Desirous of IT staff augmentation services: Go through this write up

Desirous of IT staff augmentation services: Go through this write up

Do you plan to launch a project in a short span and trigger efficiency for work procedure? Staff augmentation is an ideal manner to extract current resources and use outsourced resources to the advantage of the company. IT staff augmentation can help businesses with contract programmers and a host of staffing solutions on the basis of the requirements and the cost of the businesses.

As per a new stat, countries, especially the UK are getting poorer by £63 billion a year as a result of 600,000 deficit in terms of filling vacancies in digital technology. And, 89% of employers think that the paucity of tech skills will impact them negatively in the coming months. Is it the end of the creative economy in the UK? If they go for staff augmentation then they can tide over the crisis.

There are several benefits of staff augmentation as far as the IT sector is concerned. It is obvious for entities to be anxious over the IT staff’s capability and output when they have used the suggestions of the staffing companies.

However, the organized selection procedure and the extensive scrutinies by these companies will assure that the candidates selected can justify their presence in the company.

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION IS COST-EFFECTIVE

Staff augmentation via outsourcing aids IT businesses or software entities to reduce expenses at each level of their business process. Moreover, you don’t have to loosen your wallet for employee benefits, hiring, taxes, etc. Also, it assists in bringing down the cost of training on new technologies, as the extra staff is selected due to their experience and knowledge in certain tools & technologies and they don’t require too much hand-holding.

HEIGHTENS FLEXIBILITY AND CAPABILITY

If you take the help of IT staff augmentation services, your entity can benefit in terms of scalability. Also, you will be able to undertake projects of various sizes and you will never be able to turn down any request of the customers. The IT staff augmentation can aid you in expanding your employee workforce if and when needed. In a way you will be able to offer superior software solutions to your clients with the knowledge you acquire from staff augmentation.


GET A FIRM GRIP OVER YOUR TEAM

Staff augmentation offers you total control over your software development project every time and constant tracking vis-a-vis outsourcing your project. If you totally outsource your software development project, you would find it tough to monitor the project progress and the quality of your software development project will fall entirely upon the outsourced team. If you opt for staff augmentation services, you can organize augmentation at request to improve the effectiveness of your software development project. Also, it aids in cutting down security as well as privacy threats that might occur in outsourcing.

LIMIT THE RATE OF ATTRITION

In several occasions, the need for staff augmentation services crop up as a result of sudden exits of the employees. Through staff augmentation, companies will be able to protect vital project management and delivery schedules from retardation. Also, IT staff augmentation happens to be an ideal solution for both parties, businesses will get sufficient number of staff on hand, whereas, IT professionals will be able to utilize their expertise to better use on a larger stage.

STAFF AUGMENTATION VS MANAGED IT SERVICES

It is obvious for many to get confused when they hear IT staff augmentation and how it differs from managed services. Let’s learn the difference and why staff augmentation is important.

STAFF AUGMENTATION

Staff augmentation means to supplement your team aptly by including developers or designers or another tech professional into your current team that is critical to your managed IT services. Whereas, it is a wholly outsourced model that you are in a way stating that our company doesn’t have anything to do with IT.

This working model happens to be a perfect long-term solution. Post the end of the project, the contract for the several external resources is not cancelled. With the augmented resource acquired expertise in internal procedures, systems, and people turn useful. Once the project reaches its logical conclusion, he or she is shifted to the next available project and made to work for that company as a contractor for several years. Also, the regular growth in staff augmentation is because of several market factors, including the huge amount of professionals preferring to work as independents.

MANAGED IT SERVICES

As for the managed IT services, clients step away from traditional outsourcing protocols or appointing short-term contract IT staff to avail the long-term benefits that they seek from their solution ally. Also, it is pertinent to shed the initial savings inhibition and seek the response from employees regarding the next course of action.

The managed IT services can aid companies to break free from essential but time-consuming arduous jobs. Also, you will get the freedom to concentrate on the apt resources and people and appropriate things. Whereas, your strategic endeavors will materialize while maximizing productivity and effectiveness. Also, this turns the model into an appealing long-term plan. The rate of managed IT services is fully dependent on a continuous monthly billing cycle that is subject to on service volumes and levels, instead of everyday costs linked with staff augmentation services, which assures that entire functional expenses of the IT project stay within the forecast. Further, costs stay less mercurial in the managed IT services, which enables accurate and routine budgeting for the businesses.

HOW IS IT STAFF AUGMENTATION DIFFERENT FROM NEARSHORE OUTSOURCING?

Several people might have confronted the terminology staff augmentation, but there’s a range of various subsets. Hence, while discussing staff augmentation, primarily we’re discussing about bringing on other team members particularly associated with IT staff. This is done to improve what your present internal IT team is indulged in.

You opt for staff augmentation as you lack certain people in your own internal team. You are bereft of a certain coding language or a skill set. So you’re seeking software developers who possess the skills or you know a certain level is ideal for the tech projects you’re involved in.

Now, what can you carry out? Well you could give it a try and spot them in the United States but it won’t be economically feasible. Professionals in metropolises charge a hefty pay package. It’s a tough skill set to match? Therefore you have no option but to pay up as you’re in race with other companies onshore who are looking to attract those developers. Whereas, you now shift focus to offshore and comparatively offshore and nearshore both have the same cost benefit. Nearshore can be a bit more costly than conventional offshore however, you have the benefit of two major things: communication and culture.

Communication, naturally, as we specified it’s within three time zones. So this implies that if you are having interactions with your tech team then your nearshore developers can also chip in. For example, if you happen to be in the East Coast and you have a 9 o’clock meeting and if your developers are located in Latin America, then it’s likely that it would be close to 10 o’clock in the morning for them.

That is not really bad. That’s on a working day, hence, they can join and there’s no miscommunication. This can be an issue if a vendor is outside of your country, probably in India. When you have woken up they would be fast asleep and vice versa. Therefore simply having that minor half day out of sync can trigger problems when it comes to getting that constant flow of your tech team. So that’s an advantage.

Lastly

It goes without saying that staff augmentation is an ideal solution for getting experts according to your business requirements and within a particular time. So, several software development companies are offering staff augmentation services to the business to satisfy their resource demands. In case you need such services then do not hesitate to avail the same from a good company.

6 product planning mistakes companies should avoid

6 product planning mistakes companies should avoid

Mobile app development projects flounder due to several causes. Inferior UX design, No originality, unable to offer value could be chief reasons. But, usually product failure leads to a failed mobile app planning phase. These are six common mobile app planning errors and actionable tips to bypass them.

6 Usual Product Strategy Errors & Ways To Avoid Them

1. Consumes a lot of time to begin

Several mobile app projects take a lot of time to begin. This is not a very good sign. Creating a futuristic blueprint and offering existing business value is a tough balancing act to perform, and in several cases, companies fail to adapt quickly. Also, technological transformation is very tough to predict, making it nearly impossible to satisfy stakeholders to park their money in development projects for dealing with future scenarios. The longer you keep your idea with you, tougher it gets to totally define a functional and feasible framework for development.This can negatively impact your product’s prospects.

How to keep this at bay

One of the difficult aspects of the development process is to begin. To bypass a long drawn-out mobile app development and launch procedure, it’s ideal to put all your high-level information, research, and specifications in a single document by making a PRD. With a PRD as the basis of your project, you can easily communicate technical viability execution plans, and risk and change management strategies to all team members and stakeholders.

Also, it is a must to opt for an iterative, agile method and concentrate on rapid prototyping. With product needs turning very clear cut, focus your efforts on introducing a minimum viable product (MVP), and building and iterating off your learnings.

2. Coming with product devoid of user value

It’s very tough to ascertain which features and functionalities are essential for user value. Correspondingly, it’s not very convenient all the time to view the full range of technical prospects. The onus is on product team to take the customer through product requirements planning to find out the ideal development solution. A detailed product definition stage comprises developing customer requests into firm product specifications, which can be easily learnt by engineering. A PRD document has the propensity to shape your requests into a robust product specifications. Devoid of proper communication, you would not be able to find out the several consequences of features on product performance.

Way to avoid the same

Gauge the needs for creating a good product vis-a-vis your product beliefs. It’s pertinent to ponder critically over user assumptions, technical assumptions, and business assumptions. Your team has to have knowledge of the market, upcoming trends and technologies, and options for the product to specify the needs for a successful results.

3. Devising needs In A Vacuum

Products can be very complicated, including various systems, subsystems, and functionality; obviously, their needs are complex as well. The certain organizations suffer due to lack of diversity within the team. Product teams must have several people with various areas of expertise: product owners, product managers, developers, engineers, architects, and UX/UI designers etc. This makes sure that several perspectives and opinions come together to carve out a well-thought out product.

How To Avoid It

Engage team members – product owners and product managers, designers, developers, etc. – in product strategy and conceptualization. Agile approach is based on a unified approach, implying several members of your project team collaborate tin the entire product development process, including product definition.

4. Confusing innovation with value

If you rush to include innovation and development expenses can go up. New technologies and abilities can at times trigger panic and turn the execution of new features haywire. This kind of problem can be arrested with proper mobile app planning; a PRD permits lesser errors between development handoffs and highlights the requirements to ascertain the essentiality of feature alteration.

The way to bypass the same

Be focused on your product objectives and keep in mind that you are devising a product for a certain target user. Will this feature or functionality offer anything new or value to the end-user? Is this necessary for the product? If the answer for these is no, then you do away with the feature or implement the same in future not now.

5. Ignoring Competitive Threats

Market viability is imperative for any product, and competitive threats can spoil your development plans. Apart from keeping track of the customer, you must be observant of emerging trends and technologies. At times, your competitors will launch products with features very alike to yours. In such a situation, your team might have to pivot. Yet again, a PRD can be very helpful in these situations as you might have already discussed and documented several solutions to certain features that suits the scope and budget of your project.

The way to bypass the same

Industry and competitor research should be an essential part of your product strategy.

What is your competition providing?

How is your product distinct?

The needs and problems your product solve that other products don’t?

These questions can be ignored at your peril. It’s essential to know your rival’s strengths and weaknesses to make your product unique. With good research, you can highlight your product’s USP.

6. Unable to choose between needs and privileges

You can’t implement all features in the first version of your product. It’s a must to understand the main feature suitable to resolve your users’ central issues. Devoid of proper communication, it’s tough to ascertain the features that are essential and the ones that are good but not a must at this juncture.

How to tackle the same

Put in place a classification system to prioritize features. Sit with your project team to ascertain the features that are important to have versus the features your product can ignore to start with.

Finally

A well-thought out product planning offers your app a good chance in the market. By bypassing the product strategy errors mentioned above, you can offer your team an opportunity to succeed in the market. A mobile app requirements document is a handy tool to get a clarity of requirements and how your product can achieve the same.

Which is best approach to software development: Agile or Waterfall

Which is best approach to software development: Agile or Waterfall

Coding happens to be the first thing that occupies our mind when it comes to software development. Software development is a long drawn out process as it entails in depth analysis, viability assessments and planning, prior to kicking off coding. After all, there is no point in spending time and effort on an idea that is wasteful. For instance, you are holding an event and have solicited the presence of a few but if you have not planned the event well, everything will fall apart. The same holds true for software development. In this write up, we will be touching upon two of the most regularly used approaches to software development—Agile and Waterfall.These two approaches are utilized for any management project, they are commonly utilized for software development. Agile and Waterfall methods happen to be two types of Software Development Life Cycles (SDLC) that assist you in setting up the method of a new project for design, development, and testing of the software. The approach you select initially defines the sequences of these stages. What sets apart Agile and Waterfall methodologies is that the former permits an iterative development and the latter adheres to strict sequence. Now let us understand these a bit better.

Also Read : The Agile Way Of Testing Software ?

What do you mean by Software Development Life Cycle?

Software development has several stages. These stages happen to be Need Evaluation, Planning, Software Designing, Software Development, Software Testing and Software Deployment which together is called SDLC . Based on the project and preferred outcomes, we have various methodologies to this lifecycle. While Waterfall and Agile happen to be usual approaches, there are others as well including V and V model, Spiral model and Prototype model. Based on the needs and other specifications (like industry, type of software, the technology used), we arrive at the approach to utilize.

Waterfall Method

Also called Linear Sequential Life Cycle Model, Waterfall is an extremely sequential approach. As it is obvious by now that the method adheres to a strict pattern, implying that the software development process proceeds merely to the next stage when the first one finishes properly. It’s meant for simple projects having no future development. The Waterfall method comprises seven phases

– Start: The beginning where you conceive the design.

-Origin & Assessment: Collect and save the things needed for your software development project such as system, software requirements, etc.

– Devise: At this stage, you will ascertain how your software will work and the elements essential for coding.

– Build: It is the implementation time when you code all components of your software & test it alongside; you also merge every element with other units to enliven the software architecture in the design phase.

– Examining: This phase warrants excessive testing for users, finding bugs, etc. You must go forward and backward in this stage to tackle the problem that you find in the tests.

– Execution: This is the final stage where the software goes live to be utilized by the clients.

Advantages

As clear as daylight: The timelines and deliverables regarding the project are arrived at beforehand. This establishes a lot of clarity and collaboration between the development team and clients.

Excessive Documentation: This approach needs excessive documentation of every phase cutting out the prospects of mistakes or misunderstandings.

Effective Work: You do not require to have the full development team for a sole task. This method gives a clear view of tasks to carry out permitting each individual to concentrate on their activities while others involve themselves in other facets of work.

Build: This is the implementation time when you code each element of your software & test it alongside; you also merge each element with other units to bring the software architecture in the design stage to life.

Hands-Off Approach: It hinges on a hands-off customer approach as post the initial design & plan, there is minor or zilch customer presence till you reach the review phase.

Demerits

Deficiency in customer engagement: Some projects need a lot of customer involvement based on the product. Also, at times clients do not like a hands-off approach. In any case, this approach leads to frustration as well.

Tough to effect changes: This method believes in following a strict sequence and this makes it tough to go to the previous one to effect changes. This can be problematic if a developer confronts a roadblock. Software development needs adaptability, more so as you cannot expect customers to be familiar with software totally from the start.

Last-Minute Testing: This is a method bound by time. It is not unusual for development projects to go behind the schedule as coding consumes a lot of time. Resultantly, to catch up with the deadline, software developer teams dilute the testing stage by doing a rush job.

Also Read : Which software development approach works best ?

Agile Method

As for the Agile method it is based a lot on involvement and adaptability. It has 2 chief components, such as time and teamwork. In this method, rather than building a timeline for the total software development project, you dissect the same into personal deliverable pieces. These deliverables are known as sprints, each of them involves a few weeks. Once a deliverable is through, it’s submitted to the clients for assessment. This assists in us drawing the plan for the next one.

Advantages

Client engagement: This promotes a positive culture of constant engagement between customer and development team.

Flexibility in terms of Deliverables: It permits dynamism as far as deliverable is concerned. It depends upon the sequence of significant tasks. For instance, it offers flexibility to unleash the basic software prior to building the full suite.

Highly Adaptable: This is the best part of Agile method. It offers customers a clear idea of what is accomplished and what is not; the developer can easily get into the planned sprints devoid of any hiccups.

High client involvement: It is fixated with clients as they get involved in each stage of development.

Demerits

Tough at times: It needs the whole development team to be involved in one project. This is very tough for development companies having several projects happening simultaneously.

Expensive: Time-based sprints permit planning, but prospect of deadline breaching the limit becomes higher. Also, in case a project needs to develop extra sprints, it can be a bit expensive.

Excessive Communication: This method needs very good communication, the developer has to be in regular touch with the client in the entire project.

In the end

The method to use hinges on several factors. For example, Waterfall is ideal when there is no or less need for client interference while Agile would be perfect if the project needs regular feedback and engagement of clients at every stage. Agile is basically meant for complex and big projects devoid of limited budget. You must factor in every facet prior to reaching the end game.