IT Staff Augmentation guide to start implementing it in your business

As in life itself, fear invades us when we have to make important decisions. It is difficult to trust third parties, especially when including them in our company and our processes. All the information that is handled is sensitive and classified, so any improper action can cause a catastrophe.

Therefore, the decision to work with an IT Staff Augmentation provider must be made by analyzing all the available variables to avoid a bad experience, without wasting time and money. We know that there are many horror stories, which is why we try to describe in this article what it is like to work with an IT Staff Augmentation team through a practical guide.

Working under this outsourcing modality can be very beneficial for the next projects that you are going to develop, since these IT Staff Augmentation teams provide experience and support to your in-house team, helping to speed up software development.

The flexibility of both internal team and vendor resources must always be present to improve integration and keep workflow productive. And both parties need to be involved in the task planning process so that the scope of the project is clear.

IT Staff Augmentation Guide: What does this outsourcing modality consist of?

It is not that you think that your team is not capable enough to develop your projects, it is completely natural that, sometimes, the amount of work exceeds your capacity, or you need experience in certain technology that your team has not handled before. In those cases, the help of IT Staff Augmentation resources is perfectly valid.

The working mechanism with these resources is very simple: companies hire them to solve the lack of qualified personnel in their teams. They can hire a developer, up to several developers, depending on the needs of the project. Hiring is external and temporary, usually remote.

In which cases should you enlarge your team with IT Staff Augmentation?

• When you need software developers with specific skills or experience in a certain technology
• When you have developers on your team but they don't have enough experience in a certain area or technology to execute a project or task
• When you are planning a project but do not have a complete team to carry it out

Advantages of hiring staff via IT Staff Augmentation

Inject speed into the project

Through IT Staff Augmentation, companies can add highly-skilled people to their teams at the right time to accelerate a project. However, several factors must be taken into account for this to be successful: the vendor's culture and the adaptability of their team is critical for the collaboration to flow as expected. It is an effort on both sides, the supplier and the company as a whole.

Scalability

Small businesses or start-ups often have a modest budget, but always have the desire to continue to grow their operations. Adding more staff is essential for growth, and of course, direct hires can add significantly to fixed operating expenses.

The scalability offered by the IT Staff Augmentation service is immense, adding excellent professionals to the projects that allow a progressive growth in productivity, investing a fair budget under the outsourcing modality.

You can manage your budget

This type of service can help you as a company to manage the investment you want to make, taking care of your base budget. In other words, if you are going to outsource a team of professionals so that they can be integrated into the development of software, for example, you can define the time that the service will last and how much you will spend on it. This service is ideal for projects in the short and medium term at most, since it allows you to solve specific needs while giving you the opportunity to control expenses.

Benefits that IT Staff Augmentation resources bring to projects

Productivity

It is clear that increasing the number of professionals in your team will logically increase your production. But something key when hiring an IT Staff Augmentation team is that this new team can contribute fresh, differentiating and creative ideas, which can provide an enriching perspective to any development. This will undoubtedly increase the productivity of the entire team as a whole.

Flexibility and adaptability

Changes in the technological world are constant. No technology or tool lasts forever and catching up with each of the advances that arise daily is a complicated and sometimes almost impossible task to complete.

Even if you have professionals who perfectly handle technologies such as Java, Angular or Gatsby, for example, a client can always request services from other types of tools in which you do not have experience. In those cases, the flexibility provided by an IT Staff Augmentation team is immense, allowing companies to adjust to customer demands and adapt to their needs.

Access to specialized talent

It may happen that, in the middle of software development or systems implementation, you need an expert in technologies such as Kubernetes, Elasticsearch or Java, since your internal professionals are overloaded with work or do not have enough experience to execute the task that is needed. In this case, through this outsourcing service, you will be able to quickly access professionals trained in the technologies you require, without going through the cumbersome personnel selection stage.

Aspects to consider

The success of working with an IT Staff Augmentation team is not determined solely by the partner's extensive experience or the number of technologies they handle. It is very important that you evaluate their work culture and under what values they work, if they prioritize communication above all things or if they base their work on qualities such as commitment and loyalty. By sharing this work culture, the relationship between company and partner will be much more productive.

Do you need an IT Staff Augmentation resource provider? At Rootstack, we have +10 years of experience supporting global companies in their digital transformation. Contact us!

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