The growth of technology has made the whole world connected and interrelated. While the world continues to recoil, the interest in IT services is growing at a fast pace. This drives IT organizations to embrace delivery models, for example, IT Staff Augmentation, which assists them with addressing the client’s necessities on time.

There’s a ton of disarray about what IT staff augmentation is. When you begin to explore the term, you’ll find that a ton of the data accessible is well-defined for the IT industry. While IT staff augmentation has turned into an undeniably normal phenomenon, it isn’t the only business where the outsourcing strategy is applicable.

You may be thinking about what essentials you need to know about IT Staff Augmentation or whether it’s the right decision for your company or not. Here we have drafted this blog that can help you to know everything about the IT Staff Augmentation Model.

Let’s Begin!

Table of Contents

What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff Augmentation is a process of hiring temporary or contractual workers for existing skill gaps in the team. It helps organizations look at a wider scope of talented minds that can meet their project requirements. Companies can hire them for the long term as well as the short term.

If we talk about IT Staff Augmentation, it includes hiring IT Professionals like developers, designers, IT Project managers, IT Business analysts, etc for particular project needs for the long term as well as short term. This process of hiring on a contractual basis can quickly fill the skill gap, the organization is facing without spending much on the recruitment process.

This augmented staff will work parallelly with existing teams and contribute their expertise to make the project successful. IT Staff augmentation services providers are responsible for handling payroll, compliance, and other labor laws too.

What are The Types of IT Staff Augmentation?

IT Staff Augmentation can be differentiated into short-term and long-term solutions. Short-term IT staff augmentation services may be utilized when your in-house experts aren’t free for a particular project or when your association just has a transient requirement for trained professionals or workers. Then again, long-term staff augmentation can be utilized to assist with cutting functional gaps or filling an expertise gap in longer undertakings. A few companies likewise could utilize staff augmentation if they battle to find the right in-house enlist promptly. The three essential types of staff augmentation are as follows:

Commodity: This staff Augmentation service allows you to hire reliable specialists who can work on a particular software or particular service.
Expertise Based: Skill-based staff augmentation allows you to support your organization’s requirements for technical writing, IT Business Analysis, API specialist, etc.
Highly Skilled: IT companies may experience a lack of expert professionals in certain projects. That could incorporate AI developers, data science professionals, or some other technology experts. IT Staff augmentation services can help you fill this gap and support you in your successful project completion.

What are The Types of IT Staff Augmentation Services?

When you are engaging in IT staff augmentation, there is a wide range of choices for you to browse. Contingent upon the requirements of your organization or association, you’ll probably find that one of the different types of Staff Augmentation Services will be more suitable.

Traditional Staffing Services: If you’re searching for an additional workforce on projects where a higher degree of expertise isn’t needed, this may be a choice that works for your company. You can commonly find expertise-based and commodity-augmented staff through these techniques.
On-Demand Talent Platforms: It is an internet-based platform that you can use to expand your staff. You can find highly skilled IT professionals through this technique.
Gig Platforms: These are internet-based apps where you can find suitable candidates for your projects. It can be a decent decision when you focus on speed and adaptability, and you can get expertise-based professionals in no time.
Boutique Staffing Firms: There are a few leading IT Staff augmentation firms present in the market with the help of which you can augment your staff easily without much hassle.
Ace Vendor Staff Augmentation Firm: If you’re looking for professionals at minimal expense, these large-scale vendor staffing firms could suit your requirements.
Direct Independent Connections: You can also enlist self-employed professionals directly as an association. It will help you in lowering expenses but it may come with certain challenges.

How Does The IT Staff Augmentation Process Work?

The term IT Staff Augmentation has changed from a popular expression to a staple in the IT industry across the globe. It is a highly progressive technique in the IT sector, it doesn’t need to hire a permanent employee. If your organization has sturdy project necessities and deadlines times, IT Staff augmentation solutions may be the method you want to get the strategic advantage you want.

IT Staff Augmentation Process

IT Staff Augmentation is a strategy in which an IT organization outsources extra IT professionals temporarily to augment their existing team and meet particular project needs. The IT Staff Augmentation process involves the following steps:

Identify Requirement: This step includes determining technical skill gaps for the particular project in the current team. It is done by accessing project requirements, evaluating current team expertise, and defining the need for technical expertise.
Select Engagement Model: Once an organization is done with its specific requirements, the IT company needs to decide on which engagement model it wants to augment its staff. There are three common engagement models:
- Onshore: Hiring from the same location.
- Nearshore: Hiring IT professionals from nearby countries.
- Offshore: Hiring from a faraway country.
Deliver Roles and Responsibilities: After selecting the engagement model IT organization will authorize the augmented professional for a task. It may also include assigning roles and responsibilities.
Collaboration & Communication: Once the augmented staff is onboarded, it is essential to communicate near-future plans related to the project. Also, it is important to let them about the company’s culture and schedule of meetings and the platforms you use to communicate.
Deliverables: Successful deployment of the project is crucial in the process. Augmnetd staff needs to deliver the project at the given deadline with perfection being a must. Quality control during the whole project journey is important.

When To Use IT Staff Augmentation Service?

There are endless situations when your companies could feel utilizing IT staff augmentation is appropriate. A portion of these include:

Bridge to employ: You can likewise utilize staff augmentation to give limits while you pursue work in an extremely durable group, for example, when you are going into another line of business or opening another product line.
Strategic: You can strategically involve adaptable work as a method for acquiring an upper hand, like by expanding your group’s agility or speeding up a venture to the market.
Expanded capacity: Staff augmentation can be utilized to satisfy a brief requirement for expanded regular daily work, for instance, for seasonal organizations, when there are spikes popular, while you’re expanding production, or while you’re dealing with a particular undertaking.
Particular skills: Staff augmentation can be utilized when you just need specific abilities for a while, for example, tech arrangement, brand and logo designs, or facilities arrangement.

Why IT Staff Augmentation is Important?

There are various reasons why IT Staff Augmentation is crucial today. To stay competitive in today’s fast-paced environment, IT Staff Augmentation is the best way to match it. It gives you access to a larger talent pool and enables remote working. It provides flexibility in augmenting current teams without much hassle. This adaptable outsourcing technique empowers IT Companies to hire IT professionals globally and deal with the augmented team easily. It offers organizations a chance to work with skilled minds at whatever point is required without the problem of connecting directly with staff. It also eliminates long training sessions for new employees, hence saving money on large chunks of change.
Let’s explore a few more reasons why it is important:

Flexibility: IT Staff Augmentation services give flexibility in outsourcing the right candidate for the right job. IT Companies can easily scale up or scale down their resources based on business requirements.
Cost Efficiency: IT Staff Augmentation is the least expensive way to hire IT resources from all parts of the world at minimum wages. It helps in eliminating the cost of training, recruiting, and maintaining the staff as it is all managed by the IT Staff Augmentation service provider.
Access to skilled talent pool: Accessing a wider talent pool becomes easy with IT Staff Augmentation services. It is more helpful for IT organizations lacking resources in their respective areas.
Meets deadlines quickly: IT Staff Augmentation services help in meeting project deadlines early. With the help of a large talent pool, it becomes easy to complete the task on time. It also helps in becoming competitive in the market.
Expertise: If an organization is working on a complex task it becomes easy for them to hire the right candidate quickly. Without giving them any training, experts will start working on the project from the very first day. Access to hire expertise is one of the major advantages of staff augmentation.

Advantages & Disadvantages of IT Staff Augmentation

IT Staff Augmentation services come with lots of advantages for every IT organization. But it depends upon whether your organization needs it or not. Many organizations have a recruitment department that does not need staffing services, on the other hand, some of them rely upon staffing service providers. Let’s discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages associated with this trend-setting service:

Advantages:

Decreases The Need for Training: Lots of the organization’s time goes into providing training to new staff, but Staff augmentation services can help you to get trained professionals, who can work for you from the first day.
Offers Scalability: Staff augmentation services can help organizations scale up or scale down the resources as per their business requirements. It helps organizations lower layoff rates and can add resources whenever needed.
Eliminates Onboarding Complexities: The normal recruiting and onboarding process comes with lots of complexities. It reduces the administrative burden as all paperwork, payroll, and releasing offer letters are done by the staffing service provider.
Geo-limitations: It is sometimes hard to find exceptionally skilled specialists in the same geographical location. Staff augmentation services can give you access to highly skilled professionals from all corners of the world and eliminate geo limitations.

Disadvantages

Collaboration With Existing Teams: Differences in an organization’s culture sometimes create issues for augmented staff.
Communication Barriers: Due to varied time zones and different mother tongues, augmented staff may face problems in communicating properly.
Commitment Concerns: As augmented staff may get hired for short terms they don’t feel much connected with organization goals, and sometimes that may lead to commitment issues and lower productivity.
Management challenges: Managing in terms of employee engagement, motivation, and communication could be a concern for administrative staff.

What are The Challenges of IT Staff Augmentation?

IT Staff augmentation is a good choice for organizations if they are looking to hire IT Professionals on a short-term or contractual basis. There are many benefits associated with this service which we have discussed earlier in the blog however, there are a few challenges as well that come with it. Before jumping into this trend-setting service you must check what challenges you may face while augmenting your staff.

Communication: Communication is the foremost challenge that any organization may face while integrating new staff into current staff. As there is a predefined set of rules and regulations for each project every employee has to follow and it is a bit challenging to communicate with augmented staff. It takes time, to ensure everybody is on the same page.
Finding The Right IT Professional: Finding exactly what you are looking for takes time. It is challenging to identify which IT professional will fit with your existing team and can make your project successful.
Return on Investment: Staff augmentation is a wise decision when you want to hire an IT Professional for the short term. But it is vital to understand whether it is a fruitful investment. Sometimes return on investment is not as per the expectation, which may create issues.
Managing Different Expectations: IT Professionals from different organizations and different countries have different expectations. They may have worked in different working cultures, deadlines timings, etc. Managing them in a new environment sometimes creates difficulties.

How to Choose The Right IT Staff Augmentation Provider

Are you struggling to find the best talent pool to bridge the skill gap of your IT company? But do not want to waste your time in filtering the good profiles? What, if you could get the best talent pool without any struggle at all?

Yes, it is possible by selecting the right IT Staff augmentation company. They provide you with some of the best-skilled minds who may help you with all your specific project needs.

IT staff Augmentation Services are the ideal solution for you. With such countless choices available, how would you pick the correct IT staff augmentation company? Let us discuss some crucial elements to consider while choosing an IT staff augmentation company to assist you with pursuing the ideal choice for your business.

Recognize the need for staff augmentation.
Research well about IT staff augmentation companies and their experiences.
Evaluate your chosen staff augmentation company’s reach in the international market.
What will be their communication rules?
Review IT staff augmentation contract.
Pay attention to the language and cultural differences.
Manage your IT staff augmentation team.

Common Misconceptions About IT Staff Augmentation

There are various common misconceptions have taken place about IT staff augmentation that may lead to confusion and misinterpretations:

Misconception: IT Staff Augmentation is synonymous with outsourcing.

Reality: This is false. IT staff augmentation services include adding skilled professionals to your existing team to bridge a particular skill gap. In contrast, Outsourcing includes transmitting the responsibility of a specific task or project to a third-party service provider.

Misconception: IT staff augmentation services are only reasonable for short-term projects.

Reality: No, it can also be helpful on long-term projects. IT Staff augmentation services provide support to your ongoing projects as well as long-term goals.

Misconception: IT staff augmentation requires a hefty amount.

Reality: IT staff augmentation services do require some expenses but it is a cost-effective solution as compared to hiring a full-time employee. You can save your money by eliminating training sessions for new employees and joining bonuses.

Misconception: IT staff augmentation has safety issues and comes with the loss of control.

Reality: There is no such risk involved. Augmented staff will work closely with your existing team, allowing you to maintain control over the project while benefiting from the added expertise and resources.

Potential Risks Associated With IT Staff Augmentation & Strategies For Mitigating These Risks

Every new change in the working process of any organization comes with certain risks. Staff augmentation also came with a few risks but there are ways to mitigate them. Let’s explore:

Risk: Communication Barriers
Solution: While adding staff to an existing team of people, there might be communication barriers and coordination challenges. To mitigate this risk, it is essential to set up clear communication channels and explain expectations. Organizations can set up regular check-ins and provisions to send daily work reports.

Risk: Confidentiality and security issues
Solution: Allowing access to sensitive and confidential information may create a risk for organizations. However you can establish a set of clear guidelines and rules for addressing sensitive information and ensure that augmented staff members sign nondisclosure agreements.

Risk: Legal Issues
Solution: A poor contract can lead to many legal issues like loss of control, data theft, poor quality, etc. To overcome this issue organizations need to create a win-win contract for both parties that includes clear instructions about every legal issue that may arise.

Future of IT Staff Augmentation

After covid-19 outbreak, the trend of remote work is significantly affecting the future of staff augmentation. With an ever-increasing number of organizations taking on adaptable and remote work arrangements, the need for a talent pool for staff augmentation extends past limits. This implies organizations from each corner of the world are embracing staff augmentation services to bridge the skill gap. Here we have listed a few trends that can boost the need for IT Staff augmentation services soon:

Rise of remote working staff: The COVID-19 outbreak has increased the adoption of remote work. Many IT Companies realize that remote working has many benefits as compared to office working. It provides flexibility to employees to work from anywhere and saves time and money. Remote working can boost the need for IT Staff augmentation services at the global level.
Upskilling and Reskilling of the team: As technology is rapidly advancing, IT companies are facing skill gaps in their existing teams. They need to focus on reskilling and upskilling current IT teams. IT Staff augmentation services can help them to upskill their team by hiring IT professionals from them in minimum time and cost. It helps IT Companies to reduce their cost by eliminating training sessions and payroll management.
Adoption of HR Tech: HR Tech solutions like candidature tracking systems, AI-enabled screening tools, automated performance appraisal, talent management tools, etc will enhance the process of managing augmented IT Staff. These upcoming HR tech solutions will allow IT Staff Augmentation service providers to identify and match the right employee for the right job easily.
Emergence of niche staffing firms: As the IT industry is growing at a fast pace, IT Staff Augmentation may witness the emergence of niche staffing. IT Firms are concentrating more on specific talent for specific technologies like AI, Cloud, Data science, etc. IT Staff Augmentation companies will develop expertise in required areas. IT Companies will get the desired resources from niche staffing companies.

Take Away

Today, the IT industry is growing at a fast pace. New technologies accelerate demand for relevant talent. IT Staff augmentation services are the ideal option to adopt that can give wings to IT companies in bridging the gap. IT Staff augmentation services help IT companies lower their expenses, eliminate training sessions, and save time in managing augmented teams.

The staff augmentation model can support IT organizations’ ongoing demands cost-effectively. However, IT Companies need to evaluate their requirement prior, and should thoroughly understand the pros and cons of IT Staff augmentation services.

If you are looking for the best IT Staff augmentation service provider you can reach us at CDN Solutions Group. We are a leading IT Staff Augmentation Company, helping organizations in filling the skills gap across the world.

To know more about our IT Staff Augmentation Services kindly contact us or drop a mail on contact@cdnsol.com