Benefits of Technical Staff Augmentation 

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group of technical staff workers in a meeting

The technology sector is perhaps more volatile than any other. As each month goes by, new AI models get released, new expectations from customers, new tech stacks become possible. The demand for highly specialized skills and innovative technical staff is higher than it’s ever been, and businesses are in a constant race to adapt.  

To stay ahead of the curve, in general, is all down to the personnel. But, it’s difficult and expensive, and so it has become big business in helping solve this problem of securing top-tier tech talent.  

This is where technical staff augmentation proves itself to be economical by bridging the skill gap, but without the permanently fixed contracts. Instead, by leveraging external expertise, companies have greater flexibility. Projects can be faster to complete without the commitment of taking on more staff. 

Cost-Effectiveness of Technical Staff Augmentation

The most fundamental benefit of staff augmentation is centered around the financial arrangements of it. Hiring full-time employees is a major investment and it involves a lot more expenses than just the salaries (benefits, holiday pay, pension, additional tax in some jurisdictions).  

Staff augmentation is a way to reduce operational costs. Recruitment and onboarding expenses are eliminated. The lengthy process of finding screening and hiring candidates is bypassed, too. Businesses pay only for the hours worked by augmented staff, with no benefits and no paid time off. Perhaps more importantly, infrastructure needs are lessened and there’s less commitments made.  

With project-based work, taking on staff full time can mean periods of low utilization, where staff are waiting around for the next large project. 

Access to Specialized Expertise

It’s not only that it costs more to take workers on full-time, but it’s that the talent may be difficult to find. Finding professionals with deep expertise in these areas, be it cybersecurity or cloud computing, is a problem. They often lack access to a reliable and deep local talent pool.  

Technical staff augmentation solves this problem by being a gateway to a global network of skilled workers. Companies can tap into specialized expertise more directly, which may otherwise be scarce in their region. Given that projects are increasingly requiring niche skill sets, this is a huge benefit outside of pure costing.  

Flexibility and Scalability

Agility is king in today’s world, and staff augmentation provides a ton of flexibility in managing IT resources. Akin to the benefits of cloud computing, companies can scale their teams up or down quickly according to needs. This may happen due to fluctuating project demands, market conditions, or perhaps cashflow capacity.  

During peak seasons, or when launching new projects, businesses can expand their development capacity without the long-term commitments of traditional hiring. It’s not just the cost savings of this, but the genuine advantage of faster adaptability, as it’s much faster to onboard staff augmentation than it is a full time employee. 

It ensures the right resources are available precisely when needed, meaning a more efficient allocation of them. A software development company might need to double its coding team for a product launch, and this way they can easily find the right people and then scale back down afterwards.  

Faster Project Completion

Time is money, and being the first mover is a huge advantage in today’s world where new tech advances mean new tech solutions. Staff augmentation helps accelerate project timelines due to their access to a talent pool and ability to quickly onboard them. These experts can hit the ground running, as they’re much more adept at joining into existing teams.  

A case study by McKinsey showed that businesses using agile talent strategies, including staff augmentation, achieved a 30% faster time-to-market. Thaloz is one such company that specializes in nearshore IT staff augmentation, but with a focus on Latin American talent, offering access to over 30,000 tech professionals. BairesDev also stands out by providing top Latin American developers (an under-tapped market), with a fast talent matching process. Meanwhile ScienceSoft, based in Texas with European development centers, differentiates itself by maintaining a workforce where over 50% of developers are seniors and leads. 

Focus on Core Competencies

Technical staff augmentation does more than just fill skill gaps; it empowers internal teams and helps mitigate risks, be it cybersecurity or late launches. When companies strategically make use of external expertise, they free up their employees to focus on their core tasks and core competencies, which can in turn boost the productivity of existing staff. 

Final Word

Technical staff augmentation is the future, more so than ever before. Companies are increasingly looking to meet the higher demands of the market, as well as customer expectations, as the technology around them develops at an exponential rate. Optimizing costs and finding specialized skills is important to gain flexibility, and for projects to complete on time. Staff augmentation is growing in popularity as a simple result of tapping into other talent pools, like in South America, which are increasingly multilingual and educated. 

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