How to apply a Staff Augmentation model in your company?

The staff augmentation model has been around in the industry for a long time. The reason behind its success is the fact that staff augmentation works. It is an effective way of bridging any existing skills gap within the organization at a fraction of associated costs, making it a win-win situation for the company.

What Is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation is a form of outsourcing strategy in which the in house team within the organization is supplemented by hiring qualified resources on a short, middle and long term basis to meet specific business objectives.

Hiring full-time workers for short-term tasks is a resource-intensive activity, one that ends up costing the company significantly more in the long run. Traditional outsourcing processes and managed services have generally a higher risk associated with them. You need a proper vetting process in place in order to outsource your project.

Staff augmentation is the best of both worlds. It combines the reliability of a full-time workforce with the flexibility of project outsourcing.

Why Choose Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation services are pretty much in demand within the technology sector. Rapidly changing workforce culture with a rise in gig economy poses significant challenges to the industry. IT industry has an attrition rate upwards of 40% and the staff augmentation model helps in counteracting this change.

1. Be more efficient

Planning and organizing a recruitment drive is a highly resource intensive activity that takes up a lot of time. From putting up job listings to shortlisting, interviewing and vetting the candidates, a lot of time and effort go into the process. If anything goes wrong within the process, it is essentially back to square one.

In the case of Staff Augmentation, the task of vetting and recruiting talent falls on the shoulders of the staffing agency. A typical recruitment drive takes upwards of a month from its commencement to its completion but in case of staff augmentation, adding a staff member to your existing team for project-basis gets done in a matter of days.

2. Access to the best talents

The company just needs to define the skill sets required for the job and the staff augmentation firm can readily supply the requisite talent. Finding expert talent to work on your project is easier and staff augmentation ensures that you are not limited to the local pool of experts and have access to a global repository.

Companies can best leverage both external as well as internal resources, identify any existing skills gaps and fill those gaps by staff augmentation. Staff augmentation facilitates access to industry experts which lower the training and development efforts required to bring the resource up to speed while working on the project.

3. Be more profitable

Staff augmentation not only saves on the recruitment costs incurred on hiring full-time employees but it also saves up on the additional operational costs. The employees so hired need to paid only on a project basis, thus avoiding payment of full-time wages during the period when the project is not underway.

The employee benefits such as insurance and other perks that need to be provided when hiring full-time get eliminated as they are covered by the staffing provider. This brings down the associated operational costs as well.

4. Be more secure

Contrary to complete outsourcing of the project, staff augmentation lets you be in control of managing the IT projects. Since the work takes place in-house, complete control over all aspects of the project exists. Integration with the internal process and overall project management is more effective in case of IT staff augmentation.

Since the control of the project is in-house, there is better control over the final outcome and the quality of the project as well which is quite beneficial for the project on a long-term basis.

5. be more flexible

Upsizing and downsizing the company is an easier task when following the staff augmentation model. The element of flexibility it brings to the table facilitates the scalability. It is always easier to augment your existing staff with fresh resources when the project demands it rather than having to hire full time and then lay off employees.

Laying off employees during lean times of a company negatively affects the company morale. Augmented staff, on the other hand, are well-received by the existing employees and often leads to a healthier work culture.

Ways To Make Staff Augmentation Work For Your Business

The staff augmentation model can be highly effective if implemented correctly. Here is a list of the ways that you can augment your team with external resources on a short-term basis for long-term success.

1. Select projects that have limited time requirement

Staff augmentation works best for one-time projects which do not have an ongoing plan of continuation. Typically it is software development projects that are the most viable option to avail the benefits of staff augmentation. If you are looking for developing a website or a mobile app to meet your business needs, instead of looking for direct hires, staff augmentation is a better alternative.

There is a reason that staff augmentation and technology feel like a natural fit. Hiring a developer on a project basis is a better decision as compared to hiring one on a full-time basis for a project that is going to be one-time only. While the maintenance of the web or mobile app is a long term activity and can be done in-house, in the case of software developers and project managers it is advisable to go for either outsourcing or staff augmentation.

2. Identify talent gaps within your organization

An in-depth analysis of the business processes within the organization can be instrumental in providing you insights regarding the talent gaps that exist within the company. Whether it is evaluating the existing project needs or laying down the plans for new projects, performing a talent audit within the company would help in identifying the current talent deficits.

Once you have identified the gaps, you need to determine whether the resource is necessary on a long term basis or is the requirement just limited to the particular project. In the case of the latter, staff augmentation is the way to go for bridging the gap.

3. Identify unique skill-set requirement

Once you have determined the specific skill-set and project role you are looking to hire for, the process of finding a partner to make the right talent available to you begins. The company that you partner with is tasked with sourcing the right talent, thoroughly vetting them to ensure that you build a quality product at a faster rate.

The staff hired on a short-term basis also has the added advantage of being more experienced in handling similar projects such as yours and bring their own skill sets to the table which is an added advantage. The breadth of knowledge of developers who face diverse challenges by working on different sets of projects is definitely more than one who has been working on a single project for a longer period of time.

Last words…

Revamping of an ongoing project or kick-starting a new project, both of these require a well thought out process to serve as a base for successful execution. If you are looking for augmenting your staff with software developers for a project, your quest has brought you to the right place.

Hire our pre-vetted, completely in-house team of talented developers who are backed by solutions architects for your software development projects. Get all the benefits that come with an in-house team at a fraction of associated costs. 

Get in touch with our team and receive tailor-made attention for your project and company.