When you’re working on a large software development project, businesses and enterprises alike often find it difficult to meet the project objectives due to the team’s lack of technical know-how about the subject. Similarly, hiring an in-house team takes time, ranging from several weeks to a few months or even a year, which may further affect delivery timelines.

But how do you deal with this challenge? The best way to fill the talent gap is by hiring an experienced team on a per-project basis — a process known as staff augmentation. In a fast-paced sector, like IT, where there are large and complex projects, staff augmentation services help organizations run business processes cost-effectively with the right team, making it easy for you to focus on your business goals and scale the business.

If you want to understand whether staff augmentation is for you, here’s a guide to help you understand what it is and when it’s the right time to choose staff augmentation.

Staff Augmentation: What is It?

Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy that allows a company to outsource staff from an outside agency temporarily to add to its current staff.

Unlike outsourcing that involves handing over the entire project to an outside company, staff augmentation allows you to choose the most skilled personnel that fit your requirements and to either cut or extend your augmented team whenever needed.

With staff augmentation, you get the best of both worlds: your team includes your on-site team and the best specialists from the outside company hired on a contractual basis. This method is viable for employers and employees to work on a project-to-project basis. Thanks to staff augmentation, companies can reduce costs related to payroll services, recruitment, and project implementation.

When Is It Appropriate to Choose Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation has quite a few notable benefits ranging from workforce transparency to cost reduction and increased flexibility. However, this model is best suited to help companies reach short-term goals. If you’re not sure if staff augmentation is right for your company, here are a few scenarios when you should consider using this approach.

Already Have an In-House Team but You Need a Niche Skill Set

Perhaps your company has taken on a large project that requires a specific skill set your in-house IT team doesn’t have. Of course, finding the right skilled personnel to handle the project within the shortest time frame can be difficult.

An IT staff augmentation allows you to bring aboard engineers and individual developers with high-level skills that may take time, training, and experience to master. The best part is that new team members provide you with additional talent and manpower needed without wasting too much time onboarding a new team. Plus, you don’t have to pay to retain them once the job is done.

Looking to Expand Your Current Team

As your business grows, chances are you may come across a client with many demands along the way. In such a scenario, you may not have enough time or budget to hire new workers to add to your existing team because talent search, which involves steps such as job postings, interviewing, and onboarding new staffers, is highly time-consuming.

With the staff augmentation approach, you find new members quickly and get expert assistance that will be beneficial to the success of the new partnership, all while expanding your team. The strategy also proves helpful when you have some members out of the office for an extended period. In this case, you can hire temporary members to step in just for that period, without spending additional time hiring and firing.

Looking for Cost-Effective IT Solutions

Hiring a full-time workforce to work on a specific project costs more time, money, and energy than is often needed. Staff augmentation offers a transparent cost structure and allows you to leverage highly skilled tech talent without worrying about any cost associated with hiring and training in-house employees. There’s no need to spend money on workstations, extra office space, and other facilities.

In this model, the client only pays for what they need and can have access to on-demand, specialized skills on a per need basis. As a result, businesses can significantly reduce the costs associated with in-house hiring.

You Want to Maintain Control Over the Project

Hiring an entire external team to handle your project means that you may lose control over certain aspects of project development at some point. However, when you augment your existing team, you get to keep the project in-house and maintain total control. This form of control over management allows companies to monitor the development of their temporary hires and maintain a stronghold over their projects as well as shape them depending on their desires.

You Need Better Communication and Visibility of the Project

With staff augmentation, you get full control of your team — both on-site and remotely, ensuring you are up to date with every aspect of the project that they’re working on. This model allows you to interact and communicate with team members directly, which maintains a more cohesive team dynamic and ensures quick delivery of the project in real-time.

Choosing a Staff Augmentation Partner That’s Right for You

Affordability, efficiency, and convenience are just a few of the main reasons why businesses rely on staff augmentation services to get things done. It’s a great option if you need to quickly scale your team or you are lacking a specific skill set.

With that said, there is no “one size fits all” model when dealing with staff augmentation and you need to consider many variabilities including the project requirements, budget, technical capacity, and project deadlines.

So, have you decided to work with an experienced digital product partner to fulfill your staffing needs? If so, get in touch with our team to discuss your needs and choose the best possible solution for your organization.