Earlier this year, we initiated the first of our planned 20 for 2020 series’ as an echo to the 10 for 2010 series that we used to launch this site. That first 2020 series focused on the key themes and ideas that Chief Procurement Officers should have on their agenda this decade. This second series focuses on “Key Providers in the 2020s” which you can think of as (borrowing from Supply and Demand Chain Executive and countless others), the 20 “Solution Providers to Know” this decade. Up next: Utmost.
Key Provider in the 2020s – Utmost
Founded in 2018, Utmost is a multi-tenant, cloud-native enterprise solution that facilitates end-to-end management of the extended workforce natively integrated with the Workday platform. By automating and facilitating compliance management, project-tracking, performance measurement, worker verification classification, sourcing, engagement, and payment for all categories of external workers, Workday users can build a technological foundation for total talent management.
Total Talent Visibility = Agile Workforce Planning
“Visibility into the total talent pool is what enables organizations with the ability to react dynamically to real-world challenges (and opportunities) in an adept fashion. As businesses reconfigure their workforce options amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, those that have clearer visibility into the structure of their workforce (both contingent and FTE) are the ones that can better understand how to address critical shortfalls and knowledge gaps, and, most crucially, how to react to volatility in the global market due to the pandemic’s economic impact.” – Ardent Partners Research
Total talent management, also known as total workforce management, is a concept that has polarized many HR and procurement executives over the past several years. As more and more organizations experience a rise in the use of non-employee talent, they are finding that their “blended workforce” grows in size, scope, and business impact. As the average contingent workforce utilization rate approaches half of the total workforce (today, it comprises 43% of the average workforce), the need for a total workforce program becomes both more critical and more obvious…however, in 2020, Ardent Partners recommends that businesses begin with a much more fluid and “simpler” path to total talent success: total talent intelligence.
The Utmost platform’s main differentiator is that it can harness the power of both full-time employee and non-employee data seamlessly, presenting users with a real-time interface that enables dynamic workforce planning. Clients can view worker classification status by region or location and better understand the depth of the extended workforce across all business units. In a day and age when it is critical to know who is working within specific projects and initiatives from both compliance and safety/health perspectives, this intelligence is vital in understanding the true total talent makeup of the greater enterprise.
Utmost (which is ISO27001 Certified) is able to capture all this information by providing a guided process for managers to request any category of non-employee talent. With one single place, connected directly to Workday, Utmost meets managers where they are for maximum speed and efficiency. The data that is captured in the request is available through onboarding for determining the correct provisioning requirements, creating process efficiency.
Enabling Deeper Workforce Analytics
The notion of “business agility” is founded on more than the ability to make decisions quickly; in fact, true business agility is enabled when executive leaders can execute more intelligent decision-making dynamically Utmost’s core philosophy revolves around this attribute, as the platform provides its users with configurable and real-time dashboards that present a “total view construct” of the organization’s total extended workforce. Through its inherent integration and linkage with Workday, Utmost actively pushes deep and actionable intelligence related to:
- Worker compliance anomalies (alerts that spark user action to rectify a lack of certifications, compliance lapses, etc.).
- Project management for initiatives supported by non-employee talent.
- Supplier management and supplier optimization, and;
- Contingent workforce spend management.
Utmost’s unique outlook on extended workforce management technology, and the intelligence gleaned from its efforts, is vastly effective in supporting more agile workforce planning.
Enhancing the Value of the Contingent Workforce
One of the core differentiators of the Utmost platform is its ability to “champion” a client’s non-employee workforce in such a way that it is inherently linked to critical projects and initiatives across the greater organization. The solution’s unique value proposition (a contingent workforce solution directly integrated with and “sitting on top of” an HRIS platform) is a boost to the value of the contingent workforce; through a seamless convergence with Workday Extend, its users can channel the high-impact skillsets and expertise of non-employee talent via enterprise talent pools for simple recruitment.
As businesses continue to navigate an uncertain business landscape, the communication and collaboration enabled with talent pool candidates is a valued capability in reducing onboarding costs and improving time-to-fill metrics.
The Outlook for Utmost
Utmost sits in an interesting position within the pantheon of workforce management technology. Its executive team, comprised of HR software veterans and contingent workforce technology experts, and buoyed by a vast wealth of deep human capital expertise, understands the Future of Work and the criticality of total workforce management within that movement.
In a short period of time, Utmost has proved that it is a valuable tool for businesses that desire total workforce management capabilities. With a focus on total talent intelligence, extended workforce visibility, and a product roadmap that will further enable contingent workforce management efficiency, Utmost is primed for success in the months and years ahead, and is one of Ardent Partners’ Key Providers in the 2020s.
RELATED RESEARCH
Contingent Workforce Weekly, Episode 502: A Conversation with Dan Beck, COO and Co-Founder, Utmost
The Reality of Contingent Workforce Growth in 2020 (Part I)
The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the Contingent Workforce Industry
