What Top Staff Augmentation Companies Don't Tell You About Hiring Remote Workers

by Muoro Io Build Remote Engineering Teams

Remote work has opened the door to many collaboration opportunities and business models the world over. Staff augmentation, or adding project-specific skills on demand is one of them, and for good reason. IT companies the world over are struggling to fill up vacancies owing to skill shortages.

But, while staff augmentation has grown from 4.3% to 6.3% between 2017 and 2020, companies continue to ponder over its utility. Many of the top staff augmentation companies out there rarely bother telling their customers that staff augmentation is not the plug and play solution the latter is hoping for.

Reading Between the Lines of Your Staff Augmentation Agreement

Staff augmentation may seem like the perfect solution to any IT problem at the face of it. But, it’s rarely as easy or even simple as it looks. The following issues inevitably creep up and can throw your project timeline of the track if you’re not prepared.

Your Staff Augmentation Company is Probably Charging You Differently

The IT services sector is no stranger to differential pricing. Two companies with the same project requirements may get quoted very different prices, usually under the banter of flexibility.

If you’re not careful, you may overspend on certain resources, so it’s always a good idea to run a price benchmark before getting on the phone with a staff augmentation agency.

Operating Risks are Your Problem

Unlike managed service models, a staff augmentation service provider only commits to providing resources at fixed hourly rates and is not responsible for any deliverables.

In other words, all operating risks are yours to bear and you will need to figure out how to fit the provided staff in your company. Cost overruns are also more common in augmented teams partly because paid-by-the-hour workers have a vested interest in increasing their logged time so that they can maximize their income from a project, and also because making a disparate group of people work together takes time to figure out. Left unchecked, things here can quickly spiral out of control.

You Probably Don’t Need Staff Augmentation

If you’re new to remote working, any top staff augmentation company will educate you on which operating model (in their opinion) will work best for you. You might in fact be better off with a managed team instead of having your existing one augmented with remote staff.

In a nutshell, staff augmentation is best suited for companies looking to rapidly scale an operation up or down. Managed services on the other hand are better suited for long-term projects where the service provider agrees to take full control of staffing and project execution.

Let Us Help You Get Your Best Team Yet

At Muoro, we get that remotely operating staff augmentation or managed service models are uncharted territory for most companies. This is why we have a Three-Week Trial to let you test the waters so that you can decide with complete confidence.

Our industry leading Engineer-as-a-Service model ensures your interests are kept paramount. Feel free to call or email us if you’d like to discuss a project with us.