As technology progresses rapidly, it's only natural for people to have outdated skills that no longer help them do their jobs fitfully. Training them can take up too much time and resources, and it may not be wise to invest if you only need these diverse talents for a short-term project.
This is where staff augmentation may be a good idea. It allows you to outsource tech-related roles so you can expand your teams without spending on training or hiring in-house staff.
As a flexible outsourcing strategy, staff augmentation lets you add skilled technicians to your existing talent pool or fill in the skill gaps in your teams. It's also possible to created separate groups with augmented, i.e., remote staff.
Here are some of the many benefits of staff augmentation.
1. Cost-Efficiency
When you hire full-time employees to complete a specific project, it naturally costs you more money, effort, and time. Augmentation of existing staff with remote experts is a great way to fulfill your organization's talent needs for a short-term project.
This approach allows companies to save what they'd spend on benefits and salaries, etc., of a full-time staff who might not even be capable of fulfilling the projects' requirements. There's also no need to pay for workstations and office spaces to house these employees.
So, staff augmentation also helps save on organizational and administrative expenses.
All you have to do is pay a fixed cost and leave it to the vendor to make the arrangements at their end. As a result, you can solely focus on core project activities and the talent coming in to help you with your project.
2. Access to Specialist Talent Pool
Staff augmentation gives you access to subject matter experts who only want to work on temporary assignments for a set period. They welcome highly specialized projects that help them explore their expertise. As a result, companies hire technical workers and expert talent to augment their workforce with specific projects and handpick workers who fit the skills criteria for a project.
Chances are that you may not find anyone with their talents in your region. That's where staff augmentation becomes a necessity to get you the right people at the right price.
3. Faster Business Scaling
With the cost you save on hiring new full-time employees, you can actually use the money saved to expand your business faster. The Tech industry is overgrowing, and its market size is expected to reach US$5 trillion by the end of 2021.
With such progress, there is a noticeable change in the workload and its nature. Staff augmentation allows you to manage all the demands of any upcoming projects. As a result, you can take on more projects, even the more advanced ones, and expand your business with the ability to hire relevant talent for specific projects.
4. Objective Perspective
As a business owner or employee, it may be difficult to point out any flaws in your processes and systems. Your people might also be too afraid to tell you to change things because it might put them in the spotlight.
But an augmented team is concerned with one thing only; that is to get you the results you want. They bring in an outsider's point of view and help with any ongoing projects of your company.
They can point out any room for improvement that you and your employees might have missed.
Furthermore, your permanent employees might view the temporary ones as competition, which can motivate them to think critically and bring more ideas to the workplace, increasing productivity.
5. A Step Above Outsourcing
You pick talented individuals who have proven expertise. This is definitely better than working with nameless teams who might not be able to provide consistent results. You get to have control over their work, unlike outsourcing, where you have to transfer your entire project to some external unit.
The companies can monitor the staff they bring in and shape their project exactly how they want it to be. In outsourcing, sometimes parent companies don't have any say in executing or managing a project. However, staff augmentation allows companies to make the final call over any decision related to a project.
Conclusion
The Tech industry is an ever-changing and growing one. If you want your company to prosper without incurring additional workforce costs, it is best to resort to staff augmentation.
You can easily take on any new projects for which you might not have the talent and skills in-house but can hire temporary workers to complete them for you at a lower cost.
These workers are handpicked and will give you the results you want and not get involved in office politics, making them more objective and highly productive.
Thinking of using staff augmentation for your next project? Head over to Definity First to see how we can help.
