Staff augmentation.

IT Outstaffing, or staff augmentation, or nearshore development, or dedicated development is a model where clients extend their in-house development teams by hiring exclusively selected external IT professionals. These professionals remain under the administrative and operational jurisdiction of RedCat but work exclusively on the client’s projects and dig deeply into a Client’s culture, work routine and long-term product vision.

This model is particularly beneficial for companies needing specialized skills or additional manpower for specific projects without the long-term commitment of hiring full-time employees in-house. For example, a client may require a team of five developers with expertise in AI and machine learning for a six-month project (which is a baseline).

The core idea of this service it to combine three things:

• direct task management and coding results possession from day 1;
• decrease handover costs;
• access to a highly competitive and big enough pool of developers.

IT Outstaffing offers flexibility and cost-effectiveness, allowing companies to scale their teams based on project requirements. Our model ensures that outstaffed personnel integrate seamlessly with the client’s existing team, adhering to their workflows, project management tools, and communication channels. This provides a balance between external expertise and internal project control, unlike traditional hiring processes.

The process of IT outstaffing at RedCat begins with a thorough understanding of the client’s project needs and skill requirements. We then match these needs in a form of position description with our pool of skilled IT professionals.

Once a suitable match is found, which usually takes 3 weeks,  the outstaffed personnel are integrated into the client’s team, working remotely from our facilities but following the client’s project management practices and reporting structures and within client’s coding infrastructure.

The client maintains project management and direct supervision of the outstaffed team members, making this model an extension of their in-house team. Regular communication, progress updates, and collaboration are facilitated through tools like Slack, Jira, and Zoom, ensuring a cohesive working environment despite geographical distances.

RedCat is present as a silent listener in this process, rather mitigating miscommunication or risk situations, or reminding of vacations, celebrations and repformance reviews. All administrative work stays on RedCat’s side.

IT Outstaffing offers several advantages, including cost savings, access to a vast talent pool, and flexibility in scaling teams. It reduces the overheads associated with hiring full-time staff, such as recruitment costs, benefits, and workspace expenses. For instance, a company could save up to 40% on development costs by choosing outstaffing over traditional hiring.

To be more specific, Middle React or Node.js developer with good spoken English and 3 years of experience may cost you 4500 USD per month on average and that’s it. 3 weeks to hire or replace.

Additionally, clients get access to a diverse range of skills and expertise that might not be available in-house or in their local job market. This is particularly beneficial for projects requiring niche skills or emerging technologies. The flexibility to scale the team up or down based on project needs allows for efficient resource management and adaptability to changing project scopes.

And this become even more relevant when it comes to AI or ML experts, Blockchain developers, and QA engineers.

To sum up:

• fast hiring and firing;
• one payment for everything;
• any specialty or technology;
• direct management with no “broken phone” effect;
• work in your infrastructure – you possess the IP outcomes from day 1.

Staff augmentation and outsourcing are both models used to extend a company’s capabilities, but they differ in their approach and control dynamics.

In staff augmentation, as offered by RedCat, external professionals are integrated into the client’s existing team, working under the client’s management and direction. This model offers the client more control over the project and the team, making it an extension of their in-house capabilities, and usually sttarts with recruitment with a minimum commitment of 6 months engagement.

In contrast, outsourcing involves delegating entire projects or specific tasks to an external company or team, which then manages the project independently. Outsourcing is often chosen for projects where the client prefers to offload the work entirely, focusing on their core business activities while the outsourced partner handles the project management and execution.

Of course, as today everybody appreciates transparency and control, there is a combined model, which is called dedicated team, or retainer. It’s a cooperative model, when the projects is outsources partially or entirely,  but a client actively participates in the process, controls priorities, and receives a predictable deliveries and bills each month.

Staff augmentation is important for several reasons. Firstly, it provides businesses with the agility to adapt to changing project demands and market conditions. Companies can quickly scale their teams up or down without the long-term commitments associated with hiring full-time staff. For example, a business might need additional developers during a product launch but not require them afterwards.

Secondly, staff augmentation allows companies to access specialized skills and expertise that are not available in-house or in the local job market. This is particularly crucial for projects involving cutting-edge technologies or specialized knowledge. Staff augmentation thus becomes a strategic approach to filling skill gaps, ensuring that businesses have the right talent at the right time to meet their project objectives.

To sum up:

• Scale up and down within weeks;
• Find talents unavailable locally;
• Outsource significant part of overhead, HR and administration to somebody else.

Full control and direct communication during working hours, as well as responsibility for the workload of the developer. RedCat’s manager will be present as a silent event listener and won’t bother you without extreme need. We’ll just quietly do our facilitating and supporting work.

Here is what’s written in our standard contract for Staff Augmentation: XXXX amount ( Including Consultant’s fee (Includes accounting services, Candidate’s tax compensation, office, and practicalities, standard equipment, security company services, training, and staff retention activities, insurance, social benefits (sick days, vacations, social package, and bonuses), administrative expenses (HR), transaction fees, Consultant’s taxes, Consultant’s profit.

This amount depends on the Candidate’s salary.