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Laura Villa for SunDevs

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Myths about IT Staff Augmentation

IT Staff Augmentation has become a trendy way of outsourcing, but there are still common impressions about it that are wrong and don't allow corporations to see the conveniences of this strategic solution. Some of these are:

1. Is too expensive:

There is an idea that a company doesn't save money by employing developers for a project, however, when comparing the hourly rate that the augmented staff could get and the staff’s salary, it continues to be less expensive than hiring a permanent employee. The costs an employer can save include fixed wages, legal, premiums, corporate aids, and social security benefits.

2. Can't control the projects:

Not true. The project director from the hiring corporation will be able to be in contact with the developers and their dedicated team, which is why he will have complete command in the development of the project. The incorporated developers will work exclusively in these activities and the company’s vision will be faultless.

3. Communication problems:

It's typical that these services are offered with offshore dedicated teams that are located in different countries that the subcontracting company. It's believed that there will be a limitation of matching time zones, but communication can be very efficient with the right tools implemented to the project. Tools that help having great communication: Confluence, Slack, Jira.

4. Cultural differences impact the project:

This myth has to be denied. When a company in the United States hires staff to work with a development team in Latin America, one of the pluses is the time zone similarity. Also, culture isn't a reason for struggle. Before hiring the developers, the company can explain the internal culture and determine how the developers will adapt to it.

5. Don't get high quality:

There are successful cases that have been evidence staff augmentation helps the operating efficiency. Also, remote employers are found to be more dedicated to their job. The partner that offers offshore services work on different shifts, they adapt to their work and time zone and offer an alternative vision of the processes with high quality.

6. It’s too risky:

Before hiring an IT resource, a pre-selection and selection process is done, those who adapt appropriately to the profile needed. Staff Augmentation also offers long term welfare by hiring staff to cover instant and particular business needs.

How to break these myths?

A way of breaking the myths and that companies start thinking about the IT Staff Augmentation model as an effective answer for their projects is clarify the concepts and the types of services of staff augmentation that exist and determine which is the one that better match their requests and projections.

Top comments (1)

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outsource.dev

Cultural difference is a significant thing, but so long as you pay careful attention to it then you can get it right and then it will help ensure the overall project works well.

To explain staff augmentation I created a one page landscape of outsourcing as a condensed guide, hope this helps.

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