Staff Augmentation: What it is and How it Works?

Staff augmentation is a business strategy that allows companies to quickly and easily increase their workforce by hiring temporary staff to meet specific project needs. This strategy is commonly used in the technology and IT industries, where there is a high demand for specialized skills and expertise.

 

 

Staff augmentation is different from traditional hiring:

In that, it involves the temporary addition of skilled professionals to an existing team, rather than the creation of a new team. The temporary staff, also known as a contract or contingent workers, work alongside the existing team to complete the project on time and within budget.

 

The process of staff augmentation typically involves three main steps: identification of the skills and experience required, finding and hiring the necessary talent, and integration of the temporary staff into the existing team.

 

Once the company has identified the necessary skills and experience, the next step is to find and hire temporary staff. This can be done through various channels, such as recruitment agencies, freelance marketplaces, or personal networks. The company must evaluate the potential candidates based on their skills, experience, and fit with the existing team.

 

After the temporary staff has been hired, the final step is to integrate them into the existing team. This involves providing the necessary training and orientation, as well as ensuring effective communication and collaboration between the temporary and permanent staff.

 

There are several benefits to using staff augmentation as a business strategy:



First, it provides a flexible solution to quickly scale up or down the workforce as needed. This allows the company to meet project deadlines and complete projects within budget, without the long-term financial commitment of hiring permanent staff.

 

Second, staff augmentation allows the company to access a broader range of skills and expertise than would be possible with a small, permanent team. This is particularly important in the technology and IT industries, where specialized knowledge and expertise are critical to project success.

 

Finally, staff augmentation can help the company maintain a competitive advantage by staying up-to-date with the latest technology and industry trends. The temporary staff brings with them new ideas, insights, and knowledge that can help the company stay ahead of the competition.

 

In conclusion, staff augmentation is a powerful business strategy that allows companies to quickly and easily increase their workforce to meet specific project needs. By identifying the necessary skills and experience, finding and hiring the necessary talent, and integrating the temporary staff into the existing team, companies can take advantage of the benefits of staff augmentation to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.

 

No hay texto alternativo para esta imagen

 

Accelerate your digital transformation. Build your Team Now. Click here!

Access the world’s best jobs. Apply as Talent

 

Outsourcing software services: What is it and why should you consider it for your business?

Outsourcing software services: What is it and why should you consider it for your business?

Introduction:

Software is a key element for any business as it forms the backbone of the system and enables various tasks such as tracking customer orders, managing inventory, scheduling employees, and accepting payments. Therefore, it is important that companies manage their infrastructures efficiently to avoid excessive costs for customers and the company as a whole. One interesting option for reducing costs is outsourcing software services, where companies can obtain products at much lower prices than if they were managing their own operating system. In this way, they can develop new services and products without having to spend money on maintaining them.

What is the outsourcing of software services?

Software services outsourcing is contracting an external company to develop, maintain, or update custom software for your business instead of employing an in-house team of developers. In this way, companies can leverage the resources and expertise of an external service provider like The Flock to meet their software needs.

Benefits of Working with The Flock and How It Can Help Your Business:

  • Lower costs: outsourcing can be much more cost-effective than an in-house development team because it avoids the costs associated with hiring and maintaining in-house staff, such as salaries, benefits, and training. Plus, at The Flock, we already have the infrastructure, tools, and technical team needed to develop software, which means there’s no need to invest in expensive equipment and software.
  • Flexibility: Outsourcing gives your company the flexibility to scale its software development team as needed, allowing it to better manage its resources and budget at each stage of the project.
  • Specialized experience and skills: The Flock has a highly skilled and experienced team in a variety of software technologies, which means you can access specialized skills you do not have in-house, allowing you to develop more advanced and complex software solutions.
  • Focus on your business: outsourcing software development allows you to focus on your core business instead of worrying about software development. This can improve the overall efficiency of your business and allow you to focus on your core business goals.
  • Reduce Risk: Software development can be a complex process that comes with many risks. Outsourcing software development can reduce the risk to your business, as The Flock has a team of experts who are in constant contact with you at every stage of development, looking for solutions.

In summary, outsourcing software services can be a very beneficial strategy for companies. It allows them to reduce costs, access specialized skills, improve the overall efficiency of their business, and reduce the risks associated with software development. For these reasons, companies should consider outsourcing software services to improve the efficiency and profitability of their business.

Accelerate your digital transformation. Click here!

Access the world’s best jobs. Apply as Talent


Freelance and contractor, two ways of referring to the same thing?

Freelance and contractor, two ways of referring to the same thing?

Of course not, the freelance and contractor modalities are not the same, although both involve working on projects in a temporary and somewhat independent manner.

Although remote work and contractors share some similarities, such as the fact that both involve working outside of the traditional office, there are some key differences between these two concepts.

A freelancer:

An independent professional who offers services to different clients without having a fixed employment contract with any company. Freelancer can work from home or their office and is responsible for finding their own clients, negotiating their rates, and setting their own work schedules. Freelancers typically work on a project or hourly basis and have no guarantee of job continuity. In addition, freelance work is usually short-term.

A contractor:

An independent worker who is hired for a specific period of time, typically contracts of 1 to 2 years, depending on the project, within the company. Unlike freelancers, the contractor has an employment contract with the company that hires them. They receive a fixed salary and may have additional benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations.

persona editando foto en computadora

The key lies in the type of work they perform. Although freelancers and contractors are independent workers, their work may differ in scope and duration. Freelancers can work on a variety of projects for different clients, while contractors are often hired by a single company to work on specific long-term projects.

Companies, such as startups, have specific and urgent roles to fill, which is why our platform is designed to solve this problem for them. We look for on-demand talent, make a match, and get to work.

Build your top-tier tech team in just 2 weeks with superstar Latam talent. Click here 

Access the world’s best jobs. Apply here as talent.

 

Football is to low-class what technology is to middle-class: a chance for climbing the social ladder

Successful remote work and the technology boom require an essential change in the way entrepreneurs manage their own companies.


Talent-oriented rather than geolocation-oriented recruitment, flexibility towards change or fast market expansion are some of the strengths of remote work and Latin-American startups are taking advantage of them.

According to Forbes magazine, Mateo Bovio, current partner and Chief Sales Officer in The Flock, is a serial entrepreneur, has a fulfilling career path and looks older than 28. Mateo, who is an Argentinian industrial engineer living in Italy, defines himself as a “digital entrepreneur”, if he comes up with an idea, he does the impossible for achieving it. He speaks five languages, got two master’s degrees but what really defines his profile is his passion for what he does.

Commercial profiles have a key role in this new asynchronous, remote and technological context where the world becomes small and accessible. Since June, he has been in charge of looking for new clients and new business opportunities.

 

– What is your experience like working remotely for a startup such as The Flock, living in Italy but looking for clients all over the world?

– The experience is amazing. The new digitalization model allows us to go beyond the reality structure and change that model and I love that. The commercial part is crucial for any enterprise, everything can improve but if there are no sales, there is no business and for those who work in the sales area, we know how to deal with that pressure better than others. On the other hand, working remotely is something I am used to and I find it easier when it comes to commercial management and results. I attend certain face-to-face meetings or events when it is really worth it as I know they will be useful. I also use current digital tools a lot. The pandemic also contributed to it and the clients got used to a video call or attending an online event. Besides, if you are good at selling, making the most of marketing and media and if you support your business with a comprehensive commercial strategy, you can then choose good referrals and, on top of that, you get surrounded by great partners. In that case, you are a whiz.

– Which one do you consider as the most disruptive model of this new technological context where speed and flexibility are key concepts of this tech era?

– The most disruptive model is the social one. Nowadays I am writing a book about that which will be released in Latam in December 2022. Football is to low-class what technology is to middle-class that intends to be skilled, it is a chance for climbing the social ladder. Today there are plenty of young people who set up their own technology business after school or university and that deeply moves me. They are the main characters because they know how to use technology with impact in every aspect. We must know how to use technology, it is an evolving and emerging tool and there are more and more new things coming up and we must be constantly reading about the new trends. Talking about the most disruptive technical model, I would mention blockchain, it is a technology that, due to its transparent and transactional features, can change and is actually changing the society organization.

– The queens of the entrepreneur ecosystem seem to be the startups and scaleups, both of them attract the best talent since these kinds of companies have flexible policies and fully remote jobs. Which makes the difference in The Flock from the other platforms?

– For sure, the startups are the queens of the entrepreneur ecosystem and we young people imposed a paradigm change with flexible policies and fully remote jobs where the premise is working to live rather than living to work. It is part of a generational and cultural shift. In accordance with this, there is The Flock, which is the top Latin-American freelance talent platform. Within this company, there coexist product, development, design, business and data profiles that are validated in advance and in a technical way on the platform. They are also asked about their preferences related to coding to be able to assign them certain projects or enterprises. I have never seen in Latam an IT talent platform where there is such a huge freelancer’s community and where freelancers are treated the same way as in-house employees. We keep on working on this line to provide usefulness and certainty to the flockers. We in the Flock are clear that 50% of IT talent will be freelance in the next five years. So we must help organizations not to be left aside from that talent recruitment but we always take care of our talents by taking our catchphrase into account: “free refers to freedom and not to the lack of charge.”

– Startups are a new way of doing businesses and technology is the foundation of this type of company. Which is the biggest challenge that you face?

– Startups face a big challenge and that is to become profitable in a short term and I agree with the fact of having that challenge. I cannot understand startups that are not profitable and raise funding rounds. I prefer bootstrapped startups that do not do this and sell until they reach a balance without the help of investments or the ones that do it but only for making their profitable business grow, like we do in The Flock.

– You are a prime example of the possibility of working fully remote. How do you manage your schedule with so many different time zones?

– Any common person in my shoes would be in shock. However, luckily I do not consider myself as a common person. I put a lot of passion and energy into my job and that makes me work happily, although it is essential to manage my google calendar properly in order to work out, sleep well, spend time with family and friends, travel and work in an efficient and productive way. It is not easy to have a commercial profile but I take advantage of an innate talent and I work on it. I have just finished a master’s degree on neuroscience which helps me to sell more and better but, at the same time and on the personal aspect, to deal with stress and anxiety and use them as a daily propulsion. Time zones are a complex topic but if you are organized, constant and have a good attitude, you can make it.

– Do you think that entrepreneurship and innovation must go together? Or is it more important the way you set your own business rather than the product or service itself?

– For me, the important thing is to find a need and focus on it to solve it. Also, at the same time, to see if someone is willing to pay me for that solution and if so, I ask myself how difficult it is to reach it. That is entrepreneurship, innovation is another thing.

– What do you think about the metaverse? Do you think it will have an important impact on the daily life of entrepreneurs?

– I see the metaverse as really marketing-oriented. If we split up the word, the second part is “verse” which in Argentinian slang (verso) stands for something that people speak a lot about but it is not true. It is an old concept but, more recently, it has been introduced strongly into the market by Facebook, that now is called Meta. I consider it is very similar to virtual or augmented reality we were used to in Pokemon GO or some innovations in the tourism area.

– Which do you think is a daily catchphrase that an emerging technological startup must follow?

– Always forward.

– If it is very hard for Mateo Bovio to give up an idea that has come to his mind, which would be some advice for someone who has a project in mind and does not know where to start from?

– First of all, they must consider if it is sellable. Then, if they have attitude and perseverance, they will find the proper team to put it into practice.  My advice is to set up your own business as a lifestyle.

 

Accelerate your digital transformation. Click here!

Access the world’s best jobs. Apply as Talent

The Future of Work is here, and it’s here to stay

There are no current limits for searching talent: remote work, the freelance world and diversity are some of the key concepts to create an ideal working team.

 

There are some work dynamics that have changed since the pandemic: processes automation, new technology incorporation and, mainly, the revaluation of professional profiles for making up hybrid teams. What do the new work models look like?

 

Before the pandemic, there was some evidence about how the future of work would be like. For instance, more and more companies offered some benefits related to flexible schedule and remote work. Another trend showed that workers started to choose independent work while big and small companies decided to hire freelancers specialized in areas such as IT, AI engineering or web design, in order to fulfill projects without having to hire new employees.

 

In 2019 the Upwork platform carried out a study which showed that 63% of American companies employed at least one part of their workers remotely and 35% of the American labor force was represented by independent workers. The same happened in Latin America, where the number of remote workers, freelancers or workers of a company, reached 23 million according to estimations of the International Labor Organization.

 

 

The events that took place during 2020 allowed the implementation of some already considered processes to go faster than before. It also forced the application of other unexpected processes, like compulsory remote work, digitalization of tasks that were previously done in-house and the unpredicted mix of personal and working life. But nobody imagined that these changes would be definite after the pandemic.

 

These are some changes that will remain:

• Automatisation and simplification of structures: within the chaos of digital transformation, some tedious tasks which used to be in-house became digital and automatic. There were some tasks that unnecessarily required time of the employees but now that time has been maximized and it is used for working on other projects.

• Remote and collaborative work: the need to be in contact with other members of the team even remotely led to digital platforms of communication. In most cases, these ones enabled a work model which is more conscious about others and teams themselves.

• Confidence-based: the control of the teams during in-house work changed with the remote work, in which confidence is essential as it makes possible that teams work more freely and in a more productive way without a boss having to control.

• Work flexibility: some time before, it was a must for employees to arrive at a certain time to the office and work at their desks for 9 hours non-stop. After the pandemic, it was understood that this model did not mean more productivity and that management by objectives together with certain time flexibility lead to better results.

• Revaluation of talent: companies have understood the importance of having diverse, specialized and efficient talent. Instead of hiring more full-time employees to do the same and fixed tasks, the freelance and remote world started to gain relevance in different projects, which also activates the internal talent in order to improve productivity and so obtain better results.