Plug-in The Expert When You Need Them: A Staff Augmentation Alternative
The global labor market has changed significantly. The market is more competitive than ever, leaving organizations in a lurch to attract and retain employees. These challenges are affecting all many sectors and departments, but IT remains heavily constrained.
According to CompTIA, the United States tech sector’s job numbers remain above their peak with 4.81 million tech jobs in October 2021, and with fewer tech graduates due to forced pandemic shutdowns, many organizations are not able to fill all their available IT positions.
Organizational Difficulties Finding the Right Fit
Several businesses restructured when the global pandemic hit to adapt to working remotely, but now that they are bouncing back and adapting modern technologies to improve efficiencies, there is another host of problems just waiting to be addressed. There is a growing shortage of experienced IT professionals. Part of the problem can be attributed to the sudden need for staff that can build and support digital infrastructure in these trying times, leaving several IT departments to be understaffed.
Information Technology recruits are among the key elements for successful technology adoption and engagement, and the inability to fill critical roles is only multiplying business challenges. According to Gartner, the shortage of tech talent is the main hindrance in the adoption of 64% of emerging technologies.
Based on surveys conducted by Achievers Workforce Institute and Eagle Hill Consulting, employees are citing workplace burnout and better compensation and benefits as primary reasons to vacate their current roles with aspirations of better work/life balance and career opportunities. As a result, many organizations have reported high employee turnover rates since entering year two of the pandemic. The availability of talent is further exacerbated by a shift in skills and a noticeable gap in expertise of IT leaders.
During such a hiring gridlock, even if businesses are forced to pick inexperienced staff members, the ramp up period is too long and taxing for the company as well as the new recruits. The amount of time and resources spent on training and onboarding new talent can severely deplete company performance when they are not the right fit for the role. Therefore, including them in ongoing projects or involving them in the workplace’s digital transformation is likely to not yield positive results.
How Can Organizations Extend Their Team
Businesses are often under the misconception that they need a full-time hire to succeed. That is not necessarily true. All organizations, especially small to medium enterprises, do not require the equivalent of a full-time employee to support and grow their IT infrastructure. What they really need is the right expertise and industry experience to take on such a critical project.
You may have heard of staff augmentation as a method of contractual outsourcing of services. But even with this, it is likely you would need to outsource each vertical separately and end up spending nearly the same as hiring a full-time employee or recruiting an IT team. Let us introduce you to a more cost-effective alternative: on-demand IT expertise. It gives you the flexibility to involve experts when you need them. It empowers your in-house team with the skills they lack. The ability to plug-in the expert is a sure-shot way to get you where you need to be and fulfill the staffing needs of your business.
What lies beyond IT Staff Augmentation?
Here is why you need to look beyond IT staff augmentation and consider “plugging in experts” as a part of your IT staffing strategy:
- Reduce Recruitment and Training Costs: Hiring new employees may seem like a simple enough task, but the costs incurred are hefty if the process is dragged out for too long. Several resources and a significant amount of company time go into hiring a new employee and with staff augmentation, you will be able to avoid such charges. Let us not forget the cost of upskilling the existing workforce will also be cut down significantly.
- Fill Skill Gaps with Ease: Depending upon the level of expertise you require you can quickly investigate outsourcing the service to a specialist. You no longer need to hire people with specific skillsets and can instead invest in outside help to fulfill the immediate need.
- Concentrate on Business Processes: Stepping away from the worries of recruiting the right people and putting your efforts towards what you do best. Hiring, onboarding, and retaining staff takes time away from your business services and solutions. Instead of worrying about wages, insurance, taxes, etc., concentrate on growing your business.
- Experience Flexibility Like Never Before: Increasing and decreasing your workforce on-demand by bringing in experts whenever you need them. Only involve the expert on a project-by-project basis to get the IT expertise only when you need it, not paying for it when you don’t.
Plug-In the Expert Just-in-Time & On-Demand
To achieve long-term success, you need to help your team build the skills they need. With CollabPoint, you can take advantage of this plug-and-play model, making us the extension of your IT team. We are a team of dedicated SharePoint and Microsoft 365 experts that give you the flexibility to involve us on a need basis.
We make sure your business unlocks its full potential with exactly the kind of support it needs. CollabPoint will work collaboratively with you through your SharePoint and Microsoft 365 journey to ensure you are making the most of these powerful platforms. To help you reach your goals, we offer a tailor-made support service that fits your needs like a proper fit racing glove.
If you are worried about the costs, let us put you at ease. Our Microsoft Solutions and Cloud Journey Service are designed to meet the budgetary constraints of small and medium businesses. A full-time IT hire, that fulfills the role of a Digital Workplace Strategist, will charge at least $70,000 – $75,000 on average for their services. Whereas, with the team of experts at CollabPoint, you get greater industry insight at a fraction of the price.
Take the first step towards SharePoint and Microsoft 365 success with CollabPoint. Get in touch with us to know more about how we can maximize your technology ROI while supporting your IT team.