The Growing Skills Gap
The global workforce is undergoing a major transformation with the skills required in today’s business environment rapidly evolving. However, organizations are struggling to find the right talent and skills needed to remain competitive. A widening skills gap has emerged between open positions and qualified candidates, especially in technical and IT-related roles.
Demand for specialized skills in areas like cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and software development is rising sharply. Yet educational institutions and training programs are lagging in producing graduates and candidates with these in-demand skillsets. Even when companies can find applicants, they often lack the hands-on abilities and experience required for the role.
This growing technology and digital skills gap poses significant challenges for organizations looking to expand and innovate. According to a 2021 report from Korn Ferry, the global talent shortage has reached an all-time high, with companies unable to fill 69% of their open positions. They estimate that by 2030, there could be a shortage of more than 85 million tech-savvy workers worldwide.
The skills gap tends to be more pronounced with emerging technologies, where formal training programs have yet to be established. As a result, companies must get creative in attracting, recruiting and retaining technical talent. Those unable to bridge the skills gap will struggle to remain competitive and leverage new innovations. This shortage of technical professionals will only widen as technologies rapidly evolve in the years ahead.
Strategic augmentation with skilled technical resources may provide part of the solution for project teams and enterprises looking to thrive in the future of work.
Why Project Teams Have Gaps
Project teams often face skill gaps for a variety of reasons. High employee turnover can frequently leave teams shorthanded and struggling to find replacements. The rapid pace of technological change also continuously creates new skill requirements that teams may lack. Many projects also demand very specialized expertise that existing staff simply do not possess, such as skills in cutting-edge programming languages or niche technical domains.
Throughout the lifecycle of a typical project, it’s quite common for unanticipated needs to arise. Perhaps the project scope expands, requiring additional specialized roles. Or maybe technical challenges emerge that call for different skill sets. Project managers may plan their teams as thoroughly as possible, but skills gaps frequently appear regardless.
The costs of skill gaps on project teams can be substantial. Without key roles filled, projects slow down, quality issues emerge, and the end results often fail to satisfy stakeholders. But attempting to immediately fill open positions or train existing staff is not always feasible. This is where strategic resource augmentation comes in as a solution.
Costs of Unfilled Roles
When key roles on a project team go unfilled, it can incur major costs and risks for an organization. Having open positions on a project team negatively impacts productivity, the ability to take on new work, and meeting deadlines.
Lost productivity is one of the biggest costs of having unfilled positions on a project. Without enough skilled resources, teams cannot work efficiently and output suffers. Having open roles also limits the amount and complexity of work a team can take on. Accepting new projects and initiatives will be difficult without adequate staffing.
Furthermore, missing deadlines becomes increasingly likely as teams lack the bandwidth to complete tasks on time. With key roles vacant, workloads become strained on existing team members as they attempt to compensate. However, there are limits to how much extra work individuals can reasonably absorb. As a result, unfilled positions frequently lead to missed deadlines, which can damage client relationships, revenue, and reputation.
Introducing Resource Augmentation
Resource augmentation involves supplementing an organization’s existing staff with additional temporary or contract workers to fill skill gaps for specific projects. It provides a strategic way to access specialized expertise and expand capabilities on-demand.
Augmentation allows you to scale your team up or down as needed to match workloads. Rather than undergoing lengthy hiring processes to find full-time employees with niche skills, you can contract experienced professionals for just the duration required. This provides flexibility and agility.
Some key benefits of resource augmentation include:
- Access to niche skills – Bring on board skills not available within the existing team for specific initiatives where those capabilities are required. This avoids maintenance costs when the skills are no longer needed.
- Scalability – Augment your workforce during peak periods or for specialized projects without permanently increasing headcount. Scale up and down as required.
- Speed – Onboard contractors rapidly compared to the time taken to fill full-time positions. Accelerate project timelines.
- Cost management – Only pay for the specific skills needed, for the time required. Avoid recruiting and ongoing employment costs.
- Risk mitigation – External contractors can handle overflow work and non-core activities, allowing your employees to focus on priority areas. This reduces project risks.
As opposed to expanding full-time headcount or relying on internal transfers, strategic augmentation provides agility, flexibility, speed, and targeted expertise exactly when and where it’s needed. This enables organizations to drive successful outcomes for projects.
Strategic Advantages
Resource augmentation provides several key strategic advantages for organizations looking to enhance project outcomes.
Flexibility
One of the primary benefits of augmentation is increased flexibility. Rather than hiring full-time employees that come with long-term overhead costs, organizations can bring in specialized contractors on an as-needed basis. This allows you to flexibly scale up or down based on the needs of a particular project. As priorities shift, you can refocus augmented resources without layoffs or severance costs.
Specialized Expertise
Augmentation also allows you to strategically source skills and expertise that may not exist internally. By tapping into a global talent pool, you gain access to veterans and specialists in cutting-edge disciplines. This injection of knowledge can expose internal teams to new methodologies, innovations, and industry best practices.
No Need to Train Permanent Hires
With augmentation, candidates are pre-vetted for their ability to deliver specialized skills from day one. This eliminates the ramp-up time and upfront training investments required when onboarding full-time hires. Contractors can hit the ground running, allowing you to achieve greater velocity. And there are no long-term risks if the resource does not work out.
Building an Augmentation Strategy
As the skills gap continues to widen, building an effective augmentation strategy is crucial for organizations that want to stay competitive. This requires taking a strategic approach to assess project needs, map required skills, and source the right providers.
The first step is thoroughly evaluating your project plans and identifying any skill gaps that exist within the core team. These gaps may include specialized technical skills, industry expertise, or experience managing complex initiatives. Ensure you have clarity on precisely which skills are missing for project success.
Next, map the skills and capabilities you need to augment against providers who can deliver those capabilities. For technical skills like cloud architecture or data science, you may want to evaluate IT consultancies or specialized agencies. For industry expertise, look to advisory firms focused on your vertical. And for project management skills, experienced freelancers or contractors may fit the need. Make sure to assess cultural fit as well in addition to competencies.
With a clear map of required skills and potential providers, you can then source the right external resources to meet project needs. Sourcing high-quality augmented resources takes time – you may need to interview multiple providers to find the right fit. Be rigorous in your assessments and make sure augmented resources have the competencies and experience stated. The right matches enable seamless integration into your team.
Taking this strategic approach to building an augmentation strategy allows you to fill project gaps effectively while mitigating risks around culture, capabilities, and costs. It enables bringing in specialized skills and expertise that drive project success and competitive advantage. With careful planning and sourcing, resource augmentation done right can become a core competency for any leading organization.
Integrating Augmented Resources
Effectively integrating augmented resources into your project team requires thoughtful planning and execution. Here are some best practices:
Onboarding
– Provide comprehensive onboarding to align augmented staff on goals, processes, tools, and team dynamics. Schedule onboarding sessions and create documentation to accelerate their ramp-up.
– Assign a mentor or buddy to help augmented staff learn systems and navigate policies. Make introductions to key stakeholders.
– Communicate context on business drivers, target outcomes, and how their role delivers value. Share relevant background materials.
Setting Clear Objectives
– Provide augmented resources with clearly defined goals, assignments, and success metrics tailored to their role.
– Set expectations on deliverables, timelines, and performance standards. Align on communication protocols and reporting cadence.
– Schedule regular one-on-ones and feedback sessions to provide guidance and support. Adjust objectives as needs evolve.
Managing Blended Teams
– Promote camaraderie and effective collaboration between augmented and core team members. Emphasize collective mission.
– Institute inclusive team building activities. Create opportunities for cross-functional interactions and knowledge sharing.
– Monitor team dynamics and nip any “us vs. them” mentalities in the bud. Foster a united, integrated team environment.
– Recognize and reward results achieved through blended teamwork. Reinforce value of diversity and leverage synergies.
Maximizing Value
Integrating augmented resources into your existing team requires thoughtful planning to maximize their value. Here are some best practices:
- Assign meaningful work – Avoid relegating augmented staff to only menial tasks. Leverage their specialized skills and experience for high-impact initiatives. This provides the most return on your augmentation investment.
- Encourage knowledge sharing – Augmented staff bring new perspectives from their industry experience. Make time for knowledge sharing through forums like lunch-and-learns, presentations, or open discussions. This allows your core team to benefit from their expertise.
- Provide context – Onboard augmented resources on your organizational structure, project history, processes and technology. This context helps them integrate faster and work more independently.
- Clarify goals and metrics – Provide clear objectives, success metrics and expected outcomes. This aligns augmented resources to focus their efforts effectively.
- Give frequent feedback – Check in regularly on performance and progress. Be open to feedback from augmented staff on how to gain more value from their role.
- Build connections – Facilitate relationship building between augmented staff and your core team. Strong connections lead to better collaboration.
- Plan for transitions – Document key knowledge and transfer responsibilities when an augmented resource’s tenure ends. This retains their contributions beyond their assignment.
Mitigating Risks
Bringing in augmented resources carries some inherent risks that must be managed for a successful engagement. Some key risks to mitigate include:
- Lack of commitment – Augmented team members may lack the same commitment and engagement as permanent employees. This can be mitigated through close collaboration with the augmentation provider to ensure regular feedback and performance management for augmented resources. Setting clear objectives and incentives can further encourage commitment.
- Turnover – There is a higher risk of turnover with augmented resources, as they are not permanent employees. Having robust onboarding and documentation and leveraging the augmentation provider’s bench strength for replacements can ensure continuity when turnover occurs.
- Communication gaps – With augmented resources working remotely or separately from the core team, communication gaps can emerge. Mitigation strategies include having an integration manager to facilitate collaboration, using collaboration technologies like Slack or Microsoft Teams, and bringing remote members onsite when possible for team building.
- Cultural mismatches – Differences in organizational culture between the core team and augmented resources may cause friction. Address cultural gaps through training, team building exercises, and by promoting a collaborative, inclusive environment.
Proactively addressing these risks allows organizations to benefit from resource augmentation while avoiding potential pitfalls. The augmentation provider plays a key role in risk mitigation through their expertise, active management, and ability to quickly resolve any issues with augmented resources.
The Future of Resource Augmentation
Resource augmentation is a growing trend as organizations recognize its strategic value for gaining niche skills and scaling up project teams. As more skilled workers choose independent contracting and remote work arrangements, we are likely to see an expansion of virtual augmentation models.
Key trends shaping the future of resource augmentation include:
- Increasing Adoption: More companies will turn to augmentation to flexibly meet project needs. It provides a cost-effective way to strategically tackle skills gaps.
- Focus on Niche Skills: Augmentation will be used to access specialized or emerging skill sets not available in-house. The ability to quickly integrate niche experts enhances agility.
- Virtual Teams: Remote augmentation resources will become more common as global talent networks expand. Virtual collaboration technology makes it easier to coordinate dispersed project teams.
- Just-in-Time Resourcing: Organizations will rely on augmentation to scale up teams just-in-time for project launches, phases or deadlines. This provides operational flexibility.
- Hybrid Models: Blends of augmented and permanent staff will enable strategic balancing of fixed and variable capacity. Project-based workers can partner with employees.
- Specialized Partners: Consultancies and staffing firms will increasingly offer targeted augmentation services around key skill sets such as analytics, AI, cybersecurity and more.
As augmentation gains maturity as a resourcing strategy, organizations will use it in an increasingly strategic way to enhance project results, reduce risk, and bridge skill gaps. The future offers more collaborative and agile augmentation models to choose from.
Get in Touch to get your team augmented at Dev Stack Technologies.