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 groundbreaking, 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 an already existing phenomenon? How can your company benefit from using staff augmentation services? Is in house team more expensive than a remote development team from business partner? You’ll know all the details – just keep reading.

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. Team augmentation services are scalable and less expensive than in house development team. Flexible team augmentation services can not only help you save money, but also speed up the software development project. How is it that the staff augmentation model can cut the administrative and organizational expenses? You’re ‘hiring’ skilled technical resources after all, so a dedicated team would seem to cost a lot. The first thing is the mentioned scalability.

Based on the project or contract requirements, you add employees (very often one person) to your team who have expert knowledge in a specific field. Augmented staff may join your team at various stages of the development. They aim to use their skill sets to move your project forward. You can upgrade your local team with an IT workforce (a remote team) based on your current needs. Staff augmentation gives you the flexibility and scalability you need. We discuss such agreements before you pay anything.

You don’t have to waste time on looking for the appropriate candidates, who will match the job description and fit to your in house staff. You don’t need to interview candidates, to check if they have the particular skills needed for your project. You don’t have to worry about health insurance. There’s no long term commitment, no skill gap. There are cost savings, though. The right people already have the technical expertise, tech talent, and experience in project based outsourcing work. We have those people. And many past clients appreciate our pros – just check our score on Clutch. The numbers prove it.

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 vs 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 the resources of another company. So, it is actually required skills (hiring a specialist for a specific time) vs. required tasks to be done (hiring a whole team or company to do it for you). Therefore, you basically get a skilled software development team that jumps on your project right away. It’s more than project based consulting services. We deliver a dedicated team that knows what to do in your project. As a top staff augmentation company, each augmented team from us has the combined experience that goes beyond the lifetime of few human beings.

You don’t have to worry about your adjusting your existing resources, like infrastructure. The augmented team does not need office space, as it’s like an extension to your existing staff, but none of the dedicated team are your permanent employees. However, each tech talent you hire from a staff augmentation provider has the specific skills and support your core business. It’s like project outsourcing, but with staff augmentation, you just extend your team with external specialists (i.e., remote developers).

Mind that teams acquired from outsourcing vendor are more than temporary workers. They fit in your company culture. They add skilled technical resources. These are software developers, project managers, QA experts. We, as your staff augmentation partner, can provide you with any experts you require. We specialize in software development services, but we have pros in project management, testing, UX and UI, and more. We also offer a broad range of other services related to IT – we handle any given project, and we are used to covering multiple projects simultaneously (we have over 110 experts ready for tasks). Staff augmentation is our bread and butter.

Why consider Staff Augmentation Service?

There are projects or initiatives that demand 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 for a short period of time as additional hands on the 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. The staff augmentation project fills the skill gaps in your local team.

This is the moment when Staff Augmentation comes to you and allows 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. Just tell us who you need – a project manager, software developer, UX & UI expert? We have them all.

Why staff augmentation then? Why not to hire new employees for your business? The answer is simple. With staff augmentation, you won’t need new team members permanently. You just need professionals for the work to be done. That’s all. And you know what? We also offer post launch support – so you can save more resources. Staff augmentation can really help you push your project forward without high costs along the way.

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 a 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. The outsourcing service will help you save time and money. That’s the most important thing of all the benefits of staff augmentation.

2. Expertise

You do not hire a person who MAY have the right experience and skills, you pick someone who matches up to your expectations. Make sure that the application is clear for potential workers, and it follows the Staff Augmentation model. The outsourcing model – we call it staff augmentation – gives you more control over growing your business. Our remote developers feel the flow immediately as they learn the project requirements beforehand. Having experts ready is one of the top benefits of staff augmentation.

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. Staff augmentation solutions give you the flexibility and are cost effective – even if you’re outsourcing team from abroad. It doesn’t matter if you just need a project manager or a whole dedicated team. Thus, resource augmentation can be just right for you.

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 the right development skills and continue the project not worrying about high-level delivery. You can even leave the project management to us.

We stand out from the crowd of other staff augmentation companies because we provide experts in project management, software development, QA, UX & UI, and any other field. Our staff augmentation model gives you what you require. And it costs much less than a new in house team. Hey, a dedicated team even costs less than expanding your existing in house team. Team augmentation provides the flexibility that every business needs. You see the difference – staff augmentation vs in house team, don’t you?

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 a regular employee, so for fulfilling some tasks it always saves your costs, but with long-term “employment” it can ruin your budget. What distinguishes us from other staff augmentation companies, is that we know what obstacles may occur in project outsourcing.

2. Training

Even though you hire experienced specialists, you still need to train them (to let him follow procedures within your company or know business 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. The good news is that each pro from any dedicated team we provide has enough experience to jump on the tasks immediately.

3. Responsibility

Using the 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. That’s one of the differences between staff augmentation vs managed teams services.

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.

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