14 Apr What is flexible resourcing and how does it benefit tech businesses?

In an ideal world, tech companies would be able to recruit and employ skilled employees with ease. They’d be able to provide them with a steady stream of work they’re qualified for and interested in.

But sadly, that’s not the reality. A shortage of skilled workers and the unpredictable nature of the tech industry means maintaining a happy, reliable workforce is bloody difficult these days.

So tech firms are looking for alternative solutions, which is where flexible resourcing comes in.

But before we talk about that, let’s have a closer look at the problem.

Why are tech companies struggling to fill vacancies?

In the UK, the ‘Digital Skills Gap’ is stifling growth, innovation and opportunities, both in the tech industry and across the economy.

Not enough people are leaving education with sufficient digital skills. Severe inequalities across the tech landscape also contribute to the shortage.

These shortages inflate staffing costs, as competitors try to lure in-demand employees with whopping salaries.

Average tenures are shrinking as the retention of skilled workers becomes more difficult. What’s more, replacing them is also harder – recruitment fees for tech roles are going through the roof.

The lack of expertise and added strain on budgets restricts the efficiency, innovation, scalability and sustainability of businesses that rely on tech. In fact, three-quarters of employers say their profitability would be impacted by a lack of digital skills.

How can tech companies plug the gaps?

Many solutions available to tech companies are costly, time-consuming or unreliable.

You could get existing staff to pick up the slack. However, problems arise when staff carry out tasks they’re not fully qualified for (e.g. getting developers to test software).

It risks reductions in quality as errors are more likely. It can also be damaging for morale when staff are asked to do extra work and perform tasks outside of their domain.

You can train your existing staff to do different jobs, but this takes time and requires significant investment that simply isn’t available to many companies.

Businesses can also collaborate with educational institutions to encourage more young people to take up roles with them. While this is of course a positive step, it doesn’t fix any immediate shortages.

Outsourcing development requirements can be a cost-effective way to fill tech vacancies. However, it presents many difficulties.

It means putting everything in the hands of third parties and thus having little control over how the work is carried out – or indeed who does the work. It’s often difficult for tech firms to vet the developers working on their outsourced projects, so you’d be taking a gamble on the quality.

Also, you may have little to no communication with the developers. Again, this can lead to delays and deficiencies. What’s more, any unexpected changes or issues that crop up (which, let’s be honest, are inevitable in software development) often come with huge additional costs.

As a solution to the digital skills gap, it’s far from ideal.

What is flexible resourcing?

Flexible resourcing is more than simply outsourcing your development requirements. It’s designed to give tech clients maximum control, efficiency and reliability. It mitigates the problems associated with typical outsourcing.

Like outsourcing, a third party supplier provides manpower for a range of development requirements. However, there are a few key differences.

• The client can choose the personnel they need for the project
• The staff can work at a time that suits the client, fitting into their work schedule
• The client company have direct communication with the contracted workers – they effectively join the client’s team for the project’s duration

These features of flexible resourcing provide many benefits to software development companies.

What are the benefits of flexible resourcing?

With flexible resourcing, you don’t need to hire the entire company you’re outsourcing to. You only pay for the individual workers you need for the duration of the project. Fees work on an hourly, daily or by-project basis so there’s no wasted expenditure on staffing.

The company’s reputation depends upon supplying competent, reliable and adaptable staff. Any personnel they supply are likely to be highly-qualified and pre-vetted for their capabilities. This often ensures higher quality work.

What’s more, you can usually select developers shortlisted by the provider, giving you supreme control over the makeup of your team.

You can augment your development team with exactly the right blend of expertise, experience and characteristics you need.

You pay your chosen developers on a project or hourly basis, so you’ll avoid heavy additional costs when unexpected problems or changes in scope arise.

When the project is complete, you don’t need to worry about a load of spare staff on the payroll with nothing to do. The contracted developers simply return to the provider where they’ll be immediately eligible to work for other clients.

So flexible resourcing not only eliminates recruitment fees and delays, but it also reduces the long-term costs and commitments associated with employing staff directly.

This guaranteed supply of skilled workers allows you to scale up your team in a fraction of the time it would take to recruit staff using traditional methods.

Staff Augmentation

Our Staff Augmentation service is a model of flexible resourcing that’s helped dozens of development teams scale up with the right expertise. It’s enabled them to hit their project targets and achieve their goals.

Unparalleled efficiency – our on-demand pool of talent makes feats like scaling from a team of 10 developers to 45 in just 8 weeks possible. No recruitment fees, no long-term commitments.

Guaranteed quality – all the developers on our books are vetted and highly qualified. You can interview and select the ones you want on your development team.

Ultimate flexibility – Need a full squad of developers to design and build your product, but only need to keep one or two on to test and refine it? No problem. You only pay for what you need, when you need it.

Limitless communication – Our UK-based managers consult with you before, during and after the project. Our Vietnam-based developers join your development team. You can communicate with them directly and we’ll be on hand to support where necessary. No middle-man, no confusion, no delays.

It might just be the solution to your development resourcing problems.

Get in touch to discuss your next project.