A Comprehensive Guide to Choosing the Best IT Staffing Solutions for Your Business
Originally posted on the Remotebase blog.
Looking for the right IT staffing solutions? This comprehensive guide will help you navigate the process and find the best fit for your business.
A Comprehensive Guide to Choosing the Best IT Staffing Solutions for Your Business
The success of any business heavily relies on its human resources. However, recruiting, training, and maintaining a whole department can result in massive expenses for business owners.
Therefore, the demand for qualified experts who can deliver good products, provide outstanding service, offer fair pricing, and maintain a professional working attitude is high in the IT sector.
Unfortunately, skilled IT human resources are scarce in some regions of the world, and there is inequality in the distribution of these skilled professionals between nations. This is why increasingly organizations are turning to IT staffing solutions to hire highly-trained employees.
IT staff augmentation services can be a valuable strategy for firms that are not too committed to a particular mode of operation, especially for startups. This is especially true in IT and software development, where companies increasingly turn to IT staffing solutions and committed development teams.
Hiring an in-house engineer in the US can be significantly more expensive. According to Glassdoor, the starting salary for an in-house engineer is around $9,000 per month, with additional expenses such as HR, rent, and equipment pushing the cost up to $15,000 or more per month. Additionally, in-house hiring can be inflexible, with long-term contracts and limited access to talent.
Using insights and best practices outlined in this article, businesses of all sizes can confidently navigate the complex landscape of IT staffing solutions and gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced digital environment.
What is Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation is a process of hiring external resources, mostly professionals, to supplement a company’s in-house team. It is usually a short-term or project-based hire that enables companies to meet their specific business needs without recruiting a full-time employee.
Staff augmentation allows businesses to be more flexible and responsive to demand changes and quickly access specialized expertise when needed. It is a streamlined and efficient approach to hiring that can save businesses time and resources while ensuring that they have the right talent for the job.
Types of Staff Augmentation
1. Temporary Staff Augmentation
Temporary IT staff augmentation service requires hiring external resources for a set period, such as a few weeks, months, or even up to a year, to support the company’s specific needs.
Temporary staff augmentation is commonly used for seasonal work, unexpected absences, or short-term project work that requires additional resources.
2. Project-based Staff Augmentation
Project-based IT staffing solution involves hiring external resources for the duration of a specific project. Companies can use this approach to gain access to specialized expertise or a larger pool of talent to work on a specific project.
Project-based staff augmentation can help businesses save time and resources while ensuring that they have the right team to complete the project on time and within budget.
3. Long-term Staff Augmentation
Long-term staff augmentation involves hiring external resources for a long term to support the company’s ongoing needs. Long-term staff augmentation can address skill gaps, increase the capacity of the company’s in-house team, and provide specialized expertise when needed.
4. Partial Staff Augmentation
Partial staff augmentation involves hiring external resources to work alongside the company’s in-house team.
Partial staff augmentation can address short-term skill gaps and provide specialized expertise or additional resources during busy periods. It is a flexible approach that allows businesses to quickly scale their team up or down as needed.
5. Full-time Staff Augmentation
This type of IT staff augmentation service involves hiring external resources to work full-time for the company. Full-time staff augmentation is typically used when a company needs specialized expertise or additional resources but does not want to commit to a permanent hire.
This approach can give businesses access to a larger talent pool while minimizing the risks and costs associated with permanent hiring.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About IT Outsourcing Services
Business Growth Benefits of Staff Augmentation
Consider the benefits of external help to illustrate the value of staff augmentation on a deeper level.
1. Budget and Time-Saving
Using personnel augmentation, you can be sure that the right people are always in the right place at the right time. The result is competent, correct, and fast support for companies and consumers without worrying about mistakes or unnecessary technological problems.
In addition, staff augmentation can be useful for some firms, particularly startups, who prioritize budget and time.
2. Risk Mitigation
Preventing risks is a crucial aspect of IT staff augmentation services. Providers ensure that their added workforce is highly skilled in essential competencies.
This approach ensures a smoother, safer, and faster resolution of issues related to coding, cybersecurity, testing, and other design flaws. In addition, a good IT staff augmentation service will narrow the gap between the provider and the business, thus meeting expectations.
3. No Infrastructure Expenses
Another advantage of staff augmentation is the lack of infrastructure expenses. The additional IT staffing solutions fill the void left by departing in-house employees without consuming resources from the parent company.
Instead, the management firm provides the needed amenities, allowing the added personnel to solve the parent company’s IT problems.
4. Flexible Scalability
IT staff augmentation services offer the flexibility to scale team sizes up or down according to project requirements. Project managers can evaluate whether a project is large or small and then hire additional personnel through staff augmentation.
Once the project is completed, the additional employees are returned to the provider, thus offering a flexible workforce.
5. Access to a Large and Right Talent Pool
The greatest battle for any startup is finding specialized and qualified resources with domain expertise. Unfortunately, it takes time and patience to discover the right people for the right task. With team augmentation, startups can start their time-sensitive projects immediately.
Through this short-term hiring, they get instant access to an array of skilled mindsets and IT experts. This is why most startups prefer augmenting their teams instead of hiring full-time.
6. Man-Made Errors in Projects
Man-made errors are the biggest reason for project and startup failure. One of the most significant errors is coding blunders, with estimates of 15–50 errors in every 1000 coding lines. Security breaches and hacking incidents are almost inevitable with such vulnerabilities.
7. External Expertise in IT Security
To minimize security risks and deal with IT issues, startups hire capable IT experts. This approach is beneficial for those without skilled IT professionals in-house. The augmented staff works with the in-house team to identify potential coding blunders and minimize hacking incidents.
8. Financial Flexibility
Startups require adaptability and cost adequacy to survive. IT staffing solutions provide the ability to scale up or down as needed, providing flexibility in finances.
Additionally, external resources help startups prioritize tasks, reduce costs, and eliminate overheads, resulting in overall cost reduction for the project.
9. Wide Range of Skill Sets
To stay competitive, new businesses need access to a range of modern technologies such as AI, ML, Blockchain, etc.
However, not every company has the expertise to implement such technologies. External IT experts provide the necessary skill set and infrastructure without incurring the additional cost of full-time hiring.
Read more: Top Front End Tools for Web Development
10. Shorter Recruitment Cycles
Recruiting in-house resources is time-consuming, which is why startups prefer short-term hiring. Third-party resources are quickly on board, and the external team comprises trained professionals who do not require additional training.
Staff augmentation provides specialized talent, reduces hiring costs, and takes less time to get on board. Additionally, augmented teams are generally gifted people who can easily immerse themselves in any project at any stage.
11. Control and Transparency in Project Management
IT staff augmentation services are a beneficial outsourcing method that offers new businesses control and transparency over their projects. Unlike other outsourcing methods, staff augmentation involves hiring an external team of experts to work alongside the in-house team.
The hiring company supervises this method’s development projects, progress, and results. This oversight provides control and transparency in the workflow, maintaining project quality.
12. Flexibility to Market Trends and Fluctuations
To keep up with market trends and stay ahead of their competitors, startups must adjust according to industry practices.
The tech industry is constantly changing and turbulent, and companies cannot operate in isolation. Staff augmentation provides the flexibility required to make progress in the IT domain.
13. Business Scalability Improvement
IT staffing solution enables startups to improve their business scalability by accessing on-demand, cost-effective, and high-end resources.
By augmenting their staffing requirements, startups can easily scale up their capacity to work on more projects and diversify their product and service offerings to a wide range of clients.
Moreover, this approach provides access to particularly skilled resources to fulfill the lack of expertise in the team, thus boosting the overall ROI.
14. Access to High-End Resources
Staff augmentation also accelerates the speed of software development projects. Hiring particularly skilled resources helps startups to venture into a new software development category while having the required resource to boost the overall ROI.
15. Flexibility to Scale Up and Down
Startups often require minimal timelines to complete their projects. In such cases, hiring a permanent resource may not be cost-effective. Staff augmentation offers the flexibility to expand or contract your team according to the project requirement.
With IT staff augmentation services, startups can access a pool of skilled resources without hiring permanent employees. This approach is cost-effective and provides flexibility in the recruitment process.
Read more: How to Scale Engineering Teams in 2023
Drawbacks of IT Staffing Solutions
- Managing Risks
Staff augmentation is a valuable resource for businesses looking to improve their operations without incurring the cost of hiring a full-time team. However, knowing the potential risks of outsourcing work to a third party is important.
- Ensuring Data Security
One major concern when augmenting staff is the potential for privacy risks. Establishing trust with the third party and undertaking regular security audits to address any security hazards or threats is important. Obtaining a robust non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by the augmented staff is also essential to protect sensitive data.
- Efficient Management and Communication Channels
Since augmented staff may not operate in your office, effective management and communication channels are key to avoiding managerial bottlenecks.
In addition, establishing such channels will help to keep your augmented and in-house staff in tune with each other during project completion.
- Maintaining Quality Control
Managers prioritizing cost reduction may hire a wrong candidate, resulting in expense overruns, project delays, and security risks for end users.
Establishing stringent quality control measures and gathering feedback from previous clients can verify if your augmented staff are well-trained and competent enough to finish their allocated tasks.
- Selecting the Right Talent
A meticulous selection process is imperative to hire the right talent. If your augmented team underperforms, hastily recruiting new people can be detrimental. Instead, a thorough selection method can help you examine a developer’s portfolio, assess their experience, and determine if they fit your business.
Software Team Augmentation Use Cases
- Reinforce Your Team with Specific Expertise
Even with an in-house software development team, you may require additional expertise for a specific technology or need a more experienced developer.
Augmenting your team with additional skilled resources can provide extra firepower to help launch new products and bring added value to your business.
- Meet Tight Deadlines
Recruiting and hiring new employees can be time-consuming when facing tight deadlines. In such cases, IT staff augmentation services firms can step in at short notice with capable staff to help you meet your deadlines while you continue recruiting.
- Obtain Specific Skills on a Short-Term Basis
There may be instances where you need a particular skill, such as a Hubspot expert or a mobile developer for a 3rd-party integration, but don’t want to hire someone in-house.
In such cases, staff augmentation can be a cost-effective solution to address your short-term needs without the overhead of a full-time hire.
- Use It as a Bridge for Hiring
When recruiting full-time team members, you can use IT staff augmentation services as a bridge to keep your projects moving forward. This can be especially helpful when you need additional expertise to evaluate potential candidates or to keep your project on track while waiting for new hires to start.
Considerations for Choosing the Right Staff Augmentation Model
When outsourcing talent, choosing the right resources and staff augmentation option is crucial to the success of your project. Here are some key areas to consider when selecting an augmentation model.
1. Project Duration: Consider the expected timeline for your project. IT staff augmentation services are ideal for projects with fewer than six months. For longer projects, other outsourcing models may be more appropriate.
2. Cost Analysis: Assess the expenses involved in training your in-house development team to work with augmented staff. Compare that against the costs of outsourcing the entire project or hiring a dedicated team. Additionally, ineffective communication and management processes can hinder the success of staff augmentation.
3. Data Sensitivity: Consider the sensitivity of the data you will be sharing. Signing a staff augmentation contract with an NDA clause is recommended, ensuring the confidentiality and protection of your sensitive data.
3 Things to Look for When Hiring a Staff Augmentation Provider
To ensure the best results when hiring a staff augmentation provider, there are a few key factors to consider:
A. Staffing Requirements: Before choosing a provider, you must have a clear idea of your staffing needs, including the required skill sets, project duration, and communication expectations. This will help you identify the most suitable providers and ensure a smooth and efficient hiring process.
B. Knowledge of Market Trends: With industry trends constantly evolving, working with a provider who stays current with the latest developments is crucial. This will ensure the augmented staff has the expertise and knowledge to contribute to your project’s success.
C. Augmentation Experience: Just like when hiring a full-time employee, reviewing a provider’s credentials and past work is essential. This includes:
- Reviewing their portfolio.
- Speaking with past clients.
- Reading objective reviews on websites like Glassdoor.
This due diligence will help minimize risks and ensure that you select a provider who can deliver quality results.
Overall, by considering these factors, you can select a staff augmentation provider that is well-suited to your needs and can help you achieve your project goals.
IT Staff Augmentation vs. Outsourcing vs. Managed Services
Staff augmentation, outsourcing, and managed services are three different options for businesses to consider when seeking IT support.
The client manages the hired professionals in staff augmentation, and the pricing is typically predictable and fixed. Businesses can customize the selection of IT professionals based on their specific needs.
On the other hand, the service provider handles outsourcing and managed services. The former is ideal for those who need a dedicated team to complete a project, while the latter is a hybrid form that combines IT staff augmentation services and outsourcing.
One important consideration is the cost. In staff augmentation and outsourcing, pricing is generally predictable and fixed, while managed services often include management costs.
When to Choose IT Staff Augmentation Services or Outsourcing?
IT Staff Augmentation Services
Businesses should consider staff augmentation when they need tech talent for a short period or want to add tech-specific talent to their existing development team without going through the hassle of the hiring process.
IT Outsourcing
On the other hand, IT outsourcing is suitable when there is a need for a dedicated team to complete a project and when businesses are struggling to provide IT services. It can also be an effective solution when market demand is high and businesses need to speed up product development.
Make it Happen!
Remotebase offers a flexible and efficient solution for IT projects and companies of any size with our IT team augmentation services.
Our approach enables you to easily fill in the gaps in your in-house team and receive powerful support, regardless of your project type. With our flexible tech IT staffing solutions, you can access extra minds and hands to bolster your team, saving considerable time and effort.
In four simple steps:
1. Share Your Requirements
Use our contact form to share your technology requirements and project details.
2. Align on Goals
We understand each project is unique. So, we schedule a meeting to align on goals and craft a customized team augmentation strategy.
3. Approve Your Team Members
Our experienced HR and tech leaders will provide you with the CVs of potential candidates. You can evaluate each profile and approve the members that best match your needs.
4. Launch Your Project with Remote Talent
After selecting your team members, we finalize the deal with a contract and kick off your remote team to work on your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different pricing models for IT staff augmentation services?
While fixed and predictable pricing models are commonly used in IT staff augmentation, some service providers may offer alternative models, such as hourly rates or milestone-based payments. Therefore, understanding the pricing structure before engaging with a service provider is important to avoid unexpected costs.
How can a company ensure effective communication and collaboration with augmented IT staff?
Clear communication and effective collaboration are crucial for the success of any IT project. To ensure effective collaboration with augmented IT staff, companies should establish a communication protocol and project management framework that enables regular updates, feedback, and problem-solving. They can also leverage collaboration tools and technologies to facilitate real-time communication and team interactions.
What are the benefits of using a dedicated team for IT staff augmentation services instead of individual contractors?
While hiring individual contractors for IT staff augmentation can be cost-effective, there are several benefits to using a dedicated team instead. For example, a dedicated team can provide better project management, communication and collaboration, continuity, and seamless integration with in-house teams. Additionally, dedicated teams are more likely to have established processes and workflows that can improve efficiency and productivity.
