What is staff augmentation – a key to closing the skills gap

Staff augmentation is quickly becoming a buzzword in the IT job market, prompting global businesses to hire remotely. This collaboration model yields numerous benefits, including access to a broader talent pool, flexibility in scaling resources, and cost-effective solutions.

In this article, we will delve into what Staff augmentation means, explore its advantages, and provide valuable insights on how to maximize the potential of augmenting your team with experienced developers.

Staff augmentation: A smart move to enhance your team

Staff augmentation is a type of outsourcing strategy where an external provider is used on a contractual basis to complement the knowledge and skills of the existing in-house team. This approach revolves around determining current internal capabilities and defining what skills are needed.

Team extension is part of the staff augmentation model that focuses solely on hiring tech professionals to cover the necessary positions in your team on a temporary or permanent basis. This strategy allows you to choose candidates that 100% fit your requirements, close the existing skills gap, and scale your team up or down whenever you need to.

There are plenty of companies that offer team extension services. These vendors can grant you access to skilled technical resources to strengthen your in-house development team. Since software engineers are employed directly by outsourcing providers, you will save the cost and liability of making new full-time hires.

Remote developers sourced through an IT team extension company are dedicated to one project at a time. This means they will work for you 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, just like your internal team.

Unleashing the potential of team extension

Finding competent engineers with specialized skills and profound technical expertise is a hard task. The high demand for experienced tech professionals forces many businesses in Europe to look for talented workers.

Team extension is the optimal solution for organizations seeking developers with particular skills to bolster the capabilities of their local team. It is the right choice for you if:

• You already have engineers working on your project in the local office, but you want to extend your team and have remote programmers develop another part of the product. Hiring new developers locally is not a viable option, since it will take too long due to skill shortages and strong demand in your national talent market.

• You are developing a tech product together with a team of programmers and you need to add new engineers to your team. As the stack of professionals that you intend to hire is rare in your country, you're looking to extend your search to other locations.

• You cooperate with a project outsourcing company to develop your product, but this model doesn't meet your needs in terms of communication and collaboration. Both of these are crucial for remote team integration with the local team and the motivation to follow a common goal.

Understanding the difference between staff augmentation and other models

With the technical staff augmentation model, you have the opportunity to personally choose the candidates and manage them using the tools and methods you prefer. The vendor takes care of all organizational hassles, while you get the opportunity to deal with your core responsibilities and collaborate with your augmented team the same way you do with your in-house developers.

Team augmentation vs managed services

Under the managed services model, the outsourcing company controls all the aspects of the software development lifecycle on its own – from structuring a team and resource allocation to process and workforce management. You don't need to have any in-house tech expertise to drive project success. You don’t even have to spend time with your remote development team as everything is done for you. With this outsourcing model, customers often don't know who's assigned to their project, what developers are currently working on, and which decisions are made throughout the process.

Staff augmentation vs independent contractors

Collaborating with independent contractors allows businesses to tap into a diverse talent pool without the long-term commitment of full-time employment. It offers organizations the flexibility to engage tech professionals with expertise in specific technologies or domains on a project-by-project basis. Additionally, hiring contingent workers provides the opportunity to access fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and industry best practices they gained while working for various organizations and projects.

Team augmentation vs professional R&D services

If you're looking to add at least 40 professionals to your team, you can establish an R&D center in a country with a more favorable business environment and wider tech talent pool. Opening your own R&D center means you'll have to delve into the legal system of the country, learn its cultural specifics, and run all of the risks on your own.

Harnessing the benefits of IT staff augmentation

By hiring augmented personnel, businesses gain access to a wider talent pool, enabling them to quickly and efficiently fill skill gaps and resource needs. This approach also offers flexibility and scalability, allowing companies to adjust their team size and composition according to the ongoing project demands.

Let’s take a closer look at the main advantages of on-demand IT team augmentation:

High productivity level

Staff augmentation enables a higher level of productivity because the developers are focused on a single project 100% of the time, in contrast to project outsourcing, where a team can manage several projects simultaneously. Working for one client and following their big vision also means higher levels of motivation and dedication.

Talent agility

Team extension for IT helps tech companies get access to a wide talent pool of professionals, starting with UI/UX designers and front-end developers to Scrum masters and product owners. It also gives more flexibility in terms of team scaling, allowing businesses to modify their workforce quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively to face new situations.

Cost efficiency

The remote team augmentation model has an extremely transparent cost structure. You don't have to worry about any administrative and organizational expenses such as office space, workstations, and other facilities. You only pay a fee, and the vendor takes care of everything else, so you can focus on your main business objectives.

Best practices for thriving with staff augmentation

Choosing the right IT staff augmentation company is crucial for the success of your projects. By partnering with an experienced offshore provider, you can ensure access to top talent, expertise, and reliable resources. Here are some tips that can help you choose the software development staff augmentation company that perfectly aligns with your business goals and requirements:

• Ask your potential vendor if they can provide your remote developers with a separate office space, equipped with all necessary infrastructure. This helps to boost productivity and facilitates team bonding, integration and collaboration.

• Make sure remote developers feel connected with your local team. For example, you can ask your provider to install so-called “windows to the client”. It's a system that combines a camera in the team's room and a screen that shows what's going on in the local office.

• Get some HR specialists or client managers on site who will help you collaborate with your team more efficiently. These professionals will work alongside your developers and help eradicate all potential misunderstandings throughout your cooperation.

AI Engineering staff augmentation services

AI Engineering is Grid Dynamics' dedicated unit serving small and medium-sized businesses across Europe. While Grid Dynamics empowers Fortune 1000 companies with 19+ years of enterprise technical consultancy, AI Engineering brings that same enterprise-grade expertise to the European SME market delivering custom AI solutions and engineering teams purpose-built for growing businesses.

By partnering with AI Engineering you have the option of choosing the engagement model which best suits your requirements, including team extension, dedicated teams, pod teams, and remote development centers.

Our flexible IT staff augmentation services come with numerous benefits:

• We have access to top developers in different growing tech talent regions.
• We provide you with ongoing support to help you manage your extended team efficiently.
• You only pay for the professionals you need, no matter how many candidates you've interviewed.
• Flexible recruitment – you are free to expand or reduce your remote team whenever you want.