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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:

  • While all areas surveyed saw a greater increase in meeting their objectives using an SWP provider, the relative difference in forecasting future skills between those leveraging SWP technology and those who did not was 135%.
  • While one in two companies report focusing on upskilling and reskilling their current workforce, only 18% report having an excellent view into skill gaps through workforce planning to achieve future success.
  • Despite the increase in investment in the Future of Work with 72% of companies reporting increased investment, 60% of companies do not feel prepared.
  • While 85% of companies reported increased investment in SWP, only 52% are creating a consistent, company-wide approach, and only 14% of companies take a strategic, long-term approach to their workforce planning initiatives.

According to Alicia Roach, CEO and co-founder of eQ8, “Strategic workforce planning is all about driving a fundamental shift where organizations see their workforce as an asset,” she said.

“When we treat our workforce as something that creates value, achieves strategic and operational imperatives, and delights customers, we are better situated to meet our long-term goals for success. There is an innate knowing that the organization cannot get where it needs to go without its people.”

SWP for Effective Partnership Execution

Employees are a critical piece to workforce planning execution, as are managed service providers and vendor management system partners. These external partners rely on an effective workforce planning strategy to meet the talent needs of the organization. The following are several ways a holistic SWP initiative is not only necessary but essential to MSP and VMS partner effectiveness.

First, workforce planning helps MSPs and VMS providers align the demand for contingent workers with the available supply. By analyzing historical data, market trends, and client requirements, these partners can anticipate the need for specific skills and adjust their talent pool accordingly. This ensures a quick response to client demands and delivers the right talent at the right time.

Second, MSPs and VMS providers can better optimize talent acquisition and management costs through an effective and enterprise-wide strategic workforce plan. By forecasting demand and analyzing labor market conditions, they can identify cost-effective sourcing strategies, negotiate favorable rates, and avoid excessive labor oversupply or shortages — leading to controlled expenses and consistent service quality.

Third, SWP leads to the development of a diverse talent pool. MSPs can identify skill gaps, assess future talent needs, and implement strategies to attract, recruit, and retain skilled professionals. By nurturing relationships with candidates, they can build a strong talent pipeline, ensuring a steady supply of qualified workers to meet client requirements.

Lastly, workforce planning plays a vital role in ensuring compliance with labor laws, regulations, and client-specific requirements. MSPs and VMS providers need to navigate complex legal and regulatory landscapes, such as employment contracts, tax obligations, and worker classification. Integrating compliance considerations into their planning process can mitigate risks and avoid potential legal and financial consequences.

While on the surface, workforce planning can appear as a step within the Future of Work paradigm. However, it goes much deeper than that. Enterprise-wide SWP is foundational for Future of Work execution. Without it, organizations and their MSP and VMS partners are throwing darts in the dark to decide what skills exist, where talent resides, and how best to deploy it. Gain control and a proactive approach to SWP with a holistic mindset that includes input and sharing of information with MSP and VMS partners.

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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.

Digital employee experience (DEX) is a term that describes how effective workers are in using digital tools. DEX is a growing area of interest as companies adopt a plethora of digital tools to augment their dispersed workforces. Companies want to ensure the tools they have integrated into the workplace are intuitive and enhance worker productivity.

Tom Haak, director at the HR Trend Institute, says, “Technology offers enormous opportunities to improve the life of people in and around organizations. In HR, the focus is still too much on control and process improvement, not enough on really improving the employee experience.”

Today, with remote and in-person workers, enterprises must bridge those two environments and focus on technologies that both attract and retain workers regardless of where they work. Technology that supports the Future of Work comes in a variety of forms. Often, artificial intelligence (AI) permeates many digital solutions, providing automated processes and data outputs for better workforce decision-making.

Throughout the remainder of the year, the Future of Work Exchange will be highlighting several technologies from blockchain to e-wallets, and how they impact Future of Work strategies. However, the following are technologies that business leaders and employees are using now and, in the future, to enhance the DEX and drive workplace efficiency and community.

Communication and Collaboration

The COVID-19 pandemic put communication and collaboration to the ultimate test. Enterprises and employees experienced first-hand the potential of digital communication as they grew accustomed to using Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. These platforms proved that remote work could, in fact, be accomplished with the same productive and strategic outcomes as in-person work models. It is one of the major reasons why remote and hybrid workforce options were embraced by enterprises post-pandemic.

There are several communication and collaborative tools to serve the enterprise and its remote and in-person workforce. Basecamp provides both a communication and collaborative platform to keep projects on schedule and lines of communication open. Trello also makes project management run smoothly regardless of where an employee is based.

Beyond these more common collaborative solutions, companies are utilizing chatbots for internal use for collaborative purposes and employee support. ServiceNOW, for example, offers its Virtual Agent solution to bring people to the same collaborative workspace or provide answers to employee questions.

Another evolving collaborative offering is the virtual whiteboard for use during company and team meetings. Companies such as Miro, MURAL, and Stormboard provide effective tools for diagramming and presenting in real time.

Big Data (Predictive and People Analytics)

Volumes of data flood enterprises from a variety of sources. For HR and other business leaders, big data is crucial to their Future of Work strategies, generating analytics across the talent acquisition and talent management landscape. Predictive analytics, for example, will grow as a key component of direct sourcing initiatives to curate a pipeline of potential job candidates.

According to a post on the Future of Work Exchange (FOWX), “While predictive analytics are not commonplace today, soon, a majority of enterprises will look to scenario-building as a way to enhance overall talent intelligence. Predictive analytics, in this realm, will augment the organization’s overall knowledge of its in-house skills as well as the expertise available externally (across all talent communities, including talent pools).”

Where predictive analytics will help prepare the enterprise for its future talent needs, people analytics are necessary to understand how employees are embracing digital tools and applications. Are shared applications being utilized by the workforce? Is there participation in virtual workspaces? What are employee sentiments around an enterprise’s digital transformation? People analytics help answer these questions and provide key insights into employee productivity, well-being, and digital adoption.

Virtual Reality

In a previous post, FOWX explored the possibilities of the metaverse. Virtual reality will stretch the limits of employee interaction and community. Virtual workspaces where employee avatars can converse and strategize are likely to come to fruition in the coming years. It levels the playing field for remote and in-person employees by creating a setting for everyone regardless of location.

Artificial intelligence is also a major piece of the virtual reality offering. Currently, employees can create an avatar to complete repetitive tasks using AI or communicate with customers to answer product questions. As technology advances, the potential influence of virtual reality on the Future of Work will only increase. Today’s chatbots are just the beginning of how enterprises can leverage the virtual world and bridge humans with AI.

Just as the Future of Work evolves, so too will the technologies that support it. There are dozens of software applications on the horizon to benefit business leaders and their employees. Explore the options and how they align with your workforce strategy.

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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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FOWX Notes, March 3 Edition

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

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

  • Direct sourcing and workforce solutions platform WorkLLama announced a series of $50M strategic investments. The new funds will enable the innovative tool with a variety of advantages, including possible acquisitions, a continued commitment to direct sourcing innovation, etc. This level of investment translates into the ability for WorkLLama to continue its long track record of progressive automation in the digital recruitment and total talent management arena.
  • Opptly announced that it is has completed its the integration of its platform with major extended workforce and VMS solutions provider Beeline. The integration with Beeline’s direct sourcing API suite will deliver an advanced, seamless means of connecting enterprises with the best-aligned, best-fit talent via Opptly’s industry-leading AI-fueled functionality.
  • Talent management platform LiveHire announced its acquisition of Arrived Workforce Connections, Inc. Arrived’s shift management and mobile-led matching application will be powerful addition to LiveHire’s already-robust suite of offerings. In corresponding news, Arrived’s CEO, Jennifer Byrne, will join LiveHire as its Global Chief Product and Technology Officer. Antonluigi “Gigi” Gozzi, LiveHire’s co-founder, Executive Director, and Chief Product and Technology Officer, will transition out of his executive role.
  • The Fed’s record rate hikes have done little to cool the hot job market, as unemployment claims dropped once again. A seventh straight week of claims under 200,000 means that unemployment has remained at a level not experienced since 1969.
  • Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based software investment firm, has officially completed its acquisition of business spend management (BSM) platform Coupa Software. Announced back in September, Thoma Bravo has finalized the massive $8B transaction. Coupa’s wide range of spend management offerings includes Coupa Contingent Workforce, its dedicated VMS tool for the extended workforce industry.
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A Time for Workforce Management Innovation

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

Humans are what drive the Future of Work today. What it all comes down to, in essence, is that a business relies on its people to get work done, to survive, and to thrive. The workforce has undergone some seismic shifts over the past several years, from the rise of the extended workforce to non-employee talent becoming a source of real enterprise agility.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has discovered that 82% of businesses leveraged more contingent workers and sources of external talent in 2022 than in 2021, a powerful statistic that represents the relative power of the extended workforce, its overall value, and its impact on enterprise operations.

Considering that the specter of an economic recession lingers, as well as Year Four of the Pandemic That Will Not End, this means that now, more than ever before, businesses will require Best-in-Class strategies and solutions for engaging the best-fit, best-aligned talent, and, of course, managing it in a frictionless way.

What this means, of course, is that the workforce solutions market is what will set the tone for enterprises as they reimagine their outlook for 2023 and ensure that talent-fueled agility is the foundation for success in the year ahead.

The great news, though, is that this technology industry is abound with innovation. Heavyweight platforms like Beeline bring cutting-edge workforce management functionality and a talent-centric focus that will assist enterprises in achieving true total workforce management, while solutions such as Magnit seamlessly connect top-tier direct sourcing, services procurement, DE&I, total talent intelligence, and VMS technology under a frictionless platform approach. SAP Fieldglass continues to innovate around its idyllic blend of VMS, services procurement, and candidate management functionality, all of which are built on a foundation of high-powered analytics and intelligence offerings. Prosperix brings a truly unique “VMS network” vision to life through its next-generation solution, and VNDLY (a Workday company) converges procurement-centric solutions with the HR bliss of the Workday suite of technology. Coupa Software’s contingent workforce tool is an exemplary confluence of VMS technology, business spend management automation, and real-time talent visibility.

Technologies like Opptly are redefining talent acquisition via artificial intelligence-fueled functionality and dynamic candidate matching tools. LiveHire represents the convergence of deep direct sourcing, ATS, and CRM technology and real total talent management solutions. WorkLLama is a strong reflection of “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” in which robust, end-to-end workforce management technology catalyzes progressive candidate-focused functionality. HireGenics brings the power of enterprise brand management, “MSP 4.0” innovation, and diversity-led solutions to the direct sourcing arena. Worksuite (formerly Shortlist) continues to provide enterprises with an all-in-one, flexible platform that combines the power of VMS, digital staffing, and services procurement. HireArt’s unique approach converges workforce management functionality with forward-thinking talent curation, direct sourcing, and compliance management tools.

The realm of digital staffing is also actively contributing to the workforce innovation arena. Upwork, a giant in the talent marketplace solutions landscape, offers wide-scoping workforce management technology that is built on perhaps the world’s largest talent community. Toptal continues to revolutionize what “workforce agility” means to the modern business by enabling development of fully-scalable teams of top-tier, remote talent. The Mom Project’s continued evolution reflects their commitment to diverse talent acquisition, streamlined talent engagement operations, and Best-in-Class enterprise technology. Talmix leverages global talent intelligence and next-level automation to revamp the talent acquisition process.

Catalant‘s Expert Marketplace is more than a digital staffing solution, offering 80,000+ experts and freelancers in an enterprise platform that facilitates project-scoping, team management, payments, and compliance and risk management. GR8 People‘s innovative “Everyone Platform” is a stout, end-to-end tool that encompasses the best of recruitment technology, direct sourcing, ATS, and CRM that enables total talent management and a revolutionary candidate experience.

Artificial intelligence and next-level analytics are now front-and-center in the world of workforce management technology. HiredScore is an AI-fueled platform with “talent orchestration” technology that is perfectly-aligned with the evolving world of work’s need for real-time talent intelligence. Glider.ai continues to revolutionize candidate intelligence through assessment, interviewing, and engagement innovation.

With talent as the very nexus of the contemporary enterprise in 2023 and a linchpin to true business and workforce agility, organizations have access to the dynamic solutions that can transform talent acquisition, reimagine talent engagement, and spark next-generation workforce management.

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Managing the Extended Workforce Requires Agile Automation

Solution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining VMS and extended workforce platform Beeline for an exclusive webcast focused on transformative technology’s role in the Future of Work movement. Alongside Lesley Walsh, the solution provider’s VP of Client Relationship Management, the event discussed how the new world of work and talent requires agile automation to navigate an uncertain 2023, as well as the role of extended workforce technology in supercharging contingent workforce management (CWM) programs and initiatives.

Lesley and I not only chatted all things Future of Work (including the state of work today, the volatile labor market, etc.) and “human”-led concepts (such as empathy-driven leadership and more flexible, human-focused enterprise thinking), but also revealed some brand-new research findings from the Ardent Partners/Future of Work Exchange research study, Why the Extended Workforce (and Future of Work) Requires Agile Automation…which can be accessed here. And, enjoy an excerpt below:

The Future of Work Exchange frequently states: “Flexibility is the Future of Work.” The ultimate state of “work optimization” is more than reimagining specific facets of enterprise operations. In essence, there are three main tenets of the Future of Work movement: 1) the evolution of talent engagement and talent acquisition, 2) the impact of new technology and innovation, and 3) the transformation of business leadership.

The extended workforce of 2023 comprises nearly half of the average company’s total talent (47.5%); the growing size and strategic impact of this workforce requires that businesses leverage tactical and strategic efficiencies to get work done effectively and adeptly. Extended workforce management, much like typical CWM, requires end-to-end efficiencies and high flexibility. These operational elements allow executive leaders to shift, scale, and re-form their workforce initiatives as shifts in economic and global markets arise.

In 2023, the fluid and evolving nature of the extended workforce means that businesses must navigate uncertainty while ensuring that top-tier talent is engaged and sourced effectively. While more mature CWM programs can withstand these new, converged pressures, all businesses must move from tactical to strategic when engaging and managing their extended workforce to drive the most value from these unique skillsets and expertise.

“Traditional” elements such as cost savings and time-to-fill rates are obviously crucial attributes to any extended workforce management program. However, it is the way enterprises blend contemporary nuances of today’s evolving talent architecture that determines how they will thrive in 2023.

Download the new research study here, and, if you missed last month’s webcast with Beeline, check out an on-demand replay here.

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Key Providers for 2022: Talent Solutions TAPFIN

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

The Future of Work dictates one main measure: enterprises must evolve alongside specific global factors or fail to thrive in an increasingly-dynamic business arena. The world of talent and work has certainly played a major role in this progression, with many attributes of workforce management, talent acquisition, and talent engagement forcing businesses to reimagine the ways they find, source, and manage their candidates and workers.

Today, businesses require robust solutions that enable them with the proper tools and strategies to tackle this new world of work; “traditional solutions” are no longer considered as such, with Managed Service Providers (MSP) evolving in parallel to the ecosystem around them by providing deeper offerings such as direct sourcing, DE&I support, advanced services procurement, and next-generation talent acquisition.

Enter Talent Solutions TAPFIN.

Why They Were Selected:

Powered by staffing giant Manpower Group and driven by over 40 years of industry-leading success, Talent Solutions TAPFIN has long been a dominant player in the workforce management landscape. Its robust blend of contingent workforce/MSP, RPO, and Right Management offerings positions the company as a leader in the extended workforce industry.

The solution’s innovative PowerSuite technology stack allows the company to effectively blend its Best-in-Class offerings, while TAPFIN’s powerful IntelliReach analytics portal and data visualizer converges artificial intelligence-led data with various third-party sources (client, suppliers, market, etc. data) to provide customers with scenario-building and predictive analytics capabilities.

An early dynamo in the direct sourcing space, Talent Solutions TAPFIN also offers robust services and technology in this arena through the PowerSuite stack and a comprehensive ecosystem of top direct sourcing platforms.

In Their Own Words:

ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands – Manpower, Experis, and Talent Solutions – creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across more than 75 countries and territories and has done so for over 70 years. We are recognized consistently for our diversity – as a best place to work for Women, Inclusion, Equality, and Disability and in 2022 ManpowerGroup was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 13th year – all confirming our position as the brand of choice for in-demand talent.

Talent Solutions TAPFIN brings together our RPO, TAPFIN, and Right Management offerings to deliver technology-enabled, innovative workforce solutions to our clients. Our integrated solutions provide end-to-end, data-driven solutions for talent attraction, acquisition, development and upskilling, and retention at scale.

The Outlook:

Talent Solutions TAPFIN is a pioneer in two distinct senses: 1) it is still considered an original powerhouse MSP-led organization that was one of the first distinct managed service leaders in the market decades ago, and, 2) it has evolved its offerings in such a way that it is a true, Future of Work-oriented MSP that can provide innovative value to the modern business in many meaningful ways.

TAPFIN was one of the first MSPs to go to market with a remote work offering when the COVID-19 pandemic hit; in today’s frenetic world of work, the ability for an MSP to blend remote and hybrid work support into the fabric of its core solutions (such as how users engage, source, onboard, and track remote candidates) is a pure differentiator.

In addition to the aforementioned offerings, other attributes of Talent Solutions TAPFIN’s arsenal such as its advanced services procurement offering (which blends internal expertise and vested partnership approaches to boost negotiation power and enhance supplier relationships) and embedded DE&I prove that the solution is the ideal complement to a Future of Work-led business world.

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Key Providers for 2022: Magnit

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

In addition to the many accelerants brought about by the Future of Work movement over the past few years, there has been another evolution that has been steadily aligning itself alongside the greater transformation of work, talent, and business leadership: the full-on progression of Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management System (VMS) solutions and their parallel advancements with the fluid concepts of work optimization.

Enterprises today require advanced solutions that can not only transform the way they find, engage, source, and manage talent, but also technology that positions them to not only survive, but truly thrive as the business arena continues to evolve at a rapid clip.

Enter Magnit.

Why They Were Selected:

Over the past two years, Magnit (formerly PRO Unlimited) has redefined the “MSP” and “VMS” acronyms by introducing its Integrated Workforce Management Platform, an end-to-end platform that addresses the critical elements of contingent workforce management as well as services procurement, SOW management, direct sourcing, next-generation analytics, and intelligence-led service offerings.

When the solution rebranded to Magnit just two months ago, it represented a culmination of aggressive market activity that has coalesced into one of the market’s most robust workforce management providers. Through major industry acquisitions (WillHire, GRI, Workforce Logiq), unique partnerships (eightfold, Ceridian, etc.), and new product launches (Direct Source PRO, NorthStar, etc.), Magnit has reinvented the role of workforce technology within the Future of Work movement…and now has become a frictionless source of end-to-end automation and innovation.

In Their Own Words:

Magnit™ is a global leader and pioneer in contingent workforce management. Our industry-leading Integrated Workforce Management (IWM) Platform is supported by 30+ years of innovation, modern software, proven expertise, and world-class data and intelligence. It enables companies to optimize talent and diversity goals while achieving operational and financial success. With Magnit, companies can adapt quickly to the evolution of work to grow their extended workforce with greater agility, transparency, and speed. Visit magnitglobal.com.

The Outlook:

Two years ago, when the company was still known as PRO Unlimited, CEO Kevin Akeroyd laid out a firm vision for the solution’s future: become a true workforce management technology platform that could serve as a seamless foundation of automation and high-touch managed services for an evolving world of work.

Magnit has realized that bold vision and then some: the solution is a market leader that excels in several arenas, including driving real workforce agility, providing total talent intelligence, redefining talent acquisition, emboldening the power of advanced services procurement, and establishing a core foundation of dynamic functionality and white-glove service. The company has become a Best-in-Class center of transformation for key elements of the modern workforce, particularly direct sourcing, world-class data, and vigorous analytics that can drive strategic value.

The Future of Work movement is a progressive set of ideals that represents the convergence of technological and essential accelerants that have forever changed the way businesses get work done. Magnit is a true reflection of these transcendent advancements, serving as a quintessential platform for today’s revolutionary world of work and talent.

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