- Muhammad Adnan
- November 17, 2023
10 Staff Augmentation Practices IT Firms Should Know
Did you know staff augmentation has become the best way to streamline your business operations? It is helping to drive innovations and improve time to market. It is also reducing the cost of startups, and small businesses all over the world. So, businesses in general, but IT firms in particular have adopted this hiring model. After the pandemic, businesses have changed their course of driving innovations and scaling operations.
According to the latest research IT firm’s outsourcing market has a worth of more than $92.5 billion. However, more than 35% of tech jobs are looking for remote IT professionals. Since the pandemic hit the world the numbers have risen and today IT outsourcing is worth $133 billion. So, more than 77% of tech companies seeking remote professionals. Therefore, staff outsourcing is on the rise no time ever before.
Looking forward to outsourcing IT professionals?
In this blog post, we are going to discuss top-notch 10 staff augmentation best practices. It includes software development, custom app development, AI software, IoT development, DevOps, and many others. We will also discuss about benefits of staff outsourcing.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation means the usage of a workforce outside the company for a certain period of time to augment the size of your business firm. This particular model has several types, but it is very effective in reducing the cost and improving time to the market. Companies can easily short-time job positions in this type of outsourcing model. IT firms also outsource tech professionals for an entire project.
10 Best Staff Augmentation Practices in a Nutshell
Let’s discuss the best practices of staff outsourcing that IT companies should know, and follow to hire the best IT professionals, dedicated development teams, and individuals for projects, and temporary jobs positions. Here are the following practices to augment staff to drive innovations, to reduce cost, and to scaling operations:
1) The Job Description Should be to the point
Suppose you look forward to augmenting staff. All you need to do is start spotting the gaps in skills, and knowledge of your in-house team. It will help you what stuff you are lacking, and what exactly you looking for in the particular position. Further, analyze what expertise you need for software development or mobile app development projects.
Make a clear and concise outline of your objectives, and goals that you want to achieve in the near future. So, hire developers, designers, quality assurance, and DevOps engineers following the timeline, certain tasks, deadlines, and results. If you are unable to analyze all these things you need to hire a project manager or get free consultancy. It will help IT firms in hiring and onboarding tech professionals.
2) Make Sure A Clear, & Open Conversation with Augmented Staff
Always keep in mind that communication is the key when dealing with the staff that you have outsourced. It is very crucial to get productivity, desired results, and your team meet the deadlines. Do you know McKinney’s report has come up with the facts that well-collaborated teams bring more productivity up to 25%? It helps you to prolong your remote team. Do you know remote teams are five times more productive than the in-house teams of tech companies?
Communication is a key to having a successful augmented staff. Use digital communication channels, like Slack, Skype, and others to have a faceoff with your team every day. Latest communication technologies enable companies to have video conference calls. It will help you to develop healthy communication with your staff and relationships. Moreover, companies can discuss all the concerns, and issues in the service at any time.
3) Adopt Project Management & tools of Communication
Most companies prefer to give responsibilities to project managers for better productivity, adherence, and optimizing timelines. It would help them to bring productivity, and quality work within the deadline and budget. Therefore, project management is very effective these days for tech companies looking for software development services, DevOps, and app development, and to hire an expert with multiple tech stacks. So, project management, and communication tools are necessary for staff augmentation services.
When it comes to project management tools, like Jira, Trello, Asana, and others you to monitor the results of a team. So, every team member will be able to see what are expectations of stockholders are within deadlines. Moreover, project managers can also keep on tracking every completed task within time zones in other countries.
4) Capture and document the Process involved In sharing Knowledge
Do you know how crucial it is to transfer knowledge of a project when you have outsourced a staff? In staff augmentation, you have to share the knowledge with the staff that you have outsourced. So, they can get to know the requirements of the project to the fullest. manuals, samples, videos, reports, or other forms of documentation that are relevant to your project. So, it is necessary to share the knowledge in the safest possible way.
It should consist of samples, reports, manuals, videos, and forms of documentation related to the project. Project managers or companies can use Google Drive, and other tools to keep the augmented team up to date. Tools, like Google Drive, will make sure that the project information has been delivered to the relevant personnel.
It will be helpful for the augmented team to gain access at the time of their choosing and also ensure the secrecy of the information.
5) Stay in Touch with The Project starting to an End
Staff augmentation empowers you to know about the basic needs to gain crucial project outcomes from the outsourced staff. So, it is one of the crucial points of staff outsourcing to keep in touch with the project performance, and efficiency.
It will help your staff to deliver the necessary information, and knowledge they need to make the project successful. Companies or project managers will get the project done within the deadline, reduce the budget, and help to meet the priorities.
6) Acknowledge the Difference Between outsourced Staff
The staff augmentation service of any company empowers you to hire the best talent from all over the world. It usually includes designers, developers of different stacks, quality assurance experts, project managers, and DevOps. Your in-house team will have a chance to work with the best talent in the world, and also, they can also share their culture, languages, time zones, and backgrounds. It improves communication skills and the art of dealing with remote talent.
7) Keep Appreciating Your Augmented Staff
Work recognition can do magic when you appreciate your augmented staff. Honoring them with the little bonuses will make a difference. It will create a trust, and loyalty factor between you and your staff that you have augmented to get your project done. Sharing regular feedback will encourage them to do quality work. It will create a friendly, stress-free, and productive environment for your team. It will encourage them to work with you again and they think themselves valued.
8) Ensure the Confidentiality of a Project
Do you know how crucial it is to ensure the secrecy of a project especially when you are completing it via staff augmentation? The software development industry is at high competition and your augmented staff may be working on multiple projects at the same time. So, sign a contract with the team that you have outsourced having project confidentiality clauses in place. It will add an extra layer of protection and get rid of your project from compromising. Staff augmentation services are the most secure way to get your confidential project done.
9) Facilitate Seamless Project Expansion
Improve the Scalability of Software Development and IT Staff Augmentation:
- To ensure a consistent pool of available talent and recruitment support, opt for a staff augmentation supplier with an extensive professional network, multiple recruiters, and a low attrition rate (ideally, no more than 10-15%).
- Set a clear notice period agreement for expanding your team, allowing your provider to prepare and supply talent without causing project delays.
- To ensure a positive workplace reputation, examine your staff augmentation company’s employee branding strategy. Companies with strong employee branding are more likely to retain talent, reducing the difficulty of finding suitable matches for your project requirements.
10) Choose a Reliable and Reputable Staff Augmentation Provider
In today’s oversaturated outsourcing market, choosing a reputable staff augmentation provider is critical. Think about the suggestions that follow for interviewing staff augmentation companies to help you render the right choice:
Examine the Recommendations and Ratings:
- Consider previous client satisfaction. Were they pleased with the professionals chosen and the speed with which they were hired?
- Examine the project’s success and how the vendor handled any challenges or issues.
Consider the following case studies:
- Examine case studies to gain insight into the vendor’s talent knowledge and experience.
- Investigate the industries and projects on which they have worked, as well as the outcomes they have contributed to.
- Examine how they dealt with challenges and issues in previous projects.
Determine Work Culture Compatibility:
- Schedule introductory calls to ensure compatibility in the workplace culture.
- Determine whether their principles, culture, and terms of partnership are compatible with yours.
- Look for characteristics that distinguish them while rendering them a dependable and transparent partner.
- By adhering to these guidelines, you can lay the groundwork for a fruitful and productive association with your chosen staff augmentation provider.
- distinguishing characteristics while rendering them dependable and transparent partners
Benefits of Staff Augmentation That IT Firms Need to Know
Discover the global appeal of staff augmentation and its key benefits:
- Temporary staff augmentation saves money on recruitment, overhead, and employee expenses. Avoid lengthy hiring processes and cut training and business overhead costs.
- Access to Experienced Talent: Augmented professionals provide immediate expertise and require little training. Take advantage of a large pool of experienced professionals who can cater to your specific requirements.
- Expansion Scalability: Adapt to changing requirements without investing in a full workforce. Change your developer team as needed to meet increased capacity and workload.
- Augmentation improves operational efficiency by providing flexibility and control over project progress. Save time, effort, and money by aligning employees with project milestones.
- Objective Nurturing: The diversity of skills provided by augmented professionals fosters creativity and innovation. Obtain rational opinions, make objective decisions, and strive for continuous improvement.
- Enhancement teams provide timely updates, promoting productivity, execution, communication, and resource management for transparent project visibility.
Join Hands with AllZone Technologies For Your Staff Augmentation
AllZone Technologies is one of the best companies offering staff augmentation and software consultancy services. The company augments technical teams and also delivers holistic solutions. The company can help you achieve your goals in any way possible including digitization, and innovation, and provide outsourcing services to startups, businesses, and enterprises.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is staff Augmentation?
The practice of recruiting outside experts or temporary workers to cover skill gaps and fulfill project requirements is known as staff augmentation. They can increase worker productivity without making a long-term commitment in this way.
What is staff augmentation in consulting?
Staff augmentation is the process of hiring external professionals or specialized consultants for a short period of time to strengthen the current staff of a consulting company. This helps the consulting firms boost their resources based on the requirements of projects and client’s demands.
Who uses Staff Augmentation?
Many businesses in a variety of industries use staff augmentation. Businesses, technology companies, and consulting firms are the ones who use it the most to expand their workforce, improve project output, and develop their workforce’s skills.
Why staff augmentation is important?
Staff augmentation is crucial because it gives the company the option to hire temporary remote workers as needed to increase productivity. Additionally, it gives access to seasoned experts without requiring a long-term hiring commitment for a full-time position.
Why do companies leverage staff augmentation?
Employers use staff augmentation to avoid the long-term commitments associated with traditional hiring, quickly adjust to shifting workloads, and access specialized skills for particular projects.
What are the pros and cons of staff augmentation?
One of the benefits of staff augmentation is the ability to scale up your work as needed. Due to the fact that you will be paying for specialized skills as needed, it also includes cost-effectiveness. While there is a possibility that the staff will experience difficulties with integration, this presents a drawback. Additionally, because the hourly rates for specialized skills may be higher in some cases, they may be more expensive.
What are the types of staff augmentations?
There are different types of staff augmentation. Starting with temporary staffing, in which you hire temporary workers to meet your time base needs. Part-time or full-time augmentation, where you have the flexibility of hiring professionals for the full-time or part-time. Project-based augmentation comes next, where specialists are hired for specific tasks or assignments. Skilled-based augmentation refers to the addition of individuals with specialized skills to improve teams that already function. In the end, we have offshore staff augmentation, hiring talented people from various regions to improve assets.
What are the types of staff augmentation services?
There are different fields where staff augmentation is provided, such as engineering, finance, IT, and creativity. They benefit the companies by providing them with a wide range of skill sets and temporary access to their expert teams for project-specific needs.
How do I choose the right staff augmentation model?
To select the best staff augmentation model, carefully examine your project’s skills and financial demands. Perform a thorough analysis of all the requirements, needs, and risk tolerances to ensure that the model best fits your project’s needs and goals.
What are some considerations and misunderstandings about staff augmentation?
Before opting for staff augmentation, there are a lot of factors that need careful attention, like project needs, skills that are required, and budget limitations. It is also important to clear up misconceptions regarding the flexibility of temporary staff integration and its potential for long-term viability.