There is one simple reason for the existence of staff augmentation: to hire a temporary team of specialized workers to help businesses reach specific goals.
There are plenty of scenarios where staff augmentation fits into: there is a new project in which the team lacks a specific skill set or expertise; a PM has an excellent idea yet has no access to certain skills within the team; the senior developer goes on maternity/paternity leave.
What do you do in these circumstances?
In one circumstance, the company pools the tasks and responsibilities around the rest of the team. Yet this can lead to strain under the best of scenarios and falling levels of competency at the worst. 
In another, staff augmentation is an increasingly popular model used to supplement full-time employees with specialized workers for a specific amount of time.
Yet there is plenty of misconceptions about staff augmentation, and we’re going to tackle a couple of them today.
First misconception: Staff augmentation is the same as tech support
One of the most common mistakes is to believe that staff augmentation equals technical support. To be honest, both models provide a business with people who is experienced and can come in and do the job.
Yet there is a fundamental difference: staff augmentation adds talented people with expertise to a team, whereas tech support helps users solve problems of a product or service.
Second misconception: Cost savings are not that much
The majority of the time, outsourcing services is more cost-effective than retaining a large IT department. What augmenting staff means is that it lets businesses bypass costs both direct and indirect, such as insurance contributions and retirement benefits.
Third misconception: there are no long-term benefits
Augmented teams tend to come with a specific skill set and can hit the ground running on whatever project a business has. Yet there is an assumption that they are great for the short term but not so great for the long term.
Staff augmentation partners (not all but often the best ones) provide support options that take place post-project, allowing them to measure their results and define ways to improve their services.
At the same time, in-house teams can learn a lot from their augmented colleagues. While projects are being developed, augmented staff will share valuable information, methodologies, and expertise with their in-house colleagues.
Yet the strongest long-term benefit of staff augmentation is the scalability it offers for projects. Greater efficiency and flexibility equal earlier launch dates and higher quality.
Fourth: It’s tough to manage staff augmentation teams
This is only true if a business is not capable of measuring KPIs and scheduling progress meetings. After all, staff augmentation teams are well-versed in assimilating to new environments and molding themselves in the workflow of the project and wider organization.
Of course, it is a normal anxiety to think about how outside workers can fit into the already-existing team. Yet augmented staff come in with the know-how of fitting in as seamlessly as possible.
For many businesses, staffing services such as staff augmentation are key to enhancing their efficiency, processes, and overall quality of work.
PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading digital products & experiences development & strategy teams. Contact us to see how we can work together.
