Businesses experience several types of challenges. One among them is the talent crunch. While it is easy to overcome resource crunch or financial crunches, finding the right talent at the right time is by far the most ‘abstract’ of challenges for any business or organization. Expanding organizational talent capacity is a challenge, especially if you need to decide about the model that best helps in meeting business objectives.
A talent crunch need not necessarily mean skilled professionals. There can also be a need for staff augmentation. In such cases, where staff augmentation services are the goal to be achieved, it is important to consider a wide range of staffing models or solutions. Augmenting team models and comparing staffing models is an often tried process. You should also consider managed services as an option or outsourced training providers to upskill current talent in the organization to augment staff as per needs.
Staff Augmentation Services: Needs and Solution
It is important to begin the process of staff augmentation by first assessing the talent needs, the number of employees needed and the business goals augmented staff can achieve. Before you partner with a staff augmentation services provider, identify your needs and appropriate solution strategies. To do so, consider the following factors:
- Defining Clear Goals: Along with business goals, it is important to assess and find departmental objectives. This clarity helps align the augmentation strategy with specific functional needs.
- Staffing Needs: It is important to know the precise roles and skills that the new staff augmentation services will fulfill. It is critical to understand whether the need is for specific IT roles like developers or creative talents in order to identify the right profiles better.
- Bridging Skill Gaps: This step is necessary to find the existing workforce’s strengths and weaknesses. It is necessary to find additional skills that are needed to bridge gaps and ensure seamless project execution.
- Budget Estimation: It is important that a fixed budget is allocated for staff augmentation, as the costs associated with hiring, onboarding, and managing augmented staff need to be correctly matched.
- Risk Assessment and Contingencies: This factor will help you anticipate potential roadblocks and challenges when considering the different augmentation models.
- Project Timelines and Deliverables: Align staff augmentation with project timelines and milestones. Consider the nature of deliverables and how augmented staff will contribute to achieving them.
You will find that the detailed comparison and analysis of preferred staffing models will help you decide if you should choose staff augmentation services.
Managed Services and Outsourced Training Providers: Expanding Horizons
As there are many staff augmentation models to consider, it is also important to look at all the alternatives. It is possible that the unique talent needs of your organization may require you to consider these alternatives as complementary strategies and empower your organization’s capabilities.
- Managed Services: This model involves delegating the management and operation of specific functions to an external partner. Managed services can free up your internal resources, allowing your team to focus on core competencies while external experts manage specialized tasks.
- Outsourced Training Providers: Equipping current talent with new skills or skills that are specific to achieving business objectives is a quick remedial to demanding staffing needs. Upskilling and reskilling by outsourced training providers can empower your existing talent with new skills, making them more adaptable and versatile within your organization.
Making the Right Choice
Expanding talent capacity depends on the strategy you choose: Is it staff augmentation services, managed services or upskilling currently available talent by outsourcing training providers? You can decide upon the right approach if you have the following information: assessed talent needs, identified skill gaps and budget to augment new staff.
The most important factor to remember here is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The talent or staffing needs of every project are likely to be different. Hence, the right approach would be to consider a unique combination of these models. By investing time and effort upfront rather than getting entangled in a complex and non-productive staffing solution, better outcomes can be achieved. What if you were to find the answer to staff augmenting problems with one provider? Speak to experts at Infopro Learning to customize your staffing needs.