The staff augmentation model places itself among the most widespread and the most frequently applied outsourcing strategies out there. And for good reason. This type of business model is extremely convenient for companies of all sizes, that are looking either to grow, fill existing skill gaps, or successfully complete more complex tasks and projects. But before getting into how staff augmentation helps companies achieve their goals, let’s take a look on how this model works.

What does the staff augmentation model entail?

Its name is pretty self-explanatory, in the sense that the staff augmentation model implies hiring extra help in order to meet the contracting business’ needs. The existing in-house team is augmented, and the newly acquired specialists can be hired either for a short or for a long period of time.

But before anything else, the company that is interested in adopting the staff augmentation model must carefully assess its situation, identify its strong and weak points, and see which skill gaps need to be addressed.

Following this introspection, the hiring business will choose a specialized company that offers staff augmentation services, and will communicate its demands, which the contracted company must then meet. Going further, the latter will select candidates that fit the requested profile and will present the hiring company with its list of potential experts.

However, the contracting party has the final say when it comes to who will eventually be joining its in-house team. The final candidates’ CVs can be reviewed by the hiring business, which can also conduct the last interview, before giving a definitive answer.

When should companies turn to the staff augmentation model?

We have already mentioned that staff augmentation is a business model that suits both small and large companies, but when should they actually go for it? To answer this, we have to look at the situations where businesses either wish to take on complex projects and tasks and need an extra hand, or want to extend their internal teams with experts with specific skill sets.

In the first case, if your company is looking to develop a more complex product and it is in need for an increase in capacity, staff augmentation can be a great solution. And this is not the only situation where extra help could be necessary; a higher customer demand, an overwhelming volume of tasks, or a project’s modification that takes companies by surprise, are just some of the instances where a staff augmentation outsourcing strategy could be the right solution for the businesses in need.

In the second case, where companies can be faced with the struggle to find experts with specific skill sets, staff augmentation can again prove to be the best option. Especially when talent shortage is a common issue in today’s world, where the highly competitive environment pushes businesses to improve their services and keep up with new technologies that are constantly developing.

How does staff augmentation help companies grow?

The staff augmentation outsourcing strategy has many benefits and can help companies grow and expand in a short period of time. How? Well, for starters, the hiring business will see a significant increase in productivity. And the reason for this is that the hired remote team is solely concentrated on its assigned task or project and delivers the expected results on time. There are no missed deadlines, delays or misunderstandings, that is if communication is frequent and efficient of course.

And speaking of efficiency, the newly acquired specialists will help the hiring business optimize its existing processes as well. Furthermore, because they will have more time on their hands, given that repetitive and monotonous tasks will be eliminated, internal employees will dedicate more time to essential activities and will come up with innovative ideas more easily.
In addition to all of this, the contracting company will elude recruiting costs, and will avoid the time consuming process of searching for and interviewing candidates.

Conclusion

Staff augmentation is widely used by companies of all sizes and shapes due to the many benefits that it brings. This type of business model is a highly cost-efficient solution, it offers great flexibility, it enables hiring businesses to tap into wider talent pools in order to find the desired specialists, and helps them stay afloat in the extremely competitive environment that they carry out their activities in. Therefore, even though staff augmentation competes against other forms of staffing, it provides contracting businesses with advantages that they cannot refuse.

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