IT augmentation services enable businesses to hire specialized IT professionals for a specific time period. Usually, businesses prefer IT staff augmentation services when they need to bridge a skill gap and complete ad hoc projects.
It is undeniable that technology is evolving quickly. With each passing day, we hear buzz regarding the launch of innovative solutions. In this fast-paced, technology-empowering world, it is crucial for businesses to quickly adapt to the changes. But do you think it is feasible to hire a full-time IT professional each time? Consider factors such as remuneration and lengthy hiring procedures before answering the question in your head. So, what do you think? It is not practical.
The most suitable approach to becoming a trendsetter in technological advancements is to use IT staff augmentation companies. The latest global insights highlight that the total revenue of the IT outsourcing industry in 2023 will be USD 460 billion. The IT staff augmentation market size is expected to grow in the future. Do you want to know more about IT resource augmentation? Keep reading this blog to find out!
Meaning of IT Staff Augmentation
IT staffing augmentation is an employment strategy in which organization’s add external talent to their existing workforce. Businesses can close any skill gaps and hire skilled professionals on either a temporary or contractual basis. This is an ideal approach for businesses that need urgent resources with a particular skill set. IT augmentation services can help you find the right resource on time and whittle the lengthy in-house hiring processes.
Consider a situation where you need mobile app development services for your new healthcare project. You need six developers who can work efficiently and close the project as soon as possible. Would it not take much time and money to hire in-house developers? Indeed, it will! Here’s when workforce augmentation empowers your business. It enables you to add external talent to your core team, mitigating the risks and expenses involved in traditional hiring procedures.
Different Types of IT Augmentation Services
There are various kinds of IT staff augmentation solutions discussed in the section below.
Time-based Staff Augmentation: The time-based augmentation model involves hiring third-party developers for a set time period, say monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Hybrid-Staff Augmentation: In this type of IT augmentation, two or more approaches are combined to develop a customized resource.
Technical Staff Augmentation: This involves hiring developers with specific skill sets and qualifications on a temporary basis. For instance, if you need a web developer with experience in healthcare, you can use skill-based IT staff augmentation companies.
Project-Based Staff Augmentation: Companies can hire developers on a temporary basis for their specific projects. Let us say your new business requires a mobile app. You can hire developers to work on the project until it is finished.
Onshore Staff Augmentation: This IT staffing augmentation model involves hiring individuals from the geographical boundaries of the company. This process is ideal for businesses that might need frequent communication and coordination between IT professionals and their in-house team.
Nearshore Staff Augmentation: Nearshore IT staff augmentation involves hiring a development team from a neighbouring country, usually with similar time zones and cultural backgrounds.
Functional Staffing: Companies can do functional staffing if they want to recruit supplementary IT professionals to help with tasks or functions. To illustrate, businesses can hire a developer if they need assistance in coding.
Benefits of IT Augmentation Services For Businesses
From enhancing operational efficiency to ensuring time and cost-saving, IT staff augmentation services benefit businesses in numerous ways. Some of these benefits are as follows:
- Enhanced Flexibility
Suppose your team needs additional resources for a specific project urgently. Hiring an in-house resource will take a lot of your time. Additionally, you cannot ask your in-house employee to leave the company once the project is completed. This is where IT augmentation companies will benefit your business. It provides you with the flexibility to find a dedicated team on a temporary basis quickly and easily.
- Improved Efficiency
IT staff augmentation companies enable businesses to hire the resources with the right skill sets quickly and efficiently. As a result, companies can easily respond to changing customer demands in real-time. Additionally, IT augmentation personnel frequently come with expertise, which results in enhanced productivity and improved efficiency.
- Time and Cost-Saving
Illustrate a situation where you need to hire six new developers for your upcoming project. Sounds daunting, right? First, it is a challenge to find the individual with the right skill set. Secondly, companies may have to satisfy the salary expectations of the chosen IT professional.
IT staff augmentation services help businesses combat these challenges. You can compare and find the right one from the pool of IT professionals. In addition to this, companies can save money by paying for resources based on the contract for the project.
- Better Risk Management
IT staff augmentation helps businesses mitigate the risk involved with hiring in-house employees. How? Any fraudulent activity committed by a temporary employee will be reported when you work with an outsourcing company. However, when you hire a full-time employee, your team is responsible for all employee verification and background checks.
- Access to Specialized Skills
With the best IT augmentation companies, businesses can bring in the best resource with the right skill set for their project. For instance, you want to hire an IT professional with a strong knowledge of Python and Java programming languages. IT staff augmentation companies will bring a pool of candidates from which you can choose the best one for your project.
- Cater to Your Business Needs
Whether you want to hire a backend developer or a full-stack developer, IT staff augmentation can help businesses meet their specific needs. All you need to do is choose the best IT resource augmentation service provider who can bring the right talent to your table.
The Future of IT Augmentation Services
IT staff-augmentation companies are expanding globally. Companies can easily get access to skilled IT professionals across the world. This provides companies with more flexibility to hire the right talent based on a specific skill set.
The IT resource augmentation market size is estimated based on the kinds of services, sectors, and inclusive industries. According to market insights, the IT outsourcing industry is divided into administration outsourcing, application outsourcing, web hosting, and other IT workforce augmentation. All these segments generated revenue of over USD 460 billion in 2023.
In addition to this, the study by Global Market Records World states that the IT staff augmentation market is expected to grow to USD 147.2 billion by 2028, expanding at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2021. The reason behind the growth of IT augmentation services is that they provide flexibility to hire temporary resources. Additionally, businesses can cut down on the time and cost involved in the hiring process.
Top 5 Trends in IT Augmentation Services
Businesses are becoming more aware of the benefits of IT augmentation firms as time goes on. As a result, the market size of IT outsourcing is growing exponentially. Here are the top trends that will shape the IT resource augmentation market in 2024.
- Increased Demand For Specialized Skills
The demand for specialized IT skills is rising due to the rapid change in technology. Businesses face challenges in finding and retaining IT professionals with specialized skills to cope with the latest technological advancements. Therefore, there is a growing demand for IT staff augmentation because businesses can now access specialized IT skills on a contract or temporary basis. This enables them to bridge the skill gaps quickly without requiring a long-term commitment.
- Use of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence automates business workflows in the IT industry, including resource outsourcing and augmentation processes. Wondering how? AI technology is useful in recruiting and screening candidates and managing the entire onboarding process. AI makes the entire IT staff augmentation process more efficient and effective. Moreover, it enables IT workforce outsourcing companies to reduce costs and improve the quality of their services.
- Focus on Soft Skills
Candidates with excellent soft skills like communication, team management, and problem-solving have become a crucial factor for companies. These are not job-specific skills, but they play an important role in task completion. This is because they help improve team coordination and boost overall efficiency. Thus, businesses are realizing that soft skills are critical to success in the digital age, which is why they are becoming crucially important in the IT sector.
- Rise of Remote Work
Remote and hybrid work models have emerged as the new norms. This brings new opportunities for IT staffing firms, as they can now hire IT professionals from all over the world. A remote work setup also provides a range of benefits, including reduced costs and increased flexibility. Thus, the demand for IT augmentation services is likely to rise in 2024.
Step-By-Step Guide To Use IT Staff Augmentation Service
IT staff augmentation companies are critical for businesses seeking to expand their existing IT teams. Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensuring successful engagement and empowering your business with top-notch IT solutions.
- Determine the Need
The first step is to identify the business needs. Choose a specific IT skill that you would like to hire an expert in. This will help the outsourcing firms find an eligible resource for you.
- Discover the Scope
Determine the scope of the project after identifying the need. This includes describing the roles and responsibilities of the outsourced IT staff and the estimated tenure of the contract.
- Select the Right Candidate
The IT augmentation service company will provide a pool of candidates based on your needs and the scope of the project. If the service provider does not have the right candidate for you, they will find the candidate through multiple channels, like referrals and job postings. Interview and screen the candidates thoroughly to find the best one for your business.
- Onboarding the Resource
The next step in the IT staff augmentation process is to onboard the external resources into your existing team. This involves introducing them to your internal employees and providing access to the necessary systems and tools.
- Performance Monitoring and Management
Lastly, it is critical to manage and oversee the outsourced IT resources. Make sure you conduct frequent performance assessments and feedback meetings to finish your project on schedule.
Use of IT Staff Augmentation Services: When Is It Advisable?
Staff augmentation is not an ideal approach in some cases. So, when is it suitable? IT augmentation services are advisable in the following circumstances:
When the tenure of the project is short-term. Long-term projects usually take months to finish. Thus, hiring a full-time employee is the wiser course of action in this case.
You need qualified IT professionals with a specific skill set to complement your existing team.
IT staff augmentation services are suitable when your project is less complex. Complicated projects take time to complete, making them more suitable for full-time employees.
IT resource augmentation is the best approach when you have tight deadlines to complete your projects.
Factors To Consider When Choosing the Best IT Staff Augmentation Company
Companies must exercise caution when choosing the best IT staff augmentation company. Some important points that you should keep in mind are as follows:
- Expertise and Experience
Check the expertise and experience the IT augmentation service provides before making a decision. Determine whether the company with which you are collaborating can assist you in finding the right talent. Ensure that you check the reviews from existing partners of the company.
- Services of the Company
The services that the business provides are the next crucial thing that you need to think about. Check whether the company offers IT solutions like backend development, mobile app development, web development services, and more in one place. This eliminates the need to collaborate with different outsourcing agencies to cater to your business needs.
- Security and Data Privacy Policies
When it comes to hiring more technical staff, security and data privacy are critical factors that companies must keep in mind. Collaborate with an IT augmentation company that provides robust security and data privacy policies. Ensure that the company hires the IT professional after proper background verification.
- The Cost and Your Budget
One of the benefits of hiring a staff augmentation service provider is that it helps reduce costs. Firms with high-pricing staff augmentation models can fuel the cost. Thus, make sure that you check the pricing of the IT staff augmentation company before making a decision.
The Best IT Staff Augmentation Company For Your Business
IT augmentation services help businesses bridge the gap and find specialized IT professionals. When it comes to choosing the best IT augmentation company, businesses trust VLink. Wondering why? This is because VLink is providing the best-in-the-industry solutions to cater to the unique demands of businesses. The company is associated with more than 450 IT professionals and software engineers. The service portfolio of VLink includes IT solutions such as IT resource augmentation, web and mobile development, UI and UX design, data science and analytics services, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Staff augmentation refers to hiring professionals on a temporary basis for a short-term project. However, consulting is considered when companies hire full-time employees.
Here’s an example of staff augmentation: Your company wants to hire a Python developer for one year on a temporary basis. An IT staff augmentation company will help you find the best resource from the pool of IT professionals.
The companies must use staff augmentation when they need to fill a specific skill gap and complete urgent project requirements. An IT augmentation service provides flexibility to hire resources on a temporary basis, which saves time and boosts efficiency.
IT staff augmentation is a kind of outsourcing service where companies hire external resources for a short time on a temporary basis. Thus, augmentation services are part of outsourcing.
