Advantages of IT Staff Augmentation for US Companies

Gimena Aguerreberry and Adriana Campoy
June 16, 2021

As the specialized skills gap and talent shortage continue to expand in the U.S, staff augmentation services are a cost effective way to get industry-specific support for companies that cannot afford to wait for talent.

Staff augmentation has seen significant growth in recent years. It started as simply a good technique for companies seeking unconventional candidates outside their immediate talent pool.

At its core, staff augmentation is an efficient and affordable option for companies in need of finding high-quality talent quickly.

When you are considering staff augmentation, the most important thing is to determine the goal that you want to achieve. For example, if you are looking for a machine learning expert, then prioritizing cost will be unrealistic, as machine learning is a highly specialized skill. Likewise, if you need a large number of temporary staff to do a simple project like data processing, then you do not need to hire based on a high skill level.

In this article, we’ve listed the top advantages of IT staff augmentation for companies in the U.S.

1. Hire Based on Skill Sets

One of the foremost benefits of IT staff augmentation is its flexibility. This allows firms to hire employees to suit short-term needs.

Flexibly hiring skilled professionals to suit a particular need for a specific duration prevents firms from incurring the additional costs of hiring permanent staff.

This fills the gap between the supply and demand of professional skills in a cost-effective and efficient manner. By facilitating hiring on-the-go, staff augmentation serves the creative interests of the employers.

This outsourcing model gives you direct access to the specialists that you may not always find in your city, region, or country. Staff augmentation companies provide direct access to such experts.

2. Cost-Effective Development

Staff augmentation services ensure a cost-effective means to leverage specific skill sets. Since you hire professionals for a specific project, your firm does not have to bear the cost long term. Thus, this model allows companies to pay for talent only during the requisite period.

Additionally, this skill-specific talent provides an edge over competing brands by adding a domain-centric knowledge to the operational framework. The presence of external talent also allows the firms to reach greater consumer markets.

Staff augmentation can reduce business costs and increase profitability by:

  • Decreased overhead costs (such as benefits and taxes) associated with maintaining full-time, in-house staff.

  • Reducing the cost of paying year-round employees by contracting work for finite projects.

  • Decreasing training costs—hiring highly skilled professionals accelerates the quality and speed of training and development.

  • Gaining flexibility by allowing managers to quickly terminate contracts in the event of a budget shortfall.

3. Expansion and Adaptation

Software companies often aspire to scale up their operations to make the most of profitable market conditions. But the risk of failure and lack of capital becomes an obstacle to such business expansion. In these cases, staff augmentation allows software companies to extend dedicated developers without investing in a full-fledged workforce.

Besides expansion, staff augmentation enables the software companies to adapt to fluctuating market conditions. Staff augmentation equips companies to respond quickly, as they can fulfill new demands with their project-oriented development team.

4. Retain Control and Project Management

While firms leverage professionals from staff augmentation organizations, they can still control their project management. Staff augmentation ensures that only employees, not managers, are being outsourced to your company.

This control over management allows firms to maintain a strong hold over their projects and shape them as they desire.

5. Continuous Nurturing

When you have a fixed workforce, you can only access the knowledge that your staff possesses. Your business growth can become stagnant because of the lack of new ideas and opinions.

But with staff augmentation, you can get a new outlook by accessing a diverse set of professionals. This gives you the ability to implement new ideas and boost your current operations.

Because consultants are hired to undertake specific projects and meet firm deadlines, they approach tasks with precision and focus. Their goal is to ensure the client’s success on the specific projects they’ve been tasked with.

Conclusion - Advantages of IT Staff Augmentation for U.S. Companies

IT staff augmentation provides companies in the U.S. with numerous benefits, including lower development and operational costs, fewer recruitment headaches, increased output and team size, and more flexibility.

At Sophilabs, our developers are regularly working with leading U.S. companies on exciting and innovative software development projects. We work with startups, small companies and large enterprises, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and find out more about how we can help your business achieve its staffing solution.

"Advantages of IT Staff Augmentation for US Companies" by Gimena Aguerreberry and Adriana Campoy is licensed under CC BY SA. Source code examples are licensed under MIT.

Illustration by Rodrigo Montes

Categorized under software development.

We’d love to work with you.

We treat client projects as if they were our own, understanding the underlying needs and astonishing users with the results.