“You better work” is where most businesses start… but what if you’ve done all the work you can, the product still has a huge potential to reach, and there’s only 24 hours in a day? All the signs in the sky and on earth point to hiring more people, and team augmentation is a service model that works like a charm. How? Learn about the essence of team augmentation and its benefits from the business, technical, and human resources point of view.
What is team augmentation exactly?
Compared to typical software development services, designed for business owners who need a full product team, team augmentation will answer the needs of those companies who have their own team and established processes. It solves the issues connected with recruiting new specialists and adjusting the team size according to the state of product and business development. The new team members, hired by an external provider, will work hand in hand with the in-house team, following their management patterns and programming practices.
“Why wouldn’t I hire new people on my own?,” you may ask. Of course, it’s an optimal situation to have resources for in-house recruitment and further care for all aspects of hiring a new person. In many cases, the circumstances are far from optimal. It so happens that the company may have a problem finding the right person or can’t afford to allocate their own resources in candidate search, all stages of recruitment and employee management. In such cases, resorting to team augmentation can bring a number of benefits in different aspects of business.
Business benefits of team augmentation
Scaling without failing
To scale without hiccups in product development, you need a quick and safe recruitment process as well as easy access to specialists worth your while, which is particularly crucial for companies of minimum 50 employees (this number is not a strict criterion, just an example). In January, you may need just two extra developers, but in March it may turn out too few – and every week without the extra staff costs you!
With team augmentation, it’s easier to react by starting the recruitment process in no time and search in multiple locations. The time of recruitment can be estimated thanks to KPIs focused on the pace of talent acquisition and recruitment conversion rate.
Example: Smart Pension is the partner with the highest team growth rate we’ve worked so far, summing up to… over 300% in one year. They benefit from software team augmentation in all possible ways – working with developers from 3 different locations, fully compliant with their internal procedures and practices, taken care of by the team coordinator who ensures the working conditions and criteria are up to Smart Pension’s standard.
Find out more in the Smart Pension case study
Reliable sources of talent
Speaking of locations – certain regions of the world offer a vast supply of programmers in different technologies and levels of experience. Poland is one of the European countries with a vibrant job market for programmers in different technologies and levels of experience, which makes it a great source of talent for swiftly scaling businesses. Combined with competitive hourly rates and remarkable work ethics, you can’t go wrong with remote teams located in Warsaw, Krakow or Wroclaw, the main players of Polish tech scene.
Example: Monkee, our client located in Austria, was struggling with finding the optimal React Native developer to help extend their product. Moving the search to Poland resulted in hiring a dedicated developer working remotely and grow the augmented team in coming months.
All by the letter of law
Hiring international staff has its clear benefits but also a few obstacles ahead, such as legal and administration issues or security measures for remote offices. By leaving these matters to your IT Team augmentation providers, you don’t have to worry about any of them – the legal framework, cyber security, dedicated offices and other organisational details to get everything up and running.
Technical benefits of team augmentation
Compliance with your internal procedures
There’s no universal recipe for a recruitment process – every company and product has its specifics that need to be taken into account when looking for new people to come on board. That’s why team augmentation involves flexibility in this matter. You may pick your own steps and introduce a recruitment task, but if you could use some guidance – it’s always there.
A match made in… TA!
The process itself is one thing, the insights you collect is another. Apart from checking the candidate’s competence, s/he has to make a great culture fit and understand the industry your business operates in. In team augmentation, the risk of interviewing a candidate with poor scores in these factors is very low, which results in better quality of received applications.
Secure and trusted work environment
We’ve already mentioned the necessity to provide a secure working environment for remote teams. However, there’s one more factor worth mentioning – all the office and security matters need to be monitored constantly and addressed immediately in case any issues arise. With a dedicated office coordinator, you don’t need to worry about the infrastructure, secure networks, firewalls and any other measures – you can ensure your remote team works in the same security standards as the one in HQ!
HR benefits of team augmentation
Time and budget savings
They say you need to spend money to make money, and this perfectly applies to IT team augmentation in software development. By delegating your recruitment to an external agency, you spend less time finding the perfect candidate for the job, which translates into lower costs. The return of investment in software team augmentation grows exponentially with every new employee hired this way.
Example: Finbourne, our UK-based partner, realised they lacked a very particular skill set on their team – a product owner and front-end developer. Insufficient resources for the recruitment of the right person led them to trying team augmentation. The newly hired staff was able to self-organise and quickly adapt to the requirements at Finbourne.
Learn more in the Nearshore Case Study
All inclusive, all welcome
Cooperating with companies from different regions of the world attracts candidates of a specific mindset, focused on inclusivity and open-mindedness. It was proven that diversity in terms of gender, cultural background and nationality helps everyone feel equal and enables teams to come up with creative solutions to problems.
Example: AZA, our client based in Kenya, hires employees from different African and European locations, including a team in Poland. The necessity to exchange experiences and points of view between people of completely different backgrounds gives everyone the opportunity to learn and work smart.
Not all heroes wear capes
Are you prepared for your business growth? Well, some would say you can never be ready enough, but you’ll certainly feel safer if you consider the idea of team augmentation. It helps companies of different sizes maintain the optimal pace of product development without the unnecessary hassle of recruitment and administration formalities. Sounds interesting? Let us know: hello@codeandpepper.com.