What is Staff Augmentation?
If you want to get the job done right, you need qualified staff to manage and complete a project. But there may occur some problems. For example, if your existing resources are already working on other projects, you may not be able to use them for another one. So what? Maybe you should consider hiring? Not necessarily, as firstly, you can think about staff augmentation services.
It’s the practice of supplementing an organization’s existing workforce with additional skilled personnel. This can be done in a number of ways, of course, including:
- hiring new employees,
- outsourcing work to contractors or third-party vendors,
- or bringing in temps or interns.
But these solutions are much more expensive, in contrast to staff augmentation.
In a nutshell, staff augmentation is the practice of hiring external teams or specialists to supplement your existing house team. This model involves hiring contingent workers to fill short-term jobs within your company. So, in other words, the definition of staff augmentation refers to taking advantage of outside personnel for a temporary period of time in order to increase your company’s productivity.
The staff augmentation model in IT allows organizations, for example, to use worldwide professionals as needed while still managing them directly. So, by investing in such a solution, you maintain control over your engineering resources in every branch.
And where to start using staff augmentation? This can be anything from hiring a freelance developer to help with a specific project, to bringing in an outside agency to provide expert support during a period of high demand.
One way or another, the goal is to help businesses improve efficiency and productivity while also reducing labor costs – no overtime, no additional benefits, and no training are required with staff augmentation. It’s even possible to have your extra specialists only show up when needed, so you don’t have to move resources around or pay them when they’re not needed.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
There are several benefits and reasons why staff augmentation is gaining popularity, and we believe it’s not a temporary trend. Check out these advantages, and you will see why.
#1 Let Companies Scale Up or Down
Using outside staff to cover vacant positions on your internal team can be really beneficial. First and foremost, staff augmentation allows businesses to scale up or down as needed without having to commit to a permanent increase (or decrease) in headcount. This flexibility can be invaluable, especially for small businesses that may not have the budget to hire full-time employees.
As the demand for some specific, high-level skills continues to grow, staff augmentation is poised to become the go-to solution for businesses around the world. In addition, this approach offers companies much more flexibility, as with an augmented team, you can quickly increase or decrease your human resources according to your business purposes.
Therefore, you can easily gain many new specialists without going through the lengthy and expensive hiring process. Instead, you can simply bring in additional staff members on a short-term basis to get the job done.
Therefore, staff augmentation allows one to respond quickly to changes in market conditions and adapt to new circumstances because you employ such personnel who will supplement your in-house expertise and capabilities. In today’s rapidly-changing world, this is a critical advantage.
#2 Let You Work With Specialists
Business leaders can access a pool of highly-skilled experts on an as-needed basis. But how do this efficiently? Yes! By using staff augmentation.
This can really boost your business growth and gain additional skills and expertise that may not be available internally. For example, you may know more than one professional, but you simply cannot afford to hire one. That’s nothing because it is possible that you will be able to undertake short-term cooperation with them without having to employ them permanently.
See? It’s really great that staff augmentation can help businesses get access to workers and a wider pool of talent. As a result, rather than being limited to local candidates, you can now find the best person for the job regardless of where they live and what they are doing, as long as they have a wifi connection and free time.
In a blink of an eye, you can take advantage of staff augmentation, as who wouldn’t want to work with the best in the business? Maybe such an opportunity was impossible in the past, but in this digital age, it is no longer a problem. This model provides companies with the skilled employees they need to stay competitive. It can give every company access to the best specialists and improve the work-life balance for permanent professionals by freeing them up from non-essential tasks. Also, it will add a boost of motivation and take the overload of responsibilities off their shoulders.
#3 It’s a Cost-Effective Solution
Not so long ago, the only way to get more work done was to recruit more contract workers. And very often, this involved subsequent mass layoffs and frustrated employees. These days, however, companies are increasingly turning to staff augmentation as a way to get more work done with less money. And because this method doesn’t necessarily require bringing onboard new people on a permanent basis, it can be a more cost-effective solution than traditional contract hiring.
But actually, why does this approach give you so much more cost savings than employing full-time personnel? Because you only pay for the advanced skills and knowledge you need, and when you need them. So you avoid lengthy recruitment, staff training, induction into a new position, no wasted time, etc. It sounds so much better, doesn’t it?
So if you need new hands immediately, instead of considering permanent employment, think about supplemental staff, which may be a hit for you.
Why Staff Augmentation is the Future of IT
Looking to the future, it’s clear that staff augmentation is here to stay. As businesses continue to face ever-changing demands, the need for flexibility and cost reductions will only become more pronounced. So if you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, it’s time to start thinking about augmenting your house team.
Staff augmentation has been around for a while, but it’s only recently that the IT industry has really begun to adopt it. And there are many good reasons for that.
#1 It’s a Flexible Option for Your Business
The world is changing rapidly, and despite predictions about the future, we are often unsure of what will happen. Or simply, we can’t expect it (Pandemic Covid-19 only proved that.)
In that case, you need solutions that prove to be flexible. And using staff augmentation is a great example. First, you decide on your own what experts you need and how many you require. Then, by analyzing the skill gap of current workers, you can determine which talents are in demand. Therefore, you can hire a lot of new professionals, interns, software engineers, or project managers because you know exactly what type of help you are looking for. And that’s without having to employ people permanently.
For example, imagine you need help with a new key project you want to take on. On the other hand, this is the only such project, and you don’t foresee more of them in the future. So it would not be wise to bring on 15 new workers permanently. Instead, you can undertake short-term cooperation with selected individuals on a contract basis.
This way, you don’t waste the budget, eliminate future layoffs, and reward temporary workers for their efforts. And if you need another injection of staff in the future, there’s nothing stopping you from using staff augmentation again. And as a result, workforce enhancement in IT gave you an overall increase in personnel.
#2 You can Become the Best in the Market
As you can work with the best people in IT, because you use the vast pool of tech talent, you can beat your competition and become the best in the field. Sounds tempting? Yes, we know!
The world has become increasingly digitized, and the demand for IT professionals is skyrocketing. When other companies worry about recruiting new experts, you, on the other hand, don’t have to worry about this case, as you can co-work with specialists without hiring them.
Let’s say your competitors aren’t yet using the staff augmentation solutions yet, and a significant portion of their budget and time is consumed by recruiting new employees. In that case, you find yourself light years ahead of them. While they are struggling with their human resources, you are focused on developing, improving, and meeting the requirements of your customers. In this way, you can become a market leader, and your competitors won’t be able to catch up with you. So, as the world of work continues to evolve, it’s clear that staff augmentation companies are the future of IT.
#3 You Have Control Over Your Staff
By choosing supplemental staff for your IT business, you also retain control over projects, as well as new and existing staff. So, if you select this solution, it will be a sage move because you know how many things can go against your plan during the project implementation.
Imagine the situation where you outsource the work to a totally different agency. By doing this, you don’t have as much control over the task as you would have had if you had taken on some specialists for your house team. Moreover, handing over your work puts it in the hands of strangers, and that’s another difference between staff augmentation and outsourcing. Adding new members to your dedicated team, however, allows you to have more control. You can decide, for example, who leads the entire project and what task needs to be done first.
Also, using the outsourcing model means that you may have trouble communicating with an outside company, especially if you are in different time zones. This can be frustrating, especially when you are working on something important and have little time to turn in the project. Having control over staff augmentation, you do not have to worry about location as all team works on your conditions, and you can control many aspects of the process.
Codibly – your staff augmentation partner
Staff augmentation can be really helpful for your IT business, but you need to know where to find the right experts to enjoy such a solution. So you will need the help of specialists who know their stuff. That’s why we offer you to work with Codibly!
The Codibly team has the experience and high-level skills you need to enjoy the benefits of staff augmentation successfully. It doesn’t matter if you need a few staff members or a larger group. Our knowledge and experience will help you achieve your goal. Our house development team of professionals can fill in the gaps in your human resources and make your dream project come true. Over the years, we’ve worked on and successfully completed hundreds of projects with our clients, collaborating with multiple dedicated teams on long and short projects. So whether it’s energy & utilities, electric vehicles, or custom software development, we can say we know those fields inside and out.
So, if your team is once again struggling with the difficulties of a task, maybe our help will be the best choice for you. We have a group of skilled house employees who are ready to help you with your project, and you can reach us at any time. Just tell us what you need during a free call so we can understand your needs and find the best solution.
Conclusion
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to business improvement—but staff augmentation just might be the answer you’re looking for! If you’re interested in scaling up without increasing headcount, accessing new skills and technical expertise, or simply cost avoidance, then a concept of staff augmentation may be worth considering for your business.
Just remember to carefully weigh the pros and cons before making any decisions—and if you do decide to augment your staff, take the time to develop a solid plan for doing so.
And don’t be afraid to reach out to us and talk about your project idea or main challenge, and we’ll figure out how to solve it together! 😉
