To say that the contingent workforce industry has evolved considerably over the last decade is underselling the strategic importance of its progression. This isn’t a matter of simple advancements in the utilization of non-traditional talent or even the emergence of a newfangled means of gaining cost-saving enhancements. No, the contemporary contingent workforce is a strategic force, penetrating nearly every avenue of the modern enterprise while bringing high-quality, top-tier skill sets to corporate projects of all sizes and scope.
The contingent workforce of today traverses beyond the notion of “flexible” into something that’s much more dynamic. The average enterprise has a world of talent options at its fingertips, from traditional staffing suppliers and personal networks to social media, business networks, online labor marketplaces and “human cloud” offerings. These engagement sources represent a new mode of thinking for those business professionals tasked with contingent workforce management: migrate to where work is best done, no matter the source or the labor type.
Freelance talent has taken many shapes over the past decade within the modern business world; while some organizations barely rely on freelancers due to years-old misconceptions (i.e. “freelance talent is not always trustworthy from a quality standpoint,” a surely outdated premise considering how impactful non-employee talent is today), the arena of independent contractors and freelancers represents a supremely-skilled pool of veritable talent. And, as such, enterprises now find that when searching for top-tier skill sets, freelancers are more often than not an ideal option.
The technology landscape in contingent workforce management has, for years, been dominated by the likes of Vendor Management System (VMS) solutions and Managed Service Providers (MSP). VMS, in particular, has risen as a “nexus” of contemporary contingent workforce management due to its flexibility in handling traditional temporary labor, complex contingent labor (i.e. SOW) and independent contractors (all elements of Ardent’s Contingent Workforce Management Framework), as well as serving as a conduit to the future of the space (enabling specific elements of total workforce optimization and supporting the concept of Big Data).
Freelancer Management Systems (FMS) represent the “next wave” of CWM technologies to hit the market and support the ongoing evolution of the space. With freelancers and independent contractor-based talent expected to rise significantly over the next few years (remember: Ardent has predicted that non-traditional talent as a whole will represent 45% or more of the overall workforce within the next few years), FMS solutions have emerged as freelance-specific offerings that facilitate the engagement of these particular workers, support ongoing project management for initiatives linked to freelance talent (such as project status, tracking of milestones and ultimate payment) and the development of “freelancer pools” that can be tapped time-and-time-again.
Where do these solutions fit into the consistently-shifting CWM tech market? FMS platforms may be considered more of a niche offering in today’s environment, as most enterprises that are struggling with a general lack of control over their total non-employee talent may still be months, if not years, away from attacking the IC / freelance bucket of the CWM Framework as they continue to wrap their arms around complex contingent labor. However, for those companies that are seeking to gain another advantage over their CWM prowess and take their programs into a new dimension, the FMS platform is a dynamic, automated tool to tap into the burgeoning freelancer community while also gaining enhanced control over the compliance, cost and visibility issues often associated with these workers.
Waltham, MA-based OnForce, a provider recently acquired by Beeline (read our analysis here) offers its users a breadth of services, including a fully-managed freelance and IC workforce that is available on-demand from visibility and engagement perspectives (in fact, the integrated Beeline and OnForce suite intends to blend the capabilities of both platforms to address all contingent worker types). At Beeline’s recent user conference, the solution unveiled the “direct sourcing” capabilities that are powered by the integration with the OnForce platform. Read more about that here.
Work Market provides an end-to-end platform for engaging, contracting and managing freelance talent, while also enabling its users to group freelancer and ICs by skill set type, region and other “flavors” to support real-time talent engagement when specific skill sets are needed. Work Market’s analytics engine also provides deep-dive, agile intelligence regarding utilization of freelance talent and its cost, quality and compliance implications.
Field Nation, another FMS provider, has been making waves in the ever-evolving world of the non-employee workforce. Their platform has been tailored to allow businesses to directly-source (via the solution’s network of services, contractors, freelancers, etc.) talent for specific field-service projects, as well as other types of work. The Field Nation platform facilitates the best match for a project based on a series of requirements, including costs, timing, etc. The workers themselves can also utilize FN’s mobile capabilities to provide documentation of work completed. The company recently acquired Field Solutions, which will add to the breadth of their FMS capabilities.
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Tagged in: Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, People, Solution Providers, Technology
