Software Development Staff Augmentation is an outsourcing service. An organization engages an outside vendor on a contractual basis. Software teams are composed of members who have critical skills in software development. Each team member plays an important role in achieving the goals set by the team or organization. However, there are times when there are not enough trained and/or experienced team members available within an organization, so the organization looks outside for these skills.
The HR department assesses the current skills and knowledge of the existing team and conducts a skills gap analysis to determine which skills, the team as a whole lacks, to perform the required task. After analyzing the skills needed, HR will seek to supplement team members by outsourcing these functions and hiring temporary members to complement the skills, knowledge, and experience of the existing team, in order to complete the task.
Software staff augmentation firms offer various services to these companies to assist in augmenting teams with the most skilled, well-trained, and knowledgable members available.
Staff Augmentation vs Managed Services
Staff augmentation services benefit a business on a temporary basis, which is ideal if the business is simply looking to supplement its existing team for a short period of time. They allow a business to quickly access the skills and capabilities they need by eliminating the tedious process of hiring temporary staff, as is the case with managed services.
This model is very accommodating when companies need skilled employees when unexpected events cause staffing shortages or projects that require immediate attention and short notice completion.
Software staff augmentation streamlines the process of placing key, skilled, and experienced employees in the shortest amount of time and eliminates the costs of hiring and firing employees associated with traditional forms of temporary staffing. Another key benefit of software staff augmentation services is that both the workforce and the cost are easily scalable based on need.
Using the staff augmentation model means that there is no impact on the existing operating model, as these employees are hired on an hourly basis and the services are no longer needed once the project is complete. This model facilitates access to the required skills for the required period of time and makes the process very transparent.
Moreover, the software staff augmentation model is ideal for the IT industry. The model fits this industry like a glove. I.T. companies often run multiple projects for different clients at the same time. Software staff augmentation ensures that the I.T. firm supplements its existing staff with additional employees who have their own equipment and offices, as these employees often provide their services remotely. Team members communicate directly with each other while administrative support is available from the vendor.
Top 6 Software Staff Augmentation Services
Software staff augmentation firms offer various services. Below are five of the top services offered by these firms:
1. Scalable Team Members
IT organizations are often faced with completing multiple projects at the same time. Team members may need to work on more than one team at a time to ensure that each team has sufficient skills to complete the required tasks.
Regardless of the size of the IT organization, it will be able to handle many projects by assigning key employees to complete these tasks. The company does not have to grow in size before it can tackle larger projects because scalable teams ensure that the company has enough staff to handle each project and can downsize once the project is complete.
2. Offers skills in all key areas
Depending on the software staffing firm, a company ( IT ) may meet all of its qualification requirements from a single vendor. Most software staffing firms specialize in all areas of IT and can quickly source the skills needed by the IT company. Projects are streamlined because the IT company can pick and choose what skills they need and how long those skills are needed. The software augmentation company usually has a large database of skilled people such as developers, testers, data architects, UX and UI designers, integration engineers, testers, DevOps engineers, etc. who can get to work immediately.
3. Technology
Software staff augmentation firms already possess the required software and technologies to assist IT companies with getting the job done. These include:
- Mobile
- Desktop
- Cloud
- Front end programming languages
- Back end programming languages
- Big data
- DevOps
- Platforms
- Innovative technologies
- Architecture designs and patterns
4. IT Outsourcing, consulting, support
Software staffing services offer a range of services, either bundled or individually, depending on the needs of the business IT. Whether the company needs only consulting services, complete outsourcing services, or support services for its existing operations, software staffing firms are able to create packages that meet the needs of the client.
5. UI/UX design
Skilled employees can be hired to assist with web design services which include User Interface Design and User experience design. Business objectives are balanced with visual aesthetics, technology, and practicality to ensure clients receive impactful and fast-loading online experiences.
6. Infrastructure services
Experienced software developers and architects support customers in planning and implementing software infrastructures. Systems are configured, managed, and optimized to ensure that business objectives are met and customer goals for the infrastructure are met. These services cover monitoring, troubleshooting, administration, and optimization of the IT infrastructure of an organization. The end goal is to ensure that the IT infrastructure is operable, reliable, and most importantly, cost-efficient.
The main purpose of outsourcing certain functions of the software team is to ensure that the IT company or any company that utilizes the services of software staff augmentation firms, meets its operational goals. Software staff augmentation firms seek to streamline the process of placing key support staff within an existing team, that will complement the existing team and ensure that projects run smoothly and efficiently. A key factor that must be taken into consideration, is the level of importance that is placed on effective communication between existing team members and incoming team members, in order to make this union successful and fruitful.
