When wondering how to optimize your business, there’s perhaps no greater factor than the human element.
Within the IT universe, there is a well-known scarcity of qualified experts – particularly in some areas of the world. In fact, there is a huge inequality between countries when it comes to skilled tech workers.
In such a world, firms are increasingly looking towards building a team of qualified and experienced workers wherever they live, broadening the popularity of staff augmentation.
Enterprise-sized companies have been utilizing this staffing model more and more over the last few years. But it’s not only large corporations that are taking advantage. It’s also proving beneficial to startups.
So what’s it all good for? 
Staff augmentation, although it has connotations of outsourcing as well as offshoring, is a relatively new type of outsourcing model where a company hires qualified professionals on project- or task-specific contracts typically on a short-term basis.
These workers can invigorate energy and innovation into teams when it comes to solving challenges, bringing expertise, and strengthening work processes, all helping to achieve a company’s overall goals.
They can also be hired to carry out research, analyze trends, and assess the industry’s best practices.
And as startups may take on more projects, staff augmentation will help to move faster and add more experience to achieve set goals.
The advantages
With startups tending to prioritize budgets and process times, staff augmentation is associated with lower costs and quicker onboarding processes. That’s because augmented staff have plenty of experience with the work they do and are used to different workflows within companies, so onboarding is a smoother process.
Also, because staff augmentation agencies ensure that workers are proficient in their specific areas, any issues related to coding, testing, and cybersecurity are addressed by them, before they even reach you.
Thirdly, any expenses related to infrastructure are not a cost for the company, which is particularly advantageous for startups looking to restrict costs. The augmented staff can fill in the spaces left by outgoing in-house staff. As such, augmented staff don’t consume anything in the company and instead will be provided resources by their staff augmentation agency. 
And finally, staff augmentation provides scalability for startups. It is easier to scale teams either up or down. As such, this helps project managers determine the ideal size of teams for specific projects.
Challenges with staff augmentation
When it comes to staff augmentation, the downsides, or limitations that are associated with this staff model include the unsuitability for long-term projects. The length of a project varies depending on its size, the complexity, and the software requirements.
If a project stretches beyond 2 years, then staff augmentation is likely not ideal, and one of the reasons is that these workers may no longer be employed by the staff augmentation agency.
To sum up, staff augmentation strikes the right balance between internal promotions and outsourcing, with the model ideal for companies that need to find skilled workers.
It could even come to be the winning factor when it comes to the general success of a startup.
