What Is IT Staff Augmentation?

IT staff augmentation is a strategy opted for by companies in the IT industry that helps them hire highly skilled and experienced IT experts temporarily to complete a particular project or extend the capabilities of their workforce. The types of IT professionals you can access through this strategy are Front End Developers, Back End Developers, E-Commerce Developers, Full Stack Developers, UI/UX Designers, Project Managers, QA Testers and so many more.

This strategy can help you access unique skill sets that may not be possible within your current team or budget. It can also enable you to quickly scale up the workforce depending on the requirements without the need for a long-term commitment and a ridiculous cost of hiring new employees.

But all this would be possible only if you choose the right IT staff augmentation service provider that can work with your existing team to get the best possible outcomes.

How Does Staff Augmentation Work?

Before moving on to how it works, you need to understand that staff augmentation is a suitable strategy for temporary hiring. Most preferably, this hiring model works best for projects that may last for 2 years or less. For anything longer, permanent hiring would be the way to go.

First, you need to check what kind of expertise you require to complete a particular project successfully and within the deadline. Or what services or experts might your team and company benefit from?

After you have figured out which experts would help with your desires and expectations, look for the best options for the same. Sure, you may try augmented staffing yourself; but professional staff augmentation services would be more trustworthy.

After narrowing down your options, evaluate them and choose the most suitable one. Then, you can start the onboarding process, which means providing the new, temporary experts with the necessary time and resources so that they can start working on the project with the existing team as quickly as possible.

When Should You Use Staff Augmentation?

Here are a few scenarios staff augmentation might be a suitable strategy:

Project Scaling

Although rapid scaling of the business may help improve the sales and revenue of the company, there would be a significant rise in the workload, for which you will need more expert professionals for a short while. In that case, offshore staff augmentation would help.

For Unique Expertise

If one of your projects needs a unique set of skills or expertise lacking from your in-house team, you may opt for staff augmentation. Through this strategy, you can get the services of expert professionals who have the necessary skills and experience.

Economic Services

Offshore staff augmentation can be excellent for completing projects without spending too much money hiring permanent employees. With this hiring model, you can hire highly experienced professionals temporarily, which would help avoid long-term expenses like medical benefits, training, etc.

Handling Elevated Demands

So many industries across domains have peak seasons, which requires additional staff to manage the increased demand for services and products. In that case, staff augmentation can help hire the necessary staff during the peak season and then reduce the workload when demand decreases.

Filling Talent Gaps

Sometimes, there are talent gaps in a team, which may result in either the project being unsuccessful or not being delivered on time. In that case, staff augmentation can help fill these gaps and ensure the project operation goes smoothly.

So whether you want to quickly scale up your business or fill the talent gaps in your existing team with expert professionals, staff augmentation would be an excellent strategy.

Benefits of IT Staff Augmentation

Staff augmentation is a strategy of hiring special personnel for a specific project or task temporarily. This process can offer several benefits for your project as well as your business:

More specialized skill set: With staff augmentation, you can use specialized skills related to emerging technologies, specific programming languages, or niche areas of expertise for projects that may not be available in your existing team.
Cost-effective: Staff augmentation provides cost-effective hiring options for a project temporarily so you can avoid excessive expenses like medical benefits on a permanent employee.
Scalability: With staff augmentation, you can access a more specialized skill set and higher experience, through which you can scale up your project and company more quickly.
Reduced risk: Some tasks and projects are too significant to leave a possibility of risk at the hands of new employees. In that case, you can temporarily hire highly-experienced and specialized professionals to ensure the project is developed and operated as expected.
Improved efficiency: Staff augmentation helps hire professionals with extensive skill sets and experience, which will help improve the overall efficiency and quality of the project.
Flexibility: You will have access to a diverse pool of IT specialists ranging from UI/UX designers and front-end developers to Scrum masters and product owners.

Finally, staff augmentation would be an excellent strategy if you are looking for highly-specialized professionals with extensive skill sets to add more value to your projects or bridge any talent gaps in your in-house team. These benefits make staff augmentation an attractive solution for businesses that require unique expertise to supplement their existing tech team.

Challenges of Staff Augmentation

Like almost anything else in the world, with the benefits, the staff augmentation strategy has some challenges as well. Here are a few significant ones:

Integration: One of the primary challenges with staff augmentation is ensuring the new, temporary employee integrates well with the in-house team.
Communication: Professionals hired through staff augmentation strategy tend to work remotely. So there is a risk of unclear communication, which may negatively impact the quality of the project.
Quality Control: Again, since the professionals hired by staff augmentation work remotely, it’s a little tricky to ensure the quality of work delivered for the project.
Data Security: Another challenge with this strategy is ensuring data security while the augmented staff works remotely. So restrict the access to intellectual property to authorized personnel only.
Limited Availability: Augmented staff works on several projects simultaneously, so you may be unable to reach them while they work with another client.

Other than the above-mentioned challenges, the cost is a massive factor in choosing this strategy. Using a staffing agency comes with a 15% to 25% annual salary fee, while an in-house HR team can increase hiring costs by over 50% according to Zippia research. Although the staff augmentation project will be more affordable than other hiring models, acquiring the services of more experienced professionals may cost you quite a bit.

How to Succeed with Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation project hiring is a relatively new concept for people, so there are bound to be some doubts about whether or not it will be successful. So here are some ways to make sure this strategy works effectively:

Specify Your Requirements and Expectations

During the consultation, clearly specify your requirements for the project and expectations from the augmented staffing. That would include the scope of the project, budget, hard deadline, and expected outcomes.

Select the Suitable Staff Augmentation Resources Partner

Arguably, the most important aspect of ensuring augmented staffing works well is by selecting the best partner for it. For the best outcomes, shortlist the service providers with experience in your industry and a strong portfolio of successful projects.

Set up Clear Communication

As mentioned earlier, augmented staff works remotely, which means communication might be an issue. So you need to set up a clear communication channel, perform regular check-ins, and provide constant feedback.

Team Integration

Making sure the new temporarily-hired employees integrate well with the existing team is critical to ensure the success of the project. Provide them with the necessary skills and training, and define your expectations from the project from the start.

Monitor Quality and Progress

You can’t just set up a team for the project and sit back and relax. It’s important you monitor the quality and progress of the project regularly to ensure it’s being completed effectively and within the stipulated time.

To summarize, staff augmentation is a great hiring model, but like any other strategy, you need to follow the above-mentioned steps to ensure it works well for your projects.

Types of Staff Augmentation

Staff augmentation is a strategy for hiring highly talented and experienced professionals to cover the talent gaps in the existing team and complete complex projects requiring unique skill sets. However, staff augmentation has three types as well:

Commodity Staff Augmentation

Commodity-based is a basic staffing augmentation that helps companies hire workers with the required skills and experience for basic tasks like administrative work and customer support. Companies often use this type of staff augmentation for short-term hiring.

Skill-Based Staff Augmentation

As the name suggests, this type of staff augmentation is used to hire professional staffers with specialized skills to cover the talent gaps in the existing team. With extensive skills and experience, these augmented staffers are hired for long-term projects.

Highly-Skilled Staff Augmentation

Highly skilled is the most advanced type of staff augmentation hiring strategy used to procure experts with advanced degrees and years of expertise in a particular field. Major MNCs use this model for long-term hiring to work on high-priority, complicated projects that require a higher level of technical knowledge and expertise.

Choosing amongst the three types of staff augmentation hiring models is usually based on the type of project, deadline, and the stipulated budget.

How to Select the Right Staff Augmentation Model?

Selecting the right staff augmentation model is crucial for project success, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. A poorly chosen model can lead to inadequate resources, decreased productivity, and a higher risk of project failure. The right model ensures access to the necessary talent pool, scalability, and cost savings. It’s essential to carefully evaluate different models and select the one that best fits the project’s specific requirements and goals. Here are a few factors to consider while choosing a suitable staff augmentation model:

Project Requirements

The first criterion in selecting a staff augmentation service is defining the project requirements, which include the scope of the project, hard deadline, budget, and desired outcomes.

Location

The location of staff augmentation personnel can impact the budget and quality of the project. Businesses should consider the location of the personnel and its impact on the project.

Skill Requirements

Check the skills presented by your shortlisted staff augmentation model and service partners and choose the most suitable option accordingly.

Timeframe

Specify a hard deadline for the project and see which model and service partner would be ready to commit to the timeline.

Budget

Another genuine concern during any hiring is the budget. Specify the budget and carefully check which partner might be able to do it.

Communication

Communication is critical to ensure every stage of the project goes as planned.

These factors must be carefully considered before choosing a staff augmentation model and the service partner for the project as per your requirements and expectations.

Myths About Staff Augmentation

There are several myths about staff augmentation that businesses should be aware of:

Myth: Staff augmentation is only meant for short-term needs.

Reality: Although staff augmentation usually opts for short-term requirements, this hiring model can also be suited to those looking to cover the talent gaps in the existing team long-term.

Myth: Staff augmentation is a costly model.

Reality: When comparing it to permanent hiring, staff augmentation is cost-effective. You only need to pay for the number of hours the hired professionals work on the project. With this model, you’ll also be able to save on overhead expenses like medical benefits and insurance. According to a recent study, IT staff augmentation may even cost 20-30% less than in-house permanent hiring.

Myth: You can’t guarantee loyalty and commitment with augmented staff.

Reality: Employees hired through staff augmentation are usually highly talented and experienced in their industry and have worked on several similar projects in the past. So they understand the importance of project deadlines and quality.

Myth: Augmented staff doesn’t gel well with the in-house team.

Reality: To ensure that the augmented staff works well in integration with the in-house team, you need to give them proper training and induction of your office principles. Additionally, constant support and guidance will ensure a smooth transition.

Staff augmentation has several other myths that are completely unfounded. But in reality, it’s a very enterprising hiring model that can help you cover the talent gaps in your team and complete your projects more effortlessly.

How Staff Augmentation Works at WPWeb Infotech?

At WPWeb Infotech, we have been highly recognized around the world for our enterprising IT staff augmentation services, including ground-level team building, talent integration, vendor transition, long-term and short-term staffing, and dedicated team building.

We employ highly talented and experienced IT experts like front-end developers, back-end developers, full-stack developers, eCommerce developers, UI/UX designers, QA specialists, cloud experts, etc.

WPWeb Infotech follows a holistic process for staff augmentation, which involves four steps in general:

Step 1: Share CVs

The first step in our IT staff augmentation process is sharing the CV. We share a comprehensive CV of our expert for the desired project or functionality. This CV includes everything from their education markers to their experience in the field, along with a portfolio of projects they have previously worked on. It helps potential employers analyze our IT experts for whether or not they are suitable for the job.

Step 2: Organize Interviews

After your company shortlists our IT experts, they can have a face-to-face (or via a video call) interview. During this call, there will be an initial consultation on the potential job, where you will discuss the project requirements, budget, hard delivery deadline, and expected outcomes. If you are satisfied with our offerings and responses to the demands, we will move forward to the next step in the process.

Step 3: Onboarding the Augmented Staff

If you are satisfied with our offerings and responses to your requirements, both parties will move forward to the onboarding. During this time, you will need to provide our expert with the required tools and resources to start working on the project. Moreover, you will have to make our experts familiar with your company’s values and protocols to ensure they integrate well with your in-house team.

Step 4: Start Working on the Project

After you provide the necessary tools and resources, our experts, augmented by you, will be able to start working on your project. But it’s important you provide constant guidance and support to ensure the project work goes on as you planned.

Whether you are a smaller enterprise looking to cover the talent gaps or a major MNC looking for more specialized personnel, we provide excellent IT staff augmentation services with a keen focus on quality and punctuality.

Conclusion

Staff augmentation can be a valuable strategy for any business, no matter how big or small, to cover skill gaps, and benefit from benefit from the increased productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness that come with having a talented and flexible workforce. While there may be challenges and additional costs associated with staff augmentation, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for many businesses.

With the right approach and mindset, staff augmentation can be a powerful tool for driving business success and growth. So whether you are a small enterprise or a major MNC, WPWeb Infotech’s staff augmentation resources can help you set up a new website and upgrade the existing one with better design and more advanced security protocols. For more information, get in touch with our team of experts.

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What is IT Staff Augmentation? & How You can Leverage it?

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