We live in a digital era where technology continues to evolve and become more integrated with society. From smart appliances to voice-ontrolled assistance, technology is evolving to make people’s lives easier. Here, an uncommon but essential question arises – whether this technological advancement will affect how libraries are managed.
Public libraries are more than just a platform to indulge in the world of literature. In addition to being a space where individuals borrow books and access information, they serve as hubs of community engagement, learning, and innovation. However, to evolve per their consumers’ changing needs and expectations, public libraries must adopt the emerging trends and technologies shaping the future of library services.
All this upgrading requires an additional workforce equipped with the requisite skills and expertise to ensure a smooth transition. Staff augmentation has emerged as a popular choice among businesses of all sizes and types for fostering technological advancement. This industry practice extends extra support to an organization by hiring additional temporary staff to work on specific projects or ventures for a specified timeframe.
This outsourcing strategy allows businesses to hire external professionals to work alongside existing employees. Scroll ahead to understand staff augmentation and what makes it a popular business strategy for tech innovation in public libraries.
Process of Staff Augmentation for Public Libraries
Library technologies are now in the ascent phase of their life cycles; however, the strongest technological transformation is yet to occur. To survive and succeed in this dynamic world, libraries must be able to navigate the increasing complexities and high-speed technological changes. Integrating the views of customers, software houses, and other libraries into a sustainable growth strategy is pivotal.
Libraries with the capacity to innovate will be able to respond to new demands faster and provide new services better than non-innovative libraries. Such tech innovations toward better user service can range from providing personalized user experience through large datasets to increasing accessibility through bookmark apps and AR interfaces.
However, introducing these innovations into the public library system requires a diligent workforce to smooth the peaks and valleys during the transformational journey.
The process of staff augmentation in public libraries will involve three main steps, namely:
1. Need Identification
The process of engaging a staff augmentation service involves identifying the specific needs of your organization. It requires understanding what the organization wants to accomplish and in what priority.
For instance, focusing on cost reduction might be impractical if you are looking for a blockchain developer (a high in-demand skill). Likewise, if you need 50 people to do a task that does not require many skills, you would not want to hire based on a high skill level. Moreover, weighing the risks and benefits of each staff augmentation model before selecting it is important.
2. Recruitment
Once you have understood the business requirements, look for service providers with a proven track record of success and experience working with businesses similar to your sector. Established businesses working for years have more experience and a large talent pool to help your organization with the best-fitting workers. In contrast, new agencies incorporate the latest technologies and smart methods to deliver cost-efficient solutions.
From traditional staffing providers to boutique staffing and consulting firms, organizations must identify the right service provider depending on their business requirements.
3. Integration
Once outside personnel is hired, the final step involves integrating the workforce into the existing team to streamline the workflow. This includes providing orientation and support to help the ‘augmentee’ understand and work per the team’s culture and values.
Benefits of Using Staff Augmentation for Tech Innovation
The success of public libraries largely depends on the technological innovations they incorporate and the smart business strategies they choose. One of these smart practices is to use a staff augmentation service for efficient and cost-effective project development. The strategy can help public libraries quickly hire the right specialists, better allocate resources, scale the development team, and manage project development without much expense. Some of the potential benefits of staff augmentation include:
1. Propels Business Growth
By using a staff augmentation service, businesses can access and approach several experienced professionals who can support the business objectives and contribute to the company’s annual growth rate.
2. Flexibility
Through a staff augmentation strategy, businesses can hire and fire skilled labor as required without long-term commitments and heavy investments in full-time employees. This is especially cost and time-saving when working on short-term projects requiring specific skills.
3. Cost-Efficiency
From eliminating the cost of training to other staff-related expenses, staff augmentation economizes costs as businesses only pay for the services and time the augmentee provides. The service eliminates the need for making provisions for labor-related expenses that come with hiring full-time employees, including training and employee benefits.
4. Bridging the Skill Gap
Staff augmentation services facilitate businesses in gaining access to a wide range of specialized skills without extensive training programs. It enables businesses to bridge the skill gaps by bringing in a workforce with specialized skill sets on a project basis.
5. Reduced Risk
Unlike full-time hires, where all labor laws and statutory requirements must be complied with, the staff augmentation strategy reduces the number of legal compliances to be taken care of. The full-time labor laws may include terminal dues, paid time-offs, employee expenses, reimbursements, etc.
Having a revolutionary idea is half of the success of a business; the other half lies in smartly organized business processes. These processes usually include cost optimization, productivity enhancement, developing and implementing an innovative marketing strategy, and hiring the right team and tech tools. Many businesses leverage a staff augmentation strategy to ensure that all these milestones are met effectively.
Wrapping Up
Staff augmentation is a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solution for businesses facing short-term volatile demand, skill gaps, and project requirements. It is a powerful tool that empowers businesses with specialized skills, reduces risks associated with long-term commitments, and provides the flexibility to scale up or down their workforce as needed.
Think Smart offers a dedicated team of professionals striving to help their clients leverage nearshore and offshore development teams to achieve their tech goals. Staffing and other services of each incoming project are offered, considering each candidate’s cultural and technical fit. We are an ideal staff augmentation partner offering transparent and constant communication backed by a strong company culture that is humane and growth-focused. Visit our website today!
