How does the IT Staff Augmentation service help in the Health sector?

There are different stages and moments that lead companies to need more staff for their teams. If the business is growing, it is obvious that more professionals will be needed for this growth to be sustained; if the business is lagging behind due to a lack of technology-savvy staff, then it will seek support in this regard. That's where IT Staff Augmentation comes in.  

Through the IT Staff Augmentation service, any company can enlarge its teams with experienced and specialized personnel, temporarily hiring the resources it needs for the projects. And this can also apply perfectly in the area of ​​Health.

“Staff augmentation allows health systems to bring in experts for short-term projects and fill gaps in specific staffing needs. By gaining access to unique skill sets without having to hire additional full-time employees, this practice can provide health systems with greater flexibility to complete critical IT projects", explained in an article in Health Tech magazine.

The experience of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center 

One of the health institutions that has successfully implemented the IT Staff Augmentation service is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which surprisingly increased online care for patients, speeding up consultations much more to those who need it most.

“Telemedicine is a great example; we went from zero to 100 in telemedicine overnight (...) We did more in one day than in six months. We had a strong team, but we absolutely had Staff Augmentation to get us where we needed to be”, said Ed McCallister, vice president and CIO of this medical center.

For Emily Pollak, senior manager of business development for IT and digital marketing at the Addison Group, through IT Staff Augmentation, health institutions can enhance their processes and customer service, while maintaining the quality of their local teams.

How IT Staff Augmentation can help Health teams

Seeing the context of the medical center that we have been talking about in this article, we also want to point out how the increase in personnel helps institutions dedicated to the health area:

In this time of pandemic, engineers and developers can create telemedicine solutions like “remote ECG monitoring software, remote chemistry/blood pressure monitoring tools, telepsychiatry solutions and many others. These solutions can also help clinicians see more patients at once", they detailed in a Tateeda article.

• If there is no budget to hire permanent and long-term staff, hiring teams via IT Staff Augmentation may be the solution, since they are professionals hired on a temporary basis and to do specific tasks.
• IT Staff Augmentation resources are quickly integrated into local teams, coordinating work schedules, complementing skills. The best thing is that they will be 100% dedicated to your project, without distractions.
• You do not have to invest in infrastructure or set up an extra office for the Staffing team since they usually work remotely.

Are there risks?

We know that, for any company, it is important to protect all its data, flows and processes since it is something private and confidential. That is precisely one of the limitations when hiring the Staffing service, since companies do not know how to handle this situation. 

And of course, it is natural to feel this way, but for the IT Staff Augmentation service to be successful, you can pay attention to these aspects:

Sign privacy agreements with the provider

In order for you to be sure that the IT Staff Augmentation provider is going to protect your data, both of you can sign an NDA confidentiality agreement, to avoid leaking important information.

“In fact, IT specialists offered by a reliable staffing partner are expected to be well-trained in terms of data security and careful about sensitive business matters. They will sign a confidentiality agreement with the provider that employs them", said Tateeda.

Carry out individual evaluations

Before IT Staffing resources are integrated into your team, you can conduct technical tests and interview each one separately. In addition to evaluating the technical side, it is essential to evaluate the soft skills of this professional, such as his ability to communicate, if he works in a team, if he is a collaborator.

Provider history

Make sure the IT Staffing provider is honest and disciplined, as this ensures that the team is too. This way you won't get an unpleasant surprise when working on your project.

Evaluate these IT Staffing hiring models

Hiring the technical staff you need can be carried out in two ways, nearshore and offshore, depending on your needs, the technical skills your project requires and what you are willing to invest.

When we talk about nearshore hiring, we are talking about suppliers and professionals who are close to the country where your company operates. “Usually they are within the same or similar time zones. The ideal is that they speak the same language”, they delimited in this regard in the Vertrical portal.

“The Nearshore modality can potentially reduce the budget required for the development of a project. Nearby countries can often offer reduced rates for development work. However, this may not be as small as offshore agencies," they added in the article.

If we talk about offshore contracting, it refers to contracting suppliers that are in a country far from the company that hires them.

“The main difference is that the teams are based in countries that are far away, or even on the other side of the world. Once again, offshore equipment augmentation agencies can supplement their existing equipment based on their requirements, but attention must be paid to time and language differences,” they emphasized. The great advantage of this modality is that it is usually cheaper.

As you can see, the increase in personnel is not exclusive to one type of company, one industry or one sector. Absolutely all companies can take advantage of this service since it consists of giving more strength to local teams, injecting expertise and quality into projects, as well as speed so that software development is more efficient. Do you have any requirements? Contact us!

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