Staff augmentation is useful, cost-effective, and a scalable solution for businesses to expand their teams whenever necessary. Here, we’ll discuss the different types of staff augmentation services and how these can help in tailoring the IT staffing strategy in a business.
There’s a high demand for information technology (IT) services in various industries. Businesses from around the globe have been adopting new technologies to revamp their processes and compete in changing market conditions. Statistics show that the IT market size has grown from $8508.63 billion in 2023 to $9039 billion in 2024 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 6.2% and is expected to reach $12417.21 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 8.3%.
In such instances, the demand for IT professionals from various domains has also increased. Programmers, engineers, data analysts, data scientists, software developers, AI and ML experts, etc., are also being hired by non-IT businesses. However, not all enterprises follow the same hiring patterns. Instead of recruiting professionals permanently, many organizations are opting for outsourcing, managed services, or staff augmentation services.
In this blog, we’ll talk about staff augmentation and the various types of staff augmentation services available in the market.
Simply put, staff augmentation is the process of temporarily using professionals from outside the establishment to work with your existing teams on a particular project. They augment your internal team capacity and capabilities to help you achieve your goals. IT companies offer staff augmentation services to help other IT and non-IT businesses access talent and technology through cost-effective means. Rather than spending money on full-scale recruitment for temporary jobs, you can sign a contract with a staff augmentation company to quickly hire as many experts as you want and pay them only for the project/ duration.
For example, a manufacturer wants to digitally transform the systems and set up IoT (Internet of Things) devices with factory equipment for data collection. The manufacturer can hire IT staff augmentation services to build a team of programmers and data analysts to handle the project. The selected external experts will collaborate with the enterprise managers to understand the requirements and deliver the results.
The manufacturer will have to pay salaries only for the duration of the project (or choose a relevant plan to pay for the services). Most staff augmentation service providers can build teams in 48-72 hours and they start working on the project in around a week. This reduces the time to market and eliminates unwanted expenses for the manufacturer.
Staff augmentation services can be truly diverse and tailored to suit your business requirements at different times. This variety has made it a popular staffing method in the global market.
Traditional staff augmentation involves hiring experts based on the problems faced by in-house teams. The experts usually work on-site and sign a contract to remain part of the team until the issue is sorted. It’s pretty much like a contract job, except the access to talent is limited to the region.
Offshore staff augmentation is almost the opposite of the traditional model, as you can access experts from around the world to work on your project. The temporary employees belong to another country (which is usually across the ocean, hence the term offshore) and work from their locations remotely. Managing time zones and cultural differences can be a concern if you don’t partner with reputed service providers in offshore staffing.
Onshore staff augmentation is similar to the traditional model except that the experts can belong to neighboring countries as well. You have access to a wider talent pool but not to the extent of the offshore model. For example, US companies can hire external employees from Canada, Mexico, or Latin American countries.
As the name suggests, the experts will work remotely and collaborate online to interact with your in-house employees. They can belong to the same region or live on the other end of the world. The services are offered remotely so that they don’t have to visit your office to get the job done. This method is cost-effective, though it needs a reliable internet network and wider bandwidth.
Agile staff augmentation involves building a team of experts from various domains to manage a project from beginning to end. For example, in analytics staff augmentation, the team will consist of a programmer, AI engineer, data analyst, data engineer, data scientist, business intelligence analyst, etc., to build, deploy, integrate, and maintain the data architecture. The teams are created based on your requirements.
Resource augmentation combines staff augmentation and other resources. It is a model developed to help businesses bridge the resource gap in their organizations without spending too much money on building everything from scratch. The resources offered by the service provider include talent, technology, infrastructure, etc. While it is similar to outsourcing, resource augmentation provides more flexibility and can be for the short term.
As the name suggests, temporary staff augmentation services are time-bound and used for short-term requirements and simple projects that can be completed quickly. It is a great model to address the immediate needs and concerns in an establishment. Sometimes, external experts are brought in during the last phase of a project to sort out the issues and release the product into the market.
Project-based staff augmentation involves hiring experts for the entire project. Typically, team augmentation services are project-based since complex projects require more team members and diverse talent. You can easily scale the teams without incurring extra overhead costs or delaying the project to wait for new additions. The project-based model can be for the short-term, mid-term, or long-term.
Long-term staff augmentation involves hiring external talent to work with your businesses for an extended period, which could be several months or a few years. Organizations prefer the long-term model to hire employees permanently as it is cost-effective and reduces the attrition rate. Moreover, you can rotate the experts on the team, scale the size, and adjust other factors whenever necessary.
Specialized staff augmentation is a model that offers highly skilled experts from specific fields or domains. For example, suppose you require exclusive data engineering staff augmentation services. In that case, you opt for the specialized model as the candidates selected will have the qualifications and experience that align with your needs. This model is useful when quality is a priority. However, it can be expensive.
Master vendor staff augmentation services are offered by a large-scale staffing company with a variety of talent. The same service provider will cater to your specifications and provide the workforce for a lower cost. The model is scalable, but the talent available can be inconsistent, leading to unpredictable results.
A gig platform is an online service provider with a moderate to large network of independent experts. These staff augmentation services offer flexibility and speed to complete projects quickly and reduce the time to market. It is similar to a staffing agency and acts as a connector/ broker between two parties.
On-demand staff augmentation services offer highly curated and skilled talent to help businesses quickly deploy experts and augment their teams. The candidates usually belong to the global talent pool and work remotely. The cost may be higher than traditional staff augmentation but is still less than recruiting new employees. You can get an estimate from the service provider.
Staff augmentation comes under the outsourcing business model where an enterprise relies on external talent and resources to take up various tasks and activities it cannot otherwise perform on its own. However, the staff augmentation process is different from other outsourcing services like consulting or managed services.
In staff augmentation, you bring human resources or talent from outside to bridge the gap in your business (for the short-term or long-term). When you outsource the project to outsiders, you may or may not provide the resources. In most instances, outsourced projects don’t use your internal resources.
In staff augmentation, you bring external employees into your existing teams. They work on your project using your resources. It makes your in-house teams more flexible and agile.
In managed services, you hand over the responsibility of certain tasks to a service provider who will handle everything on your behalf using their resources. This reduces additional overheads you might still incur in staff augmentation.
Both models are cost-effective and convenient. The right choice depends on your requirements, budget, etc.
While staff augmentation covers many roles and responsibilities, consulting services are usually niche-based. Businesses hire consultants for specific purposes, and this person can also be an independent contractor. Moreover, the consultant’s job is to give useful and effective advice and solve your business problem by providing a strategy or a plan. A consultant may or may not complete the project.
Consider the following aspects when choosing staff augmentation services and service providers:
Identifying your needs and choosing the right model are essential elements to making your staff augmentation project successful. A reliable IT staff augmentation company will thoroughly analyze your project requirements and recommend a feasible solution within your budget.
Tailored staff augmentation services are a preferred option for businesses from all industries since the solutions are exclusively designed to meet your specifications. This allows you to enhance the team’s capabilities, increase productivity, accelerate time to market, and improve efficiency. Gain a competitive edge in the market by hiring a reputed IT staff augmentation company.
The right type of staff augmentation services can hugely benefit your business by strengthening the internal team, reducing the project duration, decreasing expenses, and increasing overall efficiency. Collaborating with a reputed IT staff augmentation company will empower you to choose the right business model and achieve your objectives.
Here are a few resources to learn more about IT staff augmentation.
There are many types of staff augmentation services. However, these can be classified into short-term and long-term. Short-term augmentation services last a few weeks or months, while long-term augmentation can continue for years.
A staff augmentation contract is an agreement between a business and a service provider where the business hires additional staff for a specific purpose and duration. The contract contains information about the exact terms and conditions both parties have to adhere to. The different types of staff augmentation contracts are as follows:
Typically, NDAs are preferred alongside other contracts to ensure the project details are not shared with outsiders or competitors.
IT staff augmentation service contracts can be divided into the following four types:
Each contract model has its advantages and disadvantages. Businesses can choose the one that suits their requirements.
Though the terms staffing and staff augmentation are sometimes used interchangeably, they have different meanings. In staff augmentation services, the service providers offer their expert talent to augment the client’s teams. The process of screening, interviewing, selecting, and onboarding employees is short and simple. However, a staffing agency is more like a broker between a business and potential candidates. They may or may not be fully involved in the recruiting process, which is fairly lengthy and detailed.
While staff augmentation is a type of outsourcing business model, there are some key differences between the two. Outsourcing is a broader concept and covers a range of tasks. Often, it is used for recurring activities that consume business resources like time, money, computational power, etc. A business pays the outsourcing company to handle these tasks. Staff augmentation is more specific and used only when businesses need to bridge the talent gap in a short time and reduce overall costs.
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