IT Staff Augmentation: Tackling Resource Scarcity

Introduction

The IT staff augmentation market is rapidly expanding due to trends like AI, automation, remote work, and the demand for soft skills.

The global IT staff augmentation services market is expected to grow at a 3.53% CAGR from 2021 to 2025, reaching a substantial incremental expenditure of $81.87 billion.

The above statistics are proof that IT staff augmentation is considered the most beneficial approach to meet the skill gaps found during any software development process.

But like every other thing or concept Staff augmentation has two sides of the same coin i.e. there are certain challenges when you hire remote developers team to fulfill certain specific tasks that require certain specialized technical skills.

Let's understand all the drawbacks in length and figure out how to overcome them to hire skilled professionals for software development

7 Challenges of Staff Augmentation & best Practices to tackle them

Finding the right team members:

The shortage of IT talent in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and almost all over the world. There are huge skills gaps found in the existing team/ the in-house team of any organization.

The lack of specific skills has resulted in the increased demand for hiring a staff-augmented team.

That's why many companies are utilizing IT staff augmentation services, hiring dedicated offshore software developers from key IT outsourcing destinations such as Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

The solution: Partnering with a reliable Staff augmentation vendor.

The best solution to tackle the skill gap is to hire a reliable IT staff augmentation company. A vendor who is equipped with all the right tools and personnel presents the most effective solution to mitigate the risk.

To find the right IT Staff augmentation company for meeting software development needs, you should consider all the below things.

• Culture compatibility
• Time zone availability
• Size of the talent resources

Follow the below steps to identify the right staff augmentation company

• Selecting the most suitable location
• Compiling a list of all vendors
• Conducting an introduction round

Communication & Management:

Businesses often encounter communication challenges with remote teams using IT resource augmentation services, which can impede project development and lead to failure.

The solution: Build effective collaboration

Effective communication is the secret to a successful staffing partnership. No matter how big your staffing partner is, you should analyze some factors before setting up the collaboration.

• Ensuring you have got right remote employees for the project delivery.
• Choosing good collaboration tools is crucial.
• Check reviews of the delivered services

Scalability:

Businesses face challenges with IT staff augmentation services when scaling development teams, as setting up large teams with lengthy recruitment processes can extend time-to-market. It's crucial to clarify the time required for a company to expand its team with an IT expert.

The solution: Choosing an IT Staff Augmentation partner with a wider network of IT talent.

Before partnering with a vendor, consider the key factors:

• Assess the company's average attrition rate (aim for 10-15%).
• Examine the vendor's internal pool of IT talents.

Time Zone Availability:

When you onboard an augmented team from a different time zone, coordinating the work schedule can be a hinderance.

Challenges include:

• Limited real-time communication
• Collaboration during unconventional hours.
• Insufficient team bonding.

The Solution: Using time management tools and hiring staff augmentation services. By using proper time management tools you can ensure that your team is on the same page.

But, hiring a managed IT staff augmentation provider will ensure you are successfully addressing all the challenges to ensure productivity and timely delivery of the project.

The Legal Issues:

The quality of the project decides the success or failure of the business, a quality deliverability will give you growth but a poorly executed project will bring unfavorable consequences.

The Solution: Choose a Win-win contract

While hiring external software developers the contracts for software development are based on three outsourcing models, which are as follows

• Long-term project
• A short-term material and time project
• A fixed-price project

Make sure the project requirements and contract align with each other, also few other elements should be there in every contract to prevent any legal complications

• Enforce penalties for contract non-compliance
• Define liability limits
• Include warranty provisions for service quality

Hiring a global IT staff augmentation agency helps resolve legal issues and ensures a seamless contractual process.

The security risks:

This is one of the biggest challenges while using IT staff augmentation, as this method includes hiring external professionals /remote employees.

A few of these security concerns can be overcome by taking proper measures that every team needs to take while hiring new team members using the IT team augmentation process.

The solution: Find a striking balance between both efficiency and security

Cooperation with IT staff augmented teams should be conducted under proper NDA guidelines to reduce the risks of data breaches and fraudulent activities.

Ensure you are hiring a trusted team of remote developers.

Transfer project knowledge:

Effective knowledge transfer is crucial throughout the project development process. Poorly structured plans can lead to inconsistent knowledge transfer, wasting time, resources, and investments for businesses.

The solution: Promoting efficient knowledge sharing

To overcome knowledge transfer challenges, consider partnering with an IT staffing firm with expertise in global knowledge transfer practices.

In order to run a successful knowledge transfer, you need to implement and follow the below fundamental steps

• Identify knowledge items for transfer.
• Assign accountable individuals.
• Verify technical documentation.

Now let's understand a few types of Staff Augmentation models an organization can choose to integrate with an existing in-house team.

8 Main Types of IT Staff Augmentation Services

1. Project-based staff augmentation model: As the itself suggests in this type of augmented staff model the organization hires external resources to work on a specific project for a set period.
2. Skill-based augmentation model: When an organization hires a temporary team of developers with specialized skills to achieve a successful project deliverable then it is known as a skill-based augmentation model.
3. Time-based IT staff augmentation: When you hire third-party developers to work on a specific project for a specific time duration.
4. Hybrid staff augmentation:- When an organization combines any two or more of the above models it is known as a hybrid model.
5. Onshore IT team augmentation: When any company hires IT professionals from the same country with the same time zone and cultural background then it is known as an onshore augmented team.
6. Nearshore staff augmentation: When remote employees are hired from a nearby country who follow the same time zone then it is termed as nearshore staff augmentation.
7. Offshore staff augmentation: Working with IT professionals in different countries, often with a significant time difference, is known as offshore development. Hiring offshore software developers is a cost-efficient augmentation strategy.
8. A dedicated team augmentation: Hiring a dedicated development team exclusively for specialized expertise to work on a project exclusively.

Why hire Acquaint Softtech for IT Staff Augmentation?

Acquaint Softtech is a Customized Software development company that helps organizations with IT Staff Augmentation Services and custom software development. We hold ten years of industry experience; our agile team is responsive and dedicated to helping our clients achieve their vision by assisting them in achieving successful project deliverables.

How SuperFi benefitted by hiring Acquaint Softtech

What was the project SuperFi?

Our client, SuperFi Finance, entrusted Acquaint Softtech with their innovative idea to address credit card debt issues. Having successfully collaborated on a previous project, SuperFi outsourced the website and mobile app development to us.

With the average UK household carrying over £2000 in credit card debt, SuperFi aimed to assist users in managing their debt effectively. Our expert development team built an online platform offering features like debt management tools, reward systems for timely payments, credit score improvement guidance, and an administrator panel for FinTech solution management. Beyond providing a remote team, we played a vital role in developing SuperFi's business plan.

How did SuperFi benefit by hiring us?

SuperFi Finance chooses to outsource its software development needs, relying on us instead of hiring an in-house team.

The primary benefit they got was cost reduction, by avoiding investments in infrastructure, recruitment, and resources.

Outsourcing to a reputed firm like us simplified talent acquisition and provided greater flexibility which allowed SuperFi to scale operations easily, particularly for developing MVPs. This approach enhanced productivity, by tapping into a broader talent pool to promote work-life balance and foster innovation through diverse cultural perspectives.

Read more about how we helped SuperFi in executing successful IT Staff Augmentation from the below blog

How Did SuperFi Save $60K On Annual Hiring Costs?

Conclusion

Apart from securing talent, a crucial factor is adopting a budget-aligned hiring strategy to enhance project delivery. IT companies face challenges like expert shortages, security threats, time zone issues, and scalability. Partnering with a staff augmentation company can help in overcoming these hurdles, elevating internal processes, speeding up project completion, and maintaining flexibility without excessive costs.