close

Solution Providers

The New “MSP Solution Advisor” Report: The Link Between MSPs and the Future of Work

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

If you missed last week’s announcement, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange were excited to reveal the publication of its 2022 MSP Solution Advisor report. Ardent and the Exchange have covered the core areas of the workforce solutions market over the past several years, publishing deep assessments of the Managed Service Provider (MSP), Vendor Management System (VMS), direct sourcing, digital staffing, and talent marketplace technology arenas.

Our Technology Advisor and Solution Advisor research studies fulfill several key objectives: provide a deep evaluation of the market’s leading technology platforms and solution providers, help procurement/HR/talent acquisition executives better understand the current offerings across the industry, unveil a deep framework of core differentiators and strengths across these complex solutions, and, enable business leaders with the proper insights and intelligence to guide them on their solution selection journeys.

As I wrote recently, the MSP model has a pivotal place within the Future of Work movement:

“The Future of Work demands that business operations be dynamic, repeatable, and scalable. And, to boot, nearly half of the total global workforce is considered “extended” or “agile” in some manner. For service-oriented solutions like MSPs, the question becomes, “How does this model fit into the Future of Work movement?”

The answer is actually quite simple: an evolved model that blends traditional managed services with technological overlays for various “pieces” of the extended workforce lifecycle, combined with key integrations and partnerships with innovative platforms that address niche areas of talent engagement and talent acquisition.”

With major shifts in the enterprise workforce management arena over the past decade, MSPs have had to update and enhance their core value propositions to match the dramatic change happening within the total world of talent and work. The result is that today MSPs are more agile than they have ever been, with many providers in the market offering their own unique technology stacks from which client organizations can develop deep direct sourcing programs, digital staffing accessibility, enhanced management of services and SOW-based labor, and, most importantly, building an innovative bridge to the Future of Work.

The 2022 MSP Solution Advisor not only highlights the core service-based offerings of 11 major providers, but also details how their solutions drive progressive value across a series of modern workforce management approaches, including agile talent acquisition, total workforce (or talent) management, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and enhanced talent advisory and consulting services. This industry guidebook will serve as the definitive guide for businesses seeking new insights on the mature MSP solutions market, allow them access to the necessary information to guide solution selection journeys, and enable contingent workforce program leaders to better understand how each MSP offering differentiates itself from the competition.

read more

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange Launch Definitive MSP Report

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

New Study Evaluates the Leading Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for the Workforce Solutions Market

BOSTON, MA, March 1, 2021 – Ardent Partners, a leading research and advisory firm, along with the Future of Work Exchange, a top destination for executives focused on the evolution of work and talent, announced today that its new 2022 MSP Solution Advisor report, which evaluates the Managed Service Provider (MSP) marketplace, is now available. MSPs, as the most mature offering in the greater workforce management solutions market, are continue to drive innovation in the rapidly shifting labor market and Future of Work landscape and tailor  their services to suit the needs of a dynamic, agile, and extended workforce.

“The world of talent and work has changed tremendously over the past two years, forcing enterprises to reimagine their core talent engagement, talent acquisition, and extended workforce management strategies,” said Christopher J. Dwyer, senior vice president of research, managing director of the Future of Work Exchange, and author of the new MSP Solution Advisor report. “This report will help readers identify the MSP provider that best-fits the needs of their agile workforce and educate them on the different approaches that each provider takes towards key workforce management areas, including direct sourcing, SOW management, services procurement, DE&I, and reporting and analytics.”

The 2022 MSP Solution Advisor is the leading assessment report for MSPs that guides HR, procurement, human capital management, and talent acquisition leaders through a deep solutions landscape by discussing the key functionality, capabilities, competencies, offerings, and performance of the main providers in the MSP industry. The new report highlights dozens of feature-specific offerings and market differentiators from which Ardent and the Future of Work Exchange evaluated the industry’s top MSP solutions.

The Ardent analyst team identified and selected eleven key providers – Atrium, Evaluent, GRI, Guidant Global, KellyOCG, nextSource, Pontoon Solutions, PRO Unlimited, Randstad Sourceright, RightSourcing, and Talent Solutions TAPFIN – in the MSP solutions market for inclusion in this research study.

“Since 2010, Ardent Partners has been a guiding voice for professionals managing their extended workforce management programs and the solutions that they use to drive them,” said Ardent’s Chief Research Officer, Andrew Bartolini. “The new MSP Solution Advisor report is a reflection of this expertise and delivers a clear and insightful report that is a must-read for leaders seeking to optimize their extended workforce.”

Click here to download the new MSP Solution Advisor study (or click on the image below), which will be followed by the VMS Technology Advisor in the spring.

read more

How Does The MSP Model Fit into The Future of Work?

General InsightsSolution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

As solutions, they have been around longer than any other workforce management offering in our industry. As brand names, there may be no bigger logos than those synonymous with some of the largest in our space. And, as the extended workforce continues to grow in size, impact, and scope, they have evolved to meet the dynamic needs of businesses across the globe.

The Managed Service Provider (MSP) model has long been a powerful force across the contingent workforce management and traditional recruitment spectrums, offering an end-to-end, outsourced array of tailored, customized, and global offerings that help businesses tap into key staffing suppliers, standardize extended workforce management operations, and enhance the overall approaches to how talent is engaged and managed.

The non-employee workforce was once less than 20% of the average company’s total talent, as recently as a decade ago. With the stratospheric rise of this labor over the past ten-plus years, we’ve collectively experienced and leveraged a slew of both innovative, consistently-progressive outlets (such as VMS and extended workforce platforms), solutions that are actively capturing the power of direct sourcing, and digital staffing and talent marketplace offerings that enable real-time access to top-tier talent and expertise.

The Future of Work demands that business operations be dynamic, repeatable, and scalable. And, to boot, nearly half of the total global workforce is considered “extended” or “agile” in some manner. For service-oriented solutions like MSPs, the question becomes, “How does this model fit into the Future of Work movement?”

The answer is actually quite simple: an evolved model that blends traditional managed services with technological overlays for various “pieces” of the extended workforce lifecycle, combined with key integrations and partnerships with innovative platforms that address niche areas of talent engagement and talent acquisition.

One just has to look at the current landscape of MSPs ruling the day: some are some of the most mature in our industry and are revolutionizing the way services and technology interact, such as Randstad Sourceright and KellyOCG. RSR is reimagining SOW management and services procurement, as well as its bringing its unique TalentUX tech overlay to areas like direct sourcing. KellyOCG’s digital Helix infrastructure could be a gamechanger.

PRO Unlimited is advancing a “platform approach” that solves every need of the current workforce management program while pushing the criticality of data and intelligence; the solution has made incredible strides within direct sourcing, DE&I, and other key facets of extended workforce management. Talent Solutions TAPFIN is refashioning the market with a fresh approach to SOW management/services procurement and integrated, data-led offerings around workforce advisory and direct sourcing.

Solutions like GRI offer near-unrivaled, powerful, and self-service analytic modules that help clients design better business outcomes (GRI is also a robust provider of Managed Direct Sourcing (MDS) solutions).

Organizations like Atrium and nextSource are transforming how diversity, direct sourcing, and tech-led approaches can help the mid-market thrive. RightSourcing is actively helping a struggling industry (healthcare) take advantage of an evolving labor market whilst offering wide-scale support for those medical facilities that need it coming out of the latest COVID surge.

Pontoon continues to lead with its innovative service delivery models and technological foundations, while Guidant Global is building on its vast expertise, global reach, and progressive direct sourcing offerings. Even newer solutions, like Evaluent, are proving that there’s incredible room for innovation in our industry.

Tomorrow, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange will unveil the 2022 MSP Solution Advisor, an industry guidebook that will serve as the definitive guide for businesses seeking new insights on the mature MSP solutions market, allow them access to the necessary information to guide solution selection journeys, and enable contingent workforce program leaders to better understand how each MSP offering differentiates itself from the competition.

read more

With Ceridian Partnership, PRO Unlimited Doubles Down on the “Worker Experience”

Solution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Are we really going to mention “The Great Resignation” in the first line of a Future of Work Exchange article? Yes, we are, but for good reason. Much has been said of the “talent revolution” that is occurring today: workers are finding themselves at a veritable crossroads in which the needs and desire for flexibility and cultural attractiveness are becoming prerequisites for their next career moves. Compensation is key, but the experience is truly paramount.

In a similar manner, much has been written about the “war for talent,” even in pre-pandemic times. For years now, businesses have had to do all that they can to catalyze talent acquisition and talent engagement. When aspects such as workplace culture, business environment, and diversity and inclusion become key reasons why a worker would choose to bring their talents to an organization, the overall “talent experience” suddenly rises as the top differentiator for enterprises in attracting new talent.

To that end, integrated workforce management platform (IWM) provider PRO Unlimited recently announced an exclusive partnership with global human capital solutions provider Ceridian. The partnership will focus on the integration of Ceridian’s unique Dayforce Wallet into PRO’s innovative Worker Experience solution. Extended workers will have direct access to net pay as it is earned; after an on-demand pay request is completed within the Dayforce Wallet mobile app, funds are deposited directly into workers’ Dayforce Wallet accounts (which can then be transferred to checking accounts, withdrawn for cash, used to make purchases, etc.).

“It’s really about rethinking this industry in the sense that the extended workforce is more than just placing and filling roles,” said Jessica Kane, Chief Client Officer, PRO Unlimited. “We want to bring all of that talent-fueled data and intelligence together for the best possible worker experience. Businesses want to attract the best and brightest workers, and this partnership with Ceridian will certainly drive more choice into the overall talent experience.”

Future of Work Exchange research finds that nearly 80% of businesses are now focused on transforming their workplaces into more attractive places to work, a statistic that reflects the core mindset of enterprise leaders across the world: develop an alluring, positive environment in which candidates what to work and thrive.

“Skills have really become the new currency,” said Kane. “We want workers to be able to utilize those skillsets, combined with our data and intelligence, to support them along their career journeys and enable them to choose the right paths. Thinking about the opportunities and the clients that offer these roles, how do enterprises attract workers to these positions? Combining our data ocean and integrated workforce platform with on-demand pay through Ceridian, we can leverage all of these innovations in helping workers purse their passions.”

“Worker Experience is a standalone solution that will revolutionize how businesses transform the overall candidate and worker experience,” said Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of PRO Unlimited. “Functionality such as worker engagement and profiling (amongst other processes) are already integrated into our platform via WillHire, however, this new partnership will enhance those pieces of our solution and push worker experience management into the extended workforce.”

The concept of “day pay” has become a hot topic in the extended workforce world, as industries such as light industrial, warehouses, and other shift-based businesses experience a sharp uptick in the utilization of non-employee labor. As businesses in these sectors strive to build compelling and engaging candidate experiences, traversing into on-demand pay will become a critical measure. PRO Unlimited certainly understands the implications of this innovative market shift, which is reflected in this unique and pioneering partnership with Ceridian.

read more

Digital Workspace Leader Citrix Acquired for $16.5B in Private Equity Deal

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

If there’s anything the business world has learned over the past two years, it’s this: the very concept of “work” is an evolving, organic idea. It’s a living, breathing entity that is actively founded on the principles of market progression, the dynamics of talent and the workforce, and, most importantly, the very way “work” itself is optimized for better business outcomes.

The Future of Work has been defined as many things, but its core definition is as follows: modern business can be transformed for the sake of efficiency and effectiveness through the evolution of new talent-based strategies (particularly the extended workforce), the advent of disruptive technology and innovative tools, and the overall reimagination of business thinking and mindsets.

The COVID-19 pandemic had many, many ramifications on the world of work, however, none greater than the remote work awakening. Future of Work Exchange research has found that, during pre-pandemic times, nearly 21% of the average enterprise’s total talent base (FTEs and extended talent) was operating in a remote or hybrid environment. Going into 2022, that number has more than doubled; 43% of all enterprise talent are currently working remotely or in a hybrid work infrastructure.

Citrix has long been a forerunner of the “digital workspace” industry since its founding in 1989. Today, the tech behemoth is a staple of unified communications and automation, providing virtual desktop technology to nearly 400,000 customers across the world, including 98% of the Fortune 500.

Yesterday, news broke that private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital had acquired Citrix for $16.5 billion in an all-cash deal. The plan is to match and merge Citrix’s wide range of digital workspace and unified communications tech with TIBCO, a Vista portfolio company that seamlessly integrates applications and data across the enterprise technology infrastructure.

“The combination of TIBCO with Citrix will be a game changer. Over the past three decades, Citrix has established itself as the leader in remote work, providing secure and reliable access to all the applications and information employees need to get work done, wherever it needs to get done,” said Tim Minahan, Executive Vice President of Business Strategy, Citrix. “With the addition of TIBCO’s connected intelligence capabilities and solutions, we can enhance our digital workspace platform and the results we help our customers to achieve.”

The essence of this acquisition is a straight Future of Work play: Citrix will have additional technological support to expand its virtual desktop platform with the necessary arsenal to provide real-time intelligence, seamless integrations, and enterprise-grade security in a digital working environment.

A source close to the deal confirmed this vision. “[The acquisition] is certainly a testament to the overall strengths of the [Citrix] platform and the executive team’s long-term vision of where the product can go during these evolving times,” the source said, adding that “this is a “proof of delivery” of the remote work work model.”

This is a Future of Work gamechanger, for sure. The acquisition, and subsequent merger, means that Citrix’s incredible breadth of workspace technology can be buoyed by TIBCO’s cloud-fueled integrations and real-time data and intelligence. These two facets, in a convergence unseen in the enterprise solutions market, is a transformative shift towards a more secure, more flexible, and, most importantly, a more agile, hybrid cloud infrastructure for businesses across the world.

Additional Future of Work Exchange analysis:

  • One of the biggest “knocks” on the digital workspace/remote work environment is its lack of enterprise-level data security. TIBCO’s robust strengths in this critical attribute will help Citrix expand its overall reach to include those organizations that were once trigger-shy when it came to a hybrid workplace due to concerns over security of financial data, intellectual property, etc.
  • The concept of “better business outcomes” has long been a core Future of Work mindset. The Citrix/TIBCO merger translates into the ability to “blend” virtual workspace technology with agile analytics and intelligence….meaning that, no matter where a professional is located, they can make more educated business decisions by tapping into the same stout data that is available when tethered to an in-person IT infrastructure.
  • With the extended workforce expected to comprise half of the average company’s total talent pool by the end of the year, this deal reinforces another Future of Work shift, one that relies heavily on non-employee remote workers that require access to enterprise systems, IP, data, and other critical assets in order to get work done effectively.
  • This deal, which taking into account the combined Citrix/TIBCO solution, is the largest ($25 billion) private equity deal in enterprise tech history. The move displays a level of utmost confidence in Citrix’s current and future ability to deliver on its greater Future of Work vision.
read more

Key Providers for 2021: Toptal

Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

Well before the pandemic, the agile workforce was a transformational way of getting work done. Businesses were afforded with on-demand means of engaging and sourcing top-tier expertise and skillsets without the laborious processes of old standing in the way. While talent marketplaces and digital staffing outlets aren’t necessarily new to the Future of Work scene, their value has never been more apparent in a business world that craves the dynamic value that the extended workforce brings to the contemporary organization.

Today, businesses require digital staffing channels that can connect businesses with highly-skilled talent in near-real-time, helping to build truly agile workforces that can support and augment the critical ways work is done. Talent marketplaces have experienced incredible (over 700%) growth over the past five years, due to their ability to plug-and-play extended talent directly into the enterprise whilst fully-aligning with the core elements of projects and positions.

Enter Toptal.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that the pandemic forced 75% of businesses to reimagine how they applied skillsets and expertise to core projects and initiatives given the many shifts happening within the greater world of work. Without access to traditional in-person hiring and requiring solutions that would augment workforce scalability, businesses turned to digital and on-demand staffing platforms to quickly channel top-tier talent into their organizations’ mission-critical endeavors.

The Toptal Enterprise solution is a multi-faceted, services-oriented offering that allows users a range of nimble talent engagement models; by building on its deep talent marketplace and talent community, Toptal has the ability to helps its clients in a variety of ways, leveraging the power of the solution’s network to fill short-term, single-use talent needs or build a fully-scalable team of distributed talent.

In Their Own Words:

Toptal LLC operates a curated network of highly skilled freelance talent with business, design, and technology expertise that allows companies to scale their teams on-demand. Founded in 2010, the company now has the world’s largest fully remote workforce. Toptal has served more than 10,000 clients with a global network of talent exceeding 6,000 people in 100+ countries. For more information, please visit Toptal.com.

The Outlook:

By offering one of the market’s deepest and strongest talent networks through a mix of concierge-like, high-touch services and a client model that drives workforce agility, Toptal is well-positioned to thrive in today’s evolving labor market. Businesses actively crave extended talent that can serve as dynamic responses to continued market challenges; Toptal’s long track record of success in delivering on-demand, top-shelf talent and expertise achieves that goal.

Toptal was an early pioneer in the remote work movement; the company itself operates within a remote infrastructure and has become the world’s largest fully-remote organization. This first-hand experience has allowed the solution to help clients achieve their talent-based goals in the ever-evolving remote and hybrid work workplace. The company even offers deep guidance and consulting to assist customers in building and developing truly agile and successful remote work environments.

Based on these unique advantages and offerings, Toptal is a talent marketplace solution that is tailored for the Future of Work movement.

read more

The Age of Extended Workforce Technology Innovation

General InsightsSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Nearly five years ago, the merger between Vendor Management System (VMS) giants Beeline and IQNavigator was a monumental event in the workforce management solutions industry. Two-and-a-half years earlier, software conglomerate SAP purchased Fieldglass for $1B, by far the biggest transaction in the VMS technology arena up until that time. And, just three years ago, business spend management leader Coupa purchased DCR Workforce, with the solution now integrated into the platform’s core offering and known as Coupa Contingent Workforce.

These were watershed moments in the history of workforce management software, with four major VMS players undergoing mass-scale transformations that would forever shape the future of the industry.

Late last week, enterprise software giant Workday announced that it agreed to acquire fast-growing VMS solution VNDLY in a $510M deal. The monetary terms of the soon-to-be-confirmed transaction sent shockwaves throughout the industry; VNDLY’s “vendor-friendly” and API- and integration-flexible software quickly became an enterprise-grade platform in a short period of time (it was founded in 2017), impacting the world of work by presenting both HR and procurement practitioners (as well as Managed Service Providers) with another technological option in a fairly mature software space.

The acquisition of VNDLY certainly seems like a market-shifting event, however, the world of work and talent is markedly different than it was even three years ago. Thus, we need to look at this event from a different lens than the ones we traditionally use to measure the impact of a major market acquisition.

Yes, this is a major score for Workday, no matter how we view the deal today. Workday invests half of what SAP did over seven years ago for the one the industry’s fastest-growing and most flexible VMS platforms. VNDLY’s strengths lie in its advanced cloud infrastructure, incredibly strong provisioning tools, robust SOW management and service procurement modules, truly agile analytics, and real-time workforce visibility. And, its core automation is incredibly configurable and designed to be a flexible VMS platform. The opportunity for Workday is clear: sell their HR clients on the merits of bringing procurement-led vendor management automation into the HR tech fold. A tall task, for sure, considering that one of several visions for the original SAP Fieldglass deal revolved around the synergies with SAP SuccessFactors (many of which have not yet been realized).

However, the workforce solutions industry is different than other business software realms. When SAP bought Fieldglass (remember, for a BILLION dollars), it was market-shifting. There were a handful of leaders in the space that felt the impact immediately. It was the same for the Beeline-IQN merger; it transformed the market heading into 2017 and opened the doors for a new way of looking at vendor management software. Coupa buying DCR was a move that spoke directly to the company’s appetite for addressing a major gap in the procurement technology market.

The VNDLY acquisition, and especially its price-point, are eye-popping. This is amazing news for the workforce management space, especially for a team that grew from startup mode to enterprise technology faster than anyone else. They deserve major kudos and the future is indeed bright for VNDLY and its technology as it arms itself with the power of Workday’s vast global reach (and deep, deep R&D resources). We cannot, however, get too focused on “prisoner of the moment” analysis here; there’s so much more to our industry than a single provider changing hands to the tune of a half-billion dollars.

It is critical to remind ourselves that we are truly living in an age of workforce technology innovation. Utmost is redefining the concept of total talent management and providing near-unrivaled workforce visibility to its clients. PRO Unlimited is actively transforming itself into a forward-thinking, end-to-end platform for all talent and workforce activity. Beeline morphed fundamental pieces of itself by offering extended workforce technology that traverses beyond its powerful VMS platform (and tapping into the reach of its talent technology ecosystem to do so). Platforms such as ELEVATE, Eqip, and Pixid are bringing unique viewpoints to the market.

We also need to look no further than the direct sourcing technology arena for even more instances of workforce management innovation. WorkLLama is one of the most exciting and groundbreaking platforms in the industry. LiveHire’s direct sourcing automation is revolutionizing talent pool strategies. Opptly is bringing a new technological voice to the market based on decades of workforce management expertise.

Companies like Upwork are reconceiving the role of digital staffing by blending a deep talent marketplace with innovative, end-to-end workforce management functionality. The Mom Project’s robust technology, deep talent marketplace, and focus on DE&I positions it as a truly unique and inventive solution. Talmix is bringing to market a unique blend of talent marketplace and direct sourcing functionality. Platforms like Prosperix are bringing a Future of Work dynamic into the workforce solutions fold.

To dig even further into what others in the space are doing, let’s revisit PRO Unlimited’s past 12 months of activity: the company bought leading rate management solution PeopleTicker, expanded its European MSP reach with the acquisition of Brainnet Group, entered into the industry’s first partnership with the unique Eightfold AI, bought fellow market-leading MSP/VMS hybrid Workforce Logiq, and then, most recently, acquired the dynamic direct sourcing platform WillHire.

Simply put: the workforce solutions arena is in a much different place than it was several years ago. Innovation is rampant today, and, the greater workforce technology ecosystem (VMS, EWS, direct sourcing, digital staffing, talent marketplaces, etc.) are collectively reimagining how businesses 1) drive efficiencies around the engagement and management of the extended workforce, 2) derive workforce scalability through dynamic engagement automation, 3) augment the inherent flexibility of extended talent, and, most critically, 4) aid how businesses get work done.

On the Thursday afternoon edition of Mad Money (with Jim Cramer), Workday’s Chief Strategy Officer, Pete Schlampp, stated that the focus on the VNDLY acquisition was “attaching to this trend in the pandemic; workers want more flexibility and companies want to have more control over their extended workforce.” He added that businesses want “to be able to flex and expand quickly” and the VNDLY acquisition will allow Workday users to execute total workforce optimization.

Schlampp is correct in the sense that businesses want more scalability and that workers want more flexibility, however, linking these major workforce attributes solely with the COVID-19 pandemic is absolutely selling short the continued growth, evolution, and impact of the extended workforce over the past several years, as well as the vast amount of innovation that has been developed and offered by a wide variety of platforms for the years before the public health crisis hit. Consider that:

  • Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research pegged the penetration of the extended workforce at 43% of all business talent…before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, that statistic has grown to 47% and will soon hit 50%.
  • Our research found that, prior to March 2020, 21% of the average company’s workforce was working remotely or in a hybrid model (with that number expected to double by the end of 2021, according to those same businesses).
  • “Workforce agility” was the main focus of workforce and talent management for consecutive years in Ardent and FOWX research dating back to 2017 through our most recent research study (summer 2021), and;
  • “Total workforce management” and “total talent management” have, for the past decade and long before the pandemic, been major goals for businesses that want to blend contingent workforce management with human capital management and truly optimize how talent is found, engaged, sourced, and managed. As we learned with SAP Fieldglass and SAP SuccessFactors, just simply owning two distinct pieces of that total talent management puzzle does not equate to a easy “switch” that can be turned on for businesses that want to manage all enterprise talent under a single solution.

The ultimate point is this: today, it’s not just about managing suppliers and vendors and merely augmenting a contingent workforce management agenda on the world of talent, but rather looking at how to manage the workforce effectively in optimizing how work is done. Several years ago, a VNDLY acquisition by Workday would be the biggest transformative shift across the workforce management technology landscape. Today, it represents one of many innovative approaches to getting work done.

read more

Key Providers for 2021: PRO Unlimited

Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

“Evolution” and “disruption” are not often mentioned in the same discussion. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide-sweeping ramifications on the business arena, the two are now interchangeable dimensions that are actively transforming the way work is addressed and done. The world of contingent workforce management has changed forever, with progressive attributes placing equal emphasis on the talent and innovation components of how the modern-day worker is engaged and sourced.

As the Future of Work continues to leave its indelible fingerprints on the wide world of talent and work, both HR and procurement executives will require a unified technological approach that can seamlessly connect the most critical pieces of workforce management.

Enter PRO Unlimited.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that 84% of businesses aimed to “reimagine” workforce management heading into 2021, given that they spent the better part of a year facing the worst public health crisis of their collective lifetimes that caused undue disruption to traditional processes and strategies related to the growing and evolving non-employee workforce. While that statistic continues to prove itself out in an ever-changing business arena, what also stands out is that (also according to FOWX research) nearly 70% of enterprises are also focused on better managing the many technological gaps in the ultimate coverage of the total workforce.

PRO Unlimited has been one of the most aggressive and disruptive workforce management solutions in the market over the past year, owed to a “platform” vision that would see it become a dynamic nexus for agile workforce innovation. In just a short amount of time, the solution expanded the depth of its data ocean (acquisition of PeopleTicker), expanded its commitment to DE&I (exclusive partnership with EightfoldAI), announced a direct sourcing solution and added progressive functionality to it within months (the new Direct Sourcing PRO offering combined with the acquisition of WillHire), and expanded its total managed service provider reach with the acquisition of Workforce Logiq (also named a “Key Provider for 2021” here on the Exchange).

In Their Own Words:

Servicing hundreds of the world’s most recognizable brands, PRO Unlimited offers modern workforce management and a partner ecosystem supported by data, software, intelligence, and services to meet your flexible workforce needs. PRO’s Integrated Workforce Management Platform can adapt quickly to regional or industry economic shifts, and provides the speed, scale, flexibility, transparency, and expertise to serve as the holistic platform for the modern workforce. Headquartered in San Francisco, PRO has helped global brands and organizations achieve operational and financial success for more than 30 years.

The Outlook:

PRO Unlimited, quite simply, is a solution that is tailored for the Future of Work. Consider the pieces of its end-to-end offering:

  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are built into the fabric of its core platform and especially its direct sourcing module (Direct Source PRO) through its exclusive partnership with Eightfold AI.
  • The acquisition of Workforce Logiq wasn’t just an expansion play, but rather a way to tap into the solution’s unique, intelligence-led offerings, particularly ENGAGE Talent, which has the potential to revolutionize talent engagement combined with the power of the PRO platform.
  • Direct Source PRO, in a short period of time, became one of the industry’s strongest direct sourcing offerings. The addition of WillHire’s deep functionality will only aid in pushing this facet of the PRO solution to new heights.
  • The recent partnership with Glider AI (also a FOWX “Key Provider”!) will further enable a range of digital recruitment and candidate assessment capabilities that are designed to assist PRO clients with the necessary, on-demand intelligence to enhance predictive talent modeling, improve the quality of talent channels, and optimize direct sourcing strategies.

Simply put: 2022 will be a massive year for PRO Unlimited and the delivery of its innovative vision. The company is consistently unveiling pieces of a larger puzzle that are ultimately designed to facilitate a new era of optimization within the realms of workforce intelligence, DE&I, direct sourcing, talent acquisition, and agile workforce management.

read more

Key Providers for 2021: ZoomInfo Recruiter

Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

There is a talent revolution happening across the world, with millions of highly-skilled workers reevaluating their roles, career journeys, and other facets of their lives in the wake of 18 months of both personal and professional uncertainty. For HR executives, talent acquisition leaders, and hiring managers, filling positions has become one of the hardest things to accomplish in business today.

Recruiters, staffing agencies, and hiring managers are actively finding that they need an additional array of tools, strategies, and solutions to uncover the talent they need to effectively get work done. No longer having the ability to contend with a “simple” labor market that is over-saturated with skillsets, these business leaders must harness the power of information, intelligence, and next-level insights to navigate an evolving talent landscape that requires a formidable, data-driven approach towards recruitment.

Enter ZoomInfo Recruiter.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that nearly 70% of businesses plan to leverage advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and predictive data to augment how they pipeline candidates. Furthermore, another 64% state that they plan on using AI and similar tools to support talent nurture and candidate experience processes.

ZoomInfo Recruiter, on the surface, is the seamless convergence of ZoomInfo’s industry-leading market intelligence platform with cutting-edge recruitment automation. The ZoomInfo Recruiter solution enables users with personalized outreach tools to enhance passive candidate attraction and directly communicate with talent directly within the tool. This innovative blend of direct sourcing-esque automation with deep market intelligence is a unique mix of functionality that can aid recruiters and hiring managers in the ongoing war for talent.

In Their Own Words:

In a competitive hiring environment, ZoomInfo Recruiter provides data and tools to source candidates, create talent pipelines, and automate engagement with passive job seekers. It provides recruiting and talent acquisition teams the ability to connect with top talent beyond professional network sites.

ZoomInfo Recruiter allows recruiters to access a continuously enhanced contact database that saves recruiters time when sourcing candidates. Contact data paired with ZoomInfo Recruiter’s Reachout extension makes sourcing and contacting candidates simple.

In the ZoomInfo Recruiter platform, search filters narrow candidates from a talent pool of thousands. Recruiters can source passive candidates, build diverse talent pools, and more. Features such as the “Likely to Listen” filter can flag candidates who are 30% more likely to be in a new role in four months, and diversity and inclusion filters can help increase diversity in the talent pool.

Using automated and multichannel talent flows, recruiters can build outreach flows using email and phone, and they can call lists of candidates to leave pre-recorded voicemails. Recruiting teams using “Projects” for pipeline management can collaborate on the hiring process. From sourcing candidates to engaging with them, ZoomInfo Recruiter empowers recruiters to get candidates into the interview process..

The Outlook:

The talent engagement industry is rife with innovation today, owing its progressive nature to not only an unsettled labor market and evolving talent economy, but also the major Future of Work accelerants that are actively transforming the ways businesses find, engage, and source critical talent. Today’s recruitment and talent acquisition professionals require advanced tools to augment how they fill the candidate pipeline, with passive candidates fast-becoming a crucial element in the ultimate optimization of how work is done.

The ZoomInfo Recruiter platform integrates candidate data with company intelligence, resulting in a deeper dynamic of talent knowledge that allows users an added edge in passive candidate recruitment. The solution’s innovative mix of market data and interactive organizational hierarchies, combined with progressive functionality such as its “Scoops” feature (which tips off recruiters to possible employment shakeups), positions ZoomInfo Recruiter as a forward-thinking and data-led platform that is an ideal disruptor for evolving world of work and talent.

read more

Key Providers for 2021: WorkLLama

Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

Just a few years ago, direct sourcing was a niche strategy employed by a small percentage of enterprises that desired to harness the power of private talent pools. Today, direct sourcing is one of the hottest priorities in the world of talent and work, becoming a top-three priority within workforce management (alongside talent intelligence and workforce agility).

Direct sourcing is a key contributor to the overall success of extended workforce management, especially in the face of the monumental change that has occurred in the world of talent and work over the past 18 months. The impact of direct sourcing automation adds an additional layer of impact to the average direct sourcing initiative; these platforms assist companies in targeting the right candidates, ensuring that enterprise requirements are aligned with targeted skillsets, and, most importantly, supporting the overall adoption of direct sourcing processes and strategies across all functional realms. Too, referral management is a powerful weapon for businesses that desire to push additional candidates into the funnel. Some direct sourcing solutions today offer robust candidate referral functionality, which is also enabled and optimized within mobile applications, that can drive additional talent engagement without the organization spending more of its time or resources.

Enter WorkLLama.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that businesses that leverage direct sourcing automation significantly reduce time-to-fill rates, boost overall workforce cost savings, and enhance the relative quality of total talent. By curating talent into private talent pools (that are then segmented by geography, skillsets, etc.), hiring managers are enabled with unfettered access to top-tier candidates without recruitment or staffing supplier fees. However, while the “first phase” of direct sourcing (“Direct Sourcing 1.0”) continues to drive incredible value, today’s direct sourcing platforms offer more than the traditional processes associated with direct sourcing initiatives.

“Direct Sourcing 2.0” is 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, and a seamless connection between talent pools and the projects and roles that require specific expertise. Just as the market itself evolves in the wake of continued worker resignations, a greater emphasis on the candidate and hiring manager experience, and the need for deeper assessment and validation of skillsets, businesses must begin to build on their existing direct sourcing strategies and programs to effectively develop “Direct Sourcing 2.0” capabilities.

WorkLLama’s end-to-end workforce management platform reflects the greater innovation happening within the direct sourcing technology landscape, offering a vast array of functionality not only related to the continued enhancement of direct sourcing and its ultimate adoption within enterprises across the world, but also in the way that it promotes “Direct Sourcing 2.0” automation through candidate experience management, hiring manager experience automation, next-generation talent nurture capabilities, and offerings that speak directly to the direct sourcing revolution.

In Their Own Words:

WorkLLama is a talent community platform that helps companies leverage their brands to create powerful candidate, employee and client experiences to source, engage and retain top talent. Its technology makes it possible to foster meaningful, more human connections with talent, leading to exceptional and inspired branded talent communities that fuel business success. WorkLLama drives digital transformation through social referral management; seamless candidate engagement; Sofi, its AI conversational bot; integrated, omnichannel communication; on-demand staffing; and direct sourcing solutions. 

WorkLLama’s vision is to give recruiters and employers the how (and why) of putting candidates first. We automate and optimize the hiring process to create time/space for real human connections to grow. We want to see employers, staffing firms + recruiting tech get serious about serving people’s needs with bolder, more meaningful human experiences. To put a bold underline under the HUMAN in human resources.

The Outlook:

Direct sourcing today means so much more than it did just a couple of years ago. Businesses must understand that there are various “layers” to direct sourcing (beyond talent curation and talent pooling) that require nimble and innovative technology (especially candidate referral management, talent nurture processes, candidate assessments, etc.). WorkLLama has demonstrated its powerful ability to transform workforce management through an agile convergence of adaptable direct sourcing technology and next-generation functionality, as well as its firm commitment to both the candidate and hiring manager experience.

WorkLLama’s innovative platform represents the next progressive wave of direct sourcing, in which “2.0” functionality, strategies, and capabilities push these programs and transform them into perhaps the most crucial workforce-oriented initiatives in the evolving world of work and talent.

read more
1 … 5 6 7 8 9 10
Page 7 of 10