IT staff augmentation is a growing industry, with a CAGR of 3.53% and an anticipated market spend of $81.87B by 2026. The growth of this industry is one of the simplest—and the most telling—trends for the ongoing future of IT staff augmentation. Its growth means that businesses are continuing to see tremendous value in supporting a core in-house staff instead of growing just their in-house operations.
Growth also means the boost in IT staff augmentation demand during the past few years was not simply a response to the pandemic. Instead, it’s a flexible business strategy that’s here to stay. Whether you’re a professional directly affected by IT staff augmentation opportunities or you are a key stakeholder in a business that could benefit from staff augmentation, knowing the projected trends for the industry can help you position yourself. Learn more about:
- The growing demand for IT staff augmentation
- How remote work is facilitating this approach
- The role that technologies such as AI will have as it develops
The Growing Demand for IT Staff Augmentation
First, what is IT staff augmentation? This staffing strategy involves contracting a team of IT professionals, typically through a third-party provider. The business gains immediate access to a team of experienced professionals who can take on business projects or help manage high-volume support or IT administration tasks. The third-party provider takes on the responsibilities of hiring and managing the administrative tasks of employment.
Why is demand for IT staff augmentation growing? The shortage of domestic tech professionals across the United States has continued to grow over the past decade. In fact, about 918,000 IT jobs were unfilled in 2019. The gap between available positions and available domestic professionals widens every year. However, the shortage alone does not account for the growth in demand. IT staff augmentation also offers convenience, scalability, and easy access to specialized IT skill sets.
Increased Need for Specialized IT Skills
The IT field is becoming increasingly diverse and stratified. Many positions demand niche or specialty skills with relatively little overlap, ranging from software developers with a focus on modern UX trends to information technology officers who know the norms and regulations for compliance to cybersecurity experts. This stratification, in many ways, worsens the shortage—when skills aren’t transferrable, there are fewer people who can fill a given role.
But staff augmentation can resolve these barriers. You can access professionals with the skills you need through a services provider who can source professionals with the right experience and certifications. Also, with nearshoring and outsourced staff augmentations options, your team can grow to include specialty staff from other countries.
Cost-Efficiency and Scalability
When there’s a shortage of trained professionals that a lot of businesses need, employers naturally will need to create more competitive and appealing employment packages to win them over. However, for many SMBs, increasing salaries to compete with enterprise-level employers simply isn’t an option. What’s more, offering the right benefits packages can be just as costly.
Even without a shortage, employment carries a lot of costs. This includes salaries, insurance, employment taxes, liability, HR, and administrative staff to support the IT staff… The list is ongoing, and the costs can make your business bloated and slow-moving. Your organization will also pay COBRA benefits, potential retirement packages, as well as potential legal costs any time you have to terminate employees.
With IT staff augmentation, those costs are far more flexible. In fact, you don’t have to worry about HR and liability concerns because you’re not the direct employer. You can also scale the size of your team up and down depending on immediate business needs, all without extra employer costs.
ParallelStaff’s Expertise in Meeting IT Staffing Needs
At ParallelStaff, we specialize in IT staff augmentation. Our professionals can listen to what you need for your team, put together a plan for projects, short-term needs, or long-term growth, and start sourcing the right IT experts for the job. We offer nearshoring IT staff augmentation so your company benefits from the expertise of trained professionals in countries nearby. Not only do you not have to compete with enterprise organizations for domestic applicants, but you don’t have to manage the recruiting process at all.
This trend will continue to grow: employers will look for staff with the skills they need, at an affordable price and with flexible term lengths that align with business cycles. ParallelStaff will be there to help.
Remote Work and Global Talent
Remote work has ballooned over the past decade. In fact, most trends indicate that the need for in-office work will virtually disappear over the next decade. Even before the pandemic, remote work saw a growth of 140% between 2015 and 2020. Since then, it has become commonplace. Businesses managed to make the switch to remote operations throughout the pandemic. Communications technologies and cloud systems have also diverted course to support the trend.
While remote work offers a wide range of benefits for domestic employers and employees—such as more flexibility, better productivity, stronger company culture through improved work-life balance, etc.—it also opens the door for more seamless global workforces. Your domestic team can just as easily video chat and instant message IT professionals in Mexico as they can professionals in Connecticut. Provided someone has the right workstation with the right technology, geographic barriers matter far less.
Let’s examine two of the key trends in this area: remote work opportunities and how access to more IT professionals in adjacent countries will be a driving force in how companies thrive in the 2020s and 2030s.
Expansion of Remote Work Opportunities
How many remote work jobs are there in IT? In the US alone, remote work makes up 15% of total jobs, with most of the concentration on sectors like IT, administration, marketing, and finance. Also, 48% of surveyed employers plan to have some number of remote positions, even following the end of the pandemic. This demonstrates that remote work wasn’t a fad or a short-term necessity during economic and public health turbulence. It’s become a fixture.
Access to a Wider Pool of IT Professionals
Many employers are well aware that they don’t have to limit their open opportunities to local IT professionals. This has led to employers opening job searches to qualified professionals across the United States. This, in turn, developed into international searches. But, at that point, many employers hesitate, especially with higher-level IT positions or niche work.
Today’s cybersecurity and IT work is dominated by shifting norms and regulations. Failing to follow mandated processes for data integrity and protecting personally identifiable information can result in fines as well as a massive loss of public trust. Using consumers’ traffic data from a website the wrong way can violate EU protections. Employers who were nervous about very complex country-specific or region-specific requirements wanted relatively localized talent.
However, IT professionals around the globe are more interconnected than ever before. Experienced data scientists from any country know EU norms about data. There are international standards for information, cybersecurity best practices, IP, as well as other concerns. Employers working with an IT staff augmentation provider can access a wider pool of professionals that have been vetted and have the skills employers need.
ParallelStaff’s Commitment to Connecting Clients With Global Talent
At Parallel Staff, we know that many organizations in the United States want access to remote employees they can trust to meet employer-local standards and regulatory compliance demands. That’s why we handle talent sourcing through a detailed, stringent process. We’ll find qualified individuals with the regional, regulatory, and IT knowledge you need.
Evolving Technologies and IT Staff Augmentation
It’s impossible to think about the future of IT staff augmentation without considering the future of technology. Three of the biggest developments in the space over the next ten years will be automation, AI, and skills training.
The Rise of Automation and AI in IT
Automation in IT is the hands-off management of repetitive tasks. Automation software can assess and prioritize tickets, complete administrative data tasks, test programs in development, and generate reports. In fact, automation already takes on many of the tasks that used to dominate IT professionals’ day-to-day schedules. This allows organizations to streamline their operations and devote human attention to more complex tasks.
AI is taking this trend one step further. Half of all companies are estimated to use AI, and, globally, it could take over 375 million jobs. In fact, this is not bad news. It gives each employee the ability to focus on more creative tasks without repetitive administrative tasks. However, it’s also not a panacea: AI needs monitoring and revisions, and it will continue to need complete human oversight for years to come.
New Skill Requirements for IT Professionals
What this means for employers is that you need professionals with the skills to manage AI programs. Traditional IT staff roles will disappear, replaced by roles focused on managing the production value of AI engines. Even aside from AI, IT professionals must have a constantly refreshed understanding of cloud systems, networks, cybersecurity, and data analytics.
ParallelStaff’s Approach to Embracing Automation and AI
We work hard to keep our pool of candidates filled with qualified professionals that stay up-to-date and certified on the latest technologies. Whether you need a team that can manage your prompt engineering tasks or support staff to fill the gaps where AI can’t reach, nearshore staff provides flexible options that complement—not ignore—automation and AI.
Navigating the Future of IT Staff Augmentation With ParallelStaff
Prepare your business for the future. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict exactly which technologies and processes will dominate the IT landscape in ten years. But what we can predict is that companies will flourish if they have a flexible infrastructure that’s built to adapt. By supplementing your core team with IT staff, you can grow your business with new projects, trim your operations during off-peak seasons, and always reach individuals with the right skills for projects on the horizon.
Adapting to Changing IT Staffing Needs
ParallelStaff can be your trusted partner in bringing this fluid structure to operational capacity. We are constantly assessing and strengthening our sourcing processes to bring in top talent that knows how to operate in modern IT contexts ranging from cloud-based security to AI-powered code creation. To get started, reach out to our team and schedule a call to discuss what you need, what qualifications you value, and where you see your company in the future.
Ensuring Long-Term IT Staffing Success
IT staff augmentation isn’t simply a short-term fix to a busy season or a shortage. In fact, it can become a flexible part of your long-term business strategy. With long-term IT staffing, you can:
- Ensure you have active teams in time zones adjacent to the domestic 9-5.
- Always having an evolving team that can handle projects outside of the skill set of your core employees.
- Never feel like you have to turn down growth projects.
ParallelStaff’s Dedication to Client Satisfaction and Growth
At ParallelStaff, we facilitate productive relationships between remote and nearshore IT teams and United States-based employers that want to grow their businesses. We partner with each of our clients to ensure we’re meeting long-term needs and providing real value.
Set up a call today to get started or to learn more about our success rate. We’re the best option for finding IT staff augmentation services you can rely on, now and in the future.
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