The Right Staff Augmentation Helps Stalled IT Projects Move Forward

It’s frustrating to have a key project funded, yet be unable to move forward due to a lack of human resources. It happens more often than you’d think, even among large enterprises. In a recent Gartner survey, IT leaders said that a shortage of talent was the most significant obstacle standing in the way of 64 percent of new technologies they’d like to adopt.

Given today’s complex IT environments, it’s virtually impossible for any organization to maintain all the skill sets needed for every project. If a funded project fails to get off the ground, it’s usually because the IT department lacks a key, high-level resource.

Filling these resource requirements can frustrate even the most well-connected IT manager. Human resources specialists are adept at finding candidates for routine IT job vacancies — permanent, contract-to-hire and contract positions with job descriptions and well-defined requirements. However, HR often lacks the technical know-how and resources to locate subject-matter experts (SMEs) with the highly technical skill sets needed for current, proposed and critical projects.

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Staffing Challenges

Traditional staffing companies rarely communicate directly with IT decision-makers. That works fine when you’re looking for a mid-level network engineer, for example. But when it comes to locating SMEs, the requirements typically are not well-defined. Many IT managers have trouble communicating their needs in a way that enables HR to write up a requisition and advertise it to staffing firms.

The communication gap is not the only challenge IT managers face when working through traditional HR channels. Many find that the typical staffing company simply isn’t equipped to locate high-end engineers and consultants in a timely fashion.

Staffing companies are struggling with the IT skills shortage, just like employers. Faced with a lack of resources with the right skill sets, some recruiters will present the resumes of candidates who are unqualified, wasting the IT manager’s time and delaying the already time-consuming recruiting process.

The Right Resource

DeSeMa’s staff augmentation services help organizations reduce financial, technical and organizational risks by leveraging the vast expertise of DeSeMa’s consultants. DeSeMa has many years of experience rapidly bringing the right resources to bear for complex projects, and excels at locating and rapidly mobilizing a broad range of SMEs.

We consult with IT managers to help define the skill requirements for a particular critical need, and review the skill sets of their existing teams. This enables us to develop a job description with all the relevant requirements. We then tap our network of highly qualified experts to quickly provide candidates to fill these resource gaps.

We don’t just conduct technical interviews. We conduct skills testing that is more comprehensive than most certification tests, and personality testing to verify soft skills, consultative ability and cultural fit.

Each candidate must also pass a live interview with one of our senior vetting recruiters, who will have more than 10 years of experience in the technology or discipline they’re hiring for.

Building Relationships

The best staff augmentation relationships emphasize shared risks and goals to help ensure a successful project outcome. DeSeMa is not in business to place a “warm body” onsite and move on. Staff augmentation forms part of our overarching relationship with our customers. We have a vested interest in a positive result.

Indeed, staff augmentation naturally complements DeSeMa’s full range of solutions. DeSeMa also delivers traditional consulting and professional services, talent-on-demand services, and managed services. Customers can work with one partner for all of their IT needs and choose among multiple delivery methods.

Faced with a tug-of-war between project requirements and staffing constraints, organizations need a strong technology partner with the ability to rapidly deliver needed resources. DeSeMa’s staff augmentation services inject specific inputs into mission-critical projects, providing access to the exact skills needed to help organizations achieve their project goals.