Staff augmentation – a new way of outsourcing or just a new word for it?

IT industry is full of new phrases that are the talk of the town. Some of them are ground breaking, some are just variations of already well known but most of them just come and go. How is it with this all ‘staff augmentation’ services? Is it a new trend or a name for already existing phenomenon?

Table of contents

1. What is Staff Augmentation?
2. What is a difference between Staff Augmentation and Specialists Outsourcing?
3. Why consider Staff Augmentation Service?
4. Benefits of Staff Augmentation
   – Cost effective (reduction)
   – Expertise
   – Geographical limitations
   – Scalability
5. Cons of Staff Augmentation
   – Cost ineffective
   – Training
   – Responsibility
6. Summary

What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff Augmentation is the outsourcing strategy that allows companies to fill the skill gaps within the organization. It is all about hiring professionals on a short-term basis.

Based on the project or contract requirements you add employees (very often one person) to your team who have an expert knowledge in a specific field. Augmented staff may join your team at various stages of the development. Their aim is to use their skill set to move your project forward.

So, long story short – you hire professionals “as a service” (from a staff augmentation company) to complement your in-house team.

What is a difference between Staff Augmentation and Specialists Outsourcing?

In Staff Augmentation meaning is that you add staff to your team based on the additional skills that are required in the project. With specialists outsourcing you can execute your entire project with resources of another company. So it is actually required skills (hiring specialist for a specific time) vs. required tasks to be done (hiring whole team or company to do it for you).

Why consider Staff Augmentation Service?

There are projects or initiatives that demands new specialists. Highly skilled specialists. You do not need to hire them in-house. You just need them for consulting, for product design, expertise, analysis part or even software development.

However, you need them on a short period of time as additional hands on company deck. What is the most important, you do not need hands itself but you need outsourced workers who are skilled at what they do.

This is the moment when Resource Augmentation comes to you and allow you to reduce costs (of employment) and improve operational efficiencies. You can find the right specialist to move your project forward or complete it eminently.

Why staff augmentation then? Why not to hire new employees for your business? The answer is simple. You won’t need new team members permanently. You just need professionals for the work to be done. That’s all.

Benefits of Staff Augmentation

1. Cost effective (reduction)

You pay for the job that needs to be done. This way you cut costs without sacrificing quality. You hire skill set to push the job forward, improve what was already done or start a new project. With staff augmentation services you simply pay for what you need. Moreover, you avoid recruitment and hiring costs.

2. Expertise

You do not hire person who MAY have right experience and skills, you pick someone who matches up to your expectations. Make sure that the application is clear for a potential workers, and it follows the Staff Augmentation model.

3. Geographical limitations

If there is a problem with specialists in your country, you can hire someone from abroad. What is more, in case of any legal or communication problem, you may hire someone from your client’s country who will give you a hand and support your cooperation.

4. Scalability

If your project grows with time you do not need to worry about additional employees that may lose their job after the project ends. You simply pick people with right development skills and continue the project not worrying about high level delivery.

Cons of Staff Augmentation:

1. Cost ineffective

It MAY be ineffective if your project takes longer than you assumed or you hire a specialist longer than you assumed. Augmented Staff is usually more expensive per hour than regular employee so for fulfilling some tasks it always saves your costs but with long-term “employment” it can ruin your budget.

2. Training

Even though you hire experienced specialists you still need to train them (to let him follow procedures within your company or know bussiness culture). This person comes to your internal staff who have been working with each other for a longer time so time for getting each other, learning how to work with each other and knowing your company structure – it always takes some time. And you pay for this time.

3. Responsibility

Using Staff Augmentation service you just get the resources for your company. There still is the result that you are responsible for. So the whole development process and the quality control is still on your side.

Summary

The demand for skilled software developers is growing faster and faster and the supply is low. That is why a lot of IT companies struggle with hiring people with the right skill set.

Staff Augmentation (right next to project outsourcing) is another answer on set of managed services provided by companies. This time, instead of hiring a whole team or full time employees that you need to let go when particular tasks are done, you may just hire offshore specialists who will push the job forward.

Take a look at Staff Augmentation because it may be an answer to your needs.

Your specialist, your way.
Can’t find the right developer? Try at itCraft.

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