Nearshore Staff Augmentation Explained

There are many reasons you might want to enhance your IT staff without bringing on an additional in-house team. 

In today’s shifting business landscape, hiring software developers or engineers in-house can sometimes be too costly or risky for some companies, especially when working on a short-term project or objective. If that is the case, ParallelStaff’s nearshore staff augmentation service might be right for you.

Most companies turn to one of two options: staff augmentation or project outsourcing. Here, we’ll look at what nearshore staff augmentation is, what advantages it has over project outsourcing, and what you should look for in a staff augmentation firm before hiring. 

Read on to learn more about if nearshore staff augmentation is right for your business.

What Exactly Is Nearshore Staff Augmentation?

Nearshore staff augmentation is a strategy that businesses use to staff a project by outsourcing the recruitment, hiring, training, and management of those team members. 

Nearshore refers to hiring talent from Mexico and other Latin American countries. 

Augmenting your staff is different from merely outsourcing an entire project. With a staff augmentation model, you directly manage the team. It has a few other distinct advantages over outsourcing a project, which we’ll discuss below.

Nearshore IT staff augmentation allows a company to add members to their teams when needed to complete a project or fulfill another initiative. The staff augmentation firm employs those staff members as opposed to your company. When they finish the project or initiative, the managers or directives assign those people to other jobs at other companies. 

That means you don’t have to hire short-term employees in-house and fire or lay them off later. You can bring on only staff members that meet your exact needs, meaning you’ll get the skilled professionals you require when you need them the most.

How Does Nearshore Staff Augmentation Work?

When a business needs additional staff, they hire a staff augmentation company. The company learns about the business’s needs (i.e., company culture, what skills and experience the candidates must have), and from there, will find professionals who are right for the job. 

Nearshore staff augmentation firms source their employees from Mexico and Latin America, where there is an expansive pool of underutilized talent. The firm handles the entire interview process from start to finish, narrowing down the candidates, and then offering you choices from the cream of the crop.

Finding, Screening, and Assessing Candidates

A staff augmentation company works tirelessly to recruit top talent, hire them, and ensure they have the proper training required for them to be an asset to many types of businesses. It will also manage these employees, assigning them to projects as they are needed. 

When your company hires a staff augmentation firm, you’ll have a wide variety of skilled engineers and developers at your fingertips who will help you work under tight deadlines and achieve your short- and long-term goals.

After screening the best candidates for the position, your business decides who to bring to your team. A great staff augmentation firm will ensure you stay in the loop as they seek out the best talent to add to your staff, so you can rest assured that you’re making the right hiring decisions.

The Greatest Advantages of Using Nearshore Staff Augmentation

The nearshore staff augmentation model offers your company many advantages over outsourcing a project, and it can be a smart idea for businesses of all sizes. Below, we’ll examine the benefits of staff augmentation vs offshore outsourcing in-depth.

More Control

When you outsource a project, you ship it off to an outside team, meaning you’re giving up control of many aspects of that project. 

When you bring in staff using a staff augmentation firm, they work directly alongside your full-time staff. That means you can more closely manage everyone on your dedicated team and keep an eye on how the project is going. Additionally, you can ask the firm to supply you with team members with the specific skills you need to complete your project.

High-Quality Talent

Competition for top-tier talent is at an all-time high, and outsourcing your project can lead to mixed results, which is why nearshore staff augmentation is such a great idea. 

There is an untapped supply of expert developers and engineers in Latin America and Mexico, and a nearshore staff augmentation firm can connect you with capable team members. They have the skills you need without stiff competition. And if the augmented team member you choose isn’t working out, you can easily find another qualified candidate to take their place.

Easy Integration

When you bring on additional staff members with a staff augmentation firm, they can adapt to how you work and the environment your existing team works in. 

When outsourcing a project, the remote team you’re working with may have a different culture, and it can be challenging to align the two organizations in a way that works efficiently.

Cost-Effective

It’s extremely cost-effective to use a nearshore augmentation firm. In the long run, you won’t be paying for costs usually associated with retaining full-time, in-house staff members, like taxes and health and retirement benefits. You will also get an experienced team that requires less training.

Additionally, once you complete your project or reach your goal, you don’t need to keep the augmented staff around or continue paying for them.  It can save you more money in the long run. And you don’t have to spend a single cent on additional infrastructure or recruitment.

Easy to Scale and Grow

If you choose to work with a staff augmentation firm, you can quickly bring on new staff when the project calls for it, but you don’t have to make any commitments. When the project is complete, you can scale back down as needed. That means that you can scale up quickly and easily without the hassle of going through the hiring process every time you need extra resources.

Uses Resources Efficiently

You likely already have some great employees on your staff. You can use staff augmentation to efficiently and effectively enhance your existing team, where you may have a skill gap. 

With the addition of extra team members, you’ll use the resources you have in place better, resulting in higher productivity for everyone involved. Besides, you’ll have fewer administrative complications like needing to deal with payroll, disciplinary actions, or performance issues, which means your human resources staff will be less taxed and can focus on other tasks.

Provides a Different Perspective

Bringing on staff from a staff augmentation firm can help you gain a different perspective on the approaches you’re taking when working on a project. It can help you learn new insights and develop unique ways to tackle issues and overcome hurdles. Bringing in new team members will consistently keep your team fresh and innovative.

Who Can Benefit from Nearshore Staff Augmentation?

Companies of any size and in many different industries can benefit from working with a nearshore staff augmentation firm. If you already have an expert IT staff, you can bring on additional staff members to enhance your team. And if you don’t require a full-time software development team, you can use staff augmentation services to complete short-term projects quickly.

If you find that your company’s workload seems to shift over time or have a busy season and a slow season, staff augmentation is the perfect solution for managing your demands as they change from month to month. And if you want to scale up the number of projects you’re taking on quickly, use staff augmentation to grow your business without the need to wade through the slow hiring process.

What Is the Value behind the Service?

Staff augmentation is also a valuable tool if you have a limited budget. Because you’re only bringing on staff for the short term, if you encounter any budget constraints or experience financial strain, you can simply scale down instead of having to terminate a full-time employee. That means you don’t have to worry about compromising the quality of the talent you hire if you don’t have a huge budget.

Before hiring a firm for nearshore software development services, think carefully about your needs as a company and upcoming project requirements. What are your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and what gaps do you need to fill? 

When you have a clear picture of your team’s needs, you can better understand what skills will enhance their performance. Think about the length of the project you’re taking on and how long you plan to keep the augmented staff members as a part of your team.

What to Look for in a Nearshore Staff Augmentation Firm

When choosing a staff augmentation firm, it’s essential to go with a company with plenty of expertise. You want to know that you’re hiring the best talent for your team. Here are a few things to look for before you decide on a firm to work with:

Quick turnaround

When you have a project or goal, you’ll likely be working within tight deadlines. It’s vital that the firm you hire promises a quick turnaround when you need it the most. That means you’ll have your new nearshore team members ready to start working for you within just a few days.

Expert knowledge

The staff augmentation firm you choose to work with should be well-versed in software development and engineering, so they know what to look for in the talent they hire. When the firm has years of experience, you know you’re getting thoroughly vetted candidates right for the position you need to fill.

Guaranteed hiring process

An expert staff augmentation firm should have a clear and proven way of hiring top talent and happily share their process with you. They should keep you involved at all levels of the process so they always have a clear understanding of your needs. And they should offer you a guarantee to find the best available tech talent.

Transparent pricing structure

Transparency is essential when working with a staff augmentation firm. It would help if you had a clear understanding of what services you’re paying for and the results you can expect when working with the firm.

Experience hiring abroad

Look for a firm with significant experience hiring talent from Mexico and Latin America. Ensure they have a strong presence in the countries they source candidates from, which can guarantee high-quality candidates for you.

Get Started with ParallelStaff Nearshore Staff Augmentation Services

Working with a staff augmentation firm should be a quick and hassle-free process, so you can fill your gaps and move forward on your projects sooner. ParallelStaff is happy to provide you with plenty of options for flexible staff augmentation services. 

Whether you need to bring on a single software engineer or an entire development team, we have years of experience hiring nearshore software development experts. We have a strong presence throughout Latin America and guarantee that we will find the best candidate with specialized skill knowledge for each role you need.

We offer a quick turnaround time of just five business days, so you’ll ramp up quickly and meet any looming deadlines with ease. And each candidate we choose to hire is fluent in English and has years of on-the-job experience they can bring to your business. 

Once hired, if you have any questions or concerns about the quality of the talent we supplied, we are happy to help reevaluate your goals, so we can better meet your needs.

The benefits of hiring a nearshore staff augmentation service are clear. 

If you’re ready for a cost-effective solution to staffing your IT department that saves you time and resources, contact us today for more information. The team at ParallelStaff is happy to answer any questions you have about nearshore staffing or our hiring process.

Richard Wallace

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