Proven and Unobvious Tips on How to Choose the Right Staff Augmentation Partner

Is Staff Augmentation Really What You Think It Is?

With so much software development jargon thrown around these days, it's easy to lose track of the various terms. What is staff augmentation? Is it a synonym for outsourcing? Does it resemble freelancing? Or is it a fancy name for outstaffing?

Staff augmentation services is a flexible outstaffing strategy that allows you to supplement your existing workforce with external talent (software developers, testers, DevOps engineers, project managers, and other IT specialists). Companies that benefit from staff augmentation usually meet the following criteria:

• Their projects are long-term (over a year)
• Their processes and workflows are firmly established (e.g., they use Jira/Asana/Redmine, employees log their hours and report activities, etc.)
• They have experience with remote workers (employees work from home or other locations)

Unlike software outsourcing, where companies delegate complete projects or business functions to a vendor, staff augmentation works best when additional hands are needed to temporarily bolster your team with specific skills while maintaining project control and responsibility.

The Benefits of Staff Augmentation

Cost savings aren't the only reason people resort to staff augmentation, but it is the most important. Additionally, staff augmentation allows your organization to:

Staff augmentation is a great opportunity to optimize the company's budget and hire more productive experts. But to achieve this, you need to partner with a solid vendor first.

How to Choose a Staff Augmentation Partner

Before compiling a list of candidates, you must understand your needs, budget, project expertise requirements, and project scope and duration. Once you have these details, you can start looking around and shortlisting potential staff augmentation partners that meet your requirements for:

That's the easy part. Now, it's time for a comprehensive background check for the vendors you've shortlisted. Finding the right staff augmentation partner requires you to examine their background thoroughly. Here are some key factors to keep in mind.

Technical Expertise and Quality of Talent

Ensure the partner has access to a pool of highly skilled professionals, including software developers, testers, DevOps engineers, and project managers. Verify their expertise in the technologies and tools relevant to your projects.

Reputation and Track Record

Look for partners with a strong track record in your industry or business niche. Case studies and client testimonials are a good place to start. Also, review their portfolio to check for successful projects similar to yours.

Communication and Collaboration

Evaluate their proficiency in English and their ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Next, check the tools and platforms they use for project management, communication, and collaboration (e.g., Jira, Slack, GitHub).

Flexibility and Scalability

Ensure the partner can scale resources up or down based on your project needs and verify their ability to provide the right talent as your requirements change quickly.

Cost-Effectiveness

At this point, focus on the overall value and quality of the services offered, not just the cost. But, of course, ensure their pricing model is clear and aligns with your budget constraints.

Recruitment and Onboarding Process

Look into their recruitment process to ensure they attract and retain top talent. Have the vendors explain their hiring workflow and onboarding process. Speaking of which, you should also assess how quickly and efficiently they can integrate new team members into your projects.

Client Support and Relationship Management

Look for a partner that provides a dedicated account manager. This person should address your concerns, ensure smooth collaboration, and help you solve any issues that may arise.

5 Bonus Tips from Giraffe Software

We've been offering staff augmentation services for over seven years. And some of our clients switched to us because their previous vendors let them down. So, we advise you to dig deep into your staff augmentation candidates and do the following to keep risks to a minimum.

1. Assess Their Financial Stability

Request financial statements or look for public financial information to ensure the partner is financially stable and capable of sustaining long-term projects. Evaluating their investment in new technologies, employee training, and infrastructure is also a good idea.

2. Test Their Response Time and Quality

Pay attention to how quickly and effectively they respond to your initial inquiries and questions and evaluate the clarity, detail, and relevance. A good partner should provide a clear and informative reply, addressing your questions and needs.

They should provide comprehensive and thoughtful responses, showing a deep understanding of your requirements.

3. Review Their Internal Processes

Ask the partner to provide detailed documentation of their internal processes, including workflows, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and quality assurance protocols. Instead of asking about their project management methodologies, ask for proof that they have implemented them.

Because it may say they use Agile, they may actually be using Waterfall.

4. Investigate the Legal and Compliance Background

Verify compliance with international labor laws, data protection regulations, and intellectual property laws. Also, look for any past legal issues or disputes that could indicate potential risks.

5. Consider Their Innovation and Adaptability

Assess their track record for innovation and how they've adapted to new technologies and market trends. On top of that, evaluate their flexibility and adaptability in managing changes in project scope, technology, and timelines.

All this intense research will pay off once you start cooperating with an augmented team vendor who is just right for your company, team, and budget.

Our Process and Expertise

Giraffe Software is your go-to tech partner, with 70+ in-house experts and a network of 30,000 pre-vetted talents. Thanks to our well-oiled reporting, HR, and retention processes, we ensure our clients save at least 35%- 45% on their IT budgets.

• Our cooperation starts with you sharing your team extension needs. We'll discuss your requirements, timeline, budget, cooperation model, and other important details.
• We then select experts from our candidate base who match your needs and share their CVs with you. This process can be as quick as 5 days.
• Once an NDA is signed, we arrange interviews with the shortlisted candidates within about seven days. You can conduct technical interviews to find the best fit for your project or leave it to us. Based on the interview results, you decide which experts you want to bring on board for your IT project.
• Finally, we send offers to the chosen experts, and onboarding can begin just two weeks after your initial request.

With over seven years in the game, we've built a solid team of skilled engineers and a vast partner network, delivering 120+ successful projects for more than 60 clients across the EU and US. And we are very proud of the glowing reviews they left us on Clutch, Upwork, and GoodFirms. Here are just a couple of projects that prove our proficiency in staff augmentation.

looxis, a German company known for creating exclusive photo-etched gifts, came to us to shift their sales from offline to online and tap into new digital revenue streams. They wanted to launch an eCommerce store, but their previous tech vendor didn't meet their quality standards.

They needed top-notch tech experts with great English skills and strong expertise to complete the project on time. Plus, they wanted their store to have 2D and 3D image modeling features so customers could preview their personalized gifts before buying.

Within just three days of their request, we provided eight candidate CVs that fit their needs. The client selected and hired their desired experts in just two weeks. These specialists seamlessly integrated into the client's in-house team, and our collaboration lasted five years, during which we helped LOOXIS establish a new digital revenue source.

As a result, LOOXIS gained:

• A team of middle to senior developers skilled in 2D and 3D image modeling, all at half the rates of local developers
• A dedicated team working directly under their management
• An eCommerce store that met all their requirements
• Over 50% reduction in operational expenses, as our solution covered everything from salaries to taxes and hardware

This collaboration helped LOOXIS successfully transition to digital sales and expand its market reach.

Another project, REM Waste, was for a UK-based waste management company with over 100 partners serving 700+ customers. They needed a digital makeover to scale their business and aimed to replace their outdated CRM with a new, custom platform.

After their previous developers failed to deliver a working MVP, REM Waste turned to us for help. We provided an estimate for the MVP and quickly assembled a team of two developers, an architect, a PM, and a QA within two weeks. In just four months, we delivered a polished MVP, enabling REM Waste to secure further investments.

The results were first-rate:

• A talented development team that rescued the project
• A refactored solution with bugs fixed
• A high-quality MVP with missing features delivered
• Post-MVP functionality completed over the following 15 months, with the team growing from 4 to 8 members
• A 38% cost saving compared to local estimates

Now, REM Waste is planning to build a SaaS solution based on this CRM.