By In this rapidly paced digital world, it has become imperative that organizations of all sizes leverage existing and emerging technologies to keep at pace. This can range from streamlining everyday operations to automating some tasks with the help of technology.
However, a skill gap remains, especially when it comes to IT skills. The digital ecosystem is transitioning fast, and companies are in dire need of skilled resources to bridge that skill gap.
This is where IT staff augmentation proves a popular model of outsourcing.
What is IT Staff augmentation and what are some of the best practices your organization can implement to ensure success with the model? We will be covering all these points in this blog ahead!
What is IT Staff Augmentation & What Are its Benefits?
A business strategy where external professionals or teams are hired, IT staff augmentation aims to supplement a company’s existing workforce for some particular tasks or projects. The hiring can be for short-term or long-term projects, depending on the company’s requirements.
With IT staff augmentation, organizations are able to get quick access to resources with a specialized skillset, instead of having to bear the brunt of hiring by themselves. Also, they need not commit to the new team members for a long-term period, which means they are able to focus on other project necessities instead of focusing on keeping the team engaged.
Benefits of IT Staff Augmentation
The main benefits of IT staff augmentation include:
- Flexibility: since you are not committing to the workforce for an extended period, you can scale or down the team size as per your project’s requirements.
- Access to Specialized Skills: you get instant access to a diverse range of expertise w
- Cost-Efficiency and Saving: as the team members are not full-time employees, you can save on additional costs such as benefits, training, insurance, or other overheads.
- Fresh Perspectives: external professionals bring with them new and fresh insights along with somewhat different ideas to ensure success in the project.
- Faster Onboarding: the time that would go into placing a job ad, interviewing candidates, training them to be a part of the company is saved. This fast process ensures timely completion of the project too.
Best Practices for Ensuring Success with IT Staff Augmentation
While IT staff augmentation is an ideal solution for businesses looking to scale their operations with a skilled workforce, it is crucial that they make the best of this model with some tips and practices.
Some of the best IT staff augmentation practices include the following.
Identify the Skill Gap
Based on the goals and objectives of your project, you need to determine where there is a skill or knowledge gap and what type of resources you require for your project. To summarize, you must establish the:
- Timeline of the project, if the resource should be short-term or long-term
- Type of skills required in the resource
- Level of skills required in the resource, ranging from beginner to advanced
- Project’s goals, tasks, and expected outcomes
Maintain Effective Communication
Establish open channels for communication to ensure seamless collaboration between internal and augmented teams. You must ensure transparency between all team members, including the existing staff and the augmented team. This applies to both hybrid as well as remote settings.
Organizations can make use of a myriad of platforms for instant communication, such as Slack, Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and project management tools like Notion, Trello and a few others. In fact, according to a report by McKinsey, utilizing social technologies helps increase productivity of knowledge workers from 20% to 25%.
Set Clear Expectations
Provide clear instructions, resources, and access to tools to help the augmented team integrate quickly. Clearly outline all the roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations for both the internal and augmented teams, so they can get to their tasks without delay.
Measure Performance with KPIs
Document everything along the way and establish metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress and evaluate the augmented team’s contributions. Schedule regular meetings to discuss project status, challenges, and adjustments needed. Also, maintain clear documentation of processes, decisions, and project updates for existing times as well as future reference.
Administer Robust Security Measures
Since the augmented team can be located offshore, or offsite, it is imperative that you implement robust security protocols to protect sensitive information when working with external personnel.
Ensure Transparency between Everyone
Keep all stakeholders informed about progress, changes, and any challenges faced during the project. These include the upper management, as well as the workforce involved. Encourage open feedback from both internal and augmented teams to continuously improve collaboration. Additionally, make sure that the augmented team aligns well with your company’s values, culture, and work practices.
Establish Procedures & Agreements
Set measures for addressing different types of conflicts or disagreements that can arise during the collaboration. Since the software development market is fiercely competitive, you cannot afford to have your confidential information getting in the wrong hands. Make sure to draft proper legal agreements that outline the role, responsibilities, intellectual property rights, and confidentiality clauses to prevent future crises.
Partner with a Trusted Staff Augmentation Provider
Hiring a company to augment your existing team can be a hectic task, especially if you are unsure of the type of skillset you require, and how to manage the project with a shortage of resources. To vet staff augmentation providers, you can:
- Check for referrals and reviews, ask in your circle and see what people have to say about them
- Go across their case studies and see how they have managed challenges and solutions in the past
- Analyze their work culture and see if it aligns with yours
