Explore the potential of increasing IT staff for your company! Understand whether it is the right strategic move to improve your technological capabilities and agility.
Any organization that has been assigned a major project that requires a quick turnaround knows that having the right number of people available with the right skill sets is critical to completing the project on time. However, quickly aligning the right people with the right expertise without a large financial commitment can be challenging.
Staff augmentation is one of the most efficient solutions for organizations to improve their speed to market as it allows an organization to increase or decrease its staff as needed. In this approach, a staffing company provides the resources an organization needs to meet certain project requirements or objectives. It gives companies access to highly qualified and well-versed professionals who can direct their knowledge to an organization's specific needs, project by project.
If your organization has temporary needs to fill, here are some of the top signs that staff augmentation could be the right solution for your team.
Sign #1: Your organization needs flexibility to scale
Many of today's organizations practice lean operations to remain profitable in uncertain times. The ability to quickly adapt to changing market conditions is what keeps leading organizations ahead of the curve.
One of the most critical Lean concepts, “ at the right time ”, allows companies to meet specific demands with agility and speed and with the aim of producing exactly the product or service that the customer wants and when he wants it. This lean principle can also be applied to grow your team. Having access to the right professionals for the job, when and as often as you want, will give your organization a significant competitive advantage.
Staff augmentation also allows your company to easily increase the intensity of its work output at any time. It allows your organization to maintain core teams for day-to-day tasks and then leverage the skills and knowledge of external professionals to fill any skills gaps or requirements for specific projects. Ultimately, this gives your organization instant scalability whenever a need arises.
Sign #2: Your organization needs to meet a strict deadline
When your team needs to meet a strict deadline, assigning the right resources at the right time is crucial to success. From time to time, even the biggest companies struggle to meet strict deadlines. For example, IBM identified that only 40% of its projects met their key objectives in terms of schedule, budget and quality.
Staff augmentation allows you to bring in outside help to ensure a project is completed on time. Using staff augmentation, you'll have access to IT professionals exactly when you need them and for as long as you need them.
CIOs are reportedly being hurt by the biggest technology skills shortage since 2007. In a recent survey conducted by Harvey Nash/KPMG, close to 65% of CIOs surveyed said they believe a lack of talent is preventing them from keeping up with the fast-paced and ever-changing technology change. Hiring professionals based on needs is one of the best ways to equip your team with appropriate skill sets that may fall outside of your organization's areas of expertise.
Sign #3: Your organization needs a solution that quickly integrates into your workflow
Unlike outsourcing, staff augmentation allows your organization to have complete and total control over all task delegation. This means you will maintain control over the outcome of a project and be in charge of every step of the process.
In addition to control, your full-time team will also be more receptive to collaborating with temporary team members because they won't feel threatened by the entry of new talent. Instead, they will be much more likely to help you quickly adjust and learn your workflows, knowing that you are all working cohesively toward a project-related goal.
Sign #4: Your organization is on a budget
The cost of hiring a new team member goes beyond their potential salary. According to Investopedia, the estimated cost of hiring a new employee could be 1.5x to 3x your salary if you take into account the costs of benefits, training, rent, equipment, taxes, etc.
Filling an open full-time position also requires a lot of time and energy to review and interview candidates, as well as to gather all the individual benefits and incentives for joining your company. Plus, there's always a risk that a new hire won't live up to your expectations and you've wasted a lot of resources trying to integrate that person into your team.
Growing your team provides an immediate solution to these potential hiring mishaps. By avoiding the recruitment phase, your organization can save a lot of time and money onboarding a permanent member of your team. You can simply pay for the work you need, when you need it, and only if you are sure the person has the right set of skills to do the job. This can save your organization a significant amount of money in the long run.
Ultimately, if you're thinking about staff augmentation, consider working with a company that can provide staff augmentation and project outsourcing services. This gives your organization the option of combining staff augmentation and outsourcing if the organization needs to expand beyond one or the other.
