How to choose a right staff augmentation company?
If you have finally decided to go with a staff augmentation company or outsource your engineering team there are a few steps you need to understand to shortlist the Staff Augmentation Companies. IT Staff Augmentation gives you various advantages over traditional hiring like cost-benefit, no long-term commitment, access to a global talent pool etc. but it is crucial to get help from a successful staff augmentation company for project implementation and alignment with your business goals. It is important to understand that not all IT Staff Augmentation companies are the same, choosing the wrong partner can lead to a lot of frustration, stress, and incomplete work whereas finding the right partner will give you flexibility, transparency and scalability in your project. This blog will guide you to the things you should consider in your IT staff augmentation company.
1. Understanding your needs:- The very first step in finding the right it partner is finding a company that gives you time to understand your specific it staffing needs. He should simply give you solutions for what specific skills are required for the project, the time required to complete the hiring, an estimate of the budget, experience required from the candidates. You can judge a Staff Augmentation company if he has an expertise to suggest you with a good valid answers for the above challenges. You should have a bunch of options before you to select the best, start with requesting proposals which should include all the information like their experience, pricing, sample candidate resumes and testimonials, also have quick meetings with potential clients to get a better understanding of their capabilities and approach. You can also start a pilot project with them as many of the staff augmentation companies offer a free trial period of a few hours. You can access their ability to understand your corporate requirements and can decide whether you can continue with them for long-term.
2. In-detail Analysis of Shortlisted Staff Augmentation Company:- Now it’s time to have a detailed analysis of all the potential companies by checking their website, social media channels, testimonials, reviews on various forums and clients. The company’s years of experience in your industry is an important factor for finalizing. Their consistency in providing services in your industry can be a proof of their adaptability to the new trends. Also, get a detailed knowledge from the Staff Augmentation Company of the types of developers they have. They should have a rich pool of developers with a proficiency in most of the technologies required by you.
3. Companies Hiring Process:- It is necessary to check the hiring process of the Staff Augmentation Company. For example from where they are hiring the potential candidate, their recruitment process, retention rate, background verification process etc. The main of Staff Augmentation is to get access to specialized skills without wasting much time in hiring so you should be sure that the Augmentation company hires them properly. There are various ways to examine this; one of the ways is to check their retention rate. Lesser the retention rate more the company is successful in nurturing and inculcation a supportive environment in an organization which is vital for the completion of your project on time. The company’s own set of interview panels also tells you a lot about companies hiring process.
4. Security:-Â When you partner with Staff Augmentation company keep in mind you are handling your project to external developers. Your Staff Augmentation partner should have a plan for Data Recovery and Security which can include data encryption, secure data transfer, multi-factor authentication, and data storage procedures. The Company should also have flexible data security policies for every industry for e.g. Banking and Finance industry or the Pharmaceutical Industry requires more security compliance. An esteemed Staff Augmentation Company should be ready to sign a non-disclosure document that prohibits the disclosure of your confidential data.
5. Service Communication:-Â Look for a Staff Augmentation Company that has easy to understand communication protocols. The company should share a proper report of project updates, progress, challenges regardless of time zone issues. You should not feel overburdened by the reports and only strategical planning should be your role. A transparent and practical communication strategy on behalf of your staffing vendor fosters an uninterrupted workflow that can be monitored and altered as needed based on regular operational feedback from everyone involved with a given project.
6. Timezone and Culture:-Â If you are planning to work with a remote development team you should be familiar with the culture and language of the augmented team. Partner with a staffing support that will investigate your internal company culture and connect you with the suitable job candidates and staffing solutions to overcome bilingualism difficulties, bridge cultural gaps, and ensure the ongoing success of a project. For example, if you have some employees from your office who are Indians and have a basic knowledge about languages, festivals, culture of Indians you should be trying to get the teams augmented from India so that your staff can effectively co-ordinate with them.
7. Flexibility and Scalability:- Choose a staff Augmentation company that is flexible enough to adjust resources or developers as and when required. For Example, if at any point of time you need additional resources to complete the project are if there are any severe upgradations in the project the Augmentation company should be able to manage the required resources and skillsets to complete the task. One of the benefits of choosing this staff augmentation is that it allows businesses to quickly adjust their staffing levels without the added time and expense of recruiting and training new employees. To identify a staff augmentation company’s scalability, evaluate its recruitment, onboarding, and personnel management processes. This covers their capacity to assess talents and expertise, as well as their strategies for keeping their resources current on industry knowledge and best practices.
Mistakes to avoid while choosing Staff Augmentation Company
Language Barrier – We always give the least importance to the candidate’s English proficiency and give more leverage to his development skills. This is a common mistake nowadays and can create a huge communication gap when trying to work on an offshore project. Various companies now hire candidates with a minimum of B2 English language level to ensure the developer can communicate both verbally and in writing with clients.
Ignoring Cultural Differences – Neglecting cultural and timezone differences can lead to a decrease in productivity, communication barriers, different ethics. Look for a staff augmentation company that share a similar culture and timezone. To Overcome this issue TRAINING plays a very important role. Such training can provide extra techniques and guidelines for successful cooperation, assuring a good match for both parties and increasing project success.
Looking for a cheaper option – Sometimes you bet on a cheaper Staff Augmentation Company and such companies are incapable of providing you with skilled developers. It is important to partner with the company that gives you qualified and experienced developers as well as they have the ability to retain them. According to our past experiences hiring a cheap partner gives a setback to your productivity as the developers may be non-screened, non-transparent and have communication issues. It is always better to choose a mid-range augmentation company.
Choosing the Wrong Staff Augmentation Model – There are various Staff Augmentation models like short-term Augmentation, Lond Term Augmentation, Remote Augmentation, On Demand Augmentation, Project-based Augmentation etc. It is necessary to choose the right staff augmentation model to gain the long-term benefits of your augmented staff. Choosing the right staff augmentation model involves analyzing the project, its size, the defined requirements, the budget, and the risks, advantages, and disadvantages of each option.
Integration of Augmented Staff with Internal Team/Overconfidence of not hiring a Project Manager – It is necessary to create a collaborative environment between the temporary augmented teams and the internal teams making them feel like they are part of your internal team. In this process, Project Manager plays an important role but in many cases, startups overlook the significance of hiring a dedicated person responsible for facilitating effective communication. It is essential for the project manager to ensure smooth communication between the staff augmentation companies and the internal team to streamline the success of the project.
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