Quick Summary:  As businesses grow, managers are faced with the need to fill worker’s gaps. Filling these gaps will enable businesses to reach their business objectives and fulfill the requirements of their customers. However, finding the right person for these jobs can be difficult. The costs of onboarding, training, and perquisites during this process can be high. To mitigate these risks and still get the job done, companies use IT staff augmentation services to supplement their workforce needs. Combining these key staffing solutions allows companies to engage experts whenever they need assistance, without strain.

Overcoming IT Staff Augmentation Challenges: Top 7 Solutions

Challenge #1 – Finding the Right Talent: With the number of unemployed or underemployed IT professionals continuing to grow in the United States, companies are searching for solutions to address this issue. There is a short supply of skilled IT professionals in the US as reflected by the latest statistics from the Bureau of Labor Services. This is partly due to the current economic conditions and IT unemployment rate. The shortage of talent in the USA is a serious concern. It’s understandable that many US businesses have turned to outsourcing IT services and hiring offshore developers in countries like India, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, etc.

Solution: Partner with A Reliable Tech Vendor: 

Due to the ever-changing nature of technology, working with a vendor seems like a smart choice for filling your skill gaps. The most analytical solution to the skill gap issue is to hire a reliable IT staff augmentation company. A vendor with the requisite resources offers an efficient solution to meet your requirements effectively.

Challenge #2 – Communication & Management: Many businesses are facing the challenge of poor remote communication despite many companies outsourcing work to virtual teams. One reason for this is that most companies do not have the tools needed to effectively communicate within the team. These tools might include the lack of a project management method for supporting virtual project teams or an email-based application that does not support real-time collaboration. 

Solution: Establish Effective Collaboration: 

No matter the size of your business, effective communication between you and your client will always be needed. Whether it is a staffing partner or one of your clients, your ability to communicate will make the relationship stronger.

Challenge #3 – Scalability: Every business has challenges when it is scaling up its operations. In the growing tech industry, you know how crucial a lean, but highly skilled team can be. To get instantly scalable IT solutions, many businesses are outsourcing the complete or part of their development activities to software development agencies that provide NATURAL experts. The majority of these companies have an in-house software development team that handles all the critical operations while the specialists simplify and enhance the process by working on an extended scope of services.

Solution: Select an IT Staff Augmentation Partner with a Wide Network of IT Talents 

When choosing an IT staff augmentation partner with a broad network of IT talents, it’s essential to take several factors into account before establishing a partnership:

Evaluate the company’s average attrition rate. According to a LinkedIn analysis, a healthy attrition rate typically falls within the range of 10-15%.

Examine the vendor’s internal pool of IT talents to ensure they have a diverse and skilled talent pool readily available.

Ascertain whether the company prioritizes comfortable working conditions, opportunities for professional growth, training programs, and equitable compensation for their employees.

Collaborate with staffing vendors to establish reasonable notice periods for both scaling up and downsizing a team as per your project requirements.

Challenge #4 – Time Zone Availability: One of the biggest challenges faced by businesses with remote workers is coordinating teams. It is true that these teams can end up being more productive than those working from a central office because they’re not forced to adhere to a rigid schedule. But there is one big drawback to this type of working arrangement: managing one’s own time can be incredibly difficult, especially if you are not working with people from the same area.

Solution: Time Management Tools and IT Staffing Service Providers With Global Offices 

Challenges and opportunities are boundless in a world where time is of the essence. Sometimes small organizations are facing double challenges of resourcefulness and finding ways to increase their efficiency, particularly in fundamentals such as communication and using time effectively. Through this situation, it is essential to look for time management tools that can assist in making your business more organized and efficient.

Challenge #5 – Legal Issues: A poorly compiled contract could cost your business hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. It could also cause you serious headaches when the contract is breached, or when subcontractors fail to fulfill their obligations. The bottom line is that, when the agreement’s language is too vague, too broad, or even incomplete and ambiguous, there may be a lot of gray areas in which an outside party can take advantage of you.

Solution: Opt for a Win-Win Contract 

In software development outsourcing, most contracts align with three primary collaboration models. The type of contract you sign depends on your business goals and your company’s goals for the outsourced project. Additionally, there are numerous crucial elements that every contract should include to prevent legal complications down the road — because you can’t assume a client has dealt only in good faith and won’t take advantage of you. 

Challenge # 6 – Security Risks

Threats to your network security can come from outside forces or from within your own internal policies, resulting in increased IT staff augmentation challenges. While the extent of each security threat differs depending on the situation, some generalities are true regardless. Understanding these potential threats, how they can arise, and how to overcome them is crucial for IT management in order to provide a safe environment for business operations.

Solution: Maintain a Balance Between Efficiency and security

Cooperation with augmentation firms is a smart way to improve your business efficiency while reducing the risks of fraud. However, there are several security risks associated with it. You need to ensure that the outsourced contractor is not involved in any digital scams. The most important thing is that you make sure the application used by the outsourcer is secure enough to fully protect data from being stolen and misused.

Challenge #7 – Transferring Project Knowledge

Knowledge transfer is a challenging endeavor for businesses. The knowledge of one employee can be incomparable to the knowledge of another person, making it difficult to structure and plan effective knowledge transfer plans. This can result in businesses encountering a challenge with inconsistent knowledge transfer, ultimately resulting in wasted time, resources, and investment.

Solution: Promote Efficient Knowledge Sharing 

As mentioned in an earlier post, post-project knowledge transfer is a practical approach to overcoming the knowledge transfer hurdle. A lot of factors should be considered to ensure that knowledge transferred at the end of a project is effectively and efficiently used by the client. The success of knowledge transfer greatly depends on how pertinent information is disseminated. This is where a third-party IT staffing firm can play a vital role in seamlessly transferring knowledge from one person to another by following proven best practices.

Conclusion  

Finding the right people to fit your company is one of the most important tasks a manager or owner has. However, you’ll want to secure the appropriate talent by adopting a hiring strategy that aligns with your budget. This ensures employees are well-equipped to deliver projects on time without putting a strain on resources or internal resources. It’s also important _not_ to spend too little on your employees or contractors, since this hurts the ability of your team’s ability to deliver projects efficiently. We are here to simplify your hiring, that’s our motto. Brain Inventory is a dedicated team of IT experts, professionals, and consultants who work closely with a wide range of businesses from startups to multinational companies across India. Our team works diligently to simplify your hiring process by providing immediate access to high-quality IT resources that can address both your short-term and long-term needs.