Staff augmentation is a must-have strategy or practices for any IT industry. It makes the industry well suited to navigate successfully a multitude of projects. Besides, it has assumed critical significance at a time when talent flight has emerged as a grim crisis and developers are quitting midway, leaving project execution and delivery in disarray. In such situations when the firms are starving for talented resources and have limited visibility on how to hire, staff augmentation can salvage the crisis.  

In a post-pandemic world, hiring and working have turned borderless. Project delivery is location agnostic- the focus should be on drawing the best talent blurring borders. Staff augmentation is an outsourcing model where external talent is hired on a temporary basis to increase your organization's capacity. The right offshore staff augmentation strategy can solve a lot of challenges for any company, such as scaling up, growing your development capabilities, and adapting to new innovations as quickly as possible. There is a suite of staff augmentation companies in the USA helping firms with quicker project-based hiring, cost savings, and multi-location requirements.

However, staff augmentation despite its avowed benefits, can be tricky and challenging. Here are the five ways how you can draw the best out of offshore staff augmentation:

1. Shun Short-term Solutions

Many businesses view staff augmentation as a stopgap arrangement to plug the temporary resource gap. Having this myopic strategy will not lead to the success of this collaborative solution. To mine long-term gains, organizations must focus on long-term connections and integrate the augmented staff with their regular folks. This cultural integration will result in the alignment of the extended staff with your corporate objectives and spur peak performance and transformative outcomes.

2. Prioritise Value Over Costs  

Offshore staff augmentation is a time-tested approach to cut software development costs. But many IT augmentation companies in the USA offer different engagement models, and each comes with its own pricing. Typically, organizations attach more thrust on costs instead of the value that can be unlocked from an extended team. When companies focus on value, they are sure to harvest gains in terms of client satisfaction, revenue growth and reputation management. The value that a talented extended team brings to your board clearly outweighs the bills that you foot.

3. Define Project Goals and Expectations

A company’s responsibility doesn’t end with outsourcing the job to a staff augmentation entity. Any company needs a crystal clear view of the project and its destination to gauge efficiency and productivity. When the whole team is on the same page, there is no room for confusion or wasted effort. Setting project milestones and coming up with an evaluation scheme for every new team member added works good. It will ensure that the people hired fit into your projects perfectly. Also, it will inject the highest level of professionalism and effectiveness. What’s more, clear communication on the expectations helps to draw the best out of the qualified and skilled resources.  

4. Establish Direct Control Over The Hired Team

Organizations need to be actively involved in the staff augmentation models even if it is outsourced work. Despite the staff augmentation model, companies retain complete ownership of the project. They need to be geared up to handle various technical updates, and make tactical and strategic decisions whenever needed. The onus is on the companies for controlling the development process, communicating effectively with your team, and evaluating their performance. Companies should realize that the extended teams ramp up performance but it doesn’t mitigate work for the full-timers.  

5. Treat Your Extended Team at Par With Your Full-time Resources  

Augmented team members are a valuable asset for any company. But not all business owners realize that they need to be treated on an equal footing with their regular folks. For producing excellent results, the augmented or extended teams should have access to the same corporate privileges as enjoyed by the full-time resources. It enhances their employee experience and guarantees stellar outcomes.  

After the Covid pandemic, the global IT staff augmentation market has risen to $132.9 billion (Source: Statista) from $92.5 billion during the pre-pandemic. Choosing staff augmentation over orthodox hiring methods has many benefits for companies. They get the services of specialists instead of generalists, profit from fresh ideas and objectivity and counteract attrition. For companies itching to balance agility and scalability with flexibility, staff augmentation is the sticky strategy.