The Ins and Outs of IT Staff Augmentation

IT staff augmentation has become an increasingly popular way for companies to fill gaps in their IT departments. With the rising demand for skilled tech talent, staff augmentation provides a flexible solution to meet short-term IT needs.

But what exactly is staff augmentation and how does it work? This post will explain what IT staff augmentation is, the benefits it provides, and how it differs from IT outsourcing.

What is IT Staff Augmentation?

IT staff augmentation involves bringing in contracted IT professionals to supplement a company’s existing tech team. Augmented staff work alongside internal employees, but are employed by a third-party firm.

The goal of staff augmentation is to quickly provide specialized skills and additional labor when a company’s in-house staff is insufficient. Common situations where augmentation is used include:

– Filling open positions during recruiting
– Handling temporary spikes in workload
– Providing niche skills not available internally
– Supporting projects with tight deadlines

Augmented staff are managed by the company like regular employees. However, the staffing firm handles all HR-related tasks like recruiting, payroll, and benefits. This gives companies access to skilled talent without the overhead of hiring full-time.

Benefits of IT Staff Augmentation

There are several key advantages to augmenting your IT team:

Flexibility

The flexible nature of staff augmentation allows companies to scale their tech team up and down as needed. Augmented staff can be brought on for projects as short as a few weeks or as long as a year or more.

If demands decrease or projects end, companies can simply reduce or end contracted roles with little notice. This level of flexibility is difficult to achieve with full-time hires.

Specialized Skills

Staff augmentation companies maintain large talent pools with niche and emerging tech skills. This makes it easy for companies to find engineers with expertise in new or less common technologies.

Whether you need help with a new DevOps tool or an obscure legacy system, an augmentation provider likely has just the specialist you’re looking for. Access to specialized skills allow companies to innovate faster.

Reduced Costs

While not cheap, augmentation can reduce salary costs compared to hiring skilled IT professionals full-time. Companies don’t pay for non-working time like vacation, sick days, or time spent recruiting.

Augmentation also converts fixed labor costs into flexible variable costs. Companies only pay for the specific skills needed at a given time.

Faster Hiring

Bringing in augmented staff is significantly faster than traditional hiring. Top firms can provide contract engineers in as little as 1-2 weeks compared to months for full-time roles.

This accelerated hiring prevents productivity lags when your team is short-staffed. It also allows companies to ramp up quickly for time-sensitive projects.

Lower Risk

With full-time hires, companies assume more risk that the hire may not work out as expected. With staff augmentation, unsatisfactory contractors can simply be sent back to the provider.

The staffing firm also handles salary negotiations. This reduces potential for overpaying compared to salaries set during individual negotiations.

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How is Staff Augmentation Different from Outsourcing?

Staff augmentation is often confused with IT outsourcing. But while the two models may seem similar on the surface, some important distinctions exist:

Level of Control

With staff augmentation, the client company manages and directs the day-to-day work of contractors, just like internal team members. The client retains full control over the work.

In outsourcing, responsibility for managing delivery of services is transferred to the outsourcing vendor. The client provides high-level requirements but vendors have latitude in how services are delivered.

Length of Contracts

Staff augmentation arrangements tend to be shorter-term, ranging from a few months to a year or slightly longer. Outsourcing contracts run multiple years and require longer commitments from vendors.

Flexibility

Augmentation offers greater flexibility to change team makeup and sizes on-demand. Outsourcing contracts lock in fixed service levels for longer periods with less flexibility to change quickly.

Pricing Model

Staff augmentation uses a time and materials pricing model based on hours worked. Outsourcing arrangements are usually fixed-bid contracts based on pre-defined deliverables.

Specialized vs. Commodity Work

Staff augmentation typically provides specialized technical skills and knowledge. Outsourcing is more focused on commodity IT functions like help desks or server management.

Finding the Right Provider

Just like hiring full-time employees, finding the right staff augmentation partner is critical to success. Here are key factors to evaluate potential IT staffing firms:

Recruiting and vetting process

Look for firms with rigorous technical screening using real-world coding tests and technical interviews. Avoid providers who rely solely on resume review.

Bench strength

Larger firms with sizable talent benches can source candidates faster and find better skill matches. Make sure the provider has enough local talent depth for your location.

Technical breadth

Look for recruiters specializing in IT who can source both common and niche skill sets across a range of technologies.

Account management

Seek providers who assign dedicated account reps instead of generalized recruiters. Reps who get to know your team and environment make better matches.

Cultural fit testing

Providers who assess cultural fit help ensure contract staff assimilate well into your company environment. Poor cultural matching is a top reason foraugmentation failures.

When is Staff Augmentation the Right Choice?

If your IT department is facing a talent gap, staff augmentation can provide a flexible solution for rapidly scaling qualified tech talent. Common use cases include:

– **Filling open headcount** – Quickly bridge hiring gaps by bringing in contractors while full-time recruiting continues. Prevent productivity lags from understaffing.

– **Handling spikes in workload** – Scale up IT capacity without taking on unnecessary long-term costs. Reduce workload pressures on existing staff.

– **Supporting time-bound projects** – Assemble project-based teams with specialized skills to hit aggressive deadlines that existing staff can’t meet.

– **Obtaining niche skills** – Access skills your team lacks like niche programming languages or emerging tech expertise.

– **Providing flexibility** – Smoothly adjust team size to match workflow volumes, prevent capability gaps from turnover.

While not a universal solution, staff augmentation provides an essential new level of workforce flexibility for IT leaders struggling with talent shortages. When used strategically, it can help tech teams deliver more value at lower risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation involves contracting technical professionals from a staffing provider to temporarily supplement a company’s IT team. Augmented staff work alongside in-house employees but remain on the staffing firm’s payroll.

Why do companies use staff augmentation?

The main reasons companies use staff augmentation are to fill open headcount during recruiting, handle temporary spikes in workload, access niche skills, meet tight project deadlines, and gain greater workforce flexibility.

What is another word for staff augmentation?

Staff extension is sometimes used as an alternative phrase with the same meaning as staff augmentation. Contract staffing is another common term for bringing on temporary IT workers.

How is staff augmentation different from outsourcing?

With staff augmentation, the client company retains control over the work of contractors. In outsourcing, responsibility for managing services is transferred to the outsourcing vendor. Augmentation offers greater flexibility while outsourcing involves longer contracts.

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