Today, we live in a digitalized world where everything depends on technology. From purchasing clothes to ordering food and managing finances, it’s just one click away! As a result, the need for IT staff augmentation has boomed greatly; however, 54% of businesses are experiencing a mere shortage of talented professionals.
Although there are millions of job openings in the IT sector, not many skilled professionals can handle the role better. Thus, companies are preferring IT staff augmentation services. This article is a complete guide about staff augmentation, its types, benefits, and more. So, without any further ado, let’s dive in!
What is IT Staff Augmentation?
It is a popular hiring practice or an outsourcing strategy where professionals are hired outside their in-house staff to offer excellent services. These professionals are trained and qualified experts with years of experience in the field, allowing employers to fill the gap without offering additional incentives.
If you are a business owner who experiences a sudden rise in demand for a specified period, relying on staff augmentation services is an excellent choice without going through the complex hiring process or incurring the cost.
For example, if you are developing a mobile application for which you require five mobile app developers for six months. It is an excellent solution as the IT sector is most likely to grow and generate a revenue of $1,570.00 billion by 2027. Also, staff augmentation eliminates the upfront hiring cost and offers the best services.
Types of IT Staff Augmentation
1. Project-based Augmentation
When a company requires professionals like software developers or engineers for a specified period and a particular project, it is called Project-based augmentation.
2. Skill-based Augmentation
Hiring professional software developers in custom software development companies because of their skill sets, like healthcare or Fintech, to meet the expectations is referred to as Skill-based augmentation.
3. Time-based Augmentation
If you want to hire a third-party developer to offer their services for a particular period, it is referred to as a Time-based augmentation.
4. Hybrid-based Augmentation
It is a methodology that includes the benefits of both outsourcing and augmentation to create solutions and customized resources.
5. Onshore Augmentation
In this type of augmentation, the IT professionals are hired from the same country where the organization is situated. If you need to collaborate and communicate with your team regularly, It is a great option.
6. Nearshore Augmentation
Hiring professionals like developers or engineers from closely related countries, typically from similar cultural backgrounds and time zones, is known as Nearshore augmentation.
7. Offshore Augmentation
When your organization and the professionals are based in different countries with absolutely no connection, it is known as the Offshore process. Hiring offshore developers is highly cost-efficient.
8. Dedicated Team Augmentation
When you hire a dedicated team of professionals who work majorly for your organization, it is referred to as dedicated team augmentation.
Benefits of IT Staff Augmentation
1. Highly Scalable
Generally, IT companies experience an ever-evolving and changing marketing environment and working conditions. That’s when IT staff augmentation acts as a potential solution where you hire experienced professionals for a particular project or a time. Additionally, it includes minimum cost and eliminates the lengthy hiring process.
2. Cost-effective
Hiring full-time and in-house developers, engineers, or IT professionals involves a lot of cost. As a result, It is regarded as a cost-effective alternative where companies can hire experts without any cost involved for a short period of time. Above all, these professionals are not liable for any incentives, reducing overall expenses. Some of the significant expenses reduced include Salary, Staff benefits, Tax expenses, Social security, Parking benefits, Health insurance, Retirement benefits, and Commuting benefits.
3. Access To Specialized Skills
The world is full of highly skilled professionals you can find through IT staff augmentation services. The best part is these professionals can handle niche-specific projects. There are several renowned platforms where you can find these professionals and make the most of their abilities to get success.
4. Increased Efficiency
When you hire an IT staff augmentation workforce, you can enjoy faster project delivery and increased efficiency as these professionals work to the best of their abilities to deliver quality and timely services.
5. Mitigate Project Risks
Every IT project is prone to certain risk factors that can result in big losses. Staff augmentation companies offer you easy access to experienced professionals; they analyze all risk-causing factors and eliminate any chances of project failure. This ensures that the project is successfully and timely completed while achieving the end goal.
Difference Between Short and Long-term Staff Augmentation
| Particulars | Short-term staff augmentation | Long-term staff augmentation |
| Duration | Short-term staff augmentation generally lasts from 2-3 weeks to 3-4 months only. | Long-term staff augmentation is meant for a prolonged period which is around 2-3 years or more. |
| Purpose | Short-term staff augmentation deals with seasonal and immediate rise in the workload. If your business has a special project or handles temporary skill gaps. | These professionals generally work on ongoing operations and provide continuous support. These experts are an integral part of project development and strategic formulations. |
| Hiring Process | Short-term staff augmentation deals with seasonal and immediate rises in the workload. If your business has a special project or handles temporary skill gaps. | Professionals go through a comprehensive recruitment and vetting process. The aim is to choose the most potential fit who can handle future projects and for extended engagements. |
| Training and Onboarding | Short-term staff augmentation believes in quick and faster adoption. | Long-term staff augmentation is given a specified time period to grasp the company’s functioning and working. This helps them to understand the company’s objective and culture. |
| Cost | In most cases, the cost is relatively higher per hour or per-project costs as the engagement period is extremely short. | In most cases, the pay is Lower and is based on per-hour or project due to longer commitments. |
How Does the Staff Augmentation Process Work?
Step 1: Identify the Requirements
First and foremost, identify why you need an IT professional. There are several reasons, such as a lack of the required skills, an upcoming project that needs more people, or a lack of experience and expertise in a particular area.
Step 2: Determine the Scope
Understanding the scope of the role is essential, which includes the responsibility of the upcoming IT professionals, the specific skill set required, the total engagement time, and the overall expertise required.
Step 3: Choose Qualified Candidates
Choosing qualified candidates through different channels like referrals, recruitment agencies, and job postings is important. Ensure that the candidate goes through a rigorous screening and interview session.
Step 4: Smooth Onboarding
Another important step is onboarding the selected professionals and integrating them into the existing staff smoothly. You must offer them access to all tools, software, technologies, and resources.
Step 5: Management and Oversight
Once you have boarded the candidate, you must manage and oversee their operations to ensure all tasks are performed and delivered timely without backlogs.
Some Drawbacks of the Staff Augmentation Model
1. Increased Cost
Hiring IT staff professionals sometimes costs more than the permanent employees or staff.
2. Lack of Knowledge
Since no rigorous recruitment procedure is followed while onboarding these professionals, new staff may not have the required knowledge. Also, they take time to catch up with existing professionals.
3. Project Management
It can contribute to management workload and overall project cost.
4. Loss of Control
Risks such as cultural fit, loss of control, and data security always exist when hiring professional staff.
5. Short-term Focus
At times, augmented professionals overlook a company’s overall objective and focus only on short-term tasks.
When To Hire Remote Developers Through Staff Augmentation?
- In your custom Software Development company, no qualified professional has the required skill set.
- A particular employee has taken off for personal reasons like injury, family emergency, health issues, etc.
- If your business requires a niche-specific and short-term need.
- There is a significant rise in the workload, which requires more people.
- You must delegate some tasks to an experienced and skilled professional.
Things to Consider When Choose the Best Staff Augmentation Company
- Clearly define expectations and job role
- Maintain transparent and open communication with all members.
- Use communication and project management tools and technologies
- Transfer knowledge and document web development processes
- Involving throughout the project execution
How Do Dreamsoft4u Help Our Partner Achieve Their Goals?
Dreamsoft4u is a renowned outsourced software development company and healthcare IT service provider known for delivering top-notch IT solutions. Our professionals at dreamsoft4u also offer IT staff augmentation services, allowing businesses to scale their teams and hire experienced, skilled, and dedicated IT professionals on a project, hourly basis, or fixed pricing.
FAQs
- List some factors to consider when you choose the right IT staff augmentation provider
Some potential factors to consider include:
- Staffing requirements
- Overall flexibility
- Communication protocols
- Access to great talents
- Technical expertise
- Security and data privacy policy
- Delivery schedules and contract types
- What are some risk factors associated with IT staff augmentation?
Some of the potential risk factors include:
- Cultural and communication integration challenges
- Quality of the service provided in outsourced software development companies.
- Confidentiality and data security concerns
- List some services that IT staff augmentation professionals can offer.
Common services offered by IT staff augmentation professionals includes managed services, team augmentation, team extension, web development, offshore development, offshore development, onboard professionals, business operations, access to a global talent pool, Cost-effective solution, Flexibility and scalability, Faster time-to-market, Risk mitigation, Assessing business needs, Determining requirements and others.
- List the top benefits of IT staff augmentation
Some potential benefits are:
- complete flexibility
- access to excellent skills
- cost-effectiveness.
- What are the different kinds of roles augmented in IT staff augmentation?
Different roles augmented in IT staff augmentation are software developers, cybersecurity experts, QA engineers, project managers, system administrators, data analysts, etc.
Wrapping Up!
IT staff augmentation services offered by experts help businesses evolve, grow, and meet clients’ expectations. Many people get confused between staff augmentation vs outsourcing; however, both are different. If you are on the hunt for such services, DreamSoft4U can help you, as we have expert professionals who offer excellent services.
