Blog/Outsourcing

What is Resource Augmentation?

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Praise Iwuh

April 28, 2023

One of the challenges you’ll face today in running a business is finding and hiring the right talent to suit your needs, at the time you need, especially in the IT department. The process of recruitment can downright be a nuisance, from tonnes of interviews to onboarding, particularly for startups or small and medium businesses who would rather focus on their primary business activities.

An IBM survey reports that 45% of businesses fail to find the ideal skillsets they require during recruitment. Resource or staff augmentation is an alternative that’s rapidly grown into a solution for hiring limitations for businesses. Today, resource augmentation is a billion-dollar industry.

The next paragraph begins to define Resource augmentation, its principles, and benefits, as outlined below:

Who needs Resource Augmentation?
How does Resource Augmentation Work?
Principles of Resource Augmentation (Framework)
Benefits of Resource Augmentation
How does Resource Augmentation work?
Who needs Resource Augmentation?
Resource Augmentation vs Project Outsourcing
Conclusion
FAQs

How does Resource Augmentation Work?

Resource augmentation is a process of hiring talent for a project from an external agency to supplement your organisation’s existing workforce. The resource augmentation model is done contractually and is tied to specific projects or tasks.

It is time-saving and cost-effective and allows you to utilise the best brains worldwide without scouting, recruiting, and training them yourself. Augmented talent may collaborate with your internal staff or work individually on other projects. Resource augmentation may also be known as staff augmentation or team extension.

Resource augmentation is an outsourcing model. A company looking to outsource a project, partners with a third-party agency that specialises in providing domain experts for projects. These companies have access to a global talent hub and provide the ideal personnel required for your project.

The outsourcing agency processes the logistics and administrative details of the employment, such as interviews, screening and going as far as procuring work visas if needed.

Augmented staff can work either remotely or onsite, though the former is more likely. These staff will report to you for the duration of the contract. A resource augmentation contract is a usually short-term affair, lasting only for specific projects, but can also be used to fill long-term positions. These highly skilled and professional teams excel at communication and seamless integration into an in-house workforce.

The resource augmentation model allows you to hire the best talent for your project without having to step out of your office. It is a highly useful business strategy that saves a lot of hassle. In certain conditions, resource augmentation is a no-brainer.

Principles of Resource Augmentation (Framework)

Resource augmentation is built in certain guidelines that ensure successful collaboration between both teams and a profitable partnership between the business and the outsourcing agency.

These principles are;

Specify your Requirements

Before beginning your research for augmentation services, it is important to identify and understand your business’s or project's needs. These needs include:

Business needs
Number of staff required
Level of expertise needed
Timelines for project
Acceptance criteria

Choose a Provider

With a clear understanding of requirements, you can begin your screening process. Make a list of vendors that best suit your requirements, and fine-tune them until you arrive at the most adequate option. The better you understand your needs, the better your choice of partner.

Interact with Provider

It is important to communicate clearly with your potential partner to find common ground on your expectations, requirements, budget and preferences. This goes a long way in building your relationship and ensuring you have the right provider to collaborate with successfully.

Assimilate new team members

To gain optimal performance and better collaboration with your short-term staff, it’s important to ease them into your environment comfortably. This involves educating them about company values, policies and procedures and integrating them into company culture, perks and benefits.

Follow up (Nurture)

Beyond the assimilation phase, continuous encouragement, interaction, and feedback are necessary to maintain momentum, boost morale, build stronger relationships and identify any errors or oversights in their methods early enough.

Benefits of Resource Augmentation

Easy Access to Global Talent

When you hire an augmented team, you’re opening the door to a new horizon of expertise and highly specialised skills. Team extension connects you to the best of engineering with an ease that is nearly impossible when recruiting in-house team members. Imagine access to skilled talent from worldwide without the challenges of language barriers, travel hassles, cultural disparity, etc

Decreased Project cost

The cost of using augmented staff is significantly lower when compared to in-house staff, considering the expenses of training, long-term employee benefits, tax costs, etc. This strategy allows you to pay for the service you need, when you need it, for how long you need it and no further, without the overhead attached to long-term commitments.

Also, you can save costs by hiring experts from locations with lower costs of living, whose salary demands are significantly lower than in your location.

Increased flexibility and adaptability

Staff augmentation gives you the ability to scale up or down swiftly as required. This keeps your business ready at all times to handle unexpected workloads. It also helps you avoid hiring long-term staff for seasonal or short-term projects giving you better value for your investments.

Faster time to market

Hiring quality talent quickly and on-demand allows your business to handle complex or multiple projects faster and more accurately.

Explore new perspectives

Hiring innovative minds from different technological backgrounds and demographics brings an influx of new ideas and concepts to your workflow.

Who needs Resource Augmentation?

Resource augmentation is not only reserved for businesses without an existing in-house; it’s also useful when you;

Have multiple projects running simultaneously
Need to speed up the delivery of a project
Need to scale up quickly to adapt to the scope of your project
Need short-term staff for a seasonal project

Resource Augmentation vs Project Outsourcing

Staff augmentation and Project outsourcing are useful business strategies that are similar but work differently. As we’ve discussed already, team extension means you recruit staff to join your team or workforce in your work environment. However, in the project outsourcing model, the third-party is handles the full project in their work environment.

The key difference is that you control and manage the project in resource augmentation, while the providing company is responsible for these when you outsource.

Conclusion

Staff augmentation is a cost-effective and convenient way to reinforce your workforce in areas that need supplementing, replacement or expansion. It improves your adaptability and confidence, having the means to double the size of your workforce or shorten the time of your project timeline. It is a valuable tool to access in today’s rapidly changing market, giving you the readiness to take evolving market conditions.

If you are considering hiring developers to strengthen your teams for specific projects or to meet deadlines, you need a conversation with a Resource Augmentation company.

Talk to us at Wazobia Technologies; we offer Staff augmentation and Software outsourcing services. Our highly talented teams include skilled developers, designers, project managers, marketers, and other specialists. We can assist you with the latest technologies, best practices, and business concepts.

FAQs

What are some examples of Resource Augmentation services?

Some examples of Resource Augmentation services are:

IT Staff Augmentation

This service provides IT professionals such as developers, testers, designers, analysts, etc. for various IT projects such as web development, mobile app development, software testing, etc.

Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) Service

This service provides business process outsourcing professionals such as customer service agents, data entry operators, accountants, etc., for various business functions such as customer support, data management, accounting, etc.

Project Outsourcing

This service provides project management professionals such as project managers, coordinators, consultants, etc. for various project types such as software development, digital marketing, research, etc.

Where can I learn more about outsourcing Software Development?

You can find everything you need to know in our Guide to Outsourcing your Software Development Project.

How Do I choose the right Resource Augmentation model?

To choose the right staff augmentation model, you need to consider your project goals, budget, timeline, and skill requirements. You also need to evaluate the different options available in the market, such as staffing agencies, freelance platforms, or dedicated development teams. You can compare the quality, cost, availability, and reliability of each option and select the one that best suits your needs.

How can I get started with Resource Augmentation services from Wazobia Technologies?

To explore Resource Augmentation services with Wazobia Technologies, you can contact us for a free consultation. Our experienced teams of developers, designers, project managers, and specialists are ready to assist you with your specific project needs. You can visit our website or connect with us on LinkedIn to initiate the conversation and discover how we can help you achieve your goals.

Reach out to us for a free consultation to discuss your needs and discover our methods. You can visit our website or connect on LinkedIn.