IT Staff Augmentation: Complete Implementation Guide 2024

According to a recent CompTIA research on state of tech workforce, available supply is one of the major obstacles in hiring plans for organizations. Hiring strategy quickly runs into talent constraints. 

One key alternative is internal training programs that help entry-level employees acquire skills quickly and start making a significant impact.

Still, this strategy, too, has its limitations. What can you do if you need a quick replacement for a mid- or senior-level expert? Are there any options?

Yes, there are. Choose IT staff augmentation. 

You get both:

This post guides you through the pros, cons, and staff augmentation examples. It also gives you insights on how to turn your in-house team and external specialists into a single, smoothly collaborating and working machine.

Staff augmentation definition is hiring an external workforce to complete certain tasks when a business lacks that specific in-house expertise. 

Companies can opt for IT staff augmentation by subcontracting one or two specialists for either full- or part-time work. Or they can hire a dedicated team when a staff augmentation project requires several roles. Teams work relatively independently on delegated areas (e.g., one team works on a web app and another on a native iPhone app).

What does staff augmentation mean for an organization? 

External team members do not become employees. The IT staff service provider is responsible for overhead costs, including recruitment, taxes and insurance, equipment, etc. 

Hired specialists maintain direct communication with the client. A point of contact on the IT staff provider’s side handles all matters relating to the external workforce. 

Overall, an extended team remains an external, temporary workforce:

The staff augmentation process includes four consecutive steps, which you use to:

The four practical steps to successful staff augmentation in more detail:

It is important to determine the requirements and expectations from candidates:

Also, keep in mind that you might need to make adjustments on your side (e.g., access to project documentation, creating corporate emails and profiles, special training, and more) to remove bottlenecks and ensure fast onboarding.

At the next step, you search for an expert freelancer or an agency on specializing platforms, such as Upwork, Toptal, Clutch, or Goodfirms. 

When hiring a freelancer, businesses gets independent professionals at a cost-effective rate. Yet, they need to factor in expensive managerial time communicating with freelancers. 

Also, scaling might be time-consuming when several specialists are required, and each specialist lives in different parts of the world.

When turning to a dependable agency, businesses access available experts or get help recruiting the right remote specialist. Vendors can scale a team when required.

The vendor also takes part of responsibilities including HR management, accounting, reports, communication, and handles replacement if the specialist quits. It helps you save time your time and resources.

Contact a vendor or a freelancer with your requirements, sign an NDA with them, and discuss possible options. 

A vendor can send you several CVs of matching candidates, which you reviews and schedule interviews with candidates you like. In case of looking for freelancers, you do this on your own. 

You meet candidates and discuss their experience in solving project challenges similar to yours. Then, you select the most qualified candidate(s) based on technical expertise, communication skills, and attitude. 

Also, you negotiate cooperation details, such as number of hours on your project, contract length, start date, communication means, reporting, etc.

Augmented specialists are tightly integrated into the business workflow. They report to your company’s project managers and stay in direct contact with them. This way, you maintain a higher level of direct control over the project. 

The following points are crucial for a productive cooperation:

Flexibility is one of the key characteristics of staff augmentation meaning businesses can select from a wide range of services offered or configure them to reach maximum efficiency. 

Here are several types of services businesses can use to meet their changing needs:

Commodity-based augmentation means hiring employees to perform basic tasks without requiring advanced skills. It can be applied to IT projects for testing, e.g., usability or crowd testing.

Skill-based augmentation focuses on filling in the gaps in expertise, ensuring the organizations can find and hire specialists with required skill sets quickly, e.g., native app development or 

Highly skilled augmentation is one of the main types for organizations lacking rare, narrow-focused expertise that can be unavailable for immediate hire, e.g., DevOps engineering, project rescue, or digital transformation.

Some businesses need only short-term help, such as project audit and consulting, infrastructure reconfiguring, or preparing an online shop for a sales season.

However, specific work can emerge regularly, e.g., software monitoring or iOS app modernization. Then, a business might consider long-term cooperation. It is easier to retain the accrued expertise.

Businesses hire tech talents in distant locations to decrease project costs and leverage the global market, where they can find any required skills and expertise. Still, hiring a dependable vendor is critical.

Nearshoring refers to finding the necessary expertise in a geographically close location. Although costs can be higher than for offshore services, the time difference and cultural barrier are generally lower.

An augmented team or single developer(s) can work full-time on one project with enough activities.

Part-time engagement is the best option for projects when there is not enough workload for a full-time specialist.

A business should hire a team on a project basis when a deadline is short and there are too many features for one specialist to handle successfully. Vendors can also scale a team when required.

Specific business considerations regarding staff augmentation or its alternatives depend on several factors, such as:

An augmented team is often seen as a quick, operational solution. Yet, it also positively affects a company’s strategy.  

The following criteria enhance staff augmentation appeal:

Operational. Staff augmentation helps managers close specific gaps quickly and efficiently, reaching the company’s short-term goals.

Strategic. Improve long-term project stability by balancing costs, team composition, and acquired expertise.

You hire remote workers who are not sitting in the same room with you. Not even in the same city or country. Their ability matters most, but changes in your workflow might be necessary. 

Unexpected barriers might occur:

and more

Hence, you must be prepared to coordinate a remote team, encouraging each member to work autonomously and proactively. Creating a transparent working environment and a common view of the project is crucial. 

Keep the following points in mind:

All team members—in-house and external—must be aware of the business goals. You need to eliminate risks that developers start working on details that do not provide value to the project.

Team augmentation requires adjustments in working processes to make everyone efficient. Make sure engineers understand each other’s roles, responsibilities, and routines. They have a common view of the tech stack and instruments. 

It is impossible to hand over a list of tasks for programmers then wait until it is done. Ensure they have a contact point to address any questions or ask for advice. The key to success is to have them remain in touch with colleagues to solve emerging issues fast.

Ensure everyone can speak about emerging problems. Provide constructive feedback on what could be done better. Listen to suggestions on possible workflow improvements.

Treat all staff as your team. Augmented team members work efficiently and proactively, knowing they are respected and heard. Encourage them to share their vision and to offer solutions.

It is essential to keep security at an elevated level when remote team members are integrated into the workflow.

Staff augmentation is a great opportunity to reconsider and improve the company’s security policy. Check workflow against new challenges. Invest in extra security measures. Schedule security audits every six months.

When you have a policy update, it is essential that everyone knows it and understands what to do. Increase staff awareness of security routines, possible risks, and everyone’s actions in an emergency. 

Create corporate emails and profiles for the new team members, which they will use when working with your resources and within your internal system. Add them to corporate spaces and management systems to facilitate onboarding.

Determine the access level and set permissions for those specific resources team members require to fulfill their duties. Also, ensure their access to tech documentation they need for reference. Do not set up unnecessary barriers that slows progress.

An access management system enables secure handling of various secrets (tokens, passwords, certificates, etc.). It lets you respond to role changes, monitor inventory, and minimize the consequences of possible breach/identity theft.

Ensure you cover sensitive contract clauses with an NDA or an IP agreement to keep all your trade secrets safe. For instance, IT Craft managers sign an NDA before the first contact occurs to ensure our clients can discuss their problems freely.

Let’s discuss the benefits and limits of staff augmentation models for businesses.

The direct cost of labor is lower when hiring an augmented team. For instance, Central and Eastern European hourly rates are $30 – $65, compared to $65 – $170 in Western Europe and $100 – $250 in USA/Canada for the same expertise level. Risks of budget overspend decrease.

It takes 30 – 60 days to fill one in-house tech position. A new specialist can be added within 14+ days when opting for staff augmentation, substantially increasing the company’s flexibility. The team can be scaled faster, requiring less working time on the in-house team’s side.

Businesses distribute workload more efficiently while eliminating capacity constraints. Productivity of the in-house team increases. When the project scope drops precipitously, the in-house team remains intact. The external augmentation team switches to the next project. Businesses keep up with budget limits.

Staff augmentation can make a difference under a tight deadline. Specialists might not be available for a quick hire in the local market for a reasonable cost or not possess the required expertise. Businesses bridge the skill gap with experienced engineers from other geographic locations fast, meeting short-term goals. 

Cons might emerge on both sides. A provider may not have enough expertise or share the client’s mindset. 

The client’s processes might be a good fit to incorporate outside experts.

Finding a reliable provider who shares a sound work ethic is crucial. New members must become a part of the team without any need for micromanagement on your side. Remember, the lowest hourly rates mean more needed supervision. It leads to waste of resources on your side, resulting in higher indirect costs.  

New team members need more onboarding time when a business has unique processes or operates in a narrow, context-dependent niche. To ensure successful augmentation, look for a vendor with similar completed projects. 

Both augmented staff and the company hiring them must adjust. The client company’s processes must be accommodating to remote team members, e.g., consider time zone mismatches, and apply scrum practices and communication guidelines, ensuring everyone’s fast response.

Documenting is an essential part of all processes. Members of the augmented team must keep track record of their work and contribute to information sharing, ensuring everyone understands what they have done on the project and why.

The following points will help you understand augmented staff meaning for your processes:

Answer the following questions before you start any search:

The answers will help you formulate expectations from team augmentation.

Even if there is an urgent need for professionals on a project, it makes sense to choose carefully. Check the vendor’s portfolio for similar cases. Study reviews and online feedback.

Action proves performance. Start small to see whether augmented staff understands the project problems and chooses the right path to their solutions.

A small pilot task also indicates whether new team members keep pace with your timeline or become a roadblock on the project, creating extra hassle and costs.

Miscommunication caused by cultural differences becomes the primary source of hidden costs. When new team members have low cultural awareness, tasks are completed slower, and project managers spend their time on micromanagement. Always choose a team with a work ethic similar to yours.

Give the extended team a heads-up on possible changes in workload before cooperation starts, so they can be well prepared. When you rapidly increase the scope of work, your team might struggle to scale and/or adapt to the new scope. It can also cause problems for the vendor in finding a suitable developer for the project. Reliable vendors do not just put a body in a seat and charge more.

Again, do not leave new engineers working on their own: integrate them into your business’s workflow. Ensure in-house engineers are aware of the reasons for IT staff augmentation. It helps eliminate tensions and boost productivity for both teams, enabling them to meet even near-impossible deadlines. 

IT Craft accurately studies each client’s particular request. It then offers the best terms based on unique needs and limitations.

01 Initial Request

We sign an NDA with you then study your request and make a list of suitable candidates. 

02 Selection

You receive candidates’ CVs within 3+ days, which you evaluate. We schedule interviews with those you like and consider suitable.

03 Interviews

You meet approved candidates on a video call and observe their skills/needed expertise and the offered solution path to your problem. 

04 Approval 

Once you approve specific candidates, we negotiate on further cooperation terms, ensuring complete mutual understanding. 

05 Onboarding

When the agreement is finalized and signed, the assigned engineers start working as a part of your team.

Depending on the request’s complexity, the entire process takes 2+ weeks. Also, IT Craft offers a 1-month probation period for staff augmentation services. As a client, you need this time to evaluate the level of our services.

Jan Goetgeluk, Founder and CEO, Omni

What is staff augmentation’s benefit for hiring businesses? 

There are many. Businesses can:

Talent augmentation is the perfect option for companies that want to scale flexibly and wisely.  

As with any cooperation, concerns and risks remain. Businesses can eliminate them by determining their aims and expectations with a service provider. 

Whatever option you choose, choose expertise and a high-quality working culture.