By now you’ve heard that experts contend that 35 percent of the world’s total workforce is comprised of contingent, non-employee or freelance labor. But did you know that number is expected to reach 50 percent in the near future? To reinforce this explosion of sweeping changes – and not be held liable for joint employment – today’s businesses must be on the cutting edge of technology and innovation.
On the cusp of the talent evolution, with this upward trajectory, Ardent Partners sees a future where organizations no longer have to follow archaic processes to source, engage and manage on-demand talent. In fact, Ardent Partners proclaims, “As the non-employee workforce continues to grow, businesses across the world will realize the value of a ‘linked’ series of systems.”
In its recently released report, “Contingent Workforce Management: 2016 Technology and Innovation Outlook,” Ardent Partners indicates the future of talent engagement – along with talent platforms and VMS solutions – will pave the way for disruption and innovation. According to Ardent Partners, “Talent engagement disruption will be a real and viable scenario in 2016 as more enterprises rethink the legacy approaches for identifying and finding the skills they need and adopt a diverse, layered method moving forward.”
It will take a talent “ecosystem” that links to various systems to effectively manage the evolving workforce. How will it look? These are the various elements of the ecosystem they envision:
- Innovation bridges the engagement gap. Technology that sits on the periphery and pushes the innovation envelope – such as gamification, mobile devices and applications, advanced analytics and Freelancer Management Systems (FMS) – all support an effective, efficient Contingent Workforce Management process and help to lessen the engagement gap and strategically broaden the impact of non-employee talent.
- VMS as heart of the ecosystem. It provides the automation, centralization and standardization of processes on which the entire ecosystems exists.
- Supportive solutions. Platforms in human capital and procurement technologies, as well as HRIS/HRMS systems, help to bridge the gap between procurement and HR, accelerate Total Workforce Management (TWM) and foster access to better data and visibility.
- Emergence of online talent platforms. Access to global talent in real-time with a link back to the VMS for total talent visibility, project status, performance measurement, compliance and more.
- Disruptive platforms and talent management. Linking all systems and software together to leverage all aspects of reporting, visibility and control.
- Enhanced intelligence. All-important data, pulled from the ecosystem, is used to make strategic business decisions.
Access the entire report to discover these and other future forward ideas.