VoIP Staff Augmentation: Process, Benefits, Drawbacks, and Challenges

The scarcity of talented resources is common in all industry verticals. VoIP being a highly technical industry and the shortage of skilled VoIP developers is quite high compared to other sectors. Many businesses prefer to hire a VoIP developer or a complete team instead of simply outsourcing the project to one of the VoIP software development companies to build telecom products and use them for SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Product as a Service), or UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service). Amidst the shortage of experienced and skilled VoIP engineers, companies can take advantage of VoIP staff augmentation models. 

If you are not aware of this amazing model made available by the top VoIP development companies, don’t worry, we will cover all the vital information about them in this blog post. 

Let’s delve deeper by covering the following points: 

1. What is staff augmentation in VoIP? 
2. What is the process of using it? 
3. What are the benefits of staff augmentation 
4. What are its drawbacks? 
5. What are the challenges related to staff augmentation? 
6. Concluding notes 

We will cover all the details about this topic to help you take advantage of this model to build telephony products and enjoy high ROI. 

1.  What is staff augmentation in VoIP? 

Staff augmentation is the process of adding more resources to your team or hiring an extended team of VoIP software engineers that can help you fill the skill and talent gap. In general, a business may have one or more VoIP developers on its team and adds more resources by hiring them for time being or for certain projects. These team members are generally hired from a VoIP staff augmentation company or service provider. 

2.  What is the process of using it? 

Different companies offer VoIP staff augmentation services and each may have a different process to follow. Even companies in different countries may have different models to let you augment your VoIP capacity with vetted engineers, developers, and consultants. 

If we talk about a VoIP development company based in India, which offers staff augmentation services, the following is the common process that lets you get your dream team for developing any VoIP or telephony solution or customize it. 

• Requirement discussion:  Once you connect with the company that offers this service, you can discuss your requirements such as how many resources you need. What is the type of project? What technologies do your resources need to know? And all other details can be discussed in the call.          
• Association model definition: Once you discuss your team, the VoIP development company will suggest to you the team members, the cost per hour, how team members will work, the mode of communication to be in touch with your team members, and more. You can discuss and negotiate and based on the final conclusion, the contract can be finalized to get the VoIP software engineers as per your requirements. 
• Team member selection: Many companies let you choose your own team. According to that, you can screen the CVs of the team members. You can even take interviews and choose your own team. In some companies, you will be offered some resources as per their policies and experience. Depending on the model you and your partner agreed upon, you will have your team ready. 

VoIP Staff Augmentation at Core and Its Major Advantages

Once your team is ready, you can use these resources for your project based on your needs. You can also onboard them, have regular meetings, and treat them as your own team working from a distant company. You can leverage all advantages of VoIP staff augmentation.  

3. What are the benefits of staff augmentation? 

There are several advantages of using this model to add experienced and skilled engineers to your VoIP team. Let’s talk about the top three. 

Hassle free team building 

The recruitment process is quite slow and tedious in many countries. Talent shortage makes it almost impossible to get the right team of developers or support engineers in this competitive industry. You may end up spending a lot to hire a VoIP developer and still may not get the resource as per your requirement. Staff augmentation is an easy way to extend your manpower and fill the talent gap with ease. 

Reduced expenses 

When you use staff augmentation models, you do not only get access to experienced resources, but you also save money otherwise getting invested in recruitment, training, human resource management, and more. This will help you reduce expenses and control funds. 

Start development immediately 

You can get started anytime as VoIP software development companies will have all the resources that you need to build your expertise in any VoIP platform or technology. You will not need to wait for any recruitment process or training of the hired team. 

No enforcement of employee rules 

Many countries have very strict employment rules to be followed, but with the augmentation model, you don’t need to worry about anything like that. 

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4. What are its drawbacks? 

Along with an array of advantages, there are some drawbacks to this model. 

Communication gap 

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to communicate your requirements to the extended team members. This may result in wrong moves or delayed work. Sometimes, it also results in overlapping. 

Missed deadlines 

Communication gaps and similar issues may cause you to miss major deadlines. Tight follow-ups become necessary to keep the boat sailing without a miss. 

5. What are the challenges related to staff augmentation? 

There are no huge challenges associated with staff augmentation in the VoIP industry as there are many companies working with this model and now they are habitual working with this model. Still, it is necessary to know the challenges you may face, so you can be prepared or discuss them in advance with your partner that offers you VoIP staff augmentation services. 

Difficult to drive the team 

If you have your own team and you add remote team members to augment the capacity of building products like a SIP trunking solution or offering services to clients with reliable technical support, it is possible that things may get difficult to lead. There can be some confusion among team members and their roles and responsibilities. This may cause inaccurate outcomes even if you have a highly talented team. 

This challenge can be tackled easily if you have a clear onboarding process and in some cases documentation along with clarity of thoughts. Simply, keep roles and responsibilities well stated and clear for your team members whether they are working from your own premises or from the company that offers you staff augmentation. This will avoid confusion and conflict and make things work smoothly. 

Time zone difference 

In a majority of cases, the companies offering staff augmentation for VoIP resources operate from different time zones than your country. This might be a challenge in ancient times, but not anymore in the 21st century. However, it is worth mentioning, so you can keep it in mind and discuss it with your partner to avoid any future conflicts or disappointments. 

The simple solution for this type of challenge is to ensure that you will need to communicate with your team frequently and your preferred communication channel would be so and so. For example, if you would like to have daily stand up meetings at a certain time, you can define that time with your partner. You can also talk about your preferred communication channels for calls, informal and formal conversations, and more. If you agree upon the common conclusion, which is more likely in a majority of cases, you will be able to make things easier for your business and your partner, plus, your in-house and augmented teams. 

Concluding notes 

In a nutshell, the expansion of your VoIP team to cater to more clients, meet your technical needs, or fast forward your VoIP and telephony projects is made easier by the company offering staff augmentation services. The world is filled with talented VoIP engineers, developers, consultants, etc. You can hire them and work with them at a much lower cost and hassle than hiring and onboarding them in your country. The trend of staff augmentation is common in all technology spheres and VoIP is definitely not an exception here. All you have to know is, you need to be crystal clear about your expectations, demands, and requirements from the augmented team. Moreover, you must hire an experienced team and partner with a reliable company. 

If you are looking for a trustworthy partner to add some VoIP resources to your team, you can connect with us. We are one of the renowned VoIP custom software development companies. We are renowned for our offerings in VoIP staff augmentation. We have a pool of talent in all VoIP technologies, platforms, open source solutions, and more. Our team has been working with cross-culture clients for years, which makes them perfect to work during different time zones. You will get proactive services and uninterruptible communication with the team. The association models are flexible and cost effective. Let’s connect over a call and discuss your requirements. 

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