What is Staff Augmentation?

06Mar

Onboard The Right Team

Imagine a scenario where you need to develop a banking application. You need eight developers but your in-house team only has four. Since you require skilled developers with in-depth mastery in building a robust banking application, it will take a month or two to fill the gap and hire four more talented developers. This will delay your app launch and negatively impact your revenue.

This is where staff augmentation comes into action. You can easily hire four developers with the required set of skills in the banking industry within days enabling faster app development and launch. But what is the correct staff augmentation model that your business requires for successful project completion? Let’s read further and get into it.

In this article you will learn:

What is staff augmentation?
Why do businesses require staff augmentation?
Difference between staff augmentation and outsourcing.
Types of staff augmentation.

As new technologies and programming languages emerge in the tech space, embracing them quickly and implementing them into your workflow is a sure-shot way of successful project completion. Staff augmentation fits this bill perfectly. Now let’s understand more about this staffing model.

What Is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation involves temporarily utilizing external personnel to augment the capability of your organization. It simply means quickly outsourcing personnel with the required skill set aligned with the organization’s objectives and goals. A staff augmentation model is the perfect solution for your business if you need short-term help to complete a project.

But why do businesses need staff augmentation? Let’s get into it.

Staff Augmentation: Fulfilling Your Business Needs

Expertise: Staff augmentation is the top-tier solution to complete a project that requires specific skill sets that your business lacks. This expertise is more effective if you require it for a short period.
Swifty scale up and down: The capability to quickly scale resources in any direction on demand is a neat benefit of staff augmentation. Businesses can add resources when and where they need them and even scale down when required without affecting the business.
Flexible staffing: Once a staff augmentation solution provider understands the requirements of the business, they choose from a talent pool and provide the best match for the required project. It also helps businesses to replace the workforce who are not performing up to the standards or don't fit the expanding job profile.
Cost-effective: Onboarding new hires for a specific project requires time and money. One of the goals of staff augmentation is to quickly hire professionals for a short period to complete the projects at hand. So rather than hiring full-time employees to complete a short-term project, hiring through staff augmentation helps you to save time and money for your organization.

Now that you understand the benefits of staff augmentation, let’s touch base on the critical differences between staff augmentation and outsourcing.

Staff Augmentation vs Outsourcing: The Differences

While in staff augmentation, the company brings in professionals temporarily to complete a specific task, outsourcing is sending your tasks to be completed by third parties. The three major differences between the two are below.

Staff Augmentation	Outsourcing
The client maintains control and manages augmented staff.	The client has limited project control.
External staff integrate with the client's team.	Difficult to integrate with the existing in-house team.
More flexibility in adjusting team size and scope of work.	No flexibility to adjust the team size.

Now let’s explore the different types of staff augmentation models.

Types of Staff Augmentation

Temporary staff augmentation: Bring in temporary staff to address short-term projects or workload spikes. For example, hiring contractors or freelancers for a specific duration without a long-term commitment.
Project-based staff augmentation: Assembling a team with specific skills for a particular project. This is often used for specialized projects where the existing in-house team lacks certain expertise.
Long-term staff augmentation: Hiring external resources for an extended period. This can be a cost-effective solution for ongoing tasks that don't warrant a permanent hire.
Skill-specific staff augmentation: Bringing in individuals with a particular skill set that is temporarily required. This is useful for gaining access to expertise that is not available internally.
Onshore staff augmentation: Involving recruitment of professionals from the same country as the organization. This is beneficial for projects demanding enhanced collaboration and communication due to geographical proximity.
Offshore staff augmentation: Hiring resources from a different country or region. This is often chosen for cost savings and access to a global talent pool.
Nearshore staff augmentation: Hiring resources from a neighboring or nearby country. This balances the advantages of offshore and onshore outsourcing, offering geographical proximity and cost-effectiveness.
Hybrid staff augmentation: Combining in-house staff with augmented resources. This offers flexibility in managing workloads and projects.
Managed staff augmentation: Outsourcing the management of augmented staff to a third-party provider. The provider handles recruitment, HR, payroll, and other administrative tasks.
Global staff augmentation: Leveraging talent from around the world for a global perspective. This is useful for companies with international operations or those looking for diverse skill sets.

IntellyLabs Staff Augmentation Services: Get The Right Crew On Board

Looking for qualified IT professionals for a wide range of tasks in your organization? Optimize your business operations using IntellyLabs' staff augmentation services to enhance efficiency and productivity.

Whether it’s developers, designers, product or project managers, we will provide your business with experts in various fields to get your most challenging projects done, simply and effectively.

Benefits of IntellyLabs Staff Augmentation:

Technically and behaviorally skilled employees
Immediate availability
Cost-effective pricing
Dedicated success managers

FAQs

What is IT staff augmentation?
Staff augmentation is an agile outsourcing strategy that businesses use to acquire skilled professionals to complete projects in a specific set of time.
How do IT staff augmentation services work?
Staff augmentation services involve supplementing a company's existing workforce with external talent to fill skill gaps, meet project demands, or handle specific tasks. This approach allows organizations to scale their teams quickly without the long-term commitment associated with traditional hiring.
How to get IT staff augmentation services?
To acquire staff augmentation services, one can collaborate with a recruiting agency or an IT services company like IntellyLabs. The latter is often preferable for its deep understanding of IT and tech businesses, ensuring a better match of skills and minimizing the risk of unsuitable hires.