What is Staff Augmentation? A Model to Extend Your Team
Today’s fast-paced and dynamic nature of the digital world has led to increased demand for experienced IT personnel. It’s often challenging for businesses to meet the project objectives within a given time, maintaining the quality because of the lack of tech talent or work professionals. Hiring permanent Staff will be a lengthy process, and relying on in-house teams’ efforts would not be enough. Though there are many ways to encourage Staff and be more productive, such as raising the salary, team, and building activities, the team would not be able to deliver quality projects on time due to the excessive workload.
So how do businesses address such issues?
A dramatic increase in contingent workers across firms worldwide is one of the most significant trends in today’s businesses. The practice isn’t new; it started when administrators were loaned across organizational lines to fill responsibilities temporarily due to vacations, illnesses, and other reasons. Google and other high-tech corporations outsource more than half of their work to freelancers. Staff augmentation bridges the gap by combining the advantages of outsourcing and in-house recruiting, allowing businesses to quickly acquire experienced programmers. It is a much needed tool in every business’s arsenal, and it’s one of the most effective ways to expand the development team.
Staff Augmentation
In the digital world, the practice of Staff outsourcing to deploy successful initiatives is not new. IT organizations can quickly fill in the gaps in their success by effectively outsourcing technical employees.
The utilization of external workers temporarily to expand the capability of your business is known as staff augmentation. This is essentially an outsourcing technique in which technology organizations engage qualified IT workers from outside to enhance their in-house teams’ efforts. Staff members that have been supplemented work together to meet project deadlines.
A temporary contract between your firm and an IT Staff Augmentation Provider is known as remote staff augmentation. The supplier is in charge of assembling a team based on the outsourcer’s specifications. This eliminates the stress of a potentially costly and time-consuming recruitment process for your organization. Outsourcing remote teams might be sourced from many regions throughout the world. Their geographic location determines the type of Staff augmentation model your organization uses. Because of the specifics of the IT business and the scarcity of personnel, services like these are making inroads. Staff augmentation firms in the IT industry can provide programmers, QA engineers, designers, marketing professionals, and system administrators. Now, you have to just select the best model for your business.
This process enables businesses to select only those candidates who meet their needs and downsize or expand their augmented teams as needed. Staff augmentation is available from a variety of companies. IT companies can assist you in supplementing your in-house development team with qualified technical professionals on a short- or long-term basis. The vendor hires these resources directly, which eliminates the cost and risk of making new full-time personnel. Remote developers engaged through a staffing firm, on the other hand, are committed to only one project at a time.
Staff Augmentation Models
There are three types of Staff Augmentation Model when considering staff augmentation — In-country, Nearshore, Offshore.
1. In-country Staff Augmentation
In this type, both the teams, external and in-house, are located in the same country. This eliminates the cultural differences and language barriers. Therefore, the augmented Staff have familiarity with customer behaviors which aids in making informed decisions. However, with these facilities, it is relatively more costly than the rest of the models and limits the talent pool.
2. Nearshore Staff Augmentation
The nearshore staff augmentation model is when the augmented team and outsourcing teams are located in different countries but in the same time zone. It reduces time zone lags between the teams and broadens the outsourcing company’s talent pool. This model falls between In-country and offshore staff augmentation in terms of charges.
3. Offshore Staff Augmentation
This staff augmentation model comes into play when both the teams are in different countries and completely different time zones—providing the organization with a relatively bigger pool of talent at much lower rates. However, various countries bring with them cultural and linguistic barriers.
How will Staff Augmentation benefit your organization?
When a company is experiencing a staffing shortage and permanent recruiting is not an option, Staff Augmentation comes to the rescue. There are numerous circumstances in which utilizing staff augmentation will provide numerous benefits to your firm. Some of them are mentioned below:
1. Increased Productivity
In contrast to project outsourcing teams, which can manage multiple projects at the same time, staff augmentation allows for a greater degree of productivity because developers are 100% focused on a single project. You have an in-house team and selected specialists from an outside organization working on your project in a staff augmentation configuration. Working for a single customer and adhering to their large vision entails a higher level of drive and commitment. The good news is that they will remain completely focused on the project throughout, with no interruptions or delays, resulting in increased production. You can hire them for further long-term tasks if you are delighted with their work. This is one of the most important advantages. Your augmentation supplier ensures that you acquire the greatest talent from that area’s skill pool. As a result, with more experienced hands working on a single project, employee productivity is likely to rise.
2. Time-Saving
Hiring a team of developers from an outside development agency requires less time than hiring permanent employees. Locally, specialists can be difficult to come by, and the recruitment process can take months. When the project is in the works, and you don’t have time to squander, you can avoid the lengthy process of hiring, training, and managing permanent workers. Staff augmentation allows you to hire experts from all around the world in a short amount of time.
3. Low Operational Costs
One of the most major advantages of IT staff augmentation services is its cost-effectiveness; the cost structure is quite transparent. Despite the fact that suppliers demand a price, You are not responsible for any administrative or organizational costs such as office space, workstations, or other facilities. On the other side, you only have to pay the two enhanced developers the minimal rate, and you don’t need to worry about infrastructure or office space expenditures. The remainder is handled by the upgraded service provider. You simply pay the price, and the vendor takes care of the rest, allowing you to focus on your core business activities.
4. Dynamic Teams
You’ll have to go through a lengthy replacement process if you’re replacing a regular developer, and replacing outsourcing teams is considerably more difficult. IT personnel augmentation allows for a more adaptable team. If an augmented developer, on the other hand, does not perform adequately and adds no value, you may easily replace the developers with no effort. Without the fuss of recruitment, you can effortlessly manage your team and engage any staff that your company needs for a specific amount of time.
