Prepare for staff augmentation in 2025 [FREE CHECKLIST]

Imagine you're leading a critical IT project and discover your team lacks the specialised skills to move forward. This is where staff augmentation comes in handy.

Whether you're a startup racing against time to launch your flagship product or a corporation needing a swift tech transformation, staff augmentation enables you to quickly integrate external experts into your existing team. This flexible, scalable and cost-effective outsourcing strategy augments your team's capabilities precisely when needed.

How to make staff augmentation work best? Read through the article and print out the checklist that will help you make the most of it.

How to choose the right staff augmentation provider?

Selecting the appropriate provider is crucial to achieving your goals. Consider the following steps to ensure your IT staff augmentation services partner aligns with your needs.

Identify your needs and expectations

To make sure your choice of team augmentation services provider is successful, you need to know what you expect from the collaboration. Determine whether you are looking for companies with a proven track record of matching candidates with organisations. Consider if the certifications or awards that your future outsourcing services provider has won will be the foundation of fruitful cooperation.

Search for reviews of the selected companies. You will find out whether you can expect timely cooperation and a good cultural fit with the current team. Based on this information, shortlist a few companies that meet your initial criteria.

Shortlist candidates and evaluate their proposals

After you have narrowed down your list of team augmentation companies, review their pitches in accordance with your demands during the meetings. Note how potential partners meet your expectations in:

• Tech stack
• Experience
• Scalability
• Communication
• Cultural fit
• Costs
• Service time.

Use a rating scale (e.g., 1-5) to objectively compare how well each staff augmentation company matches your business goals.

Defining core project requirements and business strategy

What objectives do you want to achieve with the increased number of employees? What tasks will the additional specialists take on? Before signing the contract, verify the details the augmented team should fulfil.

Determine project requirements and budget scope

Once you've confirmed that there will be good cooperation between the in-house team and temporary staff, it's time to define the areas where support is needed. Is it front-end, cloud management, or something else? Next, specify whether the issue is a lack of knowledge in a particular platform, framework, or programming language. This will help ensure that the staff augmentation services provider hires people with specific skills.

When determining the need for additional team members, also estimate what budget you are willing (and can) allocate to hiring them to keep your project profitable. Plan how long it will take to complete specific project scopes and how many people you need to stick to the schedule. Contrast your estimates with a standard IT recruitment process. You'll find out what savings this outsourcing model will bring you.

Establish security best practices

Collaborating with a remote team introduces data security considerations. Develop security policies that both internal and external teams will follow. Prepare procedures for potential data breaches, including communication strategies and recovery processes. Regularly monitor data security throughout the collaboration.

Streamlining the onboarding of augmented staff members in your company

Effective onboarding is essential for integrating external specialists into your team. Consider the following steps.

Discuss the effects of workforce extension with your in-house development team

Involve your internal team in the decision to hire external specialists. Communicate the reasons for staff augmentation and its benefits. Assure them that the collaboration aims to enhance the team's capabilities, not replace existing members.

Prepare the onboarding process for external staff

Introduce the augmented team to your company's standards, communication protocols, and workflows. Clearly outline expectations, project deadlines, and the roles of both internal and external team members.

Assign a project manager to communicate directly with external specialists. Make sure that access to tools and resources is granted before the cooperation starts. This makes the first day of cooperation less stressful for both the internal team and temporary staff members.

Get the free checklist and meet all staff augmentation needs!

Staff aug services offer many benefits that hiring full-time employees doesn't. In general, outsourcing models provide access to a global talent pool, reduce potential project downtime and generate significant cost savings. To make your staff augmentation strategy the most positive experience, Happy Team has prepared a helpful checklist to help you establish cooperation with the right IT outsourcing provider in 3 easy steps!

In the checklist, we have included lots of helpful questions, practical lists and tables. Take notes, highlight and rate until you find the right staff augmentation provider for your project.

And if you have any questions, contact us. Happy Team experts are here to help you tick all the boxes to establish a fruitful collaboration and mark your position on the market!