Although good news, a sudden increase in the number of projects can be concerning when you register the human resources you have at hand. Now, at this point, if you start the hiring process, it will cost you money and consume a big chunk of your time.
Furthermore, you will have to screen several interviewees before finalizing just the right person for the job.
Meanwhile,
- How will you meet the deadline?
- How will your team manage existing projects?
- Is there enough creative space for you to start streamlining the new projects?
- Do you really want to invest in a resource you’ve appointed for a specific short-term project in the long run?
Before the above hypothetical situation runs amok, we have a solution for you.
What if we tell you that there is a pool of professionals with all the work experience and skill set you need ready to accommodate your project and waiting for you?
Introducing Staff Augmentation
The word augments or augmentation simply means to increase in capacity. So, what is staff augmentation? It is a method that helps your company hire top talent from outside for specific projects. This increases your team’s capacity to fulfill the project needs.
The augmented staff joins your in-house team at different stages of the project. They accelerate the process and make project delivery effective and on time.
One of the most in-demand subdivisions of this model is IT staff augmentation. Here a company seeks skilled technicians, such as developers, programmers, technology experts, and more, on a short-term basis.
If you think Staff Augmentation sounds familiar and are about to compare it to Outsourcing, let us help to spot the significant differences.
Staff Augmentation Vs. Outsourcing
- Purpose: The augmented staff is hired to fill specific gaps—ideal for short-term, long-term, or unexpected projects. On the contrary, when you outsource, you spend on a particular, prearranged output. You also share the burden of risk and give up direct control over certain aspects of your business operations.
- Cost: In staff augmentation, the company hiring covers the cost of training, necessary tools, and resources for the augmented staff, an individual, or a team. On the contrary, the vendor handles the hired professionals' costs in outsourcing.
- Onboarding: It's a quick process when hiring augmented staff. In contrast, the deliverables must be set in outsourcing, and both parties must finalize legal formalities.
We hope that we have made it easy for you to understand the distinction between staff augmentation and outsourcing.
What are the Benefits of Staff Augmentation?
There are numerous ways in which augmented staff can be beneficial-listing them below.
- Maintaining Control - In the IT Staff Augmentation model, when you appoint, for instance, a temporary developer, he works alongside your team to fulfill the needs of the project. You are in charge of how you want to get the work done by an individual.
- Saves You Money - The payment is project-based. You pay the professionals for the specific services they are providing. Like the rest of the employees, you do not have to pay them their salary, benefits, or taxes.
- Scalability - With staff augmentation, you can appoint a professional according to your project needs. Be it for 4 or 24 hours, a week or two, or full-time assistance for two months!
- Add Multiple Skills without Recruiting Process - We know how time-consuming a recruiting cycle can be. But with the help staff augmentation model, you can appoint multiple skill sets with the tiring process who can work on one or more projects.
- Optimizing Existing Team - Without pulling your team out from their day-to-day tasks, you ensure the timely completion of existing deliverables and also avoid the burnout your team may face from work overload.
- Brainstorming and Fresh Perspective - Bringing in a new person onboard brings a fresh perspective, leading to a better project outcome.
- Meet the Deadlines - Timely project delivery will leave a great impression on your stakeholders.
- No Geographical Limitations - In the staff augmentation model, if the professional is miles away from your location, they can work remotely.
How Does Staff Augmentation Work?
You must deeply understand your project requirement for the staff augmentation model to work successfully.
Below is the breakdown of the project -
- Analysis - Define your project, its goal, and your expectation from the external source. Once you have that sorted, your resource can effectively and efficiently deliver the task on time.
- Talent Source - You have to be specific about the required skillset. Conduct extensive screening and choose the best professionals to bridge the skill gap in your existing team.
- Onboarding - Although the staff augmentation service provider will take care of all the legalities, you, too, can define roles and responsibilities, including the limitations. This eliminates the room for any confusion.
Need to augment your team?
What are the Types of Staff Augmentation?
- Short-term staff augmentation services are when you are looking for a specialist for a short-term project - for example, engineers, developers, testers, etc.
- Long-term staff augmentation services are used when you have long-duration projects. Fill the skill gap and simultaneously cut operational costs.
Furthermore, there are three categories:
- Commodity - when you need a dependable workforce irrespective of the skillset.
- Skilled - Professional with a specific skillset regardless of skill level.
- Highly Skilled - No compromise here at all. Advanced skills and extensive experience.
To sum it up,
Staff augmentation and its subset IT Staff augmentation prove to be very advantageous for industries. It gives you access to a talent pool where professionals from basic to expert skillsets are at your disposal.
Talent Netclues can help you build a team of experienced developers, programmers, coders, designers, project managers, and more. Along with our professionals and your efficient in-house employees, you can build a robust framework and project delivery in your company.
Enhance the development cycle, add expert resources, and cut costs without compromising quality skill sets.
Are you ready to rev the growth of your company? Want to know how?
Let's work together.