Maintaining a strong website requires precision, collaboration, and expertise, from safeguarding data to ensuring accessibility and compliance with industry regulations. For many mission-driven, healthcare, and corporate teams, hiring an outside agency for a large website build can feel risky, especially if past experiences led to sites that didn’t meet their needs or felt disconnected from their mission. Their biggest fear is that they’ll end up with a site built in a way their internal team won’t be able to edit, support, or extend on their own.
To avoid these challenges, many organizations turn to staff augmentation to get the support they need while retaining control of the development process. It allows internal teams to maintain their autonomy while gaining the extra hands or niche expertise—like Drupal development or ADA compliance—needed to bring a website to life.
This guide explores the benefits of staff augmentation for website support and how Kanopi Studios integrates with your team to help you achieve your most ambitious digital goals.
What is staff augmentation for web teams?
Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy in which an organization temporarily hires external specialists to supplement its in-house web design, development, and marketing team.
4 key benefits of the staff augmentation model
Instead of outsourcing an entire project, staff augmentation provides targeted support where it’s needed most, whether that’s design, development, accessibility, or ongoing maintenance.
It’s a model that offers important benefits for teams, allowing them to:
- Maintain control over your website’s vision and execution.
- Boost team capacity to meet tight timelines or handle larger projects.
- Fill skills gaps with specialized expertise, such as compliance with ADA accessibility standards or HIPAA regulations.
- Collaborate seamlessly with professionals who integrate into your workflow without disrupting your team’s dynamic.
At Kanopi, we’ve been offering staff augmentation and support for years, assisting clients under pressure to deliver high-quality websites that serve users, staff, and stakeholders alike.
How Kanopi Studios integrates with in-house teams
Kanopi’s web specialists understand the stress created by aggressive timelines, resource constraints, and knowledge gaps. “Nimble” is one of our core values, and offering seamless staff augmentation is one of the many ways we embody it. We’ve successfully partnered with clients and other agencies to help them achieve their website goals. We love the challenge of blending our skills with client teams to help your internal staff perform heroic feats for your end clients.
Here are a few examples of ways we’ve supported clients and their in-house teams:
- Bringing expertise to fill gaps: A Fortune 50 company brought us in to develop custom Drupal modules, create secure API integrations for PPI compliance, assist with designs, keep projects on track, meet deadlines, and maintain high-quality standards.
- Collaborating under tight deadlines: When a hospital system’s in-house team was stretched thin during a major redesign, we stepped in to handle development work. We delivered on time while staying aligned with the team’s goals.
- Enhancing accessibility and compliance: A nonprofit provider needed updates to ensure its site met accessibility and HIPAA compliance standards. Our specialists joined their internal team to address gaps, ensuring the site was compliant, user-friendly, and patient-focused.
Examples of staff augmentation for website support
Through our robust website support services, we assisted the following organizations and their in-house marketing and web strategy teams.
The Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is a world-renowned museum and cultural institution located in New York City. The Frick website was suffering from outdated digital architecture and a rigid user experience.
We worked with the Frick Collection team to help them:
- Migrate to a newer version of Drupal
- Implement WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
- Modernize the media uploading process
As a result, the Frick team can now manage their website much more efficiently, with simplified landing pages, enhanced workflows, and strategic automation.
Flagler College
Flagler is a liberal arts college in St. Augustine, Florida. The Kanopi team conducted discovery work with Flagler and found that users were confused by the navigation experience and struggled to find information about programs and financial aid.
By collaborating closely with Flagler, we were able to:
- Enhance storytelling through visual cues like animations and color changes to highlight essential information
- Improve the internal search experience with a user-friendly interface
- Define clear user journeys using content that encourages exploration and engagement
Now, Flagler’s website has a fresh, modern design with improved page load speeds and navigation, creating a positive experience for all visitors.
International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)
The IOCDF supports people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by connecting them to resources and conducting research. The team at IOCDF wanted to expand their website’s services and modernize their resource directory to better serve their audience.
Through our partnership with the IOCDF, we were able to:
- Create a new, dynamic, scalable directory with a completely updated user journey
- Develop an interactive map to clearly display information about programs and therapists
- Empower the IOCDF team to update content quickly, easily, and independently moving forward
Our collaborative approach led to a website that gives both visitors and the IOCDF team a smooth user experience.
Is staff augmentation your best move?
Take this short quiz to find the most efficient way to scale your team and meet your deadlines.
Is Staff Augmentation Right for Your Team?
Answer 6 quick questions to see if external expertise is the key to your next project’s success.
Next steps
Even with a dedicated internal team, there are times when an extra set of hands or a niche skillset makes all the difference. If you have the vision but lack the specific technical hours to execute, staff augmentation is your most efficient path forward.
The Kanopi team is here to collaborate with your team, help you overcome resource challenges, and build a website that meets your current and future goals. Contact us if your latest project can use consulting services or assistance via our full spectrum of web services.
