The term ‘staff augmentation’ has been popular in the IT industry for quite some time now. Companies deciding to augment their team are looking to get highly qualified employees for both short-term and long-term projects. There are many reasons why businesses choose this model. For example, staff augmentation/outsourcing allows a company to overcome geographical limitations and reach a global talent pool. Also, it can be a very cost-effective option. With staff augmentation, you can reinforce your in-house team, bridge skill gaps, as well as expand and develop the team quickly to make sure you meet your deadlines. 

If you are still wondering why and how staff augmentation might work for your business, you can read detailed information here. But if you’ve already decided that augmentation is the right model for your projects, then we’ll tell you all about it in this article. 

You’ve made your decision, now it’s time to choose the right model

Staff augmentation might be the perfect solution for boosting your team’s productivity and meeting deadlines faster. But you still might be wondering which model of augmentation to choose. Not to worry, we’re here to help. Let’s start with the basics. Staff augmentation is ideal for your business if:

• You need to add new team members but have little to no time to go through long recruitment and training processes. 
• You already have an in-house team of software engineers working on major projects but are willing to expand the team for developing new software modules. 
• You need short-term employees to test a product that your in-house team has already developed.
• You need specific knowledge that your in-house team members don’t have. 

If any of these sound like you, then let’s dig in a bit deeper. 

Things you should consider before augmenting your team

If you require additional assistance urgently, the solution will vary depending on the type of project your team is working on. You must consider the scope of the project, the amount of onboarding required for the augmented staff members, and the specific skillset you are looking for in outsourced staff members. 

Here’s a detailed list of things to keep in mind:

• Carefully document the staffing requirements from your in-house team members, and consult with HR executives and managers. This way you will have a clear view of what your business needs. 
• Research the vendor that is responsible for finding new staff members for you. Get information from their past partners and review success cases to find a good fit.
• Seek staff augmentation organizations that allow you to have tailor-made work agreements that are suitable for your company’s needs.
• Security is a big thing, so find a reliable staff augmentation company before granting access to sensitive information.
• Don’t limit yourself. If your company needs specialized knowledge to complete the project successfully then consider seeking this knowledge outside your country’s borders. Reach out to a staff augmentation company that’ll help you find creative personnel across the globe.  

These tips will get you on the right track to finding a perfect fit for your company’s needs. Now, let’s categorize the staff augmentation models.

Three types of staff augmentation

There are three main ways you can augment your team. 

• Commodity-based augmentation: When your team reaches a dead end and there is a need for new team members for performing basic work you can choose this model. This way you can add new staff members (no high level of skill required), thus reducing recruitment time and effort. 
• Skill-based augmentation: This type of augmentation happens when your business needs skilled workers to help the already existing team to complete tasks efficiently. The skills of those employees might not readily be available in your company and that’s why your staff might need outside help.
• Highly-skilled augmentation: When you need new employees with specific expertise to develop new solutions or solve complex problems, then this type of augmentation might be a perfect match for you. 

Knowing these models, you still might be wondering how to choose the right one for your business. Here’s the list of questions you might ask yourself:

• What skills are you looking for? Carefully read the list above and decide, depending on your project, if you need employees with basic skills, new skilled members, or people with high expertise to help your team complete the project.
• What is the duration of the project? Short-term and long-term projects require different approaches. With short-term tasks, you are bringing in new employees for temporary help, while with longer projects you are pretty much enlarging your team to work together for the longer term. 
• What are the expenses of the project? Check how outsourcing the entire project compares with training your in-house team to work with augmented staff. If communication and management don’t work effectively then the time and money-saving feature of staff augmentation can turn into the opposite.

The process of staff augmentation is not as difficult as it may seem. We hope the information above can help your company choose a provider and the right model of augmentation. The main thing to keep in mind is that with a clear understanding of the requirements and needs of your business then half of the job is done. All you have to do is find a company tailored to your needs and prepare your staff to work with augmented team members.

Get in touch

More companies face modern challenges in the quickly changing and fast-moving world, especially in the IT sector, where even simple technical advancements sometimes require costly adaptations. Every challenge is unique to a company depending on its size and management style. However, common issues across company sizes and styles include talent shortages, security, time, and management issues.

To address these challenges, organizations with technical needs often use outsourcing methods to fill the talent pool and make project management more efficient. There is a list of reasons companies might choose to augment their team. Let’s dive in to learn a bit more about the concept of staff augmentation. 

What is staff augmentation?

Staff Augmentation, or team augmentation, is the process of adding outside personnel to an existing in-house core staff to augment the organization’s capacity. Simply put, it is an outsourcing strategy that allows companies to ease the project workload by adding members from outside organizations. Businesses often choose this method to add skilled staff members to their teams, bypassing the lengthy and costly hiring process. Additionally, companies use augmented staff to maintain control and visibility or to cut costs in terms of time and money. As a result, the staff augmentation method is prevalent among companies with project-based needs. 

Companies must also decide how they will augment their staff. Options vary depending on the organization’s size, needs, management approaches, etc. Before selecting a particular augmentation style, companies should answer the key question: does the company need short-term or long-term assistance with an ongoing project? Staff augmentation proves to be an efficient solution in both ways, whether a company needs temporary assistance to get a project back on track or needs a dedicated long-term team to work on several projects. When a company has answered this question, the mission of looking for a perfect company for staff augmentation gets clearer. 

After answering this question, a company can look at the staff augmentation types and choose the one that best suits its needs. 

• Core augmentation – It is a good solution for long-term partnerships. Your in-house staff members can work on joint projects with outside organizations. The length of this type of augmentation is defined by both parties and the factors that affect the working process.
• Functional augmentation – This represents a good solution when assistance for a temporary project is needed. If your company needs skillful personnel to improve the quality of the work, you can augment the staff without extra time costs. 
• Temporary staff augmentation – This solution is a short-term agreement between organizations and often includes assistance from outside companies for improving the quality of work in multiple projects. While functional augmentation is more continuous in time, this last method is designated for one-time projects. 

What are the benefits of staff augmentation?

We’ve already discussed why some companies might prefer augmenting their staff, but the benefits of this approach go far beyond those. Staff augmentation helps companies to reduce recruitment efforts and the time and money spent and to gain access to highly specialized teams.

In short, staff augmentation can be effective at:

• Reducing costs – The costs can be divided into two key categories – money and time. The recruitment process for a company can cause increased spending on both. Staff augmentation is a shortcut to this process. It allows companies to add skilled members to the staff without unnecessary costs. 
• Increasing flexibility – The manageable size of the augmented team makes it easier to fit the team to the needs of the business.  
• Tracking progress – When it is easy to manage a team, it is easier to make progress visible. The team can keep interested parties up to date with progress. Therefore, they can quickly address any dissatisfactions that may arise during the working process. 
• Improving control – On the one hand, the progress is visible to stakeholders, and on the other, the company itself has better control of the team as it can track costs and identify the necessary resources. Improvements in control lead to higher work quality and faster completion of projects. 
• Improving the quality of work – Staff augmentation companies choose people with relevant and highly-tailored skills and knowledge. Consequently, product teams become increasingly specialized and the quality of work improves.

TOP REASONS FOR OUTSOURCING TECH-RELATED FUNCTIONS AND ROLES

What are the differences between staff augmentation and outsourcing?

You might still be wondering how staff augmentation differs from outsourcing. Outsourcing means that a partner company will recruit, train and manage a team of skilled professionals. This team will handle specific tasks in the future. The team is external to the company and isn’t directly involved in internal affairs. The client retains little or no control at all over the workflow. 

With augmentation, the client remains in control over the main aspects of the project. While staying in control, the company purchases engineering resources and assembles a team that will work with the core group. The specialized staff is chosen according to project-specific requirements. 

See how Making Science Sweeft can help you

Choosing the right partner when it comes to staff augmentation is critical. First, you need to consider whether staff augmentation is a good solution for your company. We’ve discussed the types and possible benefits of the method. If most of the things on the list fit your company then you are in the right place. 

Making Science Sweeft is providing high-quality work for clients. Our services vary depending on the industry-specific demands. Whether you are a large corporation, SME, or a fresh start-up, you need skilled and qualified workers to get your projects on track. Over the years Sweeft has proven that it is a reliable partner in each scenario. At Sweeft, we know how to leverage the advantages of remote work and increased flexibility to retain employee productivity and deliver value to our customers. With a community of professional, skilled, experienced developers, we provide resources whenever and wherever you need them. 

Get in touch

We know that finding developers is costly and time-consuming. The augmentation service provided by Making Science Sweeft gives you access to a wide range of skills and resources. Our team, whose members are fully dedicated to work and client success, ensures that the results we will achieve will benefit all parties involved. Learn more or get in touch today by visiting our Staff Augmentation page.

Get in touch

Economic Challenges and Outsourcing

Understanding Current Challenges and the Path Forward

2022-2023 Report

This report explores the biggest challenges CIOs are facing, the role of staff augmentation and outsourcing, and what the future may hold for CIO’s organizations and teams.

[contact-form-7 id=”32344″]JTNDc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBBZG9jdW1lbnQuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lciUyOCUyMCUyN3dwY2Y3bWFpbHNlbnQlMjclMkMlMjBmdW5jdGlvbiUyOCUyMGV2ZW50JTIwJTI5JTIwJTdCJTBBJTIwJTIwbG9jYXRpb24lMjAlM0QlMjAlMjdodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5tYWtpbmdzY2llbmNlLmNvbSUyRndwLWNvbnRlbnQlMkZ1cGxvYWRzJTJGMjAyMiUyRjEyJTJGTVNfU3dlZWZ0X0NJT19TdXJ2ZXlfV2hpdGVwYXBlci5wZGYlMjclM0IlMEElN0QlMkMlMjBmYWxzZSUyMCUyOSUzQiUwQSUzQyUyRnNjcmlwdCUzRQ==