AI-based solutions for business are a hot topic nowadays. Chatbots, voice assistants, AI-powered analytics – all these are huge trends among industries. Tech-specialized companies need to keep full-time AI experts in their ranks, but what about non-tech organizations that want to leverage the potential of AI? Do they also need to hire an AI developer?
Staff augmentation is already a quite popular service. It enables companies to add an AI developer (or another expert) highly specialized in a narrow field of IT to your in-house team for a limited amount of time instead of hiring him for a full-time position in your company. Is that a good approach to AI projects? Here are some important things you need to know about projects that require assistance from AI specialists and staff augmentation.
Availability of AI developers on the market
According to Statista reports, the global artificial intelligence (AI) software market is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, and that is hardly surprising. More and more companies implement AI-powered solutions for enhancing customer service (chatbots, virtual assistants, recommendation systems, etc.), forecasting changes on the market (AI-based analytics), improving the security of the systems, etc. After all, artificial intelligence has multiple benefits and applications. As AI became a trend in the business world, more developers became interested in AI.
According to LinkedIn’s latest Jobs on the Rise report, hiring in the AI area grew 32% between 2019 and 2020. AI developers are needed around the world. It would seem that the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t affect the AI market at all. At the same time, the report’s authors describe the availability of remote work on AI development for positions such as machine learning engineer, artificial intelligence specialist, and machine learning researcher as low. It may change in the near future though, as recent lockdowns forced us to work from home, many companies realized that remote working has its advantages.
Demand for AI developers grows, and it may be difficult to find experienced professionals on the market, no matter if you need help on a certain project, or you need a full-time employee. The fact is, that artificial intelligence is still a young, developing field of computer science. There can be few AI developers who are actually capable of developing really advanced AI solutions. So how to enhance your AI development team with an AI-savvy employee?
AI development – characteristics of the project
Assuming that you are not running a software house specialized in AI-based software development, you may need an AI expert in your company for one of two reasons: you want to implement an existing artificial intelligence solution or build a custom one for your organization. AI projects are specific ones – a particular set of skills is expected of a developer, he also needs to be provided with necessary tools.
Working with experienced specialists is a must
As you have never implemented or built an AI-based program, you probably haven’t hired an AI developer yet. Having a full-time AI expert is a significant expense, and it is obvious that after the project is over, you’d like to have software that doesn’t require such a highly skilled professional to administer it and use it on a daily basis. Nevertheless, during the development of a custom AI-based software or its implementation, you’ll need to hire an AI developer with some previous experience on an AI project to take the lead.
Advanced tools are required
Your new AI developer will certainly need access to tools, frameworks, and software that is commonly used by AI specialists. Now, remember that you are hiring a professional with experience on such a project because your development team can handle developing AI-based software on its own. Listen when the hired employee talks about requirements for this particular project and try to ensure that all indispensable advanced tools are accessible.
You only need an AI developer for a limited amount of time
Project starts and project ends. It is quite difficult to call it a short-time project because it depends on what kind of solution you are trying to build. One thing is certain though, the goal is to build or implement AI-based software, and – with the right approach – it will be finally achieved. Hence, you’ll no longer need your AI developer.
When is staff augmentation a better solution than hiring a full-time employee?
Do you consider augmenting your software development team? Staff augmentation is a recommended approach for IT projects limited in time. AI-based software development or implementation of a new AI-based solution is a great example of such a project. You represent a non-tech company, you only need experienced, talented professionals to guide your in-house development team and show your employees how to work on AI projects. You can try it if your AI developers lack experience, and they need someone who has been working on many AI projects before.
Staff augmentation may also be the right solution if your full-time employees are on long sick leave or holidays, and you need to replace them during the busy period in your company. If there is more than one AI developer required for your AI project, you can add more talents to your development team.
Staff augmentation – most important things you need to know
Both outsourcing and insourcing of IT services have their pros, but staff augmentation has multiple benefits which should be taken into consideration, especially if you plan AI-based software development in your company.
You can hire exactly the IT specialist you need
Finding a very experienced AI developer with a specific set of skills may seem impossible at the beginning, but a specialized software house will help you find just the expert you need for the project. You can even hire many IT specialists with totally different skills if you are running many projects at the same time.
There are no additional expenses or responsibilities
You don’t have expenses related to the recruitment process, because you simply contact a chosen software house and ask about their services. The employee is officially hired in the software house, so there are no additional administrative tasks.
You only hire for as long as you need a particular expert
Without staff augmentation, you would be forced to hire a full-time AI developer or choose total software development services. You pay only for man-days or working hours. You have no other financial or administrative responsibilities and once you don’t need an AI developer, he is no longer participating in the project.
Such an employee can work remotely
More and more software houses decide that their employees can work totally or partially remotely. It may not be the traditional approach, and there are always advantages of working on the project in the office or discussing some problems face to face. Remote work also has some benefits, though. Business travels generate costs, costs affect staff augmentation prices. IT specialists are experienced in remote working, and they are as efficient at home as they are in the office.
With staff augmentation, you remain in control of the project
Engaging an experienced AI developer from a software house seems a reasonable solution if you want to be in charge of your AI-based software development or implementation. You gain not only an expert, who’ll make sure that you’ll succeed with the project but also an opportunity to learn more about how AI projects should be carried out. If you’re interested in staff augmentation, we are here to help.
Andrzej Kopera • Sep 05
