Common Challenges in IT Staff Augmentation

One of the most successful trends of 2024, which is expected to continue in the coming year also, is IT Staff Augmentation. Companies of every size are increasingly turning to staff augmentation as a strategic approach to fulfilling project requirements and meeting deadlines. With the help of IT staff augmentation services, companies can hire 1-100 professionals, depending on their needs, and create exceptional products in shorter periods. All this is possible while avoiding the costs associated with traditional hiring setups. 

While IT staff augmentation offers several benefits–such as accelerated app development, cost-effectiveness, filling skill gaps, and handling heavy workloads–it does come with its own set of challenges! 

Most Common Challenges in Staff Augmentation

Communication Barriers– Remote staff augmentation is a model where the employer and employees are geographically dispersed. This poses a barrier to communication between both of them. There can also be language issues, cultural differences, and time zone variations, which worsen the situation even more. 

Cultural Barriers– The employer can be in a different country, following a different set of rules. The in-house team is already familiar with the specific culture of a workplace, but your augmented staff may face problems embracing them. This potentially leads to friction and ultimately affects the productivity of the entire team working on the project at hand. 

Technical Challenges– Seamless collaboration requires all the team members to have easy access to the resources, tools, necessary infrastructure, and technologies being used. In a staff augmentation model, there can be a difference in the technical proficiencies of the in-house team and remote team. The remote team may not have all the available resources, which can create a hurdle while developing a project. Cybersecurity issues may also arise with teams working remotely. 

Team Integration– For any task to get completed successfully, there must be a seamless collaboration between the team members. However, in staff augmentation, you may face a hard time getting the augmented team to gel with your in-house team. In order to foster a smooth collaboration and synergy, you must first address the disparities in varying skill sets, backgrounds, and working styles between both sets of teams. 

Security Concerns– Considering the fact that you are introducing your internal procedures to the external staff, security threats are an inevitable challenge. You must constantly check on your sensitive data and ensure that the augmented staff is adhering to the security protocols strictly. However, you can address this issue by having confidentiality agreements signed by the nearshore staff augmentation agency. 

Scalability– Some projects demand rapid scalability, which can put a strain on the existing teams and processes. Then it takes extra time to onboard new team members and fully integrate them into the existing work style, which can affect the project timelines. 

Legal Issues– Staff augmentation comes with legal and compliance challenges where you may need to address problems arising with work visas, and employment contracts. Tax regulations and labor laws can also be different across different countries. 

Staff Augmentation Vs Project Outsourcing

Staff Augmentation- 

• •  Rapid workforce extension 
  •  Fills skill gaps quickly
  •  Direct control over the project
  •  Cost-effective
  •  Ideal for short-term projects 

Project Outsourcing- 

• •  Clarity in project requirements 
  •  Access to specialized skills
  •  No direct control over the project (reduced management overhead) 
  •  Fixed budget and timelines 
  •  Ideal for both short-term and long-term projects 

Implications of Remote Work Trend on Staff Augmentation

Research conducted by McKinsey found that 20-25% of the workforce in developed countries can work remotely for around 3-5 days a week after COVID-19. This number is 3-4 times more than the pre-pandemic work culture. This is enough to say that remote work has changed the dynamics of staff augmentation and will most likely continue in the future. 

The first and most significant implication of the remote trend is the distance between team members. Since everyone is dispersed across different locations, collaboration seems difficult. For example, a developer from India will experience communication challenges due to variations in time zones and if possible language barriers. 

Remote professionals may also struggle to gel themselves with the organization’s culture and work policies since they are not physically present in the workplace. They may also feel isolated and detached from their team members, affecting their morale. 

Remote work has also blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. A professional, working from home, may experience decreased productivity as he may not get the same working environment as offices. Also, the necessary infrastructure and resources are also missing while working from home.

Strategies to Ensure Smooth Integration

1. Create A Smooth Onboarding Process– You can design a tailored onboarding process that makes it easier for the augmented staff to integrate within your existing team. Provide them with all the essential information like your company culture, values, norms, etc. Convey everything in a clear format. You can even assign buddies from your in-house team to guide them throughout the onboarding process. This not only allows them to make healthy connections but also makes them feel valued. 
2. Use Effective and Clear Communication Channels– Miscommunication is the only thing that can cause challenges in integrating both teams. So if you establish clear communication channels, this too can be overcome. You may employ project management software like Notion, instant messaging like Whatsapp, or video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Meet. These tools ensure regular communication between both teams regardless of location. 
3. Training and Skill Development Sessions– Not only your in-house team, but the augmented team also needs some training about your work culture and policies. They need to be equipped with all the necessary knowledge and capabilities in order to bring productivity to the projects. So you may conduct frequent sessions on skill development to make it a seamless onboarding for them. 

Managing Misaligned Expectations and Responsibilities

There can be misunderstandings in the roles and responsibilities of both the augmented and in-house staff. This is one of the main challenges that you need to address with the right strategies. Ensure you have a project requirements guide, outlining the scope and expectations from the team members. Don’t forget to mention timelines, project budget, stakeholders, workflow graph, required technologies, and project goals. 

Also, create a document that clearly explains the roles and responsibilities of augmented teams with the in-house team. For example, if you have assigned product strategy consulting to an augmented professional, there should be no confusion in understanding who they should report to. 

Also, encourage an open communication policy between your in-house team and the custom web design agency. This will keep every team member informed about the project updates. 

Managing Technological Challenges 

In order to address technical challenges, you must ensure that all the team members have access to similar tools and technologies. This includes communication and collaboration tools, hardware, software, security tools, and easy network access. Also, your infrastructure should be able to scale up, so as to accommodate the growing team sizes. 

To Wrap Up: Challenges in IT Staff Augmentation 

IT staff augmentation is surely the most powerful solution for addressing skill gaps, and bringing cost-efficiency in any project. However, the model presents a few challenges that can impact the company and augmented staff. Common challenges include language barriers, miscommunications, cultural differences, time zone variations, legal issues, security issues, and misaligned expectations. 

Even with these challenges, staff augmentation continues to remain a trend. You may overcome these challenges easily. So don’t let them come between your project’s success and staff augmentation. 

If you’re looking to scale up your development team, hire NodeJS developers from Brain Inventory. Our experts bring technical expertise and knowledge of the latest communication tools, ensuring a seamless execution of your projects. 

Contact us to schedule a meeting. Let us know how we can help you in augmenting your existing team with our experts.