It is no secret that the new world of work runs on technology. Innovation is one of the core puzzle pieces of the Future of Work, and, with the wide variety of new platforms available to optimize how work is done, the contemporary business relies on both fresh thinking and evolving technology to push itself closer to true business agility.
It’s interesting to see how far contingent workforce management (CWM) technology has come over the past decade, specifically Vendor Management Systems (VMS). In fact, it’s even difficult to recall that the inception of VMS was merely “eProcurement for staffing suppliers,” especially in light of the advancements to this platform in recent years.
Beeline, one of the largest providers of VMS technology, held its annual user conference at the Omni Plantation Resort on beautiful Amelia Island (near Jacksonville, Florida) earlier this week. On the heels of last year’s loaded event (its first user conference post-IQNavigator merger), it was no surprise that the solution had much to announce in alignment with the future of workforce management. During his opening remarks, Beeline CEO and President Doug Leeby admitted that 2017 was a “rough year” from the standpoint of merging two legacy and once-competitive platforms under the same banner program…however, the news about to shared proved that the solution had overcome one of its most critical convergence challenges.
“The world [of work] is different now,” Leeby said. “We should be able to anticipate what you need and serve that up.”
Perhaps the highlight of the event was the announcement of Beeline One, the provider’s new unified interface that is essentially the culmination of over a year of work on the “Horizon” project, the company’s microservices approach towards unifying all of the software architecture (artificial intelligence, data, core services, etc.) that runs Beeline’s wide range of functionality, including both the Beeline VMS and IQNavigator VMS platforms. Beeline’s SVP of Strategy, Colleen Tiner, announced that the year-long project was finally complete, and would allow its users a single, unified access portal with a single login. From Beeline Assistant (the platform’s AI-enabled assistant) and its Credible hub to the core functionality of both VMS platforms (including its SmartView analytics, services procurement/SOW tool, and the Rate, Time, and Expense (RTE) offering), Beeline One will allow all of the solution’s users a single access point to all of the software’s main features. As Tiner had also mentioned, Beeline One enables something that supports the notion of business agility: the ability to “search without boundaries.”
“We continue to focus on being the best global solution for the non-employee workforce and by doing so, we have refined our talent-focused strategy to include technology that is accessible anywhere and everywhere,” said Leeby. “Regardless of platform, supplier, MSP, or talent provider, all Beeline users now have one unified experience which grants visibility, enables functionality, and helps users to work smarter.”
Throughout the conference, the Beeline team also confirmed its continued passion for its partner ecosystem (including some of the globe’s largest Managed Service Providers (Allegis Group, Bartech/Guidant), as well as several online staffing platforms (such as Toptal)), further allowing the platform to enable its users with a streamlined and holistic path to the Future of Work.
“Beeline is tremendously grateful for the tribe of clients, prospects, partners, and analysts that attended Beeline Conference 2018,” said Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies for Beeline. “We’ve heard great reviews regarding the learning and networking that attendees experienced and there’s tremendous excitement to start using Beeline One with its abilities to connect all of Beeline’s platforms and features in an amazing new user interface.”
Also announced was an in-development project called “Beeline Graph,” a way for the platform’s users to address the perpetually “broken” foundation of job descriptions, which often results in a misalignment of candidates to enterprise projects. Beeline Graph will leverage AI functionality to analyze candidate choices, successes, and failures, and help users better articulate the specific needs for future talent.
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