What Is Staff Augmentation?

The demand for skilled software developers is constantly growing while the number of local talents is limited. As a result, companies lack experienced developers because in the given area there are not enough specialists in a certain technology. To overcome the problem and still be able to grow with talented people around, companies started practicing Staff Augmentation.

The origin of Staff Augmentation

Staff Augmentation is a way for businesses and individual clients to scale up or down quickly thanks to hiring temporary employees. The concept has its origin in the IT industry where hiring talented developers remotely became a huge profit not only in terms of successful projects but also cost optimization. The flexibility the method provides gives entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs incredible power to increase or reduce workforces on demand.

Is it the same as Outsourcing? No

Staff Augmentation is an outsourcing model but it's not Outsourcing itself. Outsourcing is a term related to delegating work to another 3rd party to save time and in-house resources. It assumes the external provider completely takes over a certain process in your company.

Is it the same as Freelancing? No

Although you do hire an external partner to delegate work, freelancers represent a completely different level of engagement, pricing, integrity, and expertise compared to experienced remote software developers. Freelancers are less likely to sign NDAs or official documents and are not a reliable source of experts.

Staff Augmentation - An effective way to extend your project team

Staff augmentation is the most effective way to provide your business with the needed specialists. It refers specifically to scaling through talented individuals located globally and hired remotely to help you achieve things faster without the loss of quality.

Benefits

Huge cost optimization - no infrastructure costs. You don't need a big headquarters to hire a development team. Access to an unlimited pool of talents - no boundaries in terms of location. Lets you skip recruitment procedures - no costs connected to hiring in-house employees and no need for spending time on onboarding.