We’ve gone over the many advantages staff augmentation has over other hiring models, such as easy scalability, simplified contracting, and fast access to top development talent. But it also meets many other complex needs today’s organizations face, where cost is just one of many factors to consider.
As such, it’s important that you carefully map out the right time and circumstances to consider staff augmentation. Here are 6 scenarios where staff augmentation would be a perfect fit for your business.
Top 6 Scenarios for Utilizing IT Staff Augmentation
1. Need to Accelerate Time-to-Market
There is never a time when acceleration of the time-to-market for a project isn’t critical. That being said, the competitive advantage that an augmented staff brings with regard to meeting deadlines and turning projects around quickly, is immeasurable.
Simply stated, the shorter your time to market is, the more competitive advantage your company gets. No matter how incredible you think your idea is, if it takes more time for you to bring your IT project to life than your competition, they will likely pull ahead and gain that all-important positive first impression. You only get one first chance to impress your target audience.
2. Your Project Requires Niche Expertise
IT Leaders today are re-thinking which expertise is core to their business. They are actively deciding whether they need niche expertise in-house or are simply better off using staff augmentation for this type of proficiency. The line between success and failure is so thin today, many companies simply feel staff augmentation is a safer, more fruitful play.
According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, most companies worldwide—87 percent—are aware that they either already have a skills gap, or will have one within a few years. Having the ability to easily find and integrate IT staff with skills in specialized areas can be a game-changer in a sector as competitive as the information technology space.
3. You’re Struggling to Bridge Skill Gaps
There are always times when your company has multiple projects going on. Many of these projects will require different skill sets in different areas of expertise. Demand for those specific skills is always fluctuating, so you need to address this issue dynamically, on a per project basis.
Staff augmentation allows you to add experienced developers that will bring these specialized skills to the table, that may not be needed beyond the project they are working on. Thus, you won’t need to spend time, energy, and money training in-house staff on these fleetingly necessary skills.
4. IT is Not Your Core Competency
When IT isn’t your expertise, but it’s time to improve or replace legacy systems, staff augmentation can actually fulfill two goals:
- You’re long overdue to begin your firm’s digital transformation and the augmented team is far better qualified to handle that
- Your in-house staff can focus on other important initiatives that are part of your digital transformation initiatives that are more inline with their core competencies – from security to compliance to training, as your company continues to evolve toward digital maturity.
There are also situations where business leaders are simply reluctant to even consider opportunities that fall outside of their companies’ established core competencies. Seeing there is no clear precedent for success, the feeling is the risks of a new undertaking simply outweigh the potential rewards.
With staff augmentation, and the ability to utilize an established team of experts, companies can venture confidently into new territory. You can use staff augmentation when you feel the time is right to broaden your business’s horizons, allowing you to focus on new projects with new conviction.
5. Need Immediate Access to IT Experts
Companies that want to succeed in the current, dynamic environment have to match the market’s continuous pace of change. This sometimes requires the need for immediate access to IT experts outside the walls of your company.
If you have an in-house IT team, they are undoubtedly already under enormous pressure as they face ever-changing and very complex work environments. Staff augmentation provides an excellent opportunity to quickly add very specific expertise for a project that your in-house staff may not currently be prepared to take on.
This will allow your IT projects to evolve on the fly, creating the need for innovative new features that may involve expertise the in-house staff might struggle with. The augmented team covers this workload while your internal team can work on developing new functionalities.
5. When You Need Fresh Perspectives
Working in a stagnant environment can make it really easy to self-validate ideas and concepts. Your team can begin to feel there’s only one way to manage company projects. As a result of this line of thinking, you could be missing out on more innovative and effective methodologies.
When a fresh set of eyes and thoughts are brought in through staff augmentation, you’re getting some new perspectives and trusted expertise that can invigorate your company’s environment and lift your in-house team’s work on future projects to new levels.
TechGenies is here to help you achieve these benefits with our top IT talent and extensive staff augmentation experience. Whether you need a staffing partner for custom software development, an AI implantation, or a complete IT staffing strategy overhaul. TechGenies can support your business with the right technology and staffing solutions.
