7 Factors to Consider When Selecting Your IT Team Augmentation Partner

IT team augmentation (often referred to as IT contract staffing, IT outsourcing or Time & Material) is the practice of hiring IT experts from another company on a temporary or project basis to meet specific IT needs. This can include everything from software development and testing to IT project management.

We at DSS Consulting have been providing IT contract staffing services for over 10 years, it has become one of our core competencies. Building on this experience, let us now share our thoughts on the 7 key factors to consider when choosing an IT contract staffing partner.

Why Use IT Team Augmentation?

First, why do many companies seek IT contract staffing partners? What are the benefits that IT team augmentation can bring?

• One of the biggest advantages of IT team augmentation is that it allows companies to quickly and easily bring in the specific skills and expertise they need, without the long-term commitment of hiring a full-time employee. It is also often the case that companies need IT specialist resources much faster than traditional corporate HR processes allow – to speed up project launches and achieve faster results.
• Another advantage of IT contract staffing is that it can help companies reduce costs. As contract employees are not on the company’s payroll, companies can save on costs such as salary, benefits, and taxes. Additionally, because contract employees are only needed for a specific amount of time, companies can avoid the costs associated with hiring and training new employees.
• IT contract staffing can also provide flexibility for companies, as they can scale their workforce up or down depending on the needs of the business. This can help companies respond quickly to changes in demand and keep costs under control.

7 Key Factors to Consider When Selecting an IT Team Augmentation Partner

When it comes to IT contract staffing, selecting the right partner is crucial to ensure that your company can bring in the specific IT skills and expertise it needs, while minimizing the risks and maximizing the benefits. Here are the 7 key factors to consider when selecting a partner for IT contract staffing:

1. Experience and expertise

The first and most crucial factor to consider is their experience and expertise in the field. Make sure that the partner has a proven track record of providing high-quality IT contract staffing services and has a deep understanding of the specific skills and expertise your company needs.

2. Development methodologies and technology stack

Agile, Scrum or waterfall? These methodologies can significantly impact your working relationship with your IT contract staffing partner and the progress of your project.

Of course, you need to pay attention to the vendor’s tech stack to know what technologies they master, and what tools they use to get the results you need. Different projects require different technical expertise.

3. Reputation and industry references

It’s important to do your research and check the partner’s reputation in your sector. Ask for references and case studies of their previous projects and make sure they have a good track record of delivering quality services.

4. Partnerships and certifications

Partnerships and certifications give credibility to the company and may guarantee the quality of the service. It’s a good sign if your prospective partner has technology partnerships with leading software vendors. Being a certified partner of tech giants like Microsoft or Oracle and smaller but renowned technology companies like Jmix show the company has expertise recognized by industry leaders and peers.

And let’s not forget the ISO 27001 information security management certification, which is increasingly a pre-requisite to even being considered by prospective customers.

5. Costs and pricing

IT contract staffing can be an expensive solution, therefore, it’s important to consider the cost and pricing of the services. Make sure that the partner is transparent about their pricing and that the cost of their services is reasonable and in line with industry standards.

6. Scalability

It’s important to ensure the partner can scale their services to meet your company’s changing needs. Size matters – even in the case of the partner company. You cannot expect an IT contract staffing partner with a small talent pool to quickly fill all the positions you need with highly skilled experts.

So, if you are planning to start a project quickly that requires several professionals, and have plans to scale up the team later, it is best to look for a partner that can meet your needs – either a larger company or one with a broad partner network.

7. Your partner’s location: Onshoring, nearshoring, offshoring

Thanks to the expansion of IT contract staffing, you can quickly find potential partner companies anywhere. However, cultural differences, language barriers and geographical distances can have an impact on cooperation.

Onshoring means that you work with a partner in your own country – this will minimize cultural differences, but talent might not be available with the required skills and at the expected cost.

Offshoring can include companies from anywhere in the world. You may partner with a company in a remote time zone, which can make communication and cooperation difficult. Also, cultural differences are likely to play a role. For example, a development team in India may have all the necessary expertise and may be cheap compared to European rates, but geological distance, vastly different time zones, language barriers and cultural differences are not likely to result in smooth cooperation, and, therefore, a project completed on time and in the expected quality.

Therefore, nearshoring is an optimal solution thanks to geographical and cultural proximity.

But Why Should You Work with a Hungarian Company?

Because Hungary has a long history of outsourced software development and offers skilled software developers who can even be considered best-in-class. There is no better proof to back up this claim than HackerRank’s ranking based on their own statistics: Hungary ranks 5th on the Best Developers list globally, head-to-head with Switzerland and Japan and well ahead of not only Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania but also France, Italy, Germany and the UK.

Why Work with DSS Consulting?

There are several companies, big or small, on the market offering IT contract staffing services, so what makes us stand out?

First, based on the way we work, the way we approach an IT contract staffing task. So how do we work? What are the key steps to providing our customers with the best IT experts and teams?

• Consultation: We assess the business issue to be solved, and the expectations (hard and soft skills) related to the required experts; we also help clarify expectations and the project involved.
• Search: With the help of our own team of 120 experts or our strategic partner network, we will find the ideal specialist for the task as soon as possible – ready to work, according to our client’s needs, remotely, on-site or in a hybrid way.
• Selection: We propose the most suitable expert(s) for the task; to ensure speed, we conduct a professional and HR interview at the same time, and then evaluate them together after the client interview.
• Project launch: After the positive decision of the client, we secure the selected specialist for the required period; we provide full information to coordinate the expert and the client as soon as possible and help the outsourced employees (with regular feedback during the probation period, continuous communication, etc.).
• Team assembly: If required, we assemble a complete team for the given task (based on competencies, seniority, professional knowledge, fit), even for complete projects – we do not only check the necessary hard skills, but we also take the soft skills and compatibility of team members into account.
• Support and cooperation: We monitor and support the work of experts, replace them if necessary; in addition, we provide (as required) other (technological, methodological, etc.) support in the project based on our many years of development and product development experience.
• Training: In the case of long-term cooperation, we also develop the employee’s training plan together with the client.

And what are the key benefits of working with us?

• Speed: With the help of our extensive partner network and our own pool of 120+ experts, we quickly identify and select the most suitable specialists (or even whole teams) for the task.

For example, a major German company approached us with the request to source and set up two full teams of software testers — fulfilling strict professional requirements, in the shortest time possible and at competitive prices. Although they had contacted nine other potential suppliers, none of them were able to face the challenge under these conditions. However, we managed to assemble the two teams (3 testing experts in each) and an experienced test team lead in the required time, with Team 1 starting work in two months and Team 2 following a month after.

• Flexibility (also regarding the place of work): We provide individual specialists or even a whole team according to the client’s needs – working on-site, hybrid or remotely
• Ongoing support: We closely monitor the work of our experts to quickly identify any difficulties
• Cost-effectiveness: Our daily rates are significantly lower than the Western European market level

Let us just give a few examples:

• For a major German industrial company, we set up a team of 10 software developers and embedded developers
• For a leading bank we provide team of nearly 10 experts ​
• For a major airline based in Germany, we ramped up an agile development team of 8 people ​
• For a major railroad vehicle parts manufacturer headquartered in Germany, we provide more than 10 developers and testers

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Learn more about our IT contracting services here.

Is your company also considering working with an IT team augmentation partner? Why not discuss your needs and requirements over a good cup of coffee?