What Is IT Staff Augmentation and How it Aids Your In-House Team

Imagine that you’ve decided to host a party at your house. You want everything to go as planned, but there are a lot of tasks to handle: preparing snacks, decorating the home, arranging music, and providing entertainment for your guests. At this point, you could do everything yourself or ask for help from your children – cook, clean, set up the music, and organize the party – but it could be challenging and time-consuming.

Instead, you opt to use the services of an outstaffing company for some tasks. You hire a catering service to prepare and serve delicious food, a decorator to adorn your home, and a DJ to take care of the music. You’re still the party’s host and in control of everything happening, but now you have a team of professionals assisting you in accomplishing all the tasks.

In this analogy, outstaffing is like hiring outside specialists for your party. You’re not hiring them for permanent positions. Instead, you’re bringing them on board temporarily to complete specific tasks. This approach saves you time and effort, as the specialists are skilled in their respective fields and can efficiently handle their responsibilities. You remain the owner of the party, but with the help of these specialists, you elevate your event to a professional level.

With projects involving software development and technical support, temporary specialists can become valuable members of clients’ internal teams. And that is what Geomotiv has been dealing with for 13+ years of our operations. Today, we’d like to highlight what we know about the IT outstaffing model, its essence, peculiarities, ideal client profiles, and processes.

What is IT Staff Augmentation and How Does it Work?

Let’s say Company X contacts a company like Geomotiv with a request to hire temporary IT staff, e.g., skilled Java developers, Big Data engineers, or entire cross-functional offshore dedicated development teams. Instead of hiring in-house, Company X chooses to leverage Geomotiv’s extensive network of pre-vetted specialists. By partnering with the IT outstaffing service provider, Company A employs selected specialists temporarily.

Company X benefits from this arrangement by accessing the required talent without the complexities of permanent hiring. Geomotiv’s handpicked specialists seamlessly integrate with Company X’s existing teams, contributing their technical proficiency and innovative insights to ongoing projects. Once the contract expires, these individuals return to Geomotiv to their usual positions.

Eventually, IT outstaffing brings together three key parties:

• The Client – Company X, seeking specialized skills for a particular task;
• The Contractor company – a chosen IT staff augmentation firm, providing the required staff;
• The Specialist – an employee who temporarily joins Company X‘s team.

IT outstaffing places the client in the driver’s seat, empowering them to maintain complete control over project management and task allocation. In this dynamic model, the client takes on the role of the project architect, outlining the project’s tasks, objectives, and overall direction. This level of autonomy enables them to follow the overall vision precisely according to business objectives, organizational culture, and industry-specific nuances.

Meanwhile, the IT staff augmentation company’s role is to provide resources to meet all client’s requests. Armed with a diverse talent pool of experts, the vendor identifies and selects individuals or offshore dedicated development teams having the specialized skill sets required to achieve the project’s milestones.

The staff augmentation partner goes beyond simply staffing by embracing vital administrative functions that accompany the engagement process. They manage payroll, benefits, training, and other logistical aspects, enabling the client to focus on the project’s goals.

Their role is to serve as a “greenhouse” of personnel. IT outstaffing companies are responsible for specialist selection, training, and motivation – creating conditions for employees to grow professionally and release their potential on the client’s project.

When Your Company May Need Outstaffing

Typically, potential clients reach out to us with resource-related inquiries and understand which model to work with. They can either operate an in-house team or have just a CTO, Engineering manager, or Director responsible for various initiatives. Such clients know how to plan, execute, and manage such projects but need more human resources or extra hands to help on-site employees.

Geomotiv takes time to study particular details before suggesting the most optimal solution. Some projects require full outsourcing, meaning that Geomotiv’s experts develop the entire project from start to finish and present the deliverables to the client. Other tasks may need assistance from full-scale offshore dedicated development teams (feel free to find some useful information about this model). In short, it all depends on the project and the client’s preferences.

However, if the client decides to keep their expertise in-house and seek an additional workforce to complement their technical capacity, we offer an IT staff augmentation cooperation model. Here are the most common reasons to choose this service:

• Address temporary needs. Such projects require just-in-time assistance using an additional workforce. However, bringing a new permanent staff member on board isn’t financially viable for them due to the absence of long-term tasks.
• Fill resource gaps. These companies usually have a small IT department comprising just a handful of fully engaged employees during critical releases and tight deadlines. While their team is dedicated, they often need more individual expertise or specialized skills to address specific pressing issues promptly. During periods of rapid growth or increased workload, outstaffing can quickly fill gaps in your team, ensuring that operations flow without any disruption.
• Save time and money on hiring in-house. The client may need to mitigate the risks associated with traditional hiring processes, such as lengthy onboarding and potential underutilization of full-time employees.

What the Hiring Process Looks Like

The process involves the client and the contractor – IT staff augmentation partner. The client communicates the need for temporary employees, and the contracting company seeks and pre-selects specialists with the necessary competencies to fill this request.

As a contractor, Geomotiv offers employees from its internal team or the pool of pre-vetted talent.

Here’s what the hiring process will look like if you request resources from our company:

1. Preparation

We delve into project roles, technical skills, experience levels, and specific qualifications needed for the job. Additionally, we gather details about deadlines, project intricacies, and the desired number of specialists to facilitate the later stages of vetting, hiring, and onboarding.

Our company can also involve internal tech specialists and project managers to collect ideal candidate profiles. However, hitting the mark with the right candidate is sometimes challenging for various reasons. For example, our portfolio contains a case when we had to look for a replacement for an already sourced and hired specialist.

A client approached us with a request for a middle-level software developer. However, as the project unfolded, it became evident that the tasks at hand demanded a higher degree of autonomy than anticipated. Eventually, the assigned developer needed to gain experience working independently on such projects.

We adopted a strategic approach to navigate this challenge and ensure the client’s satisfaction. Recognizing the situation’s complexity, we engaged our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to review the project’s requirements and the skills needed to fulfill them effectively. Drawing on his extensive expertise, the CTO provided invaluable insights and guidance.

Upon review, it became apparent that the client’s project required the expertise of a senior-level specialist. Armed with this knowledge, we swiftly took action. We sourced a senior software developer with the requisite skills and experience to integrate seamlessly with the client’s project. This well-considered adjustment resulted in a noticeable improvement in the project’s trajectory.

2. Candidate screening and interviewing:

Drawing from our extensive databases and internal pool of specialists, we identify potential candidates who fit your criteria. Our HR team meticulously evaluates applicants’ qualifications, experience, skill sets, and alignment with your company culture. We then create a shortlist of the most promising specialists, ensuring a focused and efficient hiring process.

In our candidate evaluation process, we prioritize the assessment of individual skills that highlight a candidate’s technical capabilities and interpersonal qualities. Our HR team measures attributes such as being a team player, displaying meticulous attention to detail, and ability to work autonomously, among other things.

From our vast experience, we’ve learned that presenting candidates with exceptional communication skills to our clients is paramount. Beyond the qualifications on paper, we understand that these intangible qualities contribute to harmonious teamwork, seamless collaboration, and efficient communication on the client’s territory.

By ensuring our candidates possess outstanding soft skills, we are committed to presenting only qualified individuals. They are ready to excel in their roles and foster a positive and productive working relationship with your team.

Sometimes our clients need to ensure that we have chosen individuals whose knowledge and skills align with the project’s requirements. In that case, we always provide an option to participate in the interviewing process and submit supplementary test tasks for chosen specialists.

3. Hiring.

Throughout the hiring process, the goal is to ensure the seamless integration of skilled IT professionals into your project, extending their capabilities and contributing to success.

Once you and our IT staff augmentation company have identified suitable candidates, we will negotiate contract terms. This negotiation encompasses compensation, project scope, duration, and other applicable details. You have the final say in selecting the candidates who best fit the project’s needs.

We extend job offers and welcome new team members to your organization upon your approval. Our experts facilitate a seamless onboarding process, ensuring the successful integration of new hires into your workflow.

Final Word: OUR Specialists – YOUR Project

In this article, we’ve outlined our current understanding of IT staff augmentation and customer requirements. We’ve offered a glimpse into our internal operations, showcasing our approach to collaboration with typical clients. If you need more information about IT staff augmentation, you can find full details here.