No matter how well a project is thought out there is always the potential that something could go wrong. Executives are expected to take ownership of not only their team’s output but also their ability to sustain optimal performance during major technology projects. Although there are many responses to the IT skills gap, it must be noted that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Technology staff augmentation fits well for many organizations. However instead of automatically assuming the choice is a good fit for your company, we suggest to respond to the question not based on latest trends and best practices. Afterall your company is unique and requires a non-static approach.
The result takes precedence over the start
By performing a quick google search, you’re bound to uncover a plethora of white papers, blogs and articles boasting about the benefits of staff augmentation. We all know about the potential for reduced costs, flexibility, control and expert training for in-house staff. Regardless of the benefits, unless it helps your company achieve and surpass expectations, they are all just words on a monitor. So where do we start? How about starting with the end in mind?
Understandably the focus is on achieving consistent results, despite dealing with the challenges of a reduced budget, decreasing margins, and high expectations to do more with less. So then the next step would be, as always, to look at the data to form an opinion. Here we’ll peer through the lens of a few common concerns top executives have brought up.
Staff augmentation is a good fit for your organization if :
- You are on the brink of a planned expansion. Of course you could go through the long and high-cost process of recruiting, naturally the costs for benefits and salaries could potentially expand the current HR budget.
- You are still recovering from the last interruption created by adding the newest team member to your IT Department.
- There is a current need to improve business workflow and to stop the routine disruptions. Generally caused by, skill set gaps, other daily process factors, and employee turnover.
On the surface, staff augmentation may be a good solution, however there are a few drawbacks to keep in mind. The potential negative impact includes, the steep learning curve may cause projects to overrun project budget and deadline; culturally speaking, the augmented staff may find it difficult to fit in with the organizational culture and protocols. Hence the reason we strongly recommend for you to do your due diligence when it comes to researching your potential vendors.
Although at this point you may be thinking your organization is not large enough for staff augmentation, yet regardless of size, all companies deal with critical backlogs. You know the ones that always seem to occur at the most inopportune times. The fact is, that typically the smaller the organization, the greater the impact of those incidents. And for most smaller organizations the time to recover takes longer.
The ROI of utilizing staff augmentation trumps most alternatives, yet unless you personally look into it, you will not know exactly how it can benefit your organization. Again the most compelling benefits are useless if it does nothing for your company.
The staffing services at Pixentia include a complete assessment of your current IT situation, our vision to help reduce the load and expense of your recruiting efforts comes standard.
Phenom eCloud is a comprehensive technology solutions provider committed to empowering businesses to overcome challenges, enhance their workforce capabilities, and achieve superior outcome
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