Introduction – An Easy Way to Scale Your Team
Today we will discuss how can you scale your team with team augmentation and when you should consider it.
Tech companies in the UK and US are feeling the squeeze. A recent Tech Nation report found that 74% of UK tech companies are struggling to track down the skilled software development talent they need. And in the US, a CompTIA study found that 80% of tech companies face the same challenge. Trying to keep up with demand and innovation can feel like a weary sprint behind a bullet train. So what do you do, tech leaders? Team Augmentation! That should be your secret weapon.
Convert your existing in-house team with a timely shot of experienced React & React Native developers. They will bring the proficient skills and flexibility you need to keep moving onwards and upwards – without the eye-watering fees and months-long hiring process you might be dreading.
Challenges of Scaling Tech Teams
Finding and Attracting Top Talent
Building a high-performing tech team is no easy feat for CTOs and tech leaders in the UK or the US. Severe talent shortages, budget constraints, and the need for ever-evolving skill sets present significant hurdles as the battle for top talent intensifies.
The struggle to find the best-of-the-best new team members is getting ever more difficult in an industry in need of 1 million workers in the UK and 1.2 million in the US. This competition results in salaries that reach expensive levels as hiring skilled developers see UK-based React developers command an average yearly salary of £80,000 and their US counterparts take home around $124,000 a year.
Limited Budget for Hiring a New Development Team
The financial complexities of scaling a tech in-house team extend beyond just salaries. With budgets being monitored tightly, the additional costs tied to full-time hires, which include benefits, office space, and training, make it difficult to swallow for CTOs to justify permanent positions, especially when a project’s scope and duration are oftentimes unpredictable.
Need for Diverse Skillsets
Further, today’s software development projects often demand a variety of expertise beyond just core development skills. A CTO must now consider a holistic team that includes UX/UI design, data science, DevOps, and more.
Though building dedicated internal teams for each of these specialities is both unsustainable and unnecessary at scale, lean permanent teams can leave projects with no dedicated skill sets, which can be equally problematic. This is all further complicated by time.
Time Constraints
Because of the pressure to launch products and scale fast with new features, many tech projects are under what leads to a need for extremely rapid team expansions. However, traditional internal hiring processes, which can take months, are becoming a significant barrier to this agility and swift market response.
At a time when maintaining strategic focus is crucial for success, the extensive time and effort required to build a full team internally can distract from broader business objectives. These twin pressures illustrate the hard realities of tech leaders’ efforts to aggressively scale their teams.
This is where the concept of Staff Augmentation becomes a valuable strategy, enabling companies to efficiently scale their teams in alignment with project needs and overall business goals. By bringing in external talent on an as-needed basis, companies can overcome the hurdles of slow hiring processes and maintain their competitive edge in the market.
How Staff Augmentation Solves These Challenges
Tackling Talent Shortages
In an environment where the demand for skilled developers significantly outstrips supply, Staff Augmentation offers a gateway to a global talent pool. By partnering with a relevant and experienced Augmentation partner, companies gain access to top professionals ready to hit the ground running.
This widens the search beyond local constraints and reduces the time spent on talent acquisition. For instance, while the tech talent gap in the UK and US remains daunting, staff augmentation allows companies to tap into markets where the supply of skilled developers, particularly in React and React Native, is more robust.
Budget Flexibility
Software Team Augmentation is a cost-effective solution to the financial challenges of scaling a dedicated team. Unlike full-time hires, augmented team members do not incur the same overhead costs, such as benefits, office space, and long-term salaries.
This model allows for a more predictable budgeting process, with companies paying only for the services rendered, often at a competitive rate compared to local salary expectations.
For example, while a full-time senior React developer’s salary might average £80,000 in the UK or $124,000 in the US annually, augmenting your team with a similar level of talent can reduce costs by up to 40%, according to industry benchmarks.
Overcoming Time Constraints
Augmentation can help to shorten the time to get projects off the ground. Augmented developers often being able to start within weeks, compared to the months it can take to hire and onboard a new full-time employee. This agility is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage and meeting tight project deadlines, ensuring that companies can respond quickly to market demands without sacrificing quality or strategic focus.
Access to Deep React and React Native Expertise and Diverse Tools
Software Development Team Augmentation provides access to top-tier talent in React and React Native and guarante that your projects benefit from a wide range of complementary tools and frameworks.
This approach allows companies to advance their development capabilities with specialized expertise in these leading technologies, along with other vital development tools that facilitate efficient, scalable, and high-quality software solutions.
Beyond React and React Native, a software developer is skilled in utilizing a variety of development tools and frameworks that complement these libraries, such as Redux for state management, React Router for navigation, and Next.js for server-side rendering, raising the performance and scalability of web applications.
Need some additional forces for your internal team?
Use Cases for Team Augmentation
When Your Internal Team is Juggling
Scenario: Your core team is swamped with ongoing maintenance. A new product launch looms, demanding a dedicated frontend team with React & React Native expertise.
Staff Augmentation Services Solution: We provide experienced React developers who seamlessly integrate into your existing team, taking ownership of the new project’s development without disrupting ongoing tasks. You gain an instant force multiplier, ensuring timely delivery without straining your internal resources.
One of our customers, a CMS provider, had a wide internal team, but they were busy with the core product development. They were about to create a web platform to support their core product but didn’t want to distract their devs from the most important duties. That’s why they decided to look for a staff augmentation provider and cooperate with an external remote team of experienced React developers.
Launching New Projects with Missing Competences
Scenario: You have a web app, but want to expand your digital presence with a mobile app. But your team lacks expertise in mobile development and you don’t have the time and resources to hire them internally.
Team Augmentation Solution: We provide you with experienced React Native developers, allowing you to launch your mobile app and expand your reach and market penetration without the burden of building a permanent mobile team. What’s more, React Native allows for building cross-platform mobile apps, so even if you want to have an internal dev team in the future, you won’t have to build two separate teams to cover iOS and Android platforms.
Our customer, an e-commerce platform that enables anyone to sell digital products, had a wide web platform but discovered that their users would like to have quick access to their revenue data via mobile. And so they decided to use our experts to create them a mobile app MVP. They chose React Native because they want to further develop their project in the future and want to be sure they will have access to a wide pool of developers.
Scenario: You want to migrate your existing web application to the new tech stack, and you have a back-end team, but don’t have a front-end developer.
Team Augmentation Solution: You can hire a front-end engineer to cooperate with your internal back-end team. It’s one of the most popular reasons within our customers why they reach out for us. We are able to provide an experienced React dev, who will build a front-end for your web app.
Proofed, a leading professional proofreading and editing service company, aimed to create a design-focused, user-friendly interface. They wanted to design a platform that both reflected their professionalism and desire for perfection in their work product. Having a back-end team they didn’t want to invest in an additional internal workforce to create the front of their app. They reached out to us and we provided them with an experienced React developer.
PROOFED CASE STUDY
We provided additional forces to build an MVP for the leading professional proofreading and editing services company
READ CASE STUDY
Validating New App Ideas
Scenario: You have a promising app idea, but need to validate its market potential before investing heavily in development.
Team Augmentation Solution: We connect you with mobile app developers who specialize in building React Native MVP apps. They can quickly create a functional app that showcases your core concept and helps you gauge user interest, minimizing upfront investment and risk.
Novus Bank was still in the fundraising phase and needed to push its development further to get the funds needed. They have finished the UX/UI designs but didn’t have the team or resources to run the development phase on their side. This is why they searched for a highly specialized, verified, and exceptionally organized React Native agency and reached out to us for Team Augmentation Services.
Filling Unexpected Skill Gaps:
Scenario: A key developer on your development team unexpectedly leaves, creating a critical skill gap in the middle of a project.
Team Augmentation Solution: We provide immediate access to senior developers with the expertise you need. They can seamlessly integrate with your existing team, ensuring project continuity and preventing delays while you search for a permanent replacement.
One of our customers decided to use our Senior Developers because their team wasn’t experienced enough to further develop the project in the high-quality way they expected them to. They reached us to fill the skill gap in their team and finish a big web app project in the chosen timeline.
Addressing Unexpected Project Needs:
Scenario: Your customer decided to build additional features within the project, but you already moved your resources to the other project.
Team Augmentation Solution: You can use our expertise to create additional features in the expected timeline, without worrying about the quality of the code. Our developers are able to join the project whenever needed.
Managing Seasonal or Cyclical Workloads
Scenario: You’re in a highly seasonal industry like retail or tourism, facing surging demand during specific periods. Hiring and firing full-time employees to match these fluctuations is costly and disruptive. Or, you’re a startup experiencing rapid growth, needing to quickly scale your development team for product launches or user acquisition bursts.
Team Augmentation Solution: Quickly add experienced developers during peak seasons or growth spurts to handle increased workloads without long-term commitments. When demand softens, easily scale down without impacting your core team.
Our customer, who provides an e-learning platform for artists decided he needs our support during Black Friday and some weeks ahead that. He wanted to be sure his platform would work seamlessly during high peaks but didn’t own a development team.
How you can scale your team with Team Augmentation from Pagepro?
You can scale your workforce with an experienced staff augmentation company like Pagepro is a strategic move that can upgrade your project’s capabilities and flexibility. We streamline this process to ensure it’s straightforward and tailored to your unique needs, embodying efficiency, adaptability, and precision. Here’s how we make it easy for you to scale your team with the right talent:
Straightforward Team Augmentation Process
1. Detail Your Developer Requirements
The first step is simple. Tell us the specs. How many developers do you need, what specific skills are you looking for, and when do you want to start? By detailing your exact requirements, we can begin phase two.
2. Finding Your Perfect Match
We have an extensive pool of talent, from which we source the developers to match your exact requirements. These developers are then introduced to you through our platform, where you can access their profiles, and pricing, to make an informed decision.
3. Confirming the Right Fit
The developers must match your technical requirements, and complement your in-house team. So here, you will get to meet the chosen developers, to make sure that they have the right fit for your project’s objectives and your existing team.
4. Kick-off Collaboration
Once you give the green light, we’re ready to start. Our process ensures a quick and efficient start, allowing your augmented team to integrate seamlessly and start contributing to your project without delay.
Choose your Augmented Team with flexibility and scalability in mind
Understanding that project needs can fluctuate, we offer the flexibility to scale your augmented team up or down according to your needs. With early notification, you give us the time we need to adjust the entire team size for when you need additional or fewer developers available to meet your needs.
Cover your needs for deep web and mobile expertise
Whether you need web or mobile developers, we’ve got you covered. You have the freedom to choose the seniority of the developers who will expand your team. But please remember, that not every task requires a senior developer. A senior team member takes charge of critical tasks, while the middle and junior devs support them with other fundamental tasks, boosting efficiency and speed. So choosing a diverse team for your project may, in fact, improve the development process.
Project Management Included
Every team needs someone to lead the project, so our experienced Project Managers can be included in a specific staff augmentation model. They know the importance of effective communication and well-thought-out decisions. They are technically solid, provide the team with technical leadership, and take ownership of the delivery process to ensure the flow—with zero friction and maximum velocity—to successful project execution.
Efficient Onboarding and Adaptability
The exact timeline for team and staff augmentation depends on the scope of your project, the availability of our developers, and where you are in the decision-making process. We aim for efficiency so that the process usually takes just a few days to 2-3 weeks. Regardless, our goal is to move our augmenting resources into place quickly to keep your project moving forward without undue delays.
Integration with Customer Tools
We can work seamlessly with your existing tools, ensuring that our augmented team integrates smoothly into your workflows and project management practices. Below you can see which tools we use on a daily basis (maybe we’re already a match!)
Conclusion
Team Augmentation tackles a critical challenge that most companies face in their quest to scale their tech teams within the constraints of talent shortages, budgets, and the ever-accelerating velocity in technologies.
The benefits are clear:
- A global pool of experienced talents
- Flexible team building with the required skills
- Quicker team fueling in comparison to traditional team hiring
- Lower costs of the team (you don’t need to cover the insurance, benefits etc.)
Team Augmentation empowers companies to remain agile, competitive and focused on their core objectives. It turns what may be potential obstacles into opportunities for growth and success, as companies embrace the right talent, supported by the right technology and guided by the right strategy, to guide the complexity of their products.
Have any more questions about team augmentation?
Sources:
- https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/react-developer-salary-SRCH_KO0,15.htm
- https://www.glassdoor.com.hk/Salaries/london-react-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,6_IM1035_KO7,22.htm
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1337541/threat-shortage-it-talent-organizations-worldwide-by-region/
- https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/talent-crunch-future-of-work
- https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/learning-insights/closing-the-tech-talent-gap
