The ultimate success of the modern business depends on the way its people, systems, and operations align to meet the dynamic needs of the global marketplace. Talent has long been the top competitive differentiator for businesses as they seek new ways to thrive in changing times. However, the “yin” to talent’s “yang” lies within an organization’s ability to not only leverage core automation to address internal efficiencies, but to also leverage innovative technologies and strategies that can help take its business into the future.

The drive for an agile workforce, including on-demand insights, better business outcomes, and, of course, work optimization, all preface an evolving business world that promotes the utilization of innovative platforms to not only augment, but enhance, how the enterprise addresses its critical projects and initiatives.

In 2019 and beyond, the desire for business agility continues to rule the way organizations address talent, technology, and work. This wish permeates how today’s businesses optimize how they engage their non-employee workforce, integrate and align those workers with the projects and endeavors that require top-tier skillsets, and ultimately build superior results. Technology is not only the glue to the Future of Work, but also a foundational component in how enterprises build, scale, and repeat. Business agility should no longer be a mere pipe dream for the typical enterprise in 2018, as the momentous advancements made in work-based technology (from digital and on-demand staffing to AI and machine learning) have allowed businesses to tap into a real-time network of talent and automation to address how work is done. Today and in the years that follow, innovation will not only be the gateway to the Future of Work…it will also serve as the opening to the changing world of work.

The Agile Workforce = A Major Talent Shift

There are incredible shifts occurring in the world of talent. Most significantly, 41.5% of the average organization’s total workforce is comprised of non-employee labor, a figure that is nearly double what it was roughly seven years ago. Compounded by the desire for an agile workforce that can be engaged and leveraged dynamically, as well as the continued effects of the Gig Economy, today’s talent is a key attribute of the Future of Work. Businesses crave scalability, top-tier expertise, and an on-demand workforce that can deliver in an efficient, effective, and cost-savvy manner. Simply put: the Future of Work doesn’t just run on talent, it thrives on the concept of an agile workforce that can help businesses truly optimize how work is done.

Ardent’s research points to the following characteristics to describe and define today’s agile workforce:

• Dynamic engagement. On-demand staffing outlets, digital staffing platforms, and talent marketplaces are revolutionizing the way companies find, engage, and source talent, however, more importantly, the dynamic nature of these solutions contributes an agile means to how work is addressed.
• Cost flexibility. Contingent labor has long been viewed as an “alternative” workforce strategy for spend-conscious hiring managers. However, the days of viewing non-employee workers as mere cost-effective talent are over; the cost flexibility of the agile workforce is one of its key benefits, for sure, however, this advantage is should only compound its on-demand nature.
• Adaptability. Projects require shifting skillsets for maximum effectiveness, leveraging various types of talent at different stages (which, in essence, is the very definition of agility). The agile workforce allows businesses to better adapt to dynamic requirements, a factor that boosts its incredible value to any organization.
• Productivity in its purest form. Non-employee workers are living in an age of flexibility, choosing to adopt a gig-based lifestyle that is borne of project-based work and independence from traditional employment models. Today’s agile workforce is focused on being as productive as possible, knowing that great work across its slew of projects and clients translates into massive gains when those outlets require their continued expertise for future endeavors.

To learn more about the agile workforce and its place in the Future of Work, 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, Innovation, Lists, Strategy, Technology