Re-Inventing Staff Augmentation with Managed Services Evolve your thinking about IT staffing by Ian D. Sutcliffe, President, Champion Services There’s an interesting little secret about telethons. If no one is calling while the cameras are on the people staffing the phone banks, TV producers sometimes pipe in sounds of phones ringing. The people working the phones then pretend to be taking calls. Why? It creates the illusion of other people calling. They know that — as a viewer — you don’t want to feel like you’re the only person calling to donate or ask a question.

Building the IT staff you need Bill Koch The reality of the workplace is that you try to build a team for the projects you think you will have. Unless you have psychic abilities, you can’t predict what projects and emergencies will come down the road. How do you staff for the unknown? Without the proper resources, you don’t. This issue’s feature article shows a new model of IT staffing — staff augmentation — that allows you to focus on your core business while a qualified vendor provides the IT staff you need for any project or emergency. It’s a new way of building your IT team that will save you money and headaches. Last month, we asked how you can retain your best people and decrease turnover rates. Your responses show that money and perks do not always keep employees on your team. This month, we ask how you deal with managing a project where you’re in over your head. Do you admit your weaknesses or put on a brave front? We need your best advice. We welcome your involvement, so please provide your best advice to business dilemmas posed by our readers or present a problem you’re currently facing. Real experience from the field helps everyone succeed. Please let me know how successful we are at including articles that are relevant to your professional life by taking a 1-minute reader survey, and you could win an iPod Shuffle. If you would like to unsubscribe to this newsletter, click on link at bottom.