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Technology and Innovation

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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Upwork’s “Work Without Limits” Conference: Thriving in a New World of Work

EventsSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

“The world of work is changing faster than ever before,” said Upwork Chief Sales Officer Eric Gilpin at the start of the talent platform’s annual “Work Without Limits” summit in Chicago. Gilpin’s opening thoughts echo the evolution of work and talent over the past two-plus years, as Future of Work-era accelerants (and the desire to truly optimize how work is done) rapidly shape the way businesses around the globe operate.

Eric Gilpin, Upwork’s Chief Sales Officer, kicks off the 2022 Work Without Limits event. (Photo credit: Upwork)

Hayden Brown, President and CEO of Upwork, kicked off the conference reminiscing about what it was like when she finally made it to the corner office and when she got an office with a door for the first time in her career. Today, Hayden says, “Every employee can have their own corner office.” There are after all, new rules for work.

One of the major benefits of this new world of work is that control has been democratized. How, where, and even when people complete their work is in more of their control, and this is a huge benefit to all businesses, said Brown. She challenges the notion that the traditional workplace was what drove success, arguing that this misplaced nostalgia is actually caused by the Mandela effect, where false memories can sometimes be shared by multiple people. “The office was not the secret sauce [of business],” says Brown, and “It is time for business leaders to lead instead of react,” and find the true drivers of business value.

Hayden Brown, Upwork’s President and CEO, discusses the new rules of work. (Photo credit: Upwork)

Brown continued her keynote by asking a few challenging questions for business leaders – “Will a location mandate get you the results you want?” and “Are you giving your team the what they need to succeed – the best tools and the best talent?”

The workforce game has changed forever and given the distribution of workforces and of talent overall today, talent access is the key to the new game, part of the new playbook that companies must use to succeed. Contractors will continue to play a larger role in business and the new rules of work must incorporate that view.

Brown believes that Upwork address all of the classic concerns (security and privacy, workforce reliability, cultural concerns, etc.) that business executives may have regarding this tectonic shift in how work is done and the broad shift to non-FTE workers. In today’s world, the leaders that get ahead on this major shift will win…and boldness will be rewarded.

Jonah Berger, Professor at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about changing the mindsets around enterprise transformation. (Photo credit: Upwork)

The WWL event featured a variety of industry leaders sharing their thoughts regarding the new world of work:

  • “Data gives us the opportunity to be predictable,” said Vito Labate, Vice President, Global Industry Marketing Leader at Capgemini during a panel discussion hosted by Upwork CMO Melissa Waters. In a chat centered around the changes in marketing, this panel highlighted how the application of top-tier freelance talent is a true differentiator (especially within their industry, where personalization is a key factor for clients).
  • “Companies have become a bit more comfortable with distributed and remote teams,” said Deb Elias, Director, Product Strategy and Operations at Chargebee. “Technology has played a critical role in how non-co-located team members to collaborate.” Upwork’s Chief Product and Experience Officer, Sam Bright, led a spirited panel discussion on how “the impossible” could be achieved via new Future of Work concepts (and technology!) in functions like product development and engineering now that they have access to highly-skilled, global talent.
  • “We’re not just listening…we’re counter-arguing,” stated Jonah Berger, Professor at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania during his afternoon keynote address. “We have to allow for agency; we have to give them back some of that freedom and control.” Berger’s fantastic presentation focused on how business leaders can stop “selling” change and begin changing the mindsets around transformation…a crucial factor considering just how much the world of work has changed over the past few years.
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The Future of Work is Magnetic: PRO Unlimited Rebrands to Magnit

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Magnets are colloquially known for their attractiveness properties, drawing metal (well, iron) objects and substances within its field. For the contemporary business in 2022, the very notion of “attraction” is a desirable trait: these enterprises cannot thrive in uncertain economic times, and especially facing a volatile labor market, without some crucial level of allure to its culture, workplace, and overall brand that can effectively attract top-tier talent and skillsets.

This morning, veteran integrated workforce management system PRO Unlimited, known across the globe for its powerful Managed Service Provider (MSP) offerings and Best-in-Class Vendor Management System (VMS), announced that it has rebranded itself under the new name Magnit. The new brand reflects the solution’s overall commitment to being a magnetic force in how businesses leverage its innovative technology to draw people to work in an effective manner.

“The new name, Magnit, reflects both the evolution of our industry and how far PRO Unlimited has come as the industry-leading integrated workforce management platform,” said Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of Magnit. “Magnit is a reflection of our vision for the evolution of work. It also aligns with our position as the company of record in how businesses attract, engage, and source top-tier talent that tightly aligns with their goals and objectives. This is an exciting new chapter that will culminate in Magnit realizing PRO’s original goal: serve as a true, end-to-end platform comprised of modern software, proven expertise and world-class data and intelligence for workforce management.”

Perhaps the most critical facet of the rebrand is how the provider is approaching its end-to-end offerings: the move to Magnit is not just a simple rebrand, but rather a culmination of two years’ worth of consistent market activity, including acquisitions (WillHire, GRI, Workforce Logiq), partnerships (eightfold, Ceridian, etc.), and new product launches (Direct Source PRO, NorthStar, etc.). The new brand is an opportunity for the company to cohesively blend all of its core products and services under a unified architecture within a single brand.

It is expected that, over the next six months, any fragmentation of offerings will be streamlined and integrated under the new Magnit brand. This is a key attribute of the rebrand, as the company counts several “buckets” of products just within the data/analytics space, with ENGAGE Talent, Envision Analytics, and NorthStar (as well as its RatePoint offering) soon to be merged into a more interconnected solution.

Magnit will continue to work towards its “platform vision,” as laid out by PRO Unlimited back in 2020. With an array of innovation at its fingertips, Magnit is an ideal position to capitalize on an evolving business arena that requires top-tier skillsets to thrive; the rebrand can be considered a catalyst for the organization to continue its innovative work in becoming a platform of choice for not just the extended workforce, but also a source of agility for enterprises across the globe.

“The move to the Magnit brand represents the next bold age for our integrated workforce management platform,” said Vidhya Srinivasan, chief marketing officer at Magnit. “Both the name itself and our new logo echoes our core vision: augment the next evolution in workforce management by drawing people together through modern software and a commitment to the evolution of work. Magnit will be a powerful force for our clients, partners, and suppliers as we link businesses to the agile talent they require to thrive during these dynamic times.”

The definition of a magnet does not just mention the attraction of other metal- or iron-containing objects; it also includes the alignment of itself in an external magnetic field. For Magnit, this means one thing: the solution is positioned to align itself as a centerpiece in how businesses not only find the talent they need, but how they truly optimize how work is done.

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Direct Sourcing’s Future of Work Impact

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingGeneral InsightsPodcastSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Future of Work Exchange podcast features coverage of industry news, software developments, Future of Work happenings, and, most importantly, conversations with industry thought leaders.

Several months ago, I chatted with Sunil Bagai, CEO of Prosperix, for an insightful Future of Work-oriented discussion (click to listen to the full interview). Sunil and I discussed the changes in how businesses engage talent, the continued growth of direct sourcing, and some interesting Future of Work predictions. Today’s article is a recap of our conversation. [Note that this excerpt has been edited for readability.]

Christopher Dwyer: Seeing how our world of work and talent has been changing so much, you’ve had a front-row seat being where you are in workforce management software space. From your perspective, what do you feel are the biggest changes in the way businesses engage talent and get work done, and how the pandemic has shaped those aspects over the past couple of years?

Sunil Bagai: That’s a really good question. Several changes have been happening. Some of them were obviously sped up by the pandemic. For example, businesses are now much more open to hiring remote workers. And when we say remote, it’s kind of like an umbrella where everybody can be under that remote category. But the reality is we need to slice it a bit further. Remote can be onshore where they’re local to that office, so they can at least still come into the office. Remote can be not local to the office, so some other state or anywhere else in the country. Remote can also be offshore where a person can be in the Philippines, Colombia, India, or somewhere else in the world supporting that organization. There are a variety of different ways to slice and dice what remote really means. And that nuance is new. And it’s important going forward.

Another trend that I’ve seen happen in the last few years is much more openness to a variety of different marketplaces. And that means being able to hire talent directly by going onto a portal, for example. So, that trend has taken off. What that does, however, is create a challenge in these organizations. Why? Because enterprises are not equipped to deal with the nuances of being remote or how to integrate hiring marketplaces into their existing hiring processes. So, for example, their ATS and VMS platforms are not fully equipped to integrate with those new ways of hiring. That’s creating some more challenges and friction, which will get ironed out and addressed as the next few years go on.

CD: Direct sourcing has become such a hot strategy. And the more we talk about it on the Future of Work Exchange, the more we’re educating the market on something that seems to be dominating conversations not only around the Future of Work but also talent acquisition and workforce management. I think back to some of my first encounters with the Crowdstaffing platform, and you were one of the pioneers of direct sourcing. What are your thoughts on where direct sourcing is going and where it could be headed?

SB: Let’s start by differentiating what is traditional direct sourcing. What we’re doing with a hiring marketplace is a step towards direct sourcing without having to necessarily, say, get rid of your suppliers. Because direct sourcing today assumes that you’re sourcing every candidate on your own without the use of suppliers. And I believe there’s a middle ground where you can still use suppliers — your incumbents or your initial supplier pool. The network can be a second supplier pool that can give you more access to talent as well as lower costs. And then you have a third option which is the bucket of direct sourcing, where you can engage talent directly using your brand. I believe that all can coexist.

And the aim is to use technology to publish your jobs across all diverse hiring channels. Each of these becomes a hiring channel…and may the best channel win. It shouldn’t matter where the talent comes from, as long as it’s the best talent and the best price (hopefully). From there, it’s about optimization and being able to select based on quality, based on price, and based on speed for your talent fulfillment. If you can do that, then that’s your ideal solution. It’s not one or the other, it’s a mix of all the options available through one common technology platform to help you achieve your talent needs.

CD: What are some of your 2022 Future of Work predictions — not just technology, but the space in general?

SB: For 2022, you’re already starting to see some interesting things happen in the industry. We’ve seen some large acquisitions, and we’ll probably continue to see consolidation where certain companies try to acquire other companies to have a larger presence in the space and diversify their solution portfolio. And there will be more consolidation of customers, as well.

We’re also starting to see MSPs really up their game and add much more value than they were traditionally accustomed to. Before, MSPs were managing programs, and now they’re really trying to differentiate themselves by offering more capabilities within their solutions. New technology will also continue to surface and add a different spin on how the workforce should be managed. That’s what I’m seeing for the remainder of this year.

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The VMS of 2022: The Nexus of Extended Workforce Management

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Vendor Management System (VMS) platforms are automated solutions that offer end-to-end management of the core and critical facets of contingent and extended workforce management. The VMS model (frequently paired with Managed Service Providers or “MSPs”) is perhaps the most mature platform in the workforce solutions market.

While the earliest incarnations of VMS technology functioned as automated procurement for staffing suppliers, these platforms have evolved to become the true “nexus” of all activity related to contingent and extended workforce management. In fact, the very foundational elements of today’s VMS solutions revolve around the many tenets of the Future of Work movement; the Vendor Management Systems available in today’s fast-moving, globalized technology market have all made great leaps in regard to managing the “extended workforce,” a phrase leveraged to describe the next progression of contingent labor.

The past couple of years has reinvigorated the world of non-employee talent in such a way that the collective business market finds itself with nearly half of its total talent (nearly 47%) comprised of contingent labor. The pandemic age has not only reaffirmed the need for businesses to harness the power of VMS technology, but to also take advantage of the many ways these platforms are reinforcing the many accelerants within the Future of Work movement.

Recently, the Future of Work Exchange announced the publication of the much-anticipated VMS Technology Advisor, a report that assesses and evaluates 11 of the major Vendor Management System platforms that are currently helping organizations around the globe automate key extended workforce management processes, provide access to talent intelligence, and reinforce contingent workforce spend management.

The new report, which is available here, evaluates Beeline, Coupa Contingent Workforce, ELEVATE, Eqip, Pixid, Prosperix, PRO Unlimited, SAP Fieldglass, Utmost, VectorVMS, and VNDLY (a Workday Company).

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Defining the VMS Technology Market: New Future of Work Exchange Research Study Now Available

Contingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange have long been preeminent sources of analysis of the extended workforce industry and its associated technologies and solutions. With the introduction of our Technology Advisor (and Solution Advisor) series several years ago, the analyst team has been able to assist thousands of business leaders with the necessary information, insights, and intelligence as they traverse the complex solutions landscape within procurement and spend management, procure-to-pay, contingent and extended workforce management, direct sourcing, and digital staffing.

Today, we announce the publication of the much-anticipated VMS Technology Advisor, a report that assesses and evaluates 11 of the major Vendor Management System platforms that are currently helping organizations around the globe automate key extended workforce management processes, provide access to talent intelligence, and reinforce contingent workforce spend management.

The new report, which is available here, evaluates Beeline, Coupa Contingent Workforce, ELEVATE, Eqip, Pixid, Prosperix, PRO Unlimited, SAP Fieldglass, Utmost, VectorVMS, and VNDLY (a Workday Company).

The 2022 VMS Technology Advisor deep-dives into each provider’s strengths within requisition management, services procurement, SOW management, analytics and intelligence, direct sourcing, Future of Work readiness, total talent acquisition, total workforce management, global capabilities, and other key attributes inherent in today’s leading VMS platforms.

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The Future of Flexibility

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“Flexibility” has become the de-facto, hot-button phrase to describe how the Future of Work should operate. However, if we dig deeper, the very notion of flexibility transcends the confines of remote and hybrid work.

Take a deep breath for a moment. Think about your current role before the pandemic. Now think about it in the throes of 2020 and 2021. Now think about your role today and how you’re working. Chances are there are some very stark differences between these three moments in time.

For one, the very modes of work have shifted tremendously over the past two-plus years. Those that worked remotely found the transition was easy: just stay the course. Those that already had a hybrid schedule understood how to change their mindsets while also transforming their leadership and collaborative styles. And for those in which remote work was a new concept, there were some growing pains.

As we sit more than halfway through 2022, there are more questions than answers in regard to the concepts of flexibility in the workforce, the workplace, and the work itself. While flexibility has become a core piece of our pandemic-era business lexicon, the truth is that there is so much more to the idea of flexibility than what we’ve experienced thus far:

  • Flexibility also translates into agile thinking regarding the makeup of our workforce. This doesn’t just mean that businesses should increase their utilization of non-employee talent (which, of course, has become a value-driver during these uncertain times), but rather dig deep into all available talent sources and develop a truly agile workforce. Talent marketplaces, digital staffing outlets, and direct sourcing strategies can all enhance the depth of current talent communities and ensure that businesses can be flexible when needed (market conditions, business issues, etc.).
  • Flexibility should cascade down into attributes such as purpose, work-life integration, etc. For far too long, being a “dedicated worker” meant a gold watch at the end of a very, very long tunnel. Now, in the wake of the biggest health crisis of our lifetime, talented professionals seek more from their jobs; the realm of “purpose” and “work-life integration” both translate into workers craving meaningful work that enables them with flexible hours, flexible projects, and a flexible model that allows for unplugged time, more task-oriented collaboration (rather than open-ended coordination), and the ability to reevaluate career paths more frequently.
  • Flexibility means reviewing workplace structures to provide a malleable foundation rather than a rigid “return-to-office” setup. If there’s anything we learned about the coronavirus behind COVID-19, it’s that it’s become an unpredictable harbinger of disease and disruption. Fall and winter surges fill hospitals over capacity, shutter public attractions, and force governments to reevaluate social safety and public health regulations. This all means that hardline, return-to-office planning should not only be canceled, but outright replaced by a flexible foundation that is based on science, the overall productivity of the organization, and what works best for the workforce. Too many business leaders believed that this far into the pandemic was the ideal time to bring workers back to physical locations, when they should have been experimenting with new models and assessing what was best for the business and the mental wellness of its talent.
  • Flexibility should apply to workforce technology and process automation, as well as data science and artificial intelligence. AI and data don’t need to be at the center of every single facet of the contemporary business, but it needs to be at the forefront of how businesses shape talent acquisition and address how work is done. Enterprises must understand the flexibility inherent in today’s crucial workforce and talent tools, like VMS, MSP, direct sourcing, and digital staffing, and tap into the modules that they may have ignored in months and years past. Requisition management and financial/administrative tools are table stakes, however, leveraging “deeper” functionality such as AI-led analytics, expansive candidate matching, candidate experience tools, talent community development, total talent intelligence, and digital recruitment are all incredible doorways into making workforce technology more flexible for an evolving business.
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Extended Workforce Evolution and the Modern VMS

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Way back when (say, about 25+ years ago?), businesses required a veritable system-of-record that could effectively serve as an automated outlet for their many, many staffing suppliers, vendors, and agencies. The birth of the first Vendor Management System (VMS) platforms were essentially akin to “eProcurement for staffing,” with a handful of those organizations blending some basic human capital management competencies into the core of their earliest solutions.

The 2008-2009 Great Recession translated into a “perfect storm” for the contingent workforce arena: businesses sought to regain competitive footholds without the ability to rehire those laid off during the worst of the financial crisis, while those who lost their roles began to realize the incredible value of transforming their talents into what would eventually become the freelance economy.

The past couple of years has reinvigorated the world of non-employee talent in such a way that the collective business market finds itself with nearly half of its total talent (nearly 47%) comprised of contingent labor. The pandemic age has not only reaffirmed the need for businesses to harness the power of VMS technology, but to also take advantage of the many ways these platforms are reinforcing the many accelerants within the Future of Work movement.

The veteran platforms in the space, such as Beeline, have managed to meld the traditional elements of VMS with pioneering innovation, such as direct sourcing (perhaps the first VMS solution to embrace this), advanced SOW and services procurement, AI-led functionality, and human capital-fueled offerings that all contribute to its “Extended Workforce Management” technological overlay (not to mention an industry-leading talent technology ecosystem).

PRO Unlimited has revolutionized the concept of “integrated workforce management” through an aggressive mix of key acquisitions (WillHire for direct sourcing, Workforce Logiq for AI-led managed services, GRI for sheer market expansion, etc.) and a commitment to becoming a “platform of choice” for all aspects of today’s extended workforce.

SAP Fieldglass, a fellow long-time solution, has also progressed its offerings in recent years to include a focus on light industrial and shift management (key functionality for an industry that has seen the largest jump in utilization of contingent labor since the pandemic began), next-generation analytics (fueled by a move to a Hyperscaler data warehouse), and enhanced candidate experience management. The platform, when combined with the power of SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, and other SAP technology, will continue to be a trailblazer.

Relative newcomer Utmost has redefined extended workforce management with its incredibly flexible functionality, deep commitment to total talent intelligence, native integration with HRIS platforms, and overall sheen of innovation that has helped it stand out from the rest of the market. Its agile technology has also enabled one of the market’s strongest offerings around candidate management and the candidate experience, as well as an appropriate focus on “how work gets done.”

A solution like Prosperix (formerly Crowdstaffing) is a truly unique and revolutionary platform that has turned the design of VMS on its head. The provider’s “VMS Network” is one of the most disruptive products on the market; Prosperix is a true end-to-end vendor management platform built on a talent marketplace with a candidate-centric model.

Coupa’s Contingent Workforce solution is an idyllic blend of spend management and VMS technology, with robust intelligence offerings (including prescriptive guidance based on a wealth of data and information) and some of the industry’s leading candidate-matching functionality. VNDLY, acquired by Workday late last year, boasts one of the best user experiences in the marketplace, along with its real-deal procurement and HR blend of offerings that are now enabled within the larger Workday suite of solutions (VNDLY’s data and intelligence architecture are also a powerful formula for total talent management).

Solutions like VectorVMS (deep partner network with a mid-market focus), Pixid (one of Europe’s most powerful VMS platforms), ELEVATE (unique omni-channel direct sourcing channel offering and incredibly customizable functionality), Eqip (blockchain-fueled functionality and innovative offerings) and FlexTrack (the only VMS built on a SFDC architecture, which opens new and refreshing doors for CWM programs) are also contributing to the extended workforce management technology revolution, as well.

The VMS technology landscape today looks markedly different than it did even a few years ago, and for good reason: the classic iterations of Vendor Management System software wouldn’t cut it in a world that is founded on flexibility and agility whilst also being more talent-led than ever before. VMS needs to be more powerful, more strategic, and, most importantly, tightly aligned with the true future of how work will be done.

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange will soon release the 2022 edition of its VMS Technology Advisor report, which assesses and evaluates the top providers in the Vendor Management System market and will serve as a guide for those organizations seeking deep analysis of a complex technology landscape as they undertake workforce management solution selection.

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There’s So Much More to the Future of Work

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There’s so much more to the Future of Work than what we’ve experienced thus far.

Around two years ago, during the very first summer under pandemic-era living, we had all had a strong taste of what the so-called “Future of Work” had to offer: remote work became a normalized attribute of the modern business, corporate leadership was consistently changing in the face of survival, and digitization proved to be a competitive differentiator as enterprises moved operations as a direct plan of attack against transformative times.

Since then, we’ve collectively learned to “live” with a life-changing virus whilst embracing the major changes in the way we address how work is done. While some businesses have instituted “return-to-office” plans, many others have settled on models that work well for both productivity and the satisfaction of flexibility for the workforce.

More so, businesses are operating in environments that are increasingly more digital and more human, two vastly different elements that are shaping the Future of Work for organizations across the world. The Future of Work Exchange has covered these aspects since its inception, however, there is so much more to this movement than what we’ve experienced thus far over these past two-plus years:

  • The (continued) transformation of talent acquisition and the power of “open talent.” The extended workforce continues to grow. Freelancers and contractors, sparked by The Great Resignation, are “resettling” into new and different (and most importantly, flexible) roles that better suit their needs and purpose. The technology behind how we find and engage talent has been centered on innovation more now than ever before. We haven’t even begun to truly think about how functionality like blockchain can change the Future of Work game; just look at an organization like the Velocity Network Foundation, which blends digital wallets, blockchain-fueled credentialing, and a truly foundational, evolving “rulebook” that guides candidates/talent and businesses.
  • The real-deal application of artificial intelligence within the confines of “work.” Just because an organization currently leverages a flavor of AI does not mean that this translates into a true application of the technology. AI can become even more of a Future of Work gamechanger when organizations apply deeper elements of its powerful reach, including driving efficiency in hiring, powering predictive and prescriptive insights, and enabling stronger efforts in recruitment. Platforms like HiredScore, Glider.ai, Eightfold.ai, and ModernHire are taking AI in talent acquisition and talent management to a new and exciting era in today’s frenetic labor market.
  • The rise of conscious leadership. The realm of conscious leadership follows a similar path to the one paved by empathy, in that nearly every facet of human contact between an executive and his or her colleagues and staff is rooted in a meaningful, genuine purpose. A leader’s core approaches involve them becoming more aware of their actions, more aware of how kind and, yes, conscious, those actions and insights may be perceived by the organization’s workforce.
  • Strategies that began as extensions of extended workforce management that will become table stakes for the world of talent and work…particularly direct sourcing. Direct sourcing experienced its biggest spike in both prominence and utilization since the beginning of 2020 and there are no signs that businesses will slow how they leverage talent pools and talent communities to inject top-tier talent into their organizational projects and initiatives. Direct sourcing technology is evolving, too, in such a way that “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” which follows AI-fueled, digital recruitment-led functionality (as well as next-generation talent curation), will become the prominent form of direct sourcing as businesses progress their utilization of these critical platforms. Providers such as WorkLLama, LiveHire, Prosperix, Opptly, High5, PRO Unlimited (Direct Source PRO, which has recently integrated WillHire into its solution), and AMS are all contributing to the Direct Sourcing 2.0 revolution.
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“The Ecosystem Effect” and the Future of Work

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange research peg the extended workforce as comprising upwards of 47% (or more) of the average’s company total talent. This figure is expected to grow in both size and impact when 2022 is said and done, driven by a “Great Resettling” that is a direct by-product of the so-called “Great Resignation” that has seen four-plus million workers voluntarily leave their positions each month since last fall.

Of course, The Great Resignation is mostly driven by a key force: a “Talent Revolution” that has become a catalyst for quits. Workers crave purpose, flexibility, and agility, as well as control and empowerment, and these elements have driven millions of talented professionals into the realm of the extended workforce…a very strong reasoning behind the Exchange’s bullish prediction on this talent community’s expected rampant growth in 2022 and beyond.

“The size, variety, and complexity of this workforce is only increasing as workers ask for different work arrangements with organizations. For example, many IT workers want project-based gigs, digital nomads want flexible remote arrangements, and retirees want to come back to work in a limited capacity,” said Kevin McFarland, Head of Business Development and Alliances at Utmost. “Often, these workers are in critical roles whether in R&D, customer-facing roles, or revenue-generating roles.”

With these movements as a backdrop, business leaders must be more in tune with how they manage their extended and contingent workforce; a failure to appropriately harness the relative power of this type of labor, especially during what may become uncertain economic times, may make the difference between merely surviving the months or ahead, or truly thriving in the future.

Utmost, a prominent provider of extended workforce management and Vendor Management System (VMS) technology, recently unveiled its Utmost Connect platform, a low-code, integration-friendly hub that enables Utmost users to automate core workforce management tasks, tap into third-party applications for “peripheral” attributes of the extended workforce (skills verification, governance, compliance, risk management, etc.), and leverage pre-designed solutions to support flexibility and agility.

“With Utmost Connect, we are enabling our customers to build solutions to achieve their unique business outcomes. Organizations need more than mere integrations that pass data seamlessly between systems, that is a given- they need an ability to automate workflows that span multiple systems with a user experience that reflects how work gets done,” said McFarland. “For instance, many managers operate primarily in Slack to receive communications, like the status of a worker being onboarded, and to conduct tasks, like approve a laptop provisioning request during an onboarding flow. With Utmost Connect, this and many more similar experiences are possible.”

With the extended workforce branching its many complexities across several key enterprise functions and their associated systems, particularly procurement, HR, human capital management, finance, IT, data security, and talent acquisition, it is critical that today’s workforce management platforms offer a robust series of “connectors” and integration-ready applications within a global ecosystem for augmenting key items (like governance and compliance, credential management, project management, etc.).

Utmost has become one of several market-leading VMS solutions due to its innovative nature and flexible software, two attributes that are critical in a world that is now, more than ever, focused on getting work done. As enterprise software traverses beyond mere “supplier management” and “workforce management” and continues to add in Future of Work-era functionality, it will become crucial for businesses to tap into extended workforce systems and a powerful talent technology ecosystem that has the ability to address all aspects of the total talent paradigm.

“At the highest level, companies are increasingly relying on more and more software to get work done. Gartner predicts that the spend on software will increase from $675B to $755B in the next year: 11.8% growth, more than twice the pace of growth of overall IT spend,” said McFarland. “Said another way, we are experiencing a Cambrian explosion of innovative software to support the workforce – everything from new tools to manage access to a growing number of systems to new productivity tools that agile teams use to collaborate across time zones. We are enabling customers to utilize this growing ecosystem of software to deliver the experience they desire across the entire worker lifecycle.”

Utmost Connect is launching with 35 named integrations and use cases, with a vigorous pipeline of additional integrations and automation that will be shared throughout the second half of 2022.

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