The Extended Team Cooperation Model: What is It and How to Make it Work

When developing software solutions, companies often turn to the team extension service. If you grow a product, develop new features, or scale your operations, you might need some extra help. This is why according to statistics, about 41% of companies use extended teams and outsource services.

We’ve highlighted what an extended team is and why you might need one. Discover the advantages of this approach with ITExpert.

But First, What is an Extended Team?

An extended development team is an ongoing cooperation between your core team and the extended team offshore. Certain specifics distinguish the cooperation model from others:

• An extended team is aimed at augmenting the in-house staff. 

• You have complete control over the project. Additionally, there is constant and direct communication between your in-house staff and off-site developers. 

• All the responsibilities are distributed among all team members. All of them are equally invested in the development, and also are equally responsible for its success or failure.

That’s important to keep in mind that with the extended team, you will be responsible for the idea, feature list, product map, and other preparational steps. You’ll be paying for the talent time, not for the A to Z software development. 

Why Should I Hire an Extended Development Team: Key Benefits to Сonsider

Several distinctions can make an extended development team a significantly better choice for some businesses. Let’s look at when this model can be the most beneficial for your firm.

Team augmentation will work best when: 

• You plan to expand your project and get additional specialists of any knowledge and seniority in a short period.

• You have a project with tight deadlines, and want to fit into a tight schedule by swiftly boosting your capacity with remote experts.

• The project is peculiar for your company, and you don’t want to shift all the focus of your in-house team.

• You are a startup and have a plan for business scaling. Therefore, you want to spend no time on local hires by leveraging an offshore-managed team of any size.

• You need expertise that is absent from your local market, or you need to fill the gap in skills and knowledge easily, quickly, and reliably. In fact, 9 in every 10 managers have expressed a rising skill gap amidst today’s digital transformation.

• The skills you seek are very expensive and you cannot afford them at this stage, or you want to save. An extended development team can cut costs by 30–60%, according to different sources.

Overall, you can extract the most benefit out of this model if you already have an in-house team that you would like to enrich with a talent for long-term projects.

Primary Benefits of Extended Development Teams

Let’s single out each advantage of the team extension cooperation model. 

Access to the top international talent pool

With team extension services, you don’t need to choose from a limited local developer market. You can look for and hire abroad the top IT talent on the international market and spot Senior developers, DevOps specialists, QA engineers, and more while also potentially lowering the development cost.

Control the hiring process to match your needs

You can personally screen and interview potential tech candidates. Thus, you can ascertain whether or not the specialists you hire have the required skills, will be able to assimilate into your in-house team, and fit the established corporate culture.

Flexibility and the possibility of replacing individual specialists

There will be no intermediaries between you and your tech experts: you can communicate your requirements directly to them and solve any issues that may arise along the way. If a particular person still cannot assimilate into your company, replacing a specialist is a quick and painless process due to the flexibility of the team extension model.

Transparent and efficient payment model

With an extended development team, you agree on a fixed monthly fee that covers the specialists’ salary, operational expenses, bonuses, etc. You’ll be able to plan your budget further in advance and keep track of your expenses better. You also don’t need to worry about managing the payroll for your extended team, since the service provider frequently covers that responsibility for you.

No need to rent an office and buy hardware

By hiring an extended development team, in most cases, you won’t have to pay for office rent, which usually takes a large part of the company’s budget. You also don’t need to supply a team with equipment. However, you can optionally provide the team with computers and/or specific software access if you are sure that the specialists will stay with you for a long time and this will increase their productivity.

Plan to Hire an Extended Development Team? What to Consider To Avoid Mistakes

With an extended team, the provider will make sure that every step of the process works for you.

1. Planning

Every cooperation starts with planning. Consider the skills your project requires, and which skills would you like to source externally? IT recruitment agencies often help their clients in performing initial analysis and determining specific requirements, project goals, and KPIs. Clear objectives and methods of measuring success allow you to avoid unnecessary mistakes while hiring an extended team.

2. Candidate screening

Based on the analysis we’ve mentioned previously, the vendor will present you with candidate profiles that have the technical and soft skills for your project. At ITExpert, we offer exclusively those specialists who have passed our strict recruitment process. You can be sure that all the candidates have been vetted and have the skills you are looking for. 

We use a proven and effective recruitment strategy as well as best practices of recruiting and headhunting skill specialists so that they cannot refuse your job offer. In addition, we provide specialists’ replacement free of charge if they haven’t passed the probation.

3. Team onboarding and adaptation

The onboarding process helps to synchronize the extended development team with your best practices, methodologies, and internal culture. Various studies confirm that 26% of newcomers leave the company if there is no onboarding and training. Another 44% of respondents admitted that they thought about quitting in the first month without a well-established onboarding process.

4. On-demand scaling and support

When project requirements change, you can easily grow the team by hiring new specialists or halt growth.

Extend an on-demand Development Team

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous companies switched to remote or partially remote operating modes. Even after some restrictions were lifted, many organizations decided to leave their employees the opportunity to work from home, since this turned out to be a more cost-effective solution. According to statistics, 90% of software company employees were satisfied with remote work conditions.

At the same time, the demand for outsourcing services or extended teams has increased. It turned out to be just as effective as having an office team on site. The extended remote team model brings a massive advantage to companies looking for top skills and expertise. Team members get to collaborate closely with one another and optimize internal processes in time, helping your business operate more efficiently. At the same time, hybrid solutions are also possible.

Are you looking for extra staff to augment your development team? Get in touch with us. We successfully hire tech specialists worldwide to help businesses grow and create breakthrough software products. Deliver your project on time, without a costly recruitment process. Fill the gap, scale on demand, remain in control, and start fast!