best talent, resources, and technology in order to succeed. Talent, however, is becoming difficult to find in today’s high-growth markets. That is where IT Staff augmentation services are coming to the rescue of tech firms.
So how does Staff augmentation work?
1. Lay down your goals
To get Staff augmentation right, first lay down your outsourcing goals. This will enable you to know what you are looking for and, therefore, hire a team of talented workers who back you up to complete your project on time and on budget.
2. Pick the right talent source
Not every IT staffing services provider will meet your talent requirement. Make sure you sign up with a provider who offers the expertise that suits the needs of your project. This way, you will know that your workers are well equipped to handle the task at hand.
3. Make the onboarding seamless
Once you have a team of developers on board, lay out the roles and responsibilities clearly. It can be done using a smooth and candid onboarding process where team members can ask questions and provide their feedback in order to build a cooperative team environment. It will also ensure there are no confusions and the project work moves without roadblocks.
4. Provide support to the outsourced team
Hiring temporary staff is only half the work done. It is important to provide them support so that they are not left to their own means and are able to complete a project on time and as per your specifications. Even the most talented teams need guidance about a company’s processes and protocols.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
The pandemic has led to difficult times for businesses and, size-wise, it makes sense to stay lean. Staff augmentation solutions help enterprises hire talent on an as-needed basis while managing their workforce directly. The diverse benefits of this outsourcing model have made it popular among enterprises worldwide. Let’s look at some of these advantages.
Fill specific skill gaps:
A project might need specialists in certain technologies, like VoIP or FreeSWITCH engineers. Staff augmentation services are a sure-shot way of hiring these specialists in a quick time.
Lower operating costs:
Permanent employees cost more than those that work remotely on a per-project basis. Also, outsourced employees reduce the HR department’s hiring load and allow them to focus on the more significant business needs. Your vendor is responsible for the recruitment and HR management of the staff. A remote work team also saves expenses such as workstations and hiring additional office space and systems. You pay a fee, and everything is taken care of while focusing on your business growth.
Increase staff strength on-demand:
With IT staff augmentation services, enterprises can increase or reduce their resources as per project demands. If a project requires a special skill, they can temporarily onboard a resource. It allows companies to service specialized clients and offer them tailor-made services.
Tap into a global pool of specialists:
Staff augmentation solutions allow organizations to work with experts across the world, so they have access to a talent pool that is not limited by geographical boundaries. This gives them the power to hire niche skills faster in order to fulfill their business needs.
Boost productivity with expert talent:
When you hire talent, they are focused on your project 100%. On the other hand, in-house teams sometimes have to manage multiple projects. This enables outsourced teams to develop a focused approach to the project, imbibe its big vision, and strive to achieve it. The productivity of the team also soars.
Stay secure with your IP Rights:
Your augmented team is still yours. That means your data is not being shared with third parties and you don’t need to worry about IP rights. All the rights belong to you.
Optimize Processes, Reduce Costs, and Solve Hiring Problems with Staff Augmentation
In a post-pandemic world, as enterprises are looking at reducing staff and optimizing costs, staff augmentation services are emerging as a great way to bring onboard resources as per your business needs. Organizations can hire developers on a project-to-project basis and enjoy the bandwidth to hire people who fit the role the best.
Ecosmob’s Staff Augmentation Services cater to the unique staffing requirements of organizations by finding the right people for them. This helps businesses accelerate their software development process efficiently.
To know more about how Ecosmob can meet your staffing needs, reach out to us at sales@ecosmob.com
