Staff augmentation is a key trend for 2025 as companies look to do more and adapt to new technology with limited resources. The use of outsourced software development will see interesting growth in the next year as companies cement their in-office vs remote work arrangements, increase their investment in AI, and adapt to evolving tech needs.
Let’s take a look at the new trends for staff augmentation in 2025 so you can know what to expect over the next year.
The struggle between remote, in-office, and hybrid work policies kicked off in 2020 with the “year of remote work.” Over 60% of days were worked from home in May 2020. 2023 and 2024 were the “years of return to office.” More companies announced RTO mandates. Office workers came into the office an average of 2.7 days per week in 2023 and 3 days per week in 2024.
2025 will be the “year of picking your lane.”
Many organizations spent the last 4 years trying to figure out what works best for them. Some have succeeded with fully remote while others have pressed for a full return to office. Most companies have waffled between the two, hesitant to commit to one approach.
Next year, companies will finally commit to in-office, remote, or hybrid and invest in the tools and processes needed to support their choice.
Companies have been reluctant to invest in a specific work arrangement because these decisions still feel very fluid. This means workers are poorly supported and organizations aren’t getting the full benefit from their workforce.
Remote and hybrid workforces require different infrastructures and management to succeed and companies will need to dive into their chosen workforce dynamic fully. Even companies that are fully in-office will make use of outside vendors, agencies, and staff augmentation. These distributed teams need to be supported.
As businesses look to support their chosen work model in 2025, more will turn to staff augmentation to fill in gaps. Organizations will look to AI-powered tools to help manage distributed teams and less centralized software development cycles.
AI-powered project management tools can help businesses efficiently manage distributed teams and contingent workforces by providing insights into team performance, project timelines, and potential roadblocks. These tools help overcome the challenges manager face with more limited in-person time with their teams and allow them to make more data-driven decisions.
Gigster uses AI-powered evaluation and coordination tools to assemble and manage our software development teams. Our METRX tool analyzes bottlenecks and productivity for more predictable, optimized development cycles. This allows us to staff a project in less than a week and complete 95% of projects on time and within budget.
Companies can also use AI to make better use of contingent workforces for software outsourcing. More predictable software development lifecycles allow you to bring in workers on an as needed basis to improve cost efficiency.
Expect AI-powered distributed teams to become much more prevalent in 2025.
Despite the increasing demand for expertise in AI, cloud security, data science, and other niche technologies, expect organizations to continue to seek out generalist hires and turn to staff augmentation to fill more niche needs. While organizations will invest more in new technology in 2025, they are still being tasked with doing more with limited resources. The current demand is for more generalist full-time hires that can fill a variety of roles and needs.
Unlike experts in a specific emerging technology, companies know they will always need well-rounded developers. It doesn’t make sense to make a full-time AI hire when most organizations are still approaching AI on a project-by-project basis and they aren’t sure exactly how they’ll be using the technology in six months.
In addition, specialists are expensive. While outsourced development teams may seem more expensive than full-time developers, the cost efficiencies come when they are used on a contingent basis. Using staff augmentation for specialist needs prevents paying the salary of an expert that you don’t yet have a full-time workload for.
This approach allows companies to remain flexible and responsive to changing technology demands and trends without overcommitting to a full-time staff like many did in 2020 and 2021.
Artificial intelligence is significantly changing the way we work and the tasks and proficiencies that are most important for employees. A Microsoft study of tech leaders found the top skills they believe will be essential for workers in an AI-powered future are analytical judgement (30%), flexibility (29%), and emotional intelligence (27%).
Companies are already rethinking quantitative performance reviews and metrics and looking at new ways to evaluate performance and potential.
In 2025, companies will extend this emphasis on soft skills to staff augmentation. Measuring how well outsourced workers and teams will fit with your internal teams will become a vital metrics. The ability to navigate complex team dynamics, communicate effectively (and asynchronously), and adapt to changing requirements will be key success indicators going forward.
The increased reliance on staff augmentation and the need to rethink employee evaluation will increase the use of AI-driven talent matching. AI can be used to rapidly assemble the right development team for a specific project. Mixing internal team members and contingent workers effectively requires evaluating far more skills and characteristics than a human could do. Automation makes this possible.
This is especially important as 2025 sees more companies leveraging a global talent pool to help fill expertise gaps. Widening the talent pool provides access to more high-quality, specialized talent but it also makes it more difficult to sort through and evaluate that talent. Software development outsourcing benefits from the human cloud and AI-driven talent matching allows organizations to see the full potential.
One trend that will continue into the next year is the need for businesses to remain flexible, embrace new technologies, and anticipate new trends in staff augmentation to stay competitive. The opportunities presented by distributed teams and AI-powered project management tools make staff augmentation more valuable than ever for companies willing to adapt.
Gigster’s Talent on Demand offers staff augmentation for organizations looking to augment their existing development teams with specific expertise and additional resources to help complete their critical projects. Reach out to start planning your software development in 2025.
