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FOWX Notes, March 3 Edition

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

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

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

Events by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The extended workforce has become an agile means of thriving in today’s hyper-competitive, globalized business arena. Over the past 15 years, the growth and utilization of this workforce has been steadily rising, proving that when enterprises need to adapt to an evolving business climate, or when they need true workforce scalability, this is the type of talent that shines.

However, as the talent supply chain becomes more complex, so does the myriad ways in effectively managing it. Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange are excited to join VMS and workforce solutions platform Prosperix for a complimentary webinar tomorrow (March 1, 1pm ET) that will help attendees unlock the Best-in-Class strategies for managing the evolving talent supply chain as it continues to become more complex.

Join us! Click here to register.

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The Future of Work is Now: Top Trends for 2023 (New Research!)

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceGeneral InsightsTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

2023 promises to be a year unlike any other. With rampant inflation, economic uncertainty, and a volatile labor market, enterprises must balance agility, flexibility, and dynamic strategies to thrive in these uncertain times. The year ahead will surely challenge enterprises, with the specter of an economic downturn lingering overhead as well as continued uncertainty regarding the volatility of the labor market. However, as businesses have done over the past three years, they will persevere, they will thrive, and, most critically, they will innovate.

In the spirit of looking ahead, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange developed a brand new research study: The Future of Work Is Now: Top Trends for 2023. Sponsored by Guidant Global, this exciting new research study highlights the key trends of today’s dynamic world of work and their implications on business operations in the year ahead. Click here to download the new report.

We identified seven key trends that will shape the way businesses find, engage, and source talent, manage their extended workforce, and optimize they ways they get work done. Download the new research study today!

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A Time for Workforce Management Innovation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Beyond VMS: Transformative Technology for the Future of Work (Upcoming Webinar)

Business LeadershipEventsTalent by John Yuva on

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange are excited to announce that registration is now open for an exclusive webcast, Beyond VMS: Transformative Technology for the Future of Work. Hosted by extended workforce platform Beeline, the upcoming event will deep-dive into how the next generation of Vendor Management System (VMS) technology, particularly extended workforce solutions, can transform the ways businesses find, engage, and source talent, as well as enhance how they ultimately get work done.

Beeline’s always-insightful Lesley Walsh (the platform’s ) will join our own Christopher J. Dwyer to discuss:

  • How the new world of work and talent requires agile automation to navigate an uncertain 2023.
  • Why extended workforce technology is the ideal solution for managing the continued evolution of talent engagement and talent acquisition.
  • How enterprises can supercharge their contingent workforce management programs in anticipation of the year ahead.
  • Why enterprises need technologies that go beyond VMS to acquire top-tier candidates with the skillsets to make an immediate impact on their business, and;
  • How omni-channel talent acquisition will be the foundation of the Future of Work in 2023.

Click here to register for this exciting event and prepare your organization for what will certainly be a transformative 2023 for extended workforce management.

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Key Providers for 2022: Magnit

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

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

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

Enter Magnit.

Why They Were Selected:

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

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

In Their Own Words:

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

The Outlook:

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

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

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

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Key Providers for 2022: Beeline

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has found that nearly 65% of businesses plan to adopt extended workforce management technology by 2024, an idea that signals the natural evolution of contingent workforce management (CWM) into something more expansive and dynamic. Of course, when nearly half (47.5%) of the average organization’s total talent is considered “non-employee,” there needs to be some level of innovation in how businesses tackle their growing extended workforce.

The advent of extended workforce platforms, which meld Vendor Management System (VMS) functionality with progressive HR, talent acquisition, and contingent workforce management functionality, has been a powerful facilitator of control, visibility, and, most importantly, a better candidate experience.

Enter Beeline.

Why They Were Selected:

In the traditional world of VMS technology, it was typically rare to see “talent” prioritized as much as cost savings or compliance. However, as the business arena changed and the evolution of talent began, enterprises required their technology to become candidate-centric models.

Beeline is a platform defined by innovation. Over its tenure as the largest independent provider of VMS technology, the company was a forerunner for Future of Work elements such as direct sourcing, workforce intelligence, and advanced, AI-fueled talent analytics. Today, 18 months after introducing its extended workforce offering, Beeline has become a talent-centric solution that is tailored for the next generation of workforce management solutions.

In Their Own Words:

Beeline powers the future of work with the world’s first extended workforce platform. Our intelligence-driven, cloud-based platform manages more than 30 million contingent, shift-based, project-based, and independent workers and enables total talent visibility into the entire workforce.

As the pioneer of vendor management systems (VMS), Beeline understands the Future of Work is fueled by technology that enables the limitless potential of every business and every individual. Our AI-powered software delivers insights and tools needed to manage the modern world of work. 

With the most seasoned team of contingent workforce solution professionals around the world, we help businesses across more than 120 countries meet their most critical talent needs. To learn more, visit www.beeline.com.

The Outlook:

Beeline’s acquisition by Stone Point Capital earlier this year was just a precursor to the platform expanding its overall reach, with a recent move to snatch up Utmost a clear indicator that the company is all-in on capturing the essence of the Future of Work movement. Beeline has considerable runway due to its robust suite of offerings, one of the most powerful instances of AI-fueled analytics in the space, the industry’s deepest ecosystem, and an overall commitment to a talent-centric technology model that is very much aligned with the direction of the market as its continues to evolve.

Beeline represents the next great generation of not just workforce technology, but also people technology. It is an idyllic and innovative platform that enables flexibility, insights, and true business agility. The company’s core offerings are deep and expansive, touching all facets of the transformative world of work and talent: services procurement, SOW management, candidate experience enhancement, recruitment, direct sourcing, global worker intelligence, and extended workforce management. And, as the industry moves closer and closer to achieving real “total talent management,” it will be solutions like Beeline that pave the way.

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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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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: 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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