How to choose the right staff augmentation model?

Are you working on a major software development project? You might be worried about hiring a dedicated software development team. However, with an effective staff augmentation services/model, you can get access to the right software development team on a per-project basis. Thus, it becomes easier to focus on your specific business goals.

While most companies have the capability of handling all types of demands, some of them might not have specific expertise or knowledge about the particular area. In such a situation, companies are required to augment the current staff with the help of new professionals. Therefore, if you are looking forward to augmenting your ongoing software development team, then you should know the importance of choosing the right staff augmentation model.

What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation serves to be an outsourcing service in which the software or mobile app development company obtains developers on a contract basis. The software developers can help the companies in achieving the respective business goals by working from the workplace or home.You can hire iPhone app developers having relevant expertise.

In the modern era, most companies look forward to hiring industry-specific specialists with the help of the right staff outsourcing teams for meeting aggressive project deadlines and requirements. The method serves to be effective for employers and employees for working on a project-to-project basis.

Top Benefits of Staff Augmentation Solutions

Staff augmentation solutions serve to be a bridge between experienced teams and the availability of positions on a short-term basis in software companies. These solutions are capable of offering improved flexibility to the respective software companies for extending the ongoing workforce with specialists featuring the ideal skill for a particular project.

In leading industries like IT, in which projects tend to be high-scale and constant, the presence of a reliable staff augmentation model can help in getting the work done properly with the help of the right talent for every project. However, the entire set of benefits of a dedicated staff augmentation model is not limited to this. Here are some more for you to know about:

#Access to a Larger Pool of Talent

The process of permanent hiring limits the ability of the company to make use of the best available talent in the market out there. However, with staff augmentation, you can ensure short-term hiring. This allows businesses to get access to a larger pool of talented professionals. Recruits through staff augmentation models tend to be domain-centric such that they are capable of bringing an entirely new thought process on board.

In addition to this, the process of staff augmentation allows organizations to ensure the connection with experienced professionals delivering ample benefits –even ona short-term basis. This turns out to be cost-effective in comparison to hiring full-time employees.

#Cost-effectiveness

One of the major benefits of a staff augmentation model is cost-effectiveness. For instance, you are operating your business in a nation wherein the standard of living might be too high. When you hire a full-term candidate in such a nation, then you are expected to incur heavy taxes, insurance cover, social security, and several other expenses. On the other hand, when you hire a candidate from a nation in which the standard of living might not be too high, then you can get the best of talents at minimal costs.

Along with this, the utilization of a reliable staff augmentation model can also help in reducing the training costs of employees that are newly recruited. This is because the company will be recruiting augmentation employees due to their expertise in a particular segment. In such a scenario, they require minimal on-board training.

#Adaptation and Expansion

In most cases, the software organizations aim at scaling up the respective operations for making the most of the lucrative market conditions. However, the lack of ample capital and the fear of risks involved with failure becomes challenging in the given scenario of business expansion. In such a case, using a relevant staff augmentation model turns out immensely useful for software businesses. This is because it enables them to extend the team of existing developers without ensuring any investment in a full-fledged workforce.

In addition to the expansion, the process of staff augmentation allows software organizations to adapt to the ongoing changes in the existing market. Staff augmentation process equips the given companies with improved responsiveness. It enables them to fulfill new demands with the help of a development team that is project oriented.

#Operational Efficiency

During the initial stages, small businesses and startups are required to incur significant operational costs featuring a minimal return on the entire investment. Professional staff augmentation services deliver flexible working platforms for new businesses and startups. The given set of businesses can look forward to hiring remote software developers for this purpose. Otherwise, they can also hire a team of dedicated software developers.

In addition to reduced infrastructural costs, the choice of the right staff augmentation model can help in significantly reducing the cost of operations by hiring software professionals. The given set of savings can lead to improved business revenues.

#Constant Nurturing

When you are working with a fixed workforce, you are only capable of accessing the knowledge possessed by your staff. The overall business growth becomes fixed due to the absence of new opinions and ideas.

However, when you have access to the right staff augmentation model, you can receive a new outlook for your business by hiring a diverse range of professionals. It will provide you the chance to execute your current operations through the implementation of new ideas.

#Improved Control

As organizations leverage professionals offering reliable staff augmentation services, they can still look forward to controlling their project management. The process of using an effective staff augmentation model helps in ensuring that it only outsources the workforce to some external agency.

The given control over the company’s management enables firms to maintain a proper hold over the respective projects while shaping the same as per their desires. However, in some cases, the company might face issues with respect to project management & execution. With the help of reliable IT staffing solutions, companies can look forward to preventing such occurrences by enabling parent organizations to take full control of the execution process.

Determining If the Staff Augmentation Model is Right for Your Business

Staff augmentation tends to be synonymous with the IT industry. However, it is also capable of helping other businesses requiring skilled human resources for dealing with both short & long-term services.

Staff augmentation turns out to be an ideal solution in various scenarios. If you are confused about choosing the right staff augmentation model for your company, here are some points to consider:

• In some cases, an organization might require the addition of new team members while saving up for recruitment, training, and staff management. In such a case, augmenting staff can be the ideal staff augmentation solution.

• When the software product might be in its final stage of development, the software product team lays out recommendations for hiring new short-term employees for testing the product before its launch. Staff augmentation helps in this case as well.

• Let us assume that you already have a team of software engineers who are working on a major software development project. However, you also wish to scale your team to a wide number of programmers for developing some other software module. In this scenario, you might require assistance from a team of around 5-10 technology professionals. Here, you can consider the option of adopting the staff augmentation model for satisfying the requirements of your business.

• You might be working on a large-scale project with a proper team. However, the project might require the involvement of specialized knowledge and expertise that your in-house team might not possess. In case you are considering the hire of some professionals from some other location or country, augmenting the staff can be an ideal solution.

• In comparison to the collaboration of your company with some project outsourcing company for developing products, the given model might not fit your business structure. The reason is that firstly you would like to communicate with your team on a regular basis. Secondly, you will also like to be well-connected with the remote team to ensure that it is also a part of the organization. With the reliable staff augmentation model, you can easily integrate teams both remotely and locally.

Choosing the Right Staff Augmentation Model

Whenever a business makes the decision to take on board some skilled augmented staff or come up with a robust team of distributed engineering, the primary goal should be to come across a model or vendor taking time to understand the particular staffing requirements of the organization. The outsourcing strategy of the company tends to be unique as the organization itself. This implies that the IT staffing model or agency that you hire should be resourceful and flexible as the business you are operating.

One of the primary steps in choosing a staff augmentation model should be assessing the staffing requirements of your company. As you look out for specialized skill-sets to accelerate your software development project or complete skill gaps internally, it is imperative for you to consider the scope of the project with which your augmented staff will be associated. It is also imperative to ensure how quickly your internal teams are capable of integrating provisional talent and how adept the outsourcing partner is with respect to handling your staffing requirements.

Here are some helpful steps that will help you choose the right staff augmentation model for fulfilling your recruitment needs:

#Assessing the Staffing Requirements

What is the need of your development team? When it comes to building a distributed team, you can have multiple options. Do you wish the software developers to integrate with some internal department of engineering for filling the skill gaps? You can consider setting up a reliable remote development team for freeing up the vital in-house team to work on some other critical business project. Alternatively, the project managers of your organization might have requested additional engineering resources for delivering a project on the stipulated date.

The fact is that no two companies will have the exact same staff augmenting requirements. Whether you are searching product designers or front-end developers for the project’s duration, you are required to analyze the staffing requirements of your organization. Consult with employees, HR executives, and managers to obtain an overview of the requirement of additional skillset within the team.

#Researching the Expertise of the Staffing Model Provider

When you verify the potential expertise of the provider of the desired staff augmentation model or services, you can contract the vendor for providing your business with the required IT staff. At the same time, the vendor will also be then capable of managing staffing challenges or handling distributed teams during the time of project development or execution.

You can go through the detailed credentials and work history of the vendors. Some additional points to consider are:

• Consult with past clients and analyze the level of satisfaction with the iPhone app development services
• Go through the work portfolio & credentials of the service provider
• Ensure that the provider has relevant expertise in the given field for covering the resources that you need
• Ask around to obtain a general idea of previous clients perceive the desired service provider
• Go through testimonials and reviews of the vendor on the website of the staffing organization

#Understanding the Type of Contract

If the staffing vendor or model is offering some paper-based agreement or standardized contract, it could indicate that the company lacks the desired experience or resources for handling the project for your company.

You should seek services from the staff augmentation organization that is capable of offering tailor-made work agreements for catering to the needs of your business. At the same time, the firm should take ample time to understand the development environment of your business. This offers the assurance that you have access to the right model or talent to fulfill your goals.

#Commitment to Security

As far as data and IP security are concerned, you should aim at working with a reliable staff augmentation firm delivering access to a secure model to work upon. An esteemed recruiting agency should be capable of offering the guarantee that remote or on-site staff is signing the NDAs properly. At the same time, the provider should also check into the employment backgrounds of the staff thoroughly. Along with extensively screening augmented temporary hires, providers should also train the respective staff on data security and intellectual property security procedures.

The staff should know about effectively using cybersecurity tools, limiting access to client’s confidential data, and so more. When you verify the commitment of the staffing vendor to security, you can include the augmented staff while building a highly robust software development team. At the same time, you can simultaneously safeguard your IP and valuable data.

#Examining the Communication Protocols

How is the staffing provider ensuring account communications? What is the general style of their communication? You should determine these crucial factors for analyzing the success of your project. This also allows you to assess the market competitiveness of the project and its on-time delivery date. You should seek help from a staff augmentation model by a provider having a clearlydefined and simple-to-use communication protocol.

When the staffing partner practices a practical and transparent communication protocol, it helps in fostering uninterrupted workflow. It can be easily monitored and tailored as per the specific needs of your business. The overall clarity and simplicity imply that a business is capable of measuring progress effectively and handling team challenges.

#Evaluating the Reach of the Provider Across Local & International Markets

Depending on the specifications of the staffing requirements of your development team, you need to analyze all the existing outsourcing options. It might also include variations of offshore or onshore staffing model or plan, or even following the hybrid staffing practice.

The chances are that your creative departments are looking for specialized skills for dealing with complex frameworks. If you wish to reach out to experienced technical and creative personnel across the globe, then you should partner with an augmentation staff having relevant connections, experience, and infrastructure in place already. It allows you to hire, recruit, and manage remote staff –whatever the location might be.

Read the blog- What added value can a Mobile App Development Company bring to a product owner?

Conclusion

In the end, you should be capable of working with a reliable staff augmentation model or staffing partner to fit the specific staffing needs of your company. Providers employing the standard one-size-fits-all model will not be able to execute flexible and creative staffing solutions. By going through the unique staffing needs of your business, analyzing the expertise of the potential vendor, and investigating the global reach of the outsourcing agency, commitment security, communication protocols, and various other factors, you can make the choice of the best staff augmentation model or company.