IT Staff Augmentation to expand your development team

In the times of an ever-changing business world, the demand for software development experts is growing. But the lack of qualified technical experts in the local market is often an obstacle. With more and more developers working remotely, various companies are looking for methods to hire staff quickly yet efficiently.

Difficulty hiring programmers for internal teams under pandemic conditions. Many companies shifted to remote work due to the pandemic. The world is still dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic and sometimes it is difficult to find new employees quickly. Many companies are solving this problem by using staff augmentation services and hiring employees online in the nearshore area. This strategy helps to get experienced employees in the shortest possible time and for an unlimited period of time. 

The staff augmentation is an outsourcing service provided on a contractual basis by an IT vendor to pool the skills of an internal team. When companies are considering creating a new mobile or web app or need some support with their current project, they often opt for the staff augmentation. 

This model allows them to increase the capacity of an internal team and reduce operational costs. Some companies use it as a source of unlimited top software development talent. The staff augmentation model offers companies a variety of ways to improve the productivity of their internal team. Here below we explain how the staff augmentation model works, how it can help your company, and reduce the workload of your in-house team.

What is IT Staff Augmentation?

IT Staff Augmentation is an outsourcing strategy that involves hiring experienced custom software developers on an external basis to fill necessary positions on a company’s internal development team on a temporary or permanent basis. An external vendor provides the resources on a contractual basis to augment the knowledge of the existing team. This approach consists of identifying the existing skills of the team and defining what knowledge is needed.

It allows companies to select only the candidates that meet their needs and shrink or grow their extended team as needed. It helps you add skilled technical resources to your internal development team in the short or long term.

Staff augmentation is a very flexible outsourcing model, where a company hires external technical experts to temporarily increase the development capacity of its internal team.

This model allows companies to quickly fill the gaps in their ongoing projects with qualified professionals. IT staff augmentation vendors can offer highly qualified specialists such as software engineers, QA specialists, project managers, business analysts, UI and UX designers, DevOps, and more. In the last couple of years, the staffing services have gained popularity in the IT industry. 

How does staff augmentation work?

The main goal of staff augmentation is to bridge a temporary bottleneck in daily work, to acquire specific skills outside the company, or to build a powerful internal team with the help of external JavaScript experts to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Once clients define what experts and expertise and how many developers they need, they start looking for the IT staff augmentation services. The more detailed the job description is, the bigger the chances of finding the right IT experts will be.

Why do companies choose staff augmentation services?

Companies use this method mainly when they need to scale quickly and need more IT engineering capacity to grow their workforce. Let’s see the main reasons.

The lack of specific technical specialists in the market is one of the main reasons why companies go for Staff Augmentation. When they are unable to find experienced developers in a particular field, companies hire trustworthy and reliable staff augmentation services. This model ensures access to an offshore development team with the needed expertise.

When companies need specific expertise. When an in-house team lacks specific knowledge in modern and innovative technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, machine learning. If the project requires experts with specific technical skills that are hard to find locally, employing outstaffed experts is the perfect solution. The staff augmentation firms provide access to large talent pools with a wide range of expertise. 

When companies need to meet project deadlines. Difficulties in meeting deadlines are a common issue on software development projects, especially extensive ones. Staff augmentation vendors can provide additional experts who will expand the development capacity of the in-house team and help deliver all projects on time.

Keep development control while outsourcing. The main difference between staff augmentation and outsourcing is that the new experts become a fully integrated part of your internal team. Thus, unlike other outsourcing models, companies keep full control over the software development as you manage their activities on a daily basis.

Faster hiring of developers. The recruitment process is much faster, as you only need to interview candidates that your partner has previously selected and screened based on your project requirements.

Immediate technical expertise available. The selected software experts have the necessary skills to be integrated into your internal team as soon as the hiring process is completed.

Advantages of the staff augmentation

What advantages do companies get, if they decide to use IT staff augmentation? Well, it offers a list of benefits. These include a predictable budget, delegation of administrative and other operational tasks. Now let us look at all the ways that staff augmentation can benefit your company.

High productivity level

It improves productivity, as the backend and frontend developers you hire from staffing companies focus exclusively on your project during their entire working hours. So, the external experts will deal with every aspect of your developed product. This model allows for a higher level of productivity as developers focus fully on a single project. When developers work for a single client, they usually have a higher level of motivation and commitment. 

Easy access to the technical talent pool

When you hire a remote staff augmentation team, you get access to a global talent pool. That allows finding software development experts with strong skills in any IT field, such as IoT specialists, blockchain, and artificial intelligence experts. Having additional staff on your team will enable your company to hire a talented team of developers who will be dedicated to your project.

Flexibility

A staff augmentation team increases your company’s flexibility. An external IT provider can quickly scale your in-house team by adding certain specialists depending on the needs. It’s easier to find a replacement for a technical specialist as the talent pool is bigger. Also, you do not need to spend an additional budget on the transition.

Cost efficiency

By hiring staff augmentation resources, businesses can significantly reduce their expenses. They can hire specialized IT experts for a short period to work on a specific segment of your project. Companies can avoid costs associated with hiring full-time employees. You do not have to cover administrative and organizational costs like office space and hardware. The requestor only pays a fee and focuses on your main activity, while the staffing provider ensures the technical tasks.

What are the disadvantages of Staff Augmentation?

After we have seen the benefits, we need to understand the risks of this model. First of all, it is a long-term assignment, so finding specific professionals with the required skills is not an overnight task. However, the resources expended are still smaller when compared to hiring a full-time employee to supplement the existing team internally. It can also take some time to train the new external employees. However, if you plan carefully, it is possible to eliminate the onboarding time and organize the process effectively.

Staff augmentation vs. project outsourcing

The main difference between staff augmentation and project outsourcing is the party responsible for decision-making and project management. In the staff augmentation model, the client is responsible for the entire software development team. In traditional outsourcing, the customer hands over project management to its offshore development partner. Outsourcing approaches to engage specialists for performing a project within a client’s company. On the other hand, staff augmentation relates to hiring employees to collaborate with the existing in-house team. Project outsourcing suits better your software development project if there is no IT department in your company or you want to avoid the development team management burden.

Staff Augmentation vs Dedicated Team

When comparing staff augmentation vs dedicated development team, you need to understand that when working with dedicated coders, you hand over an entire project to this external team. A dedicated team works only for one customer whereas an outsourcing team can share several projects. Very often, a dedicated team becomes an extension of an in-house customer’s team, and the developers are aware of the internal business processes in the company. A dedicated team better suits long-term projects while staff augmentation works better for short-term assignments. The staff augmentation team provides support for an internal team while a dedicated team is a fully-equipped crew ready for creating an entire project.

Read our article on IT and Technology trends in 2022.

How to Optimize Staff Augmentation Model

Staff augmentation is becoming as popular as outsourcing among businesses. However, there are several rules that the core business team can follow to get the most out of this collaborative model. When recruiting a developer for your team, pay attention to both their communication skills and their technical competence.

To get the best IT staffing vendor, make sure the organization has significant experience in this industry and offers the services your company requires. You may also start your research by looking at the IT staffing company’s portfolio and case studies, as well as reading some reviews to see who is offering the best services at the best pricing.

Make sure your in-house staff is prepared with the strategy and has the skills necessary to effectively manage a remote development team. A staff augmentation team typically has a diverse pool of expertise to employ, including an in-house manager and developer, but it all depends on the product development stage and the project.

Ensure that knowledge is shared across projects at all times. When you enlist the aid of a third party, you will almost always be dealing with new developers. Onboarding new staff will be easier if you provide support documentation and collect more information and resources from the various phases of the project.

Check to see if they are culturally comfortable with your current team. The communication between the local and the external teams is crucial to the project’s success. Discuss with the staff augmentation team’s leadership about assigning a dedicated project manager to your long-term initiatives. Your main business team will only have to contact one person in this case.

Verify that remote engineers experience the benefits of working with your internal team. Discuss with the IT staffing vendor about the availability of professionals that can assist you in more effectively collaborating with your team. Project managers that work with your developers to ensure that there are no ambiguities during your collaboration.

If your project expands or you need vendor services for upcoming assignments, you should contact the outsourcing team instantly. It will enable the vendor’s recruiter to provide you with services as quickly as possible.

Whether you need to employ one backend developer or a team of React engineers, for example, ELITEX software development company offers flexible team augmentation services. We assist you grow your business by ensuring an easy integration of your remote development taskforce.

Speak with one of our IT experts to learn how to put it into practice and make the most of your project’s implementation today!