Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks on CPO Rising, we’re publishing some “best of” 2019 articles as we reflect on the year and prepare for the new year ahead. 

There are several key forces pushing today’s businesses into a new era of work and talent, from the Future of Work movement and the “age of intelligence” to a desire to be agile and the continued growth and progression of the contingent workforce. In essence, the world of work is changing across every geography and every industry. Businesses are actively witnessing a multi-layered revolution of talent and technology that is changing the way enterprises operate. Revolutions in how they distribute their workforces to their means of driving intelligence and better overall outcomes, businesses are experiencing an incredible shift. The very Future of Work has become much more than a concept; now, it is a movement that has dramatically transformed the day-to-day operations of the modern-day business. And, it will continue to transform them in the years ahead.

The two key elements of the preceding paragraph (“talent” and “technology”) are the foundational attributes of why one emerging solution is actively transforming the very idyllic measures of the Future of Work: digital and on-demand staffing.

Ardent Partners research has been tracking the utilization of these on-demand marketplaces for the past several years and found that the general usage of digital staffing platforms has more than tripled over the past three years, proving that, in addition to workforce management stalwarts like Vendor Management Systems (VMS) and Managed Service Providers (MSP), digital staffing is a key contributor to the Future of Work movement.

So, the question at hand: why is digital staffing so important today?

In 2019, talent is more critical than ever, and no business can grow, scale, or win without the right talent in place. As companies prioritize expertise and skillsets when they address work-based needs, it is essential for businesses to understand the impact that staffing can have on business operations and business results. One of the hard shifts in the world of work is the enterprise’s desire to maintain a direct relationship and control over its entire workforce (both traditional and non-employee). Digital staffing platforms have emerged as a solution in the quest to engage the best-fit talent and maintain control over the acquisition process.

Digital staffing platforms have emerged as a key solution in the quest to engage the best-fit talent and maintain control over the acquisition process. In addition to true digital staffing platforms (which offer 100% automated access to talent via marketplaces and freelancer management functionality), the realm of “digital staffing” is actively evolving: digital staffing outlets are actively offering managed services as part of their overall suites, while traditional staffing providers are integrating digital-led services into their solutions. These “hybrid” models are helping to boost the adoption of new talent acquisition and engagement models and actively contribute to the shift happening in the greater world of talent.

Whether a solution offers a “bottom-up,” ready-to-engage network of talent, or provides “top-down” curation of independent workers and freelancers (and development of enterprise talent pools), digital staffing platforms play an incredibly vital role in the Future of Work movement, especially considering the level of true workforce management functionality now offered by these emerging platforms.

Ardent Partners recently published a first-of-its-kind research guide to the digital staffing solutions marketplace, the Digital Staffing Technology Advisor. Download it today to learn more about this critical avenue of workforce management and staffing technology, and to understand the major players in this exciting space.

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Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, Innovation, Strategy, Technology