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Beeline’s Future-Forward Approach: Revolutionizing the Extended Workforce

Contingent WorkforceProcurementSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research routinely points to the realm of “total talent management” as a critical offshoot of the greater Future of Work movement. The very ideas around total talent, in which businesses effectively blend catch-all and centralized strategies and processes for end-to-end talent acquisition (both direct hire/FTEs and contingent labor) and talent management (again, both sides), are typically divisive in the industry.

This is why the Future of Work Exchange has pointed to “total talent intelligence” as a gateway of sorts to bigger total talent management programs and initiatives. And, a crucial piece of total talent intelligence is total visibility into the extended workforce and its many forms.

Beeline, a market-leading Vendor Management System (VMS) and extended workforce platform, unveiled its new and innovative “Global Workforce Intelligence” (GWI) offering, as well as a new offering targeted at mid-sized contingent workforce programs (“Beeline Professional”).

The availability of the GWI tool is a watershed moment for the workforce solutions arena, as Beeline’s new tool will provide business users with enhanced levels of visibility into the totality of the non-employee workforce. This is an especially welcomed innovation for the industry, as the extended workforce has grown so large and complex (49% of the average company’s total workforce), and, with the advent of “omni-channel talent acquisition,” become ever-spread across numerous channels and sources (such as expert networks, talent marketplaces, direct sourcing-developed talent communities and talent pools, etc.).

In a press release, Beeline’s CEO, Doug Leeby, stated, “We help companies overcome the complexities of the modern workforce. Beeline’s solutions are filling gaps that have previously hindered the optimization of the extended workforce, enabling organizations to maximize every member of their workforce and gain a clear competitive market advantage.”

Gaining access to true, real-time talent intelligence across all workforce systems (not just VMS tools) isn’t just a boon for the progressive enterprises seeking total talent transformation; GWI is a solution that enables so much more, including dynamic viewpoints of compliance, real-time labor risk assessments, and enhanced workforce planning (and workforce optimization).

Beeline’s other new offering, Beeline Professional, is aligned to small- and mid-sized extended workforce management programs (under $25M in annual contingent workforce spend) that require access to a powerful array of VMS and extended workforce functionality. Beeline Professional was developed with pre-designed dashboards, tools, reports (and analytics), and workflows that can be harnessed without typical enterprise software implementation efforts.

Ardent and FOWX research finds that nearly 90% of programs of this size experienced an increase in utilization of extended labor going into 2023; these programs are also facing a major technology gap, as nearly 70% of small- and mid-sized extended workforce programs lack the required automation to effectively optimize their contingent workforce to be better-aligned with work that needs to be done.

“For far too long, extended workforce solutions have catered to enterprises and ignored the unique needs of mid-sized programs,” said Leeby. “Using insights from over the last 20+ years in the industry, Beeline Professional is uniquely tailored to meet the core needs of mid-sized programs without compromising quality and innovation.”

Beeline’s new GWI and Professional offerings exemplify the company’s enduring dedication to workforce innovation, showcasing their profound, Future of Work-driven vision aimed at maximizing the extended workforce’s impact and value.

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A New Era of Innovation, Part IV: The Future of Work Awaits

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Over the past three weeks, the Future of Work Exchange has featured a series of articles that have highlighted the innovation occurring within the world of workforce management, talent acquisition, and staffing technology and solutions.

We live in a new era, one that is heralded by evolution, innovation, and acceleration…all part of the “Future of Work movement” that dictates how we work and how we thrive. Talent is the centerpiece of this movement, a veritable engine of sorts that drives innovation, sparks ideation, and facilitates competitive differentiation in a globalized market that thrives on expertise and top-tier skillsets.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

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A New Era of Innovation, Part III: The Next Generation of Workforce Solutions

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Over the past two weeks, the Future of Work Exchange has featured a series of articles that have highlighted the innovation occurring within the world of workforce management, talent acquisition, and staffing technology and solutions.

In a business world that is hyper-competitive and globalized, enterprises essentially run on talent. In such a corporate climate, there are many factors that can prohibit the modern enterprise from succeeding. Perhaps the largest of these is the major skills gap that exists within a majority of businesses today, and the inability to support critical projects and initiatives with necessary expertise.

In today’s rapidly evolving talent landscape, a plethora of channels has emerged, offering businesses a variety of options to source and manage their workforce. From digital staffing marketplaces and traditional staffing vendors to professional services, talent networks, and social media platforms, the choices are endless.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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A New Era of Innovation, Part II: Inside the Workforce Technology Revolution

Contingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Last week, the Future of Work Exchange featured a discussion about the technological revolution happening within the greater world of talent and work. In a world combining economic uncertainty, a candidate-centric focus, and continued evolutionary change in a post-pandemic business landscape, an organization’s workforce solution reliance is often what sets it apart from the competition.

Today, we focus on perhaps the most mature of all workforce solutions: Managed Service Providers (MSPs).

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Leverage Digital Staffing Expert Networks

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

Many times, it’s been said that having the right talent in the right place at the right time is paramount to a successful workforce strategy. While enterprises have often used traditional staffing firms to source candidates, this is no longer a viable option in today’s competitive labor marketplace. Instead, organizations are turning to digital staffing expert networks to recruit and hire candidates quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

Transformative Shift to Digital Staffing

The focus on skills-based hiring is helping drive the transformation toward digital staffing. The ability to gain access to candidates with specific skills, competencies, and experience on a global scale is game-changing for many enterprises.

According to a blog post from Upwork, a global digital staffing provider connecting businesses with independent professionals and agencies, says, “As the internet has become a staple in the lives of people around the world, it has also become a central component in the modern job search.

“With the ability to match independent professionals with the skills and experience to perform excellent work to companies looking for the talent that will fit their needs, digital staffing should be a central component in the talent search for companies of all sizes.”

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Strategic Workforce Planning Impacts MSP Effectiveness

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

The Future of Work is an all-encompassing paradigm that transcends any one area of talent acquisition and talent management. Thus, when developing a workforce planning strategy, it must comprise every department and role in the enterprise. Yet, few organizations approach such a strategy from a holistic perspective. This can be detrimental to an organization’s skills development initiatives, talent retention efforts, and overall collaborative effectiveness with MSP and VMS partners.

Lack of Enterprise-Wide Approach to SWP

A study released by eQ8, which provides a dedicated end-to-end SaaS solution for strategic workforce planning (SWP), revealed the criticality of having an enterprise-wide approach toward SWP. Here are a few of the major takeaways from the study:

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Technology Adoption an Accelerant for Future of Work

Direct SourcingGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

Within the last few months, coverage of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality have heated up. With apps such as ChatGTP, anyone can test the AI waters and its relevancy to workplace efficiencies. Recent Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research indicated the adoption of new workforce technology and solutions is an enterprise imperative for 68% of survey respondents.

One of the defining characteristics of the Future of Work is digitization. Enterprises are now operating with more remote and hybrid workplaces. Thus, technology is imperative to a cohesive and efficient workforce. What this means for the individual employee is more daily immersion in various technological platforms and solutions. Upskilling will be a critical aspect for workers as they harness more advanced technologies to communicate, collaborate, and execute their roles.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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FOWX Notes, May 5 Edition

General InsightsSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

Some picked-up pieces, news, and insights from across the evolving world of talent and work:

  • Magnit, a leading integrated workforce management platform that offers MSP, VMS, direct sourcing, services procurement, EOR, etc. solutions, announced the appointment of Teresa Carroll as its new CEO. Carroll spent nearly three decades at Kelly Services, where she served as President of Global Talent Solutions, and also served as President of Oasis, a Paychex Company. In a press release on Wednesday, Carroll noted, “I am excited to lead the business and look forward to working with the Magnit leadership team and Board of Directors to achieve our ambitious strategic goals. The opportunity that lies ahead for our business is tremendous. We will continue to focus on our guiding principle of driving the evolution of work through our unique position in the talent supply chain. I am confident about the continued success and the positive impact we will have on our clients, suppliers, workers, and other stakeholders.”
  • WorkLLama, technology provider of an AI-driven, talent marketing, relationship management, and direct sourcing suite, and High5, a leading provider of global talent solutions, together have formed a strategic partnership to bring direct sourcing and curation of talent to leading healthcare organizations. According to Sudhakar Maruvada, CEO and Founder of WorkLLama, “The healthcare industry has undergone a fundamental shift in the past few years. One of the biggest challenges is a shortage of workers to support it,” he says. “We believe our platform, along with High5’s unprecedented access to talent, will enable these organizations to find and engage the talent they so desperately require.”
  • Worksome, an external workforce management platform that helps enterprises compliantly hire and pay contractor workforces globally, announced the launch of revolutionary direct sourcing and global independent contractor compliance. According to Morten Petersen, co-founder and CEO of Worksome, “The current economic situation, coupled with a boom in contractors, means companies are expanding and leveraging their non-employee workforces to increase agility,” he says. “For our customers, having access to the global talent market to find the right skill sets —regardless of where the worker is operating from — is imperative when working at an enterprise level. This is why we’re introducing new functionality that provides an even more centralized approach to external workforce management,” Petersen adds.
  • Coupa Software, a leader in business spend management (BSM), announced that Rob Bernshteyn has departed the company after more than 14 years as CEO and Chairman. According to Bernshteyn, “It’s been the professional and personal privilege of my lifetime so far to lead this company and help to define Coupa’s community-driven strategy and vision. With Business Spend Management, my Coupa colleagues and I proudly galvanized an entirely new category of software innovation,” he said.
  • The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Future of Jobs Report 2023, revealing that over the next five years, the world will lose 83 million jobs but will create 69 million new positions. The survey included responses from 803 companies from across 45 economies. While a 2% reduction in worldwide employment is expected by 2027, job opportunities will grow for specialists in artificial intelligence and machine learning, sustainability, business intelligence analysis, and information security. The fields with the largest absolute growth are expected in education, agriculture, and digital commerce.
  • Worksome, an external workforce management platform that helps enterprises compliantly hire and pay contractor workforces globally, announced the launch of revolutionary direct sourcing and global independent contractor compliance. According to Morten Petersen, co-founder and CEO of Worksome, “The current economic situation, coupled with a boom in contractors, means companies are expanding and leveraging their non-employee workforces to increase agility,” he says. “For our customers, having access to the global talent market to find the right skill sets —regardless of where the worker is operating from — is imperative when working at an enterprise level. This is why we’re introducing new functionality that provides an even more centralized approach to external workforce management,” Petersen adds.
  • Tundra, a direct source curation provider, and Magnit are working together to create the a scalable direct sourcing solution. The partnership enables companies to leverage the power of their brands to attract and grow talent more efficiently through direct sourcing. According to Ryan Buma, EVP, Growth & Innovation at Magnit, “Magnit has a 30-year history of building tailored workforce management programs, and our partnership with Tundra will help us keep true to our mission to deliver what’s next to organizations and talent,” Buma said. “Bringing together these two powerful portfolios will enable the rapid growth of direct sourcing programs within client organizations, providing them with a critical competitive advantage across evolving hiring markets.”
  • Artificial intelligence is being integrated on many platforms and Salesforce is no exception. The company announced Einstein GPT, the world’s first generative AI customer relationship management technology. In a statement to Yahoo Finance Live, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said, “With this next generation of generative AI, what it means is that AI is going to be able to do even more for you. It can code for you. It can write letters for you if you’re a sales executive or a service executive. It’s going to be able to create content. There’s a lot of things that AI is able to do today that we couldn’t do 10 years ago.”
  • The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has obtained a default judgment in U.S. District Court in its sex discrimination lawsuit against Green JobWorks LLC, the federal agency announced today. According to EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence, “It has been almost 60 years since the passage of Title VII, yet many staffing agencies continue to believe that they can indulge discriminatory customer preferences and engage in stereotype-based selection practices with impunity — and they’re wrong,” she said. “The EEOC will continue to carefully scrutinize the conduct of staffing agencies and employers in construction-related industries and the skilled trades, and the agency will take forceful action to redress violations of federal law.”
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Optimize Your Staffing Suppliers

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalent Acquisition by John Yuva on

The contingent workforce is now an essential component of enterprise execution and competitiveness. For many organizations, direct sourcing or online marketplaces are a primary means of securing non-employee talent. However, enterprises continue to utilize traditional staffing suppliers as well. In some cases, these relationships are based on a long-standing foundation for sourcing contingent workers.

Staffing suppliers, however, come with their own risks and rewards. Ongoing oversight is necessary to ensure these relationships are optimized and the organization’s staffing and workforce goals are met. The following are several considerations when managing staffing suppliers for contingent workforce engagement.

Track supplier performance for greater optimization. There are metrics for a host of business processes; the same should be true of staffing suppliers and their impact on talent management goals. According to Prosperix, a provider of workforce innovation solutions, staffing suppliers are not just meeting a talent need but contributing to a total talent management ecosystem. As such, a service-level agreement (SLA) detailing specific performance metrics must be established with regular tracking to mitigate potential risks.

What performance metrics are critical and specific to staffing suppliers? Prosperix says four KPIs are the most important.

  • Submissions to Positions
  • Submissions to Interview
  • Submissions to Hire
  • Assignment Completion

“These KPIs measure each staffing supplier’s responsiveness, whether they source an appropriate number of candidates, the quality of those candidates related to open positions, and whether they source reliable hires who successfully complete their assignments. Any staffing vendor that does those well is a worthy partner,” explains Prosperix.

Gain transparency and flexibility with contingent workers. Similar to enterprises being unaware of their supply chain’s second- and third-tier suppliers, many organizations lack adequate HR tracking of the identity and location of their contingent labor. This lack of transparency puts the organization at great risk for fraud, theft, etc. Awareness of potential risks and global compliance issues when engaging with contingent workers are paramount.

Equally important is having flexibility for how and where contingent labor works and resides. Globalization and the technologies to bridge teams from afar only broaden the talent pool — a good thing for organizations and their total talent management objectives. “Increasingly, workers choose how they want to work. Accommodating freelancers, independent contractors, alumni, interns, and project workers for difficult-to-fill positions and establishing a network of suppliers across a larger geography helps expand recruitment pipelines and improves access to qualified talent,” Prosperix says.

Communicate with your staffing suppliers. Signing the contract with a staffing supplier doesn’t mean the relationship goes on autopilot. Quite the opposite. A staffing supplier should receive the same level of due diligence and supplier management as any critical supplier. Often, it requires weeks or months to adequately track performance and determine supplier effectiveness. Thus, it’s imperative to have specific staffing targets identified and communicated.

Communication is a basic tenet of any business relationship. However, with talent management and matching contingent workers with specific positions, a lack of communication between HR and a staffing supplier could mean a significant loss in revenue and training costs. A supplier could lack a quality talent pool of contingent workers or an absence of diversity in its mix of candidates. Today’s skills-based hiring also presents additional challenges for staffing suppliers. Does the enterprise require a specialized niche of skilled labor? If so, can the staffing supplier tap into a large talent pool with those skills? Effective communication can help mitigate potential risks and ensure the organization attracts contingent workers that meet its talent requirements.

Staffing suppliers remain a value channel for sourcing contingent workers. Like any supplier relationship, however, performance and optimization are only achieved if HR and business managers have their staffing needs clearly defined and communicated.

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What WorkLLama’s $50M Funding Means for the Direct Sourcing Arena

Direct SourcingSolution ProvidersTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Direct sourcing dominates many of the talent-oriented discussions in our wonderful industry today more so than ever before. Heading into the months before the pandemic began, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research found that direct sourcing strategies and talent pool development were the top two priorities heading into 2020.

The omniscience of those findings was on point: for the first 18 months or so of the pandemic, direct sourcing exploded due to its ability to drive real workforce scalability (in a time when it was needed most) and improve the candidate and hiring manager experiences. Now that the pandemic is waning and entering an endemic state, direct sourcing is still as vital as ever to businesses that focus on candidate centricity and a talent-led approach to workforce engagement.

Last week, WorkLLama, one of the industry’s leading direct sourcing technology platforms, announced that it had secured $50 million in funding (organized and facilitated by Fairpoint Partners). Now, funding in HR tech is not a rare event, however, within the direct sourcing space, this represents so much more than an innovative solution garnering significant funding.

WorkLLama’s suite of technology does not just fall under the greater “direct sourcing” banner, but rather reflects the “Direct Sourcing 2.0” model that Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange pioneered 18 months ago to reflect the next generation of innovation that has contributed to the future of the direct sourcing technology industry.

“I’ve been lucky to have been involved first-hand since direct sourcing was introduced to the market many years ago,” said Kevin Poll, WorkLLama’s SVP of Strategy and Business Development. “Fast forward to today and seeing the market demand for next-gen direct sourcing technology, it’s exciting and validates the market opportunity and the belief in our innovation and growth. Not only will we help all talent connect to meaningful work, but I’m also personally looking forward to how this investment will allow us to continue advancing the platform to help underrepresented communities.”

WorkLLama has become a leading direct sourcing platform not just because of their overall commitment to the arena, which has been apparent since they entered the enterprise market back in 2016, but rather because the company has leveraged progressive thinking to fuel a new era of direct sourcing, ATS, and end-to-end talent management functionality. The WorkLLama platform, including its unique Sofi bot, offers users with advanced functionality, artificial intelligence, access to superior talent, an enhanced candidate experience, and the enablement of repeatable and scalable direct sourcing processes all contribute to a more advanced direct sourcing program.

“WorkLLama was established in 2016 to solve long-standing challenges within the talent attraction, engagement, nurturing, and retention space,” said Saleem Khaja, COO and co-founder. “Since our inception, we’ve led with the most robust, client-centric, and configurable solution available, with a central mission to provide the highest-level consumer-like experience to talent. This funding is an important milestone in our journey to enable both organizations and talent to become even more successful.”

The massive level of funding here speaks volumes about the direct sourcing technology industry for several reasons:

  • Direct sourcing has moved beyond the “peripheral platform” spectrum within the talent technology ecosystem. Just a few years ago, direct sourcing solutions were considered peripheral technology; that is, platforms that contributed to extended workforce management and talent acquisition without the standing of Vendor Management Systems and HRIS solutions. Today, that has changed. WorkLLama’s funding is a direct reflection of the criticality of these platforms in driving better candidate outcomes and optimizing talent engagement and recruitment.
  • Artificial intelligence is now table-stakes for any technology in the workforce solutions market. One of WorkLLama’s leading-edge innovations is the application of AI and machine learning throughout the platform, which shines in its candidate nurture functionality and particularly its Sofi conversational bot. Sofi harnesses the power of AI to automate and facilitate candidate communication and engagement; the WorkLLama platform also leverages AI to catalyze digital recruitment and referral management, two attributes of direct sourcing that are crucial for programmatic success.
  • The candidate experience and the hiring manager experience are paramount. One of the more interesting developments in the direct sourcing technology arena is the commitment to and focus on “experience-led” aspects of talent acquisition. With a volatile labor market, the candidate experience is, of course, critical (something that WorkLLama achieves through its deep nurture and engagement functionality). What has also become important, however, is the hiring manager experience by arming these professionals (and other talent acquisition leaders) with robust offerings that can facilitate skills assessment, develop deep talent communities, and streamline talent engagement and hiring.

“CEO, CHRO, and CPO leaders face unprecedented challenges as they evaluate new workforce strategies to find and engage talent in today’s market,” said WorkLLama’s CEO and co-founder, Sudhakar Maruvada. “WorkLLama’s growth, especially in direct sourcing, shows that these leaders are invested in innovative solutions to keep up with the changing landscape of work and workers. This investment will allow us to continue to build on our key differentiators and mission of treating candidates like customers.”

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