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Supporting the Future of Work Through Innovative Technology

Direct SourcingGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

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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Beeline to Acquire Utmost: Extended Workforce Tech as a Future of Work Nexus

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

When Stone Point Capital acquired Vendor Management System (VMS) giant and extended workforce platform Beeline back in the spring, CEO Doug Leeby alluded to the fact that the transaction and new ownership would allow the most mature independent provider of VMS technology to be more active and more aggressive in the software acquisition market.

Today, that first domino fell for Beeline, as they have announced plans to acquire fellow extended workforce solution provider, Utmost.

Utmost, founded in 2018, became a growing force in the VMS solutions market over the past couple of years due to its progressive and strategic approach towards extended workforce management and the convergence of HR- and procurement-led functionality, buoyed by its dynamic technology architecture. The Utmost platform boasts a wealth of innovative modules, including an omni-channel talent sourcing solution (“Front Door”), Global Workforce Intelligence (enabling true total talent intelligence), a reimagined services procurement tool, and a burgeoning talent technology ecosystem. For Beeline, this represents a robust opportunity to capture small- and mid-sized extended and contingent workforce programs by tapping into the unique nature of Utmost’s progressive functionality.

“The Future of Work is built on the technology that delivers on the evolution of talent engagement, talent acquisition, and talent management,” said Doug Leeby, CEO of Beeline. “Bringing Utmost’s innovative offerings into the Beeline umbrella of solutions will complement our extended workforce technology and provide our clients with even more value as they optimize they ways they get work done.”

Utmost’s hallmarks, including its ease-of-use automation, frictionless integrations, and quick implementations, will enable Beeline with the ability to tap into the small- and mid-sized markets by offering a nimble foundation of offerings that link directly with these organizations’ key pain points. “Companies in the mid-market require more agile solutions at a lower cost with enhanced access points,” said Leeby. “Beeline is a fantastic “work engine” with massive functionality; Utmost will help us meet the evolving needs of this specific market while keeping our main vision in scope with the ways talent and work are evolving.”

At the center of this major market acquisition are the core constituents of the new world of work: the HR, procurement, and talent acquisition executives that run extended and contingent workforce programs, the suppliers and partners that fulfill their needs for skillsets and expertise, and the talent that drives it all.

“Acquiring Utmost is a representation of the future of extended workforce management technology,” said Colleen Tiner, Beeline’s SVP Strategy. “The transformation of both platforms has been highly complementary from business and functionality perspectives. Combining our market experience with Utmost’s solutions will help Beeline to provide Future of Work-oriented and talent-centric technology to our clients and the market.”

Tiner added that one major result of the acquisition is harnessing the power of Utmost’s strong onboarding and provisioning workflows, as well as the solution’s unique services, and bringing those into Beeline’s extended workforce platform.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange analysis of the acquisition:

  • While there are several redundancies in functionality, the Utmost acquisition represents a way for Beeline to continue doing what is best known for: innovating. There were many logical acquisition targets for Beeline in the wake of Stone Point Capital’s purchase of the company earlier this year, including direct sourcing platforms and specialist solutions (such as AI-fueled software), however, the company chose to go big with the Utmost move. The core of this acquisition is actually quite simple: it will allow Beeline to continue its long track record of being a pioneer and innovator while expanding its existing scope of Best-in-Class extended workforce management technology.
  • “Total Talent Intelligence” becomes “Global Workforce Intelligence.” In the 2022 VMS Technology Advisor, we wrote: “Utmost offers the market’s deepest total talent intelligence through agile and dynamic dashboards that present users with the ability to pinpoint (with regional- and location-specific accuracy) the makeup of FTEs, contingent workers, professional services, independent contractors, etc. and make decisions and take action in real-time (i.e., anomalies regarding compliance, etc.).” Beeline will expand the realm of total talent intelligence through its powerful analytics, AI, and machine learning capabilities to bring its clients “Global Workforce Intelligence,” taking TTI a step or two further.
  • Beeline will have a clear pathway into the HR and talent acquisition markets. Contingent workforce management has never been a pure procurement play, but there was a time when the function dominated how the extended workforce was ultimately managed. Today, as the world of work and talent becomes more candidate-centric, technology platforms must place workers at the center of their models. The Utmost acquisition enables Beeline with crucial HR intellectual property and functionality, not to mention Utmost’s expected influence on Beeline’s greater product roadmap. The infusion of HR-oriented functionality into Beeline’s array of offerings, combined with a global workforce intelligence play that will surely draw the attention of C-suite leaders, make this deal a groundbreaking one for the industry.
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Key Providers for 2022: Prosperix

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

The world of talent and work is on an upward trajectory, with a vast majority of businesses actively anticipating the adoption of revolutionary strategies, platforms, and solutions to truly optimize the way they get work done. According to Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research, not only do 72% of enterprises expect to implement a “total talent acquisition” strategy before 2024, but 76% of businesses also anticipate extending HR- and talent-acquisition-like competencies and experiences into their extended workforce management programs within the next 18 months.

What does this mean? Enterprises across the globe crave innovation from their workforce management technology and services, essentially requiring an extra edge of progressive functionality that can transform contingent workforce programs into initiatives that resemble the Future of Work in terms of candidate experience, hiring manager experience, direct sourcing, talent intelligence, etc. In essence, what the business arena needs now is automation that enables agility, scalability, and flexibility.

Enter Prosperix.

Why They Were Selected:

During its near-decade run as Crowdstaffing, the solution now known as Prosperix revolutionized the technological concepts behind digital staffing, direct sourcing, and workforce management. Under the Prosperix brand, the company is doing the same with the Future of Work. Prosperix is known for its innovative VMS Network approach to Vendor Management System (VMS) technology and dedication to enhancing both the candidate and hiring manager experiences.

Prosperix’s unique approach to the talent acquisition and workforce management technology market is further enhanced by the arrival of its new, bundled service offering, Prosperix Xponential. The idyllic blend of tactical and strategic elements of Xponential provide businesses with the necessary power to manage all facets of today’s dynamic workforce, from talent engagement and the candidate experience to managed services, payrolling, and access to the solution’s deep network of candidates and suppliers.

In Their Own Words:

Prosperix is accelerating innovation in hiring and workforce management, enabling every business to build an extraordinary workforce. Our end-to-end software incorporates network effects, automates processes, and simplifies human interactions, while delivering actionable insights and improved outcomes. With our best-in-class solutions, we fuel our client’s biggest dreams by elevating human, workforce, and business prosperity.

Prosperix’s innovations, including the industry’s first (and patent-pending) VMS network and the newest addition, Prosperix Xponential, are garnering attention and giving clients the ability to achieve exponential scalability, agility, resilience, and business outcomes. We serve clients from a wide range of industries such as financial services, insurance, technology, entertainment, and utilities. They engage tens of thousands of contingent workers in professional and non-professional roles including IT, marketing, sales, finance, HR, customer support, manufacturing, and healthcare technology.

Founded in 2012 in Silicon Valley by CEO Sunil Bagai, our company has evolved into one of the industry’s leading technology providers, but with a significant difference – we focus on the combination of technology and people to build a prosperous ecosystem. By balancing the needs of businesses, suppliers, and workers, we help every client establish and maintain a high-quality workforce that meets current and future hiring needs. Visit www.prosperix.com for more information.

The Outlook:

When the company announced its rebrand last year, the main focus was on the “prosperity” of workers and the businesses that employed them. The innovative approach was certainly a progressive marker of where the world of work was heading, as two-plus years removed from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprises find themselves requiring fresh ways of attracting, engaging, and managing talent from various sources, whilst realizing that a talent acquisition and HR focus was the ideal means in leveraging today’s evolving workforce to truly thrive during challenging times.

Prosperix’s VMS Network is a Best-in-Class platform that effectively serves as an agile convergence of digital staffing technology and next-generation VMS functionality. The amalgamation of direct sourcing, candidate experience management, end-to-end contingent workforce management, and digital staffing, combined with the newly-bundled Xponential offering, position Prosperix as a powerful platform that represents the very best of Future of Work-era technology.

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Upwork’s Work Without Limits: HR Builds Bridges Across the Organization

EventsSolution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Upwork, a global talent and work platform, recently held its Work Without Limits summit as an in-person and streaming event in Chicago The main stage was filled with customer and enterprise presenters, including Upwork’s Tony Buffum, vice president of HR Client Strategy, who served as moderator for the panel titled, “HR: Building Bridges Across the Organization.” Joining Buffum to discuss how HR leaders are earning trust, building awareness, and gaining alignment with key business partners to drive business results, was a panel that included:

  • Zoë Harte, Chief People Officer at Upwork.
  • David Harris, SVP of HR for PepsiCo.
  • Sarah Harse, Global Category Leader for HR Services and Professional Education, Johnson & Johnson.

The panel discussion covered a variety of topics. However, a central theme was HR’s cross-functional collaboration in executing the enterprise’s talent strategy. This article explores several areas around that theme. While HR is looked upon by the enterprise to drive talent and other critical initiatives, it cannot do this alone. There must be a partnership across the entire business with other functions like procurement, finance, legal, marketing, engineering, and the like.

Responsibility Lies With Everyone

When it comes to the role of sourcing and identifying talent, who is ultimately responsible? This was the opening question that Buffum posed to the panel. Harte believes everybody is responsible for bringing exceptional talent to drive the business initiatives that are the priorities for the organization. “HR has a powerful role in that. And so do the people managers and so does procurement. We all must do it together to be successful,” she said.

Responding with a procurement perspective, Harse says in the past the function took the upfront role of sourcing, finding the channel, putting it in place, and ensuring it operated. However, that’s not enough anymore.

“Just having the channel available is not enough to really solve the challenges that are ahead for our people leaders. The more we can do to partner with our HR counterparts, our finance counterparts, or our legal counterparts to connect those dots and really think about each of us having a unique role to play — with the hiring manager at the center helping to navigate all these different channels we have available — is really critical,” Harse said.

The audience at Upwork’s Work Without Limits event listens in to insights regarding the evolving world of work and talent. (Photo credit: Upwork)

Communication Is the Cornerstone

Because several business units contribute to the identification of talent sources, cross-functional collaboration is imperative. Harris described this process at PepsiCo, which included partnerships with finance (always a major role within large companies), procurement (to ensure all the contracts and partnerships are in place), and the internal talent acquisition team (securing the available people when and where they’re needed).

Of course, such collaboration couldn’t occur without effective communication. What projects are underway and the associated strategies? What are the different metrics or objectives among the functional lines? Harte says each individual team may be working toward different metrics. However, the role of the leader is to take a step back and look at the overall objectives they’re working toward. Knowing the business mission enables everyone to work together.

“It’s then easier to see how you can merge your objectives and key results together to ensure you’re making good compromises,” said Harse. “Communicate and really have a conversation about that so people understand the give and take of everyone involved. You’ll be able to find alignment and come to some level of agreement.”

Commit to Early Engagement

However, even the best-laid plans and communication can pose challenges. Harse spoke about her own experiences in procurement working through problem areas cross functionally and where opportunities exist to work toward a better goal. She said a common pitfall is the last-minute rush that can occur when a project is tossed over the wall to another function. Because both functions have not been on that journey together, there’s a lack of understanding around the purpose of the project and the work that’s been put into it.

For the individual or team suddenly holding the project, there’s a lack of alignment in terms of priority regardless of the urgency involved. Harse said much of the issue can be resolved with better early collaboration during the ideation phase.

“We have a number of subject matter experts across all our large organizations who can bring significant value to the table. Procurement shouldn’t be viewed at the table as simply the purchasing or supply chain person, but rather the beneficiary of these strategies as well,” said Harse.

She adds that the greatest learning coming into a new role supporting HR is that everyone can identify with the need for talent access. All are people leaders who understand the challenge of filling the seats to get the work done.

“It’s easy to get people on board with that message if you bring them in early and start to engage with legal and finance counterparts at the beginning of the journey to bring down some of those barriers that inevitably come up. This is crucial for those unique relationships we want to build to really be successful,” Harse explains.

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Key Providers for 2022: Utmost

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

Heading into 2022, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange identified, amongst other key pressures, two major issues for businesses across the globe: 1) the need to “reimagine” workforce management processes and strategies in the wake of worldwide disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic (as stated by 84% of enterprises), and, 2) a greater need to automate key elements of talent acquisition and workforce management with new and innovative technology (as indicated by over 70% o enterprises).

Today’s workforce management solutions cannot simply rely upon the automation required by organizations during pre-pandemic times, but must now offer a wide range of disruptive, intelligence-led functionality that can lead businesses into the Future of Work era.

Enter Utmost.

Why They Were Selected:

Utmost’s inception was positioned as an extended workforce platform that was buoyed by its seamless integration with Workday to provide users of that software with an agile means of managing both traditional and non-employee workers. Today, it is an end-to-end Vendor Management System (VMS) powerhouse that leads with innovation and talent-fueled functionality. In just four short years, the company blossomed into one of the market leaders in the extended workforce technology landscape, owed to its total talent intelligence capabilities, convergence of HR- and procurement-led functionality, and unique product vision that will enable its clients to traverse into a new era of total talent management and work optimization.

In Their Own Words:

Utmost transforms the VMS by managing the entire extended workforce lifecycle from sourcing to paying all workers in one global talent network for high-growth, dynamic companies. A network of enterprises, workers, and suppliers ensures speed of sourcing/deployment, and Utmost Front Door provides a single place for managers to request workers or work to be done across every channel of sourcing. Utmost supports all talent categories (staff augmentation, service providers, freelancers, SOW, consultants, etc.) in a single module with flexible workflows to cover complex and changing business needs. Utmost was founded in 2018 by industry leaders Annrai O’Toole, Dan Beck, and Paddy Benson, and is backed by Greylock Partners and Mosaic Ventures. Visit www.utmost.co for more information.

The Outlook:

Utmost offers a variety of robust functionality that bodes well for its future in the VMS technology market; its “Front Door” offering is an omni-channel portal (augmented by a seamless user interface) that serves as a dynamic module for finding, engaging, and sourcing Best-in-Class talent, while its native integration with major HRIS platforms is a boon for those business leaders seeking to harness the relative power of total talent intelligence.

Utmost represents the next evolutionary step in the journey of VMS software, as its integration-friendly platform and intuitive functionality position the solution as a powerful offering for organizations seeking a next-generation source of agile workforce management automation. By placing “work” and the overall “talent experience” as the nexus of the platform, Utmost remains a Future of Work-led VMS platform that will only continue to thrive in the months and years ahead.

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Key Providers for 2022: LiveHire

Direct SourcingSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

Over the next two years, nearly 70% of business leaders expect to implement an “integrated” talent acquisition strategy within their organizations, according to Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research. This mode of approach towards worker engagement, in essence, translates into the ability to blend traditional measures of talent acquisition with new and innovative means to foster better relationships with candidates and drive recruitment success.

An integrated talent acquisition strategy doesn’t just render the intermingling of “old” and “new” together, but rather involves a fresh approach towards talent engagement and candidate sourcing that 1) drives better time-to-fill rates, 2) improves the overall success of projects led by both FTE and non-employee candidates, and 3) infuses the greater organization with top-tier skillsets and expertise that can be deployed and retained for both current and future initiatives.

Enter LiveHire.

Why They Were Selected:

LiveHire was the first true direct sourcing technology platform to disrupt the market well over a decade ago, buoyed by its unique mixture of ATS, CRM, and talent community management functionality. They have long been a market leader in this industry, and rightfully so: a truly global software entity, LiveHire has redefined what it means to technologically-enable “total talent management” through an innovative array of powerful recruitment solutions.

In Their Own Words:

LiveHire is the most proven technology for direct sourcing and total talent acquisition with more than 200 clients across 20 industries globally. Independently awarded for exceptional candidate experience, product design, innovation, and client outcomes, we enable our clients to universally attract and engage all worker categories, including direct-hire, contingent and independent workers, for a true total talent solution. We are proud that LiveHire is not only the most proven but also the most loved technology by candidates and recruiters alike, with almost a decade of top NPS scores and industry ratings.

Our mission is to empower the flow of the world’s talent, so we consider candidate experience our superpower and know that it leads to unmatched outcomes in speed and diversity of hire. In direct sourcing, we are known as the battle-tested, heavyweight technology to achieve hiring scale through our powerful candidate relationship management (CRM) and applicant tracking system (ATS), unique talent pooling, intelligent matching, 2-way text messaging and candidate journeys through “moments that matter.” 

Our leaders combine deep experience in technology and staffing, as well as some of the world’s most admired thought leadership firms for talent strategy, workforce solutions, and the Future of Work. Continuing to innovate and evolve our product is a top priority for LiveHire, and we frequently seek market feedback to identify improvement opportunities that will deliver measurable results for our clients.

We would love to hear from you. For more information, visit us at www.livehire.com/us or contact karen.gonzalez@livehire.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

The Outlook:

The Future of Work Exchange has maintained, since its inception nearly 16 months ago, that the realm of direct sourcing is positioned to transform the ways businesses think about talent, work, and workforce management. However, no longer does simple automation for talent curation and talent pool development portend an effective direct sourcing technology platform in today’s frenetic, volatile, and dynamic business arena.

LiveHire is well-positioned to not only continue as a dominant force in the direct sourcing market, but also become a revolutionary solution due to its laser-like focus on the candidate experience, innovation within the integration of ATS, CRM, and direct sourcing functionality, universal talent engagement and talent nurture capabilities, disruptive recruitment automation, and frictionless total talent management offerings.

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Key Providers for 2022: Toptal

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

One of the key attributes of the Future of Work movement revolves around the concept of “talent evolution.” Businesses across the globe have realized that, in a world that requires agility to be truly competitive, they require real-time access to top-tier talent and skillsets. Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has routinely discovered that the utilization of alternative talent channels, particularly digital staffing and talent marketplaces, have experienced upwards of 10x adoption over the past several years.

Why such an extreme uptick in utilization? The answer is quite simple: in order for enterprises to tap into a global market of Best-in-Class talent without the restrictions of archaic talent acquisition capabilities, they need to tap into solutions that offer on-demand talent that reinforces the Future of Work-led world we live in…especially attributes such as remote work.

Enter Toptal.

Why They Were Selected:

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has found that nearly 70% of executives leaders anticipated increasing their reliance on talent marketplaces and digital staffing platforms over the next two years, an astounding fact that reflects the dynamic benefits of such models. For over 12 years, Toptal has been a market leader in the digital staffing space, owed to its top-tier network of skillsets and expertise, as well as an on-demand foundation that allows business users to scale their workforce remotely in near-real-time fashion.

Toptal’s Enterprise offering is a services-oriented solution that enables a wide range of agile talent acquisition models. Toptal is well-known for leveraging its deep talent marketplace, talent community, and expanded freelancer network to enable true workforce agility and flexibility in its client base. And, what sets this solution apart from others in the industry is its ability to offer its clients the ability to build a fully-scalable team of distributed talent.

In Their Own Words:

Toptal is an international network of highly skilled freelancers in technology, design, and business that enables companies to innovate, meet business challenges and scale their teams, on demand. The company serves thousands of clients from hyper-growth start-ups to the Fortune 500, connecting them with top software engineers, product and project managers, designers, and finance experts from more than 100 countries. Founded in 2010 by CEO Taso Du Val,  Toptal has the world’s largest fully remote workforce. Toptal is also regularly recognized as one of the world’s top companies hiring for work-from-anywhere jobs.

The Outlook:

Toptal continues to be a pioneer in the talent marketplace industry; as such, their years-long commitment to remote work was an idyllic means of combating the many challenges during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a trailblazer in assisting business leaders and hiring managers across the world with building and developing fully-scalable teams of top-tier, remote talent, Toptal has positioned itself as a continued market leader in the digital and on-demand staffing realm.

Toptal’s long track record of success in delivering on-demand, top-shelf talent and expertise to clients across the world position the solution as an ideal platform in a world driven by Future of Work accelerants.

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Upwork’s Work Without Limits: Grand Redesign with Tim Sanders

Business LeadershipEventsSolution Providers by John Yuva on

Upwork, a global talent and work platform, recently held its Work Without Limits summit as an in-person and streaming event in Chicago. The main stage was filled with customer and enterprise presenters, including Upwork’s Tim Sanders, vice president of client strategy, who discussed the grand redesign opportunity and what the breakdown of the old rules of work means for companies today. (Check out the Future of Work Exchange‘s coverage of the event.)

Defining Grand Redesign

Sanders began his session with a fascinating story about the rise of Shantanu Narayen to CEO of Adobe Inc. in 2007. Adobe was a behemoth software company known for its innovative products like Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, and many others. In the industry, it was second only to its rival Microsoft.

However, in 2007, the company experienced the ramifications of software piracy, losing $1 billion. A year later, the Great Recession took its toll on the company’s flagship Adobe Creative Suite product offering. At a $1,800 price point, companies closed their wallets and revenue declined 20% within the first eight weeks of the recession.

What was Adobe’s response? Mark Garrett, Adobe’s chief financial officer in 2008, recognized the potential of cloud-based subscription models. Thus, the company embarked on its grand redesign, transforming from a physical product-oriented company to a 100% digital, cloud-based subscription service. In 2012, Adobe released Creative Cloud to the world with an entry-level price point of less than $60 compared to $1,800.

Sanders noted that Adobe’s grand redesign was one of the biggest turnarounds in corporate history, growing its market cap from $15 billion in 2012 to more than $200 billion today. Knowing not to rest and accept the status quo, especially during a recession, the company leveraged the opportunity to combine desktop, mobile, and services into a single customer package — shutting the door to the competition.

Our Present Grand Redesign Opportunity

This brings us to today. Sanders explains that companies are experiencing another period of great disruption — the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts. Now is the time to move beyond the status quo and redesign the workplace. He says there are six workplace design options on the table.

  1. Remote first. Companies that choose this design option fully embrace remote work and use it strategically as part of their operational and talent acquisition models.
  2. Remote-friendly. More organizations are choosing a remote-friendly design that embraces a distributed workforce for certain roles, talents, and situations. It is not a complete remote first transition, but companies are willing to consider it as a possible default. Sanders says that if companies are not remote first, they must accept remote-friendly to be competitive.
  3. Remote for now. This has been the workplace design model for many companies since the beginning of the pandemic. However, this model will disappear as companies commit to a long-term design strategy.
  4. Hybrid by role. Essentially, certain roles (e.g., doctors, nurses, warehouse workers, etc.) must be in-person due to the work type. Other roles can be accomplished remotely.
  5. Hybrid-by-day mix. In many ways, this is simply a compromise for those who want to be remote. It allows remote work for two to three days per week. The drawbacks? There are no savings on real estate costs and there’s a reliance on local talent.
  6. Onsite first. Everyone is required to work on-site with few to no remote work options. For retail organizations, Sanders questions whether it’s necessary for marketing or back-office technology employees to work on-site. There are remote work opportunities that could be leveraged.
Tim Sanders, VP of Client Strategy at Upwork, discusses “The Grand Redesign.” (Photo credit: Upwork)

Identify Your Model to Rewire Your Organization for Remote-First

Which workplace design model represents your company? Answer that question first, says Sanders, then pose three additional questions.

  1. Are you satisfied with the talent in your local markets to make you competitive to achieve digital transformation and stand-up artificial intelligence? Are you ready? Are your local markets really that strong?

And as a follow-up question, are there any remote-first companies running recruitment ads in your market? If so, that’s going to change the picture even if you think you’re comfortable with the strength of your local market.

  1. Have your leaders figured out managing based on outcomes or are they still stuck in the past of AAA management — attendance, attitude, and aptitude?

If your leaders have learned how to manage based on outcomes, then they’re completely equipped to manage without seeing people physically every day in the office.

  1. Have you invested in tools and training for people to learn how to collaborate and culture-build at a distance?

Culture is not about your office. Instead, culture is a conversation led by leaders about how we do things here. It’s about storytelling and how we succeeded in the past. If you want to build a better culture, focus on cadence, not location.

Sanders says these are the questions to ask yourself. The good news? As you embrace remote-first (or at the very least, remote-friendly) workplace design, you are going to rewire the organization.

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Key Providers for 2022: WorkLLama

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

There are many slivers of the Future of Work movement that traverse beyond the concept of “work optimization.” In recent years, the very idea of “the evolution of talent” has translated into businesses harnessing the power of new and alternative talent sources while also tapping into the robust functionality of direct sourcing and digital staffing platforms.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has found, over the past two years, that the 1) development of talent communities/talent pools and 2) the initiation of direct sourcing programs are two of the top five priorities for enterprises as they think about how they address work and talent. To effectively achieve these goals and implement robust strategies and processes for direct sourcing, organizations require innovative technology and automation that can revolutionize the ways they engage, source, and manage top-tier talent.

Enter WorkLLama.

Why They Were Selected:

Before entering the enterprise market a few years ago, WorkLLama was battled-tested in the world of staffing; this time spent in that arena allowed the solution to hone its functionality and quickly become a dominant player in the direct sourcing technology marketplace. Through their continued progression, WorkLLama has become a major purveyor of the “Direct Sourcing 2.0” movement, in which 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 program.

“Direct Sourcing 2.0” follows the next generation of direct sourcing strategies and is fundamentally rooted in the linkage between key technological arenas, a renewed focus on the candidate experience, a seamless connection between talent pools and the projects and roles that require specific expertise, and a retooled “hiring manager experience” that takes into account Future of Work-era innovation.

Through its dynamic mix of ATS, CRM, and progressive direct sourcing tools, WorkLLama is a pure a reflection of Direct Sourcing 2.0. In addition, the platform has proved that it has the capabilities to transform the ways businesses find, engage, and manage talent through its total talent-ranging functionality and automation.

In Their Own Words:

WorkLLama is a total talent acquisition and engagement suite. Our platform harnesses the power of AI with a complete suite of applicant tracking system (ATS), candidate relationship management (CRM), and direct sourcing tools to help companies build communities of highly engaged talent for all hiring needs. Visit us at www.workllama.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

The Outlook:

Although WorkLLama has become one of the market leaders in the direct sourcing technology arena, there is so much more to the platform than just functionality related to talent curation, talent pool development, and candidate management. Innovative offerings such as its AI-fueled, conversational bot (Sofi), simple and automated referrals, and in-mobile-app candidate assessments are examples of how the platform will thrive in the coming months and years.

In addition, WorkLLama has partnered with three major solution providers over the past several weeks; these partnerships will extend the vision, capabilities, and ultimate value of the WorkLLama suite of offerings:

  • The company’s partnership with global workforce solutions giant Randstad Sourceright as its preferred direct sourcing platform is a hallmark union that will push WorkLLama’s powerful functionality into the global market.
  • WorkLLama’s recent partnership with background screening platform Checkr will enable faster time-to-hire and improve the overall candidate experience by integrating screening with its already-robust talent acquisition functionality.
  • By partnering with EverHive, the relationship between the two providers will meld the direct sourcing offerings across WorkLLama’s technology suite with EverHive’s contingent workforce management offerings, resulting in a boost to extended workforce programs that require direct sourcing automation to enhance access to top talent.

WorkLLama’s bright future in the workforce solutions market is buoyed by its dynamic offerings and commitment to the Future of Work.

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Key Providers for 2022: SAP Fieldglass

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

The extended workforce comprises over 47% of the average company’s total workforce, according to recent Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research. In addition to the growth of this talent over the past several years, businesses across the globe require the proper technology and automation to ensure that non-employee labor can effectively drive value across the greater organization.

While the Vendor Management System (VMS) model is not a new solution, many of these platforms have undergone radical evolution in the face of continuous business change…especially during pandemic times, when the extended workforce became a cornerstone of operational survival. In fact, the innovation in the world of VMS technology has become a veritable linchpin to truly thriving in a business arena that essentially requires progressive functionality, Best-in-Class data capabilities, and a commitment to the Future of Work movement.

Enter SAP Fieldglass.

Why They Were Selected:

Over the past two years, SAP Fieldglass has reconfigured its core functionality to reflect the ongoing transformations within the greater world of work and talent, introducing several key innovations to its wide-ranging product suite. Through its deep integrations and connections to SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, and other facets of the SAP line of technology, SAP Fieldglass is enabled with the ability to effectively manage all facets of total talent in the face of a transformative world of work.

SAP Fieldglass has demonstrated its pledge to progressive, Future of Work-era automation through a blend of industry maturity and next-generation product offerings. Its configurable, integrated workplace (SAP Work Zone) merges SAP technology (such as SAP Ariba and SAP SuccessFactors) with other critical enterprise systems to generate a holistic, end-to-end view of a user’s total workforce, while the solution’s Active Guidance functionality is perhaps the industry’s deepest proactive insights tool.

In Their Own Words:

SAP Fieldglass, a longstanding leader in external workforce management and services procurement, is used by organizations around the world to find, engage, and manage all types of flexible resources. Our cloud-based, open platform has been deployed in more than 180 countries and helps companies transform how work gets done, increase operational agility, and accelerate business outcomes in the digital economy. Backed by the resources of SAP, our customers benefit from a roadmap driven by continuous investment in innovation. To learn more, visit www.fieldglass.com.

The Outlook:

SAP Fieldglass is well-positioned to become an idyllic, Future of Work-oriented workforce management platform due to its robust integrations with other key SAP solutions (particularly SAP SuccessFactors), scale of offerings that provide real-time and AI-augmented visibility, and inherent flexibility that cascades down into how its users manage the complexities of today’s agile workforce.

With its Visualizer analytics tool, strong services procurement automation, assignment management technology (for enhancing control over the burgeoning light industrial contingent workforce), and abilities to drive both total spend management and total talent management, SAP Fieldglass is a force in a Future of Work-driven business world.

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