Keeping up with the latest market trends and recruiting new technological experts every time can be challenging for industries. Moreover, focusing on productivity and profitability leads to the emergence of a single solution staff augmentation.
This process can be applied to diverse industries that need to enrich their in-house teams with additional experts with specific skill sets. Thus, it is one of the most attention-grabbing strategies in 2024.
So, if you want to improve your tech game, this blog is for you. We will cover staff augmentation when you need it, its benefits, types and models, and everything else you need to know.
What is IT Staff Augmentation?
So, what exactly is staff augmentation? From the name, I think everyone knows it is something related to the staff. But let us break it down in detail. IT Staff Augmentation is the process of outsourcing talents that complement an organization’s existing staff.
Staff augmentation allows businesses to boost productivity cost-effectively, along with better and faster results. The thing that is good about it is contract-based teams can be rehired at the time of need or businesses can also change their requirement and can hire different teams for diverse projects.
How does IT Staff Augmentation Work?
So, to understand this concept, you have to visualize your business’s situation. For instance, your IT company is doing great in the market, considering all the new ways to be in a good position.
But now due to this, you are getting bulk projects that need to be completed within the time and you do not have enough developers to fulfill all the project requirements, in this situation, staff augmentation comes in – an outsourcing option that can support all the project needs, fill the skill gaps and also address a frequent project demand for both short and long term. Moreover, hiring an IT team will help save a lot of money and infrastructure demand.
Steps to Choose Top IT Staff Augmentation Service
To select a leading IT staff augmentation service, one can follow several different practices according to the project’s requirements for their business. But if you are new here and do not have enough idea about the process, don’t worry. We have mentioned some of the top steps by process to select the best team for your business.
Relevant Industry Experience
When you want to select a staff augmentation partner, look for a company that is well-known by many people or a firm that has relevant experience in the IT domain. The company’s experts should understand the value of your project needs, and based on that, the company provides you with the right pool of talent.
Well-versed with the Latest Technology and Trends
The augmentation service you are referring to from the company should have developers with the proper knowledge of the growing market trend of the IT industry. Along with that, look for the experts if they have proper knowledge of the technology your project is based on to ease the work and be aware of the latest technological updates.
Evaluate Communication Skills
It is one of the major factors when selecting an augmentation team for the project. They should be able to communicate all the factors and the pointers they are going to implement in the project with the team as well as to the members of your in-house team, for transparent and enhanced work.
Review all the Policies
Look for all the policies before finalizing the staff from another firm. The company should cover all security and data policies to protect your data from getting misused. So it is important to look for a company that provides robust security and data privacy included in the agreement documents officially.
Prior Project Portfolio
Look for the company portfolio of the completed projects or the work they have performed for different clients. You can check all the references and make sure it’s the best fit for your project or not also by contacting the clients and learning more about their experience with the company before selecting the IT staff augmentation company.
Affordable and Quality Results
Last but not least one of the most important factors to consider is the hiring cost of the augmented team from a firm. Look for a company that can provide you with the best service without compromising the quality within your budget of the project. That company will be the best fit for your particular project and once you hire one, you have an idea for the next time and follow the same steps for the future also.
Now, when you select the company, you also have to make sure for what type you are selecting. There are different types of staff augmentation to choose from. To know more about it refer to the next section.
Different Types of IT Staff Augmentation
There are different types of staff augmentation available. Let’s explore some of the top ones and how they can benefit diverse businesses.
Time-Based Staff Augmentation
If an IT company requires third-party developers to work for a required period, this is the best option for the businesses.
Skilled-Based Staff Augmentation
If a company has a project and does not have the proper expert developers, it can outsource the project.
Project Based Staff Augmentation
The company can also select the staff augmentation process for a particular project for a short-term period.
On-shore Staff Augmentation
These models focus on hiring IT professionals, but they belong to the same country as the organization. It can help in scenarios where more company involvement is there, you can visit the company
Offshore Staff Augmentation
It is working with offshore staff who are from different countries and have different time zones. It can be a cost-effective augmentation strategy.
Nearshore Staff Augmentation
The process of selecting the team for the project from the nearby country border does not have much time difference and is easy to communicate.
Dedicated Team Augmentation
The process of staff augmenting in which the developers are highly skilled and experts in their domain follows the best practices to complete the major projects.
How To Choose The Right IT Staff Augmentation Model
Businesses must select the right resource and staff augmentation model to achieve success. If you are also looking to outsource a team for your project, here are some areas you definitely have to consider.
Project Completion Time- Go for the staff augmentation if you have a project to complete within 6 months or less and have to work on a particular technology that is not well-known by in-house developers.
Cost Effective- Look for the company that provides you with a perfect staff augmentation service within your team budget for a particular project.
Look for past projects – It is necessary to confirm if the team will fulfill your project requirement thus look for past completed projects and also ask for client reviews if any are available for better decisions.
Data Sensitivity- Make a proper NDA and get it signed by the outsourcing organization to protect the sensitive data you will disclose to them.
So, these are some small points that every business should consider when outsourcing a team or individual developers for their projects to avoid fraud and ensure project completion within the time limit.
When should I opt for IT Staff Augmentation Service?
If you are still confused about when to opt for an IT staff augmentation service, we have listed some use cases to help you decide when to hire a team for your business.
Use Case #1- When need specific expertise developer
Staff Augmentation service is best for businesses requiring a specific developer skill set and is currently unavailable in-house. You can hire a pool of talent from AI specialists to web developers in one particular technology or a designer for a short-term period.
Use Case #2- Work on Extra Project
When your team is overpacked and working on several projects, it can be difficult for them to have one more project. So, to overcome this issue Staff augmentation can be useful and can provide experts in certain areas or can have a full team for specific projects.
Use Case #3- When Internal Team Needs Upgrade
Staff augmentation is best when the team needs an upgrade. The company can hire people who are well-versed in the latest technologies, help the firm with new projects, and assist the teams when they get stuck. They can serve for short periods in the company, instructing in-house members on the latest technology concepts.
What are the Pros of IT Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation has multiple benefits. Let’s look at some of the major ones listed below.
Flexibility— Choosing staff augmentation for your current project can offer multiple benefits, such as flexible working hours. The team is not bound to work at a specific time, and you can hire dedicated developers OR a team of developers for a short period without worrying about increments and terminations. One more thing that is good about staff augmenting in terms of budgeting is that it can be monthly, weekly, or yearly.
Time-Saving- It generally takes a lot of time to make a job posting and description, post it on multiple platforms, interview the selected candidates, negotiate the salary, and then do paperwork. The whole process is quite long and can sometimes take months without any candidate selected, resulting in delaying the project. At this point, the augmentation service can be the best option and all formalities can be completed within a week, resulting in more focus on the project.
Access to Global Talent—As an IT company, the project can be easy and challenging at times. Moreover, many times, in-house developers are unaware of new technologies and trends the client is asking for. Thus, staff augmenting at this time can be really helpful and can give access to a larger pool of talent.
Direct Communication- So, when you outsource your project you are not responsible for a single thing what the team is working on and how is working, but when you go for staff augmentation, the team or the developers working on your projects direct report to you and you can provide them with the tasks. They work as your team member but from another company. You can plan, assign the work, and completely control the process; everything is under your control and transparent.
Challenges of IT Staff Augmentation
Though Staff Augmentation is a good way to unburden the in-house team from the extra project and work on the side project, yet everything comes up with a challenge, the same applies here. So, let’s have a look at them.
Selecting a Trusted Company- It is crucial for businesses to confirm and check for every detail of the firm they are opting for staff augmentation. There are multiple companies available online that promise the same as the good one but are part of the fraud. So checking the background of the company is important.
Challenging Onboarding- If you have a project that needs to be completed in a shorter period, It can be challenging for businesses to find expert developers fast per their project demand and have all the required skills simultaneously.
Motivation Issues- When working with the augmented team, it can be challenging for them to focus on the work all the time. Thus, to motivate them throughout the process, encourage and appreciate them for their work. Get regular updates and check and clarify things if another person faces any issues.
What is the future of IT staff augmentation?
According to the market stats, the IT staff augmentation market size is about to reach USD 147.2 bn by the year 2028, increasing at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2021. However, this seems much more promising for companies who are looking forward to working on diverse projects but do not want to invest in internal teams.
Along with that, multiple emerging technologies are booming in the market increasing the demand for the projects focusing on that will result in relying on the IT staffing firms to help the ones who do not have particular experts. Thus, seeing this seems it will be a great market for IT staff augmentation in the future.
How can Developerperhour help you with IT Staff Augmentation?
At DPH, we understand the unique needs of businesses, regardless of their size. We have a proven track record of providing top-notch staff augmentation services to a wide range of clients in the IT sector. Our team of expert developers is well-versed in the latest technologies and remains updated with all upcoming market trends. You can select the best engineers from us with varying experience and skills to meet your project requirements.
So, if you are looking for IT Staff Augmentation Services, you are at the right place. Think no more; contact our team of experts to learn all the details on how to get dedicated team members for your upcoming project.
Final Words
Moving towards the end, we hope you now know what staff augmentation is, why it is important for businesses, and what the benefits are.
It can be an excellent, cost-effective solution for your business’s emergency project requirements. Moreover, it can provide flexibility, close communication between the team, and transparent work.
For more queries, you can contact us today and benefit from staff augmentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Benefits to get by having IT staff augmentation services are easily scaling up the team, cost-effective access to experts, faster time-to-market, no hassle in the hiring process, and many more. Thus, it will be beneficial to obtain these services.
There are multiple IT roles available when it comes to staff augmentation, they are software engineers/designers, project managers, Quality analysts, system administrators, data analysts, and others.
While hiring an IT staff augmentation provider, you need to consider some key points including-
Ensuring transparent communication and updates
Proficiency in the related tech stack
Working flexibility as per the contract terms
Previous track record of projects
Cultural fit and language compatibility
Yes, you can have IT staff augmentation services according to your project requirements, be it for the short-term or long-term. Here short-term project combines particular development tasks with a defined scope and long-term projects include needs like ongoing support and maintenance.
If you need expert talent and are unable to hire them in-house, dealing with a heavy workload, scaling up the team, and looking for cost-efficient alternatives for software development, are some reasons when you can obtain IT staff augmentation services.
You should not go with IT staff augmentation services if your core functions need full-time in-house experts with a proper understanding of how you work, you have undefined project scope, budget constraints, and others.
