In today’s rapid-paced business landscape, companies must keep up to remain competitive and stay afloat. This involves staffing development teams to manage the new programming languages and technologies that are emerging seemingly overnight.
Recruiting and hiring IT experts takes a lot of time and money, both of which many businesses struggle to afford. So, how do you consistently have an IT team of top talent with years of experience on-hand if in-house recruiting is too costly or time-consuming? The answer is staff augmentation.
What Is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy that allows companies to expand their in-house staff by hiring external professionals. The concept involves evaluating your existing staff to determine which additional skills are needed to complete a specific project.
For example, say your business is working on a project that requires five developers, but your current team only has two. Staff augmentation addresses staffing requirements and skills gaps by relying on temporary workers with specialized skills. This solution is much more efficient than delaying the project to hire three new team members. By not needing to hire full-time employees, you can complete projects on time.
Types of Staff Augmentation
There’s more than one type of staff augmentation service to address the unique needs of a company. The one a company chooses should depend on the specific requirements of their business.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Augmentation
Staff augmentation work can be performed in the short term or long term. Companies may need to hire a brief augmented staff to complete a short-term project when the dedicated team isn’t available. Long-term staff augmentation is ideal when project requirements call for extended services.
Project-Based Augmentation
This type of staff augmentation is tailored to fit the needs of specific, short-term projects and focuses on hiring professionals for projects with defined goals and timelines. Staff augmentation on a project basis is a useful strategy when a specific skill set is not available in-house.
Skill-Specific Augmentation
Skill-based augmentation occurs when businesses need to hire skilled professionals. These individuals typically have higher levels of education and experience compared to the average worker, enabling them to complete tasks more efficiently than others on the internal team.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation provides businesses with an array of benefits, making it a viable option for multiple scenarios.
1. Flexibility and Scalability
By using staff augmentation, businesses can hire as many temporary workers as needed to assist their in-house teams. This makes it easy to scale up or down the augmented team as necessary.
2. Cost-Effectiveness
For some businesses, hiring full-time software engineers and other tech talent may not be in the budget. Therefore, hiring an augmented team is the most efficient solution. Rates for IT staff augmentation services depend on several factors but are typically much lower than hiring an in-house team.
3. Access to Specialized Skills
Companies who augment their staff aren’t limited to their local talent pool. Because staff augmentation providers source workers globally, businesses can easily hire elite talent from anywhere.
4. Reduced Training and Onboarding Time
The onboarding process to hire a full-time employee requires significant time. Creating job postings and descriptions, publishing them, interviewing candidates, and completing the necessary paperwork can set a company behind. With staff augmentation, this process is handled by the third-party provider, allowing companies to maintain workflows without missing a beat.
5. Enhanced Project Control and Management
By providing comprehensive control over personnel, staff augmentation ensures businesses have complete control over project management. Project outsourcing involves external talent aligning with company policies, culture, and project objectives as if they were any other staff member.
When to Consider Staff Augmentation
Although the staff augmentation model can benefit companies in almost every industry, it’s most applied in the IT sector. Scenarios where you may want to consider relying on an augmented staff include:
Meeting a Deadline
Most companies don’t have the luxury of an in-depth hiring and onboarding process, especially when needing to meet strict timelines. Staff augmentation is an effective way to acquire the talent of skilled professionals and satisfy project needs, all within a specific timeframe.
Rapidly Expand Team
Hiring a local developer to fill specific skill gaps isn’t impossible. However, finding the right person for the job quickly is challenging. Companies can quickly expand their supply of talent with team augmentation.
Other Staffing Models Failed
Other outsourcing models exist, such as hiring freelancers, but they may not all meet your company’s specific needs. Not all staffing solutions allow businesses to smoothly integrate temporary workers into their teams. Staff augmentation companies address this concern by seamlessly pairing temporary workers with businesses.
How to Choose the Right Staff Augmentation Partner
There are several staff augmentation service providers from which to choose. Selecting the right partner for your business can make all the difference in ensuring project goals and timelines are met. When considering staff augmentation providers, keep the following factors in mind:
- Expertise: Take a look at a provider’s track record of delivering high-quality services and the specific industries in which they specialize.
- Culture: Gauge a company’s culture to determine whether or not theirs aligns with yours to ensure a smooth integration.
- Available talent: Partner with providers with a large reach who can access qualified professionals who meet your requirements.
- Flexibility: Determine whether or not the provider can accommodate your business’s changing staffing needs.
Asking providers questions based on these factors will ensure smoother integration and more efficient production.
Partner With The Methodical Group to Meet Project Needs
Staff augmentation can provide your business with numerous benefits. With external expertise, your company can focus on enhancing internal capabilities.
The Methodical Group is a trusted staff augmentation provider and offers unparalleled services. Through our staff augmentation network, you will have access to a global network of highly skilled professionals. Our cost-saving services allow you to allocate your business’ resources more efficiently.
Unlock your company’s potential with the flexible and timely staff augmentation services from The Methodical Group. Schedule a call today with our team to learn more about our expert staffing services.
