When trying to maximize their work progress and outcomes, organizations often implement various staffing strategies.
One of these strategies is staff augmentation. It is an outsourcing strategy organizations use to complete projects and ensure their objectives are met. To explain further, organizations temporarily employ staff to help increase their capacities.
These temporary staff could be consultants who are employed for the sole purpose of aiding in the completion of a project within their expertise. Once the project is complete, the contract binding both the staff and the organization is fulfilled.
While staff augmentation has been proven numerous times to be effective, it is often confused with a managed services system. This confusion is understandable as both strategies require companies to outsource their staff.
However, the difference between both is quite clear. In staff augmentation, organizations do not outsource a whole project but just specific tasks, while in a managed service system, the entire project and its impending solution are outsourced.
Importance of Staff Augmentation
One of the main importance of this strategy is that it gives the organization total control of the project. They have the final say on the team members they require, the team leaders, and are given the option of assigning various tasks relating to the project to whom they deem fit.
It also gives organizations direct access to experts worldwide, usually at a more affordable rate. Also, it is extremely flexible as it usually entails remote working amongst team members.
Like all staffing strategies, staff augmentation could become a financial burden to organizations. This is because when an organization contracts a temporary staff, they pay the staff and the agency they work for. In the case of a long-term contract, this could be a problem unless the organization includes it in its budget.
Another difficulty they face is the lack of institutional knowledge of the organization. When faced with a project that requires an in-depth understanding of the organization’s history, contract staff are required to make proper research in the organization’s business history to enable them to solve the problem they’re faced with.
Conclusion
With how progressive the IT world is, access to highly skilled experts could help give corporations in the industry an edge over their business rivals. However, before exploring this option, it is advisable to properly research other staffing models before deciding which strategy might be best for your organization.
