In 2022, how can you expand your development team using personnel augmentation?
Outsourcing is a great way to fulfill corporate objectives with minimum resources while still achieving strategic objectives. Companies that value expert services at a reasonable cost have quickly adopted this delivery model. Outsourcing organizations have enhanced the scalability of their services in response to market needs. Staff augmentation and specialized development teams are examples of software development outsourcing.
Traditional outsourcing and staff augmentation have a significant impact on the global economy: in 2019, the outsourcing market was worth $92.5 billion globally, not only because outsourcing is considered cost-effective, but also because companies often choose to outsource to focus on their core business activities, according to Deloitte, due to flexibility, enabling speed to market, and improving service quality for a new project.
Outsourcing is for a variety of reasons.
The IT sector, which demands professional programmers with high capabilities to produce a high-quality task at a reasonable price, has found that remote teams are an effective answer. Because hiring in-house experts is difficult and time-consuming, and freelancers are sometimes unreliable, staff augmentation provides the same advantages at a lower cost; however, whether you utilize a time-and-materials or fixed-price business model will determine whether you save money.
People select staff augmentation over in-house employment for a variety of reasons:
- Hiring in-house is costly.
- Staff turnover is high.
- Recruitment time is valuable, particularly in the hot IT market.
- a scarcity of local talent
- Budget constraints
What is a Staff Augmentation Model, and how does it work?
The augmented staffing strategy entails supplementing an in-house workforce with specialized skills specialists on a project basis, either short- or long-term. It implies you may fill a team’s skill gaps by hiring specialized professionals who will meet particular IT project demands, provide your company a competitive edge, and remove the risks of hiring in-house staff.
For example, suppose you’re building an e-commerce website and already have a team of developers on staff, but you need two additional programmers with specific talents to launch everything on time. You can use a staff augmentation service to hire a software developer in 2–3 weeks instead of losing months on recruitment, contracting issues, and selecting a person who fits your team; once the project is launched, you won’t have any legal issues firing a team if you don’t need their services any longer.
Dedicated IT workers willing to join your project in a couple of days might be found via specialized staff augmentation organizations. The agency employs and manages these employees. It also implies a significantly speedier onboarding process since you won’t have to deal with payroll management or worry about pay stubs, office space administration, vacations, training, or any other administrative or legal difficulties. You will, however, need to hire a new IT employee for your in-house team. The difference between a dedicated development team and a full-time development team is that you cannot onboard new team members with full-time workers in this situation.
You may opt to extend your firm with approved software engineers from an outsourcing agency’s database of profiles with a certain skill set. Scaling your teams becomes simple and quick thanks to their professional talent pool. This is particularly useful for companies that need to recruit developers with various talents and degrees of competence on a project-by-project basis.
Staff Augmentation is a method of supplementing an in-house team with devoted professionals on a short- or long-term contract basis, without the risks associated with contracting staff.
If you want to add more people to your team, you may use the staff augmentation approach. Your in-house staff is overworked, and you don’t have the resources to dedicate to a new project.
Your company’s staff turnover is increasing, or you may need to locate a temporary replacement for an employee who has to leave for a time owing to maternity leave, medical treatment, or other reasons.
To deliver the project, you’ll need specific experience that you don’t have in your stack, and you won’t need that professional when the project is over.
You have a CTO/PM on your team, or you are a tech whiz. Because contractor staff management is on the client’s side, it’s critical to have someone in charge of delivery.
You must immediately increase your staff. Due to market competitiveness, you may have to hunt for a senior developer or someone with uncommon/popular knowledge for months. It’s preferable to work with a firm that can provide a diverse pool of specialists.
IT Staff Augmentation Services’ Advantages
To meet time and financial limitations, more organizations are turning to employee augmentation. Staff employees are preferable to hiring a specialized software development team that includes managed services from vendors if you already have a dev team in place with a project manager or tech responsible.
Ensured adaptability
Staff augmentation becomes the ideal choice if you have a large impending project since it is adjustable to business situations while also being secured by a talent sourcing provider. You shouldn’t be concerned about an unexpected workload since this team extension approach enables you to add employees with the relevant skill set at any time. Companies may take on projects of any size and complexity this way. Furthermore, using staff augmentation to fill empty roles may be done in a couple of days.
Spending less time recruiting
Recruitment is a difficult undertaking with a sometimes unpredictably uncertain consequences. What if you’ve been attempting to fill the job for six months and the new employee departs after just a few months? If no one in your region meets the requirements, should you consider moving candidates? What if you just have two weeks to find a specialized employee?
Headhunting consumes an excessive amount of time and effort. Let’s say you don’t have the financial means to do so. In such instances, staff augmentation may help, especially if you partner with suppliers that have a large database of verified professionals and can swiftly match them to your requirements.
Reduced costs
Outstaffing on-demand eliminates the costs of setting up a new workplace, and purchasing equipment, software, and other office supplies. Furthermore, you won’t have to worry about covering vacations, sick days, health insurance, or paying taxes for the employee since all of this is handled by the staffing company.
Keep in mind that if you want to recruit a top-quality developer, you should expect to pay a hefty compensation. As a result, if you locate a candidate who meets your requirements, it’s preferable to employ them right once rather than looking elsewhere for better rates, since professional demand is strong, and you risk losing the prospect to someone else. However, it is still less expensive than hiring someone in-house. Below is a breakdown of costs whether you recruit in-house, hire freelancers via platforms, or utilize YouTeam for staff augmentation.
Staff management that is effective
Staff augmentation, as opposed to project outsourcing, gives you greater control over your workflow and team. It allows you greater power to conduct management operations yourself rather than delegating team management to an outsourced company. You may also take instant action by monitoring the development process and team activities. As a result, you won’t be caught off guard if an outsourced manager informs you of an issue that might have been resolved three months ago.
Concentrate on individuals rather than merchants.
When looking for an IT outsourcing company, business owners look for one with a lot of experience and knowledge. Unfortunately, these criteria cannot ensure the excellent quality of work provided by their outsourced personnel. In such instances, the best technique would be to focus on the project’s competencies before selecting a vendor. You may also lookup comments, rankings, and rates on Clutch.co for select merchants.
Regardless of the vendor, the staff augmentation approach allows you to choose an expert with the precise skill set you need. You may choose three distinct programmers from three different companies, or you can hunt for a vendor that can provide all three at once. It’s all up to you. In any case, you’ll be able to recruit the required software engineers within a week.
Increased Management:
What Risks to Consider When Hiring Augmented Staff Most augmented employees will not collaborate with other developers in the company. Without any hazards or miscommunications, you must develop in-house enhanced staff communication, align workflow, manage job deliverables, and execute a plan. Managers must pay greater attention to it.
Risks to your privacy.
Make sure your data is safeguarded by NDA contracts and guidelines when you employ an outsider.
Communication.
If you’re outsourcing nearshore or offshore personnel augmentation, communication is crucial. Time overlaps and working hours should be planned according to time zones. Create a list of communication tools and their intended uses. For video conversations, use Zoom; for crucial information, use Gmail; and for team communication, use Slack.
Dedicated Development Team vs. Staff Augmentation
Unlike staff augmentation or dedicated team models, when you engage an independent contractor, you are responsible for all tasks and management. You should pay a commission if you engage a freelancer via the marketplace. You save the commission charge and have fewer paperwork to deal with if you employ the freelancer directly.
Hiring an independent contractor, on the other hand, comes with extra risks. One of them is that you can’t ensure that the freelancer won’t discover a better price elsewhere and abandon your project in the middle, while the staff augmentation approach reduces this risk.
Independent Contractor vs. Staff Augmentation
In contrast to staff augmentation or dedicated team models, when you engage independent contractors, all tasks and management are delegated to them. You should pay a commission if you engage a freelancer via the marketplace. You save the commission charge and have fewer paperwork to deal with if you employ the freelancer directly.
Hiring an independent contractor, on the other hand, comes with extra risks. One of them is that you can’t ensure that the freelancer won’t discover a better price elsewhere and abandon your project in the middle, while the staff augmentation approach reduces this risk.
Managed Services vs. Staff Augmentation
Managed services are becoming more popular, with the market anticipated to reach USD 329.1 billion by 2025. You can concentrate on the core of your company rather than IT service difficulties when you choose a managed service model. The amount of control from the client’s side changes between staff augmentation managed service, and project outsourcing—the software development provider oversees the delivery model: procedures and tools. Staff augmentation, on the other hand, needs the greatest control.
If you need to outsource the support of your day-to-day operations, such as software updates, running software-as-a-service, or platform-as-a-service, a managed service model may be advantageous. It operates as a one-stop-shop, monitoring and repairing crucial functions. Managed services concentrate on IT solutions and management, while staff augmentation focuses on outsourcing jobs and operations.
Where Can I Find a Reliable IT Outsourcing Firm?
Staff augmentation, like any other outsourcing strategy, has advantages and disadvantages. However, finding a dependable and trustworthy partner is the most difficult task, particularly when sourcing in offshore locations where risks are too high and unexpected. As a result, while selecting a dev shop for software development staff augmentation, keep the following considerations in mind:
Examine the requirements
You should consider what needs you wish to fill with outsourced workers. Do you need a certain skill set or want to free up your in-house team to work on a mission-critical project? Take note of the scope of work for additional employees as well as the project’s potential length.
Examine the experience and competence of your partner
Examine the vendor’s prior customers’ evaluations and testimonials. You can look it up on sites like Clutch. co. Pay attention to their qualifications as well as their work portfolio. Check to see whether they’ve worked on similar projects before and if they have the necessary skill set in their toolbox.
Timezone
Do you want to employ a software development team that is located near you or one that is located far away? Examine if the vendor’s operating hours are flexible or set. It demonstrates how long your time overlaps with your remote colleagues and if you can communicate in real time.
If you are in need of the best ways to improve your dev team with staff augmentation best practices, reach out to Prometteurs and we will help you.
