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What is Staff Augmentation?
IT Staff Augmentation refers to hiring temporary employees to fill specific skills gaps within your business.
You can add employees who possess particular abilities based on project needs; at different stages in development, they might use these talents and contribute their skills towards furthering it.
Three Types Of Staff Augmentation
Let's look at the three types of employee augmentation that your business can use.
- Commodity
- Skill-based
- High-skilled
Commodity
This type of staff enhancement can provide you with competent employees who can perform a variety of tasks, including:
- Buy it Now
- The following are some examples of events that you can attend
- Manual tasks
- Work in the warehouse
The augmentation method is often chosen when you need to hire staff immediately.
It does not involve hiring skilled workers for a specific task.
Skill-Based
You can fill a variety of job categories, such as clerical work, data entry, transcription, or simple copywriting, by using skill-based employee augmentation.
This type of staff augmentation requires a minimum level of skill.
Highly Skilled
They are composed of experts who are highly qualified and have a wide range of skills that they use to complete large and complex projects.
These teams are known for their ability to work agilely, adaptability toward the client and high-quality outcomes.
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The Advantages of Staff Augmentation
Here are some of the benefits that staff augmentation can bring:
- Zero commitments
- Capacity increase
- Management Control
- No geographical restrictions
Zero Commitments
Staff augmentation is a cost-cutting service that does not involve long-term contracts, making staff augmentation a cost-effective and flexible way of using resources more efficiently over a more extended period.
A variety of businesses provide IT Staff Augmentation Services. When working together on team projects, they send you a programmer that can work within hours to assist your team members.
Increase in Capacity
As your company expands, additional developers with relevant experience are necessary to complete software projects.
Staff augmentation allows you to complete these projects by hiring other developers from outside. They work alongside regular employees for maximum company productivity.
Management Control
Staff augmentation models give you greater control of project development with staff augmentation models.
You will feel included even as your team implements your plan; staff can still adhere to company working hours and coding standards so that you remain in direct control over all resources used during development.
No Geographical Restrictions
If there aren't enough experts in your locality, you can hire remote resources with the skills to complete your project.
Workers are expected to communicate remotely with a team on-site and to adjust to the time zone differences.
Read Also: Staff Augmentation Vs Other Models
The Disadvantages of Staff Augmentation
Here are some disadvantages to staff augmentation.
- Cost of training
- Possible delays
- Low-quality products are a risk
- Long-term costs
Training Costs Are High
Though your team may seem similar to you in many respects, they require different steps and considerations when operating effectively.
First, you should inform them about your mission statement for business; once familiarized, teach them how to achieve its objectives - this often requires extensive resources.
There Could Be Delays
The time it takes to onboard and train new employees can cause delays in the progress of your project.
It may be challenging to handle the additional workload if you don't expect your new employees to stay long.
Risk Of Poor Quality Production
Even though many outsourced IT teams consist of highly-experienced professionals, adding additional employees may present risks.
If familiarity with your project requires different contexts for different employees to learn it efficiently and smoothly - then hiring dedicated workers could prove more efficient.
Long-term Costs
Staff augmentation may only benefit you if your project is as long as anticipated.
The cost of augmented staff is higher per hour than regular staff. Hiring increased staff for a long time could be a bad idea.
Let's now look at outsourcing and its benefits and drawbacks.
What is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing refers to assigning or subcontracting part or all of a task or project to another party for execution and delivery, often at reduced rates than would otherwise be available within an organization's walls.
Outsourcing companies take more responsibility for their quality and success; for successful collaboration between outsourcing parties to take place successfully, they must trust each other.
Your company can easily outsource its web design, digital marketing and app development needs to outside vendors.
While you could utilize staff for these goals, hiring outside help may prove more cost-efficient and time efficient.
There Are Six Types Of Outsourcing
Let's look closer at the six types of models that your business can use.
- Outsourcing of Process
- Outsourcing Projects
- Professional Outsourcing
- Offshore outsourcing
- Outsourcing offshore
- Nearshore Outsourcing
Process Outsourcing
You can save money by outsourcing specific processes. This will also allow you to focus more time on core business operations.
Project Outsourcing
Project management firms can help you if your software projects still need to be completed and there is a tight time frame.
Outsourcing projects your staff needs to be qualified to manage will save time and money.
Professional Outsourcing
Professional outsourcing can fill in skill gaps and save money. You can access top resources and highly-skilled professionals and only pay for services rendered.
This reduces your overhead costs.
Outsourcing to the Onshore
Onshore outsourcing is when a business hires a vendor based in its own country to assist with developing projects, management processes or both.
Being in the exact location includes better communication, more effective monitoring and greater control.
Outsourcing Offshore
Onshore and offshore outsourcing are highly comparable. Offshore outsourcing mirrors onshore outsourcing in many ways, its primary distinction being where an organization hires its provider to carry out various functions.
Offshoring often provides lower costs, more flexibility, and access to skilled talent from around the globe - thus offering numerous advantages compared to onshore.
Nearshore Outsourcing
Nearshore outsourcing refers to outsourcing a project or system to another service provider based nearby or on the same continent to take advantage of cultural compatibility and similar time zones between providers - ultimately increasing productivity for your organization.
The Benefits of Outsourcing
Here are some benefits of outsourcing.
- Access to high-skilled professionals
- Cost-effective
- Management Offload
Access To Highly Skilled Professionals
You can access the most talented people in the world through project outsourcing.
You can connect and gain access to people with core competencies around the globe, which would be impossible in a traditional office setting.
Cost-Effective
You can save money by choosing an IT project outsourcer. If you do it right, you will not have to pay for hiring, onboarding and training, retention, etc.
Overall.
In-House team work offload
Outsourcing projects allows your employees in-house to finish other projects that are pending.
You can assign teams for different tasks.
The Disadvantages of Outsourcing
Here are some disadvantages to outsourcing.
- Zero confidentiality
- Risque of low-quality production
- Time-consuming
Zero Confidentiality
Your data could become compromised, or your code could end up online, causing disastrous repercussions for your business.
When choosing an offshore development team or vendor for outsourcing projects, be very selective with whom you select as they will have access to source code, business models and other sensitive business information that needs protecting - this means signing an NDA Agreement in which all relevant details of source code, business models and any further sensitive information must be transferred over.
Risk Of Low-Quality Production
One potential drawback to this model is that its end product could be lower-than-desirable due to a lack of monitoring and supervision.
When choosing an offshore partner without careful thought or consideration, their quality may suffer significantly; technical issues from offshore development teams are difficult to resolve quickly, while faults not meeting strict organizational development standards or unreported debts can crop up unexpectedly.
Aloa is an ideal client partner due to its stringent verification process. Our team will carefully examine your project and select a perfect framework and team members; using this method ensures a successful development journey for every project we touch on.
Time-Consuming
Project-based outsourcing may need to be faster to progress. All details must be covered during planning, and legal documents must be filed.
A poorly planned project can lead to an extended product launch.
Let's compare the two.
Five Key Differences Between Staff Augmentation And Outsourcing
Below is a brief overview of the main differences between outsourcing and staff augmentation.
Costs and Responsibilities
The vendor pays the same amount for an entire team when contracted out.
- Utilities
- Benefits
- Hardware
- Space for Office
- Licenses for software
- Employee Training
Outsourcing can be expensive for immediate needs but is ideal if your requirements extend longer.
Should a project run longer than anticipated, additional costs could arise as other staff contracts need to be developed - however, staff augmentation could help to decrease expenses, improve employee loyalty and help retain key talent.
Project Management
With the staff augmentation approach, you still manage the project yourself even though outside contractors are helping you.
A dedicated team of outsourcing contractors will also include a project coordinator, which allows you to reduce your management duties by letting the vendor manage the entire project.
Training
Outsourcing a project requires minimal training, as the experts hired to work on the project will follow the contract terms.
Businesses must guide, train, and onboard new employees to augment their staff. Before working on new projects, the recruits must be educated about company culture, goals, and objectives.
Relationship Between Clients And Companies
Positive relationships between client and vendor are integral to any project's success, particularly those contracted out.
With contract work, vendors play an essential part in project management - this requires clearly outlining what conditions apply between both parties before entering a partnership agreement. With staff augmentation services, however, vendors typically only engage experts after selling has closed on an item.
Business Model Insights
Temporary employment also has drawbacks: quick developers need to learn your industry or internal processes more intimately.
They can be less inventive or aggressive than an average employee. On the other hand, a dedicated team provider can take great pleasure in handling requests personally while learning more about your company through engagement with its processes and culture.
What Is The Best Model For Your Business?
Staff augmentation offers many distinct advantages to projects of any kind; staffing augmentation provides quick results with a limited budget.
As your IT project matures and becomes increasingly complex and lengthy, its advantages tend to decline; as does its efficiency when remote working with software houses that specialize in IT project management versus staff augmentation and outsourcing companies who focus on staffing/outsourcing arrangements; choosing which delivery method will best meet your content delivery requirements isn't always straightforward and "one size doesn't fit all," therefore considering several factors is necessary:
- Project timing and deadline for product launch
- Your internal team's technical knowledge and expertise
- It is essential to understand the project requirements and required technical expertise.
- How much money is your IT Staff Augmentation Company willing to spend on software development?
If you lack specific soft skills, this simple approach can help you decide whether IT outsourcing or staff augmentation suits you.
- Is your project likely to be long-term?
- Is the project related to your primary business activities?
- How much control would you like over the team and project management?
- Is there already a project team (i.e., only a few specialists are still required)?
The answers you give to these questions will determine whether either one or both models are best for your company.
Depending on your business requirements, financial constraints, and other factors, you can decide between software outsourcing and staff augmentation.
The Differences Between Employee Augmentation and IT Outsourcing It Outsourcing
Following the definitions of IT and staff augmentation, we will compare the specific differences between these two models.
General Overhead Costs
Compare project outsourcing and staff augmentation models' cost-effectiveness by examining their definitions; both offer effective ways of improving software development budgets while helping companies reduce costly hiring and training expenses, with staff augmentation being usually cheaper than IT outsourcing.
Staff augmentation services hire contractors on contract to perform tasks for project managers at any time.
Maintenance costs should be short-lived since these individuals typically do not fall under client payroll; their clients do not incur long-term charges such as employee salaries or benefits for this team of specialists.
Project outsourcing firms typically require more significant initial investments than staffing agencies due to long-term contracts for comprehensive IT outsourcing and its various positions and services.
From concept to completion, development is an involved and time-consuming process that encompasses several steps and takes many disciplines to realize its full potential. Beyond developing applications, outsourcing teams must also engage in cybersecurity and infrastructure management services as part of the client experience.
Project outsourcing providers tend to cost more than staff augmentation because of investments into infrastructure tools and staffing to produce scale-quality output for clients.
Principal Duties
Both services provide IT sectors quick solutions for staff augmentation or outsourcing requirements.
However, each has unique goals when serving clientele.
Staff augmentation involves hiring professionals for specific tasks within an internal team of a project.
Staff augmentation projects are more focused and precise than outsourcing projects, where developers are primarily responsible for product creation. Staff augmentation specialists usually have expertise matching customers' needs regarding knowledge or experience needed for each job.
These specialists usually only remain with customers until completion is reached.
IT outsourcing refers to hiring an outside team for software development tasks. Since these service providers operate independently from companies' principal businesses, they are more self-sufficient when handling outsourcing jobs independently and exert greater control over project management.
IT outsourcing encompasses numerous IT services like infrastructure management and application development.
Work Location
Staff augmentation differs significantly from IT outsourcing in terms of employee location.
Customers may choose where developers should work in an office while staff augmentation services provide temporary team building, fill specific gaps within an organization's team structure, or temporarily fill particular needs. Software engineers could work alongside existing colleagues or remotely as needed.
An IT outsourcing provider typically relies on remote developers as part of its development team, with this dedicated group operating remotely across different geographic locations - freelancers, offshore, nearshore, or onshore, depending on where it needs to run from.
Remote teams tend to be cheaper and more effective as they operate outside an office environment compared to working full time at one. Outsourcing providers tap global talent pools while offering top-tier IT development services at reasonable costs - making them an appealing option among businesses needing IT development solutions.
Project Management
Each service serves its unique function, so the person in charge of coordinating all aspects of a particular project and team may differ accordingly.
A project lead for clients typically manages to augment staff. At the same time, those explicitly hired to complete specific tasks fall under the primary management of either contractor staffing services or outside workers brought directly in by them as additional team members who take direction from them directly and act as other team members.
IT outsourcing providers often utilize third-party vendors to oversee their dedicated teams.
Each vendor typically has its own management and team leader responsible for managing projects at hand; usually located at the headquarters of the outsourcer, this person coordinates closely with client project leads as needed and reports directly back. While individual team members might work on client-specific tasks directly under them, they all ultimately report back to this team leader at some point or another.
The Onboarding Process
Team Augmentation Resources can often be onboarded quickly and smoothly without lengthy hiring procedures, typically as short-term rentals; therefore, onboarding takes only minutes! Project Outsourcing requires longer due to its more complex team nature; IT Outsourcing also demands additional time and resources to select service providers, negotiate contract terms and onboard new vendors before beginning operations at your organization.
Once in place, however, they'll become responsible for many IT functions within it!
Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!
The conclusion of the article is:
Making an informed choice between outsourcing and staff augmentation can be daunting, particularly given factors like your IT budget, personnel rosters, current employee technical skill set requirements and deadlines.
Therefore, seeking advice from firms like Aloa, which offer IT project outsourcing and staff augmentation services, could prove helpful when making this critical decision for your business or product. Our extensive research allows us to assist in helping make informed choices.
IT and Engineering Staffing Staff Augmentation Services our team is always on standby to answer your queries and offer sound guidance when making decisions for your business or product.
