In the internet era, which is expected to drive a $220bn market by 2020, Digital Transformation remains one of the biggest challenges for C-Suite Executives. A particular reason for that is that it can’t be solved in a way most transitions are done; by money and consultants. Instead, it requires a new breed of experts known as: software developers.
With each company in the global economy shooting to be a tech company and embracing digital transformation, demand for experienced software developers is at an all-time high. To most, finding and hiring tech talent is a threat to the success of their business. That’s why a lot of companies aim for outsourcing and other ways of getting access to talent globally, for their existing legacy systems or for new projects.
When kicking-off a new product or project, there’s always the option of doing offshoring and outsourcing software development completely, but what to do when there’s already technical know-how in-house and you don’t want to take that away, but instead integrate it? That’s when something known as extended team model could help!
Compared to outsourcing, an extended team is like a team next door, which is not-project based and not discontinued after the project ends. As such, it’s aimed for long-term collaboration, effectively removing the need to disperse attention to any side project for the service providers team members.
Team Extension Model is aimed at complementing the in-house team and not substituting it, while also filling necessary skills gaps. This also means that responsibilities are distributed among team members as all of them are equally engaged in the project. The client has full control over the process and collaboration, which also includes the levels of recruitment, trainings, etc. On the other hand, project Managers breathe easier as they can focus on things that matter and need attention, yet remain in control on key points and decisions.
Then there’s the cost saving part. Clients get to choose from an international talent pool with a diverse set of skills and rate, and also doesn’t spend much time and effort in recruiting and training in the future, as this is mainly handled by the service provider.
At Frakton, we have some amazing clients with whom we’ve worked for more than a year now through the Extension Team Model. Since they’re based in Europe, it basically means that we can easily meet (great direct flight options from Prishtina to various EU capitals), which is especially beneficial when discussing about projects where we need to sit down physically in one room to brain-storm and kick-off the whole process, or even have some fun together during after-hours in either Prishtina’s finest restaurants or in the respective cities of the clients, basically experiencing hands-on the importance of a similar cultural mindset, rather than differences which in the cases of offshore cooperation’s.
After the projects start, the process is the usual with daily-standups, bi-weekly sprints, sprint reviews and other agile working methodologies, which are quite effective in such ways of cooperation, especially because of the time-zone similarity.
Easy start, easy to scale
The Extension Team Model gives our clients a quick start to a project (sometimes in just couple of weeks), compared to something that would require months when hiring locally in their respective countries, where competition may have already taken almost all of the brightest. With a cooperation already in place, this also means that a team can easily scale-up depending on project size, challenge or other factors, but can also scale down, again depending on the needs. This gives control over the cost of the resources, transparency flexibility, mutual trust and valued contribution. On top of everything this also means that the client holds the keys.
Some other benefits are directly related to the fact that the team members involved in the projects are full-time and don’t jump on multiple assignments, which means they’re 100% onto the project, resulting in a smooth integration with the client’s team, aligning culture, vision and goals.
With digital transformation on top of everyone’s head, companies need to think beyond local and embrace such models as the team extension model, extending their in-house team, competence, skill, culture and vision. And when this is accompanied by finding the right partner, whom they can trust, build products together with and share the same vision, they can ignite a steeper business growth.
Çelik Nimani
Chief Executive Officer at FRAKTON
celik@frakton.com
+383 (0) 49 882 200
Çelik is the Co-Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Frakton, a Software Development Company founded in 2007 and specialized in building custom digital products and services for startups, entrepreneurs and enterprises in the field of Health Care, Education, Accounting Telecommunication and Entertainment. With more than 35 people on board and under Çelik's leadership, Frakton has become one of the fastest growing companies in Kosovo, positioning herself in developing cutting-edge solutions for clients in Europe and the US, while delivering more than 150+ projects to date.