What Is Staff Augmentation?

By Author: Sigma Solve
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Staff augmentation is a growing trend in the global staffing industry. But what is it exactly and how can it be used to help staff your business? That’s exactly what we will be discussing today. Staff augmentation can help businesses achieve increased scalability, target specific skill sets, save time, and even money.

In today’s article, we’ll be discussing…

What is staff augmentation?
How does staff augmentation work?
Staff augmentation vs. managed service
Staff augmentation vs. independent contractors
Staff augmentation models
The benefits of staff augmentation
Are there any downsides to staff augmentation?
Staff augmentation best practices

What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is a type of outsourcing that helps companies onboard additional talent quickly. Typically, a company will get in touch with a staff augmentation provider. The staff augmentation provider will have a database of team members with specific skills that can be outsourced to fill any skill gaps in your company. ...
... Once a candidate has been found that meets the necessary requirements, they can be onboarded onto an existing team as an augmented worker as needed.

How does Staff Augmentation Work?
As just mentioned, augmented workers are managed by staff augmentation providers and these providers have in-house teams of specialists that companies can outsource according to their needs at that moment in time. For example, if they need an additional person on the development team for a particular project or to meet a targeted business goal.

Once a potential on-board has been found, the recruiting company will interview the candidate and bring on their new team member. This is not like a regular hire and the augmented worker is not a full-time employee. The staff augmentation provider will continue to manage and support their augmented staff during their deployment.

Staff Augmentation Vs. Managed Service
You may be thinking that this sounds a lot like a managed service provider but whilst it’s true that there are some similarities, it’s important not to confuse these two different staffing approaches. The principal difference between augmented and managed services is that a managed services are designed to deliver a specific deliverable or project. Augmented services, on the other hand, provide individuals to fill a particular role for a particular period of time.

Let’s consider two examples.

Example 1: Managed Services
An IT company wants to develop a new application that will improve customer retention for their client. This company should look to a managed services provider who will deliver the project in return for renumeration upon completion of the project.

Example 2: Augmented Services
An IT company is in the process of developing a new application but is short of skilled coders. This company should look to an augmented services provider who will provide specialist talent to fill that role in return for hourly renumeration.

Staff augmentation vs independent contractors
Augmented staff are also sometimes confused with employing independent contractors (e.g., freelancers). Again, there is a key difference here. When you hire a freelancer, you are responsible for the management and renumeration of that individual.

When you hire from an augmentation provider, there is a ‘middle man’, so to speak. The augmentation provider will manage the talent (this can save organizations a lot of time and hassle) and in return for this service you will pay the provider an agreed fee for their services.

Staff Augmentation Models
If you decide to use staff augmentation to hire new talent, there are a few different augmentation models you can choose from. Different augmentation providers specialize in different types of talent, so it’s important to consider what you are looking for carefully before striking a deal.

1. Commodity-based staff augmentation
The first type of staff augmentation service is commodity-based staff augmentation. These services provide high-quality but non-specialized workers. If you need to onboard workers but don’t need them to have a specific skillset then a commodity-based staff augmentation service is perfect. The workers on their database will have the necessary skills to fulfil roles in factories, warehouses, retail, manual jobs, and events.

2. Skill-based staff augmentation
Skill-based staff augmentation services provide skill-specific, but not highly specialized talent. Companies looking to hire someone to fulfil clerical work, copywriting, transcriptions, data processing, or other office-based tasks can source skilled individuals from these service providers.

3. Specialized staff augmentation
Specialized staff augmentation is about delivering hires with advanced skill sets. Talent at these agencies will be highly trained in their respective fields, whether that be law, software engineering, marketing etc., Companies looking to bring on a specialist to fulfil a specific role (writing lines of code, for example) can look to specialized staff augmentation services to find the best people.

The Benefits of Staff Augmentation
Employing augmented staff to meet your company’s needs can be highly effective. More and more businesses are benefitting from this system, saving time and money in the process. Let’s take a look at some of the top benefits that businesses can gain from staff augmentation services.

1. Reduced recruitment time
Recruiting full-time contracted staff is lengthy and resource heavy process. Everything from preparing an advert for the vacancy to interviewing to onboarding is a feat in itself. Hiring through staff augmentation means that all of these responsibilities go to the augmentation service provider, meaning that you’ll be able to onboard your new hire quickly and easily.

2. Access to the best talent
Another benefit of using augmentation services is that you won’t have to scour your networks in want of high-quality talent. Your augmentation company will have a database of highly skilled individuals ready to go and will only recommend individuals with relevant skills and experience. Plus, since many of these hires can be made remotely, you’ll automatically have access to a far wider pool of expert individuals across the globe.

For More Detail: https://www.sigmasolve.com/what-is-staff-augmentation/

At Sigma Solve, we empower businesses to accelerate their growth with our customized and innovative digital solutions. Our value lies in our approach – personalized, strategic, targeted and results-driven. By drawing on our unparalleled IT services, we will position your business as an agile, responsive and cutting-edge industry leader.