It’s been six-and-half months since the New England Patriots reigned supreme and captured the Super Bowl LIII crown with a stunning defensive performance against the Los Angeles Rams. The preseason may only be a couple of weeks old, but as the summer winds down, most football fans are focused on one thing: developing what they hope will be a successful fantasy football team for the 2019 NFL season. Today’s article is a fun mashup of Future of Work discussions and the realm of fantasy sports.

The Future of Work has become more than a concept; now, it is a movement that has dramatically transformed the day-to-day operations of the modern business. The Future of Work reflects the dynamic progressions of the contemporary business and has sparked a new focus on how work gets done from workforce, innovation, and strategic perspectives. In 2019, the vast majority of businesses (81%) are focused on achieving real business agility, which translates into pressing need for real-time, on-demand, and dynamic approaches to how they react to both traditional and emerging competitive challenges.

If the Future of Work were a football team, how would we draft a fantasy lineup that would give us the best chance to succeed? Let’s take a look:

• For the quarterback slot on our Future of Work Fantasy Team, we’re taking Vendor Management System technology. VMS technology has long been the “nexus” of contingent workforce management, much as the QB position is the veritable “game manager” and de-facto leader of the team. In an age when the non-employee workforce has a direct link to the Future of Work movement, VMS solutions are actively helping to enable next-generation functionality via artificial intelligence-led analytics and on-demand CWM processes. VMS technology today serves the QB of the typical contingent workforce program.
• Of course, the wide receiver position has a profound impact on the game through its innovative measures, helping offenses rack up points with agile displays of athleticism. Our second-round pick goes to digital staffing technology. Digital staffing represents a pure path to the “agile workforce”: on-demand talent acquisition, automated curation of talent pools, and an enhanced alignment between open roles/projects and available, high-level talent. As the wide receiver position will continue to spark offensive innovation in football, so will digital staffing in the realm of talent and work. (Be sure to check out the Digital Staffing Technology Advisor for more ideas on how digital staffing is playing a role in the Future of Work movement.)
• For the third round of the Future of Work Fantasy team, we need a “bell-cow” running back that can carry out the many duties the offense requires. For this reason, Managed Service Providers (“MSPs”) are our pick here. The MSP model is actively evolving; what once was a traditional outlet of operational efficiency has become an offering that is driving effectiveness across the Future of Work spectrum. So-called “bell-cow” running backs are seen as stalwarts that, essentially, “get the job done.” MSPs have done so for years for their users, and, as the Future of Work takes hold, these solutions will continue to do so in the face of transformational shifts across work and talent.
• In today’s NFL, the passing attacks of many teams are seen as innovative approaches that are taking the league into another era. Tight ends are seen as pass-catchers more than the historic run-blockers of yore; our fourth-round pick goes to artificial intelligence. Not every team leans on their tight ends for innovative play-calling, but the ones that do typically rack up more points and have a deeper arsenal of strategies to outduel opponents. Similarly, not every business leverages AI, but the ones that do are actively driving predictive intelligence, enhancing tactical tasks, and augmenting key components of their organization’s core processes and competencies.
• Any fantasy team needs a stout defense, so compliance and risk mitigation solutions occupy our fifth-round pick. What’s the main result of a Gig Economy-fueled world of talent that is trending towards agile workforce territory? A continued increase in the utilization of non-employee talent, which requires proper compliance and risk mitigation capabilities to ensure proper relationships between talent and employers. Just as the typical football defense is courageous and battle-tested, so too are the compliance and risk mitigation solutions that can help enterprises understand global compliance regulations and protect them from various labor-led risks.
• For our sixth-round pick, we’re choosing intelligent automation to spark true Future of Work efficiency. In the latter rounds of fantasy football drafts, “sleepers” are typically chosen, based on the idea that they are low-risk, high-reward picks. Make no mistake about it: intelligent automation is an incredible value pick here in the sixth round. The deep “ecosystem” of autonomous operational actions enabled by intelligent automation (machine learning, robotic process automation (RPA), etc.) are actively driving efficiency across all areas of work optimization, which, of course, is the very foundation of the Future of Work movement.
• A seventh-round pick and rounding out the Future of Work fantasy team, we select a flexible and innovation-ready business culture. Much like today’s NFL teams are blending innovation with new types of thinking, the businesses of 2019 must execute internal transformations in order to truly optimize how work is done from talent, technology, and business strategy perspectives. An innovation-ready culture embraces new technologies and solutions, while a flexible business culture understands the real value of new and exciting concepts across all aspects of talent and work (including employee engagement, the talent experience, digitally-enabled remote work, embracing the generational shifts in the workforce, etc.).

To learn more about the Future of Work and related technologies, download the State of Contingent Workforce Management research study. And, be sure to check out the Digital Staffing Technology Advisor, Ardent’s newest report on the emerging impact of digital staffing and on-demand talent solutions.

Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, Future of Work, Innovation, Process, Technology