In this PRO research brief, we provide an analysis of the complex dynamics that characterize the online work platform technology market, in particular with respect to large enterprise adoption (or, to date, the lack thereof). We also examine some promising platform strategies/approaches that may promote platform business viability and, over time, more success in achieving large scale enterprise penetration. Finally, we discuss the implications of our analysis for both platform providers and enterprise buyers.
(Note: To avoid possible perception that we are making endorsements or recommendations in this brief, we forego references to specific platforms (platform providers are evaluated separately, in our Vendor Snapshot and SolutionMap series, with these strategies and approaches in mind.)
Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Brandon Moreno, CEO of EverHive.
Hear the term MSP, and you likely have mixed emotions. Managed service providers (MSP) emerged in the 1990s to help companies manage their contingent or temporary workforce more efficiently. But even though MSPs have become a fixture in the industry, the perceived maturity of the MSP model and the accelerating evolution of workforce categories, enterprise requirements and available technology solutions are challenging companies to make new choices about how to manage their contingent workforce.
Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Terri Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher and Consultants.
Has the technology evolution driven MSP and VMS providers to a crossroads? VMS Technology seems to be evolving at a more rapid pace than MSP Solution offerings. We have the new technology and the old problem, but do we have the big ideas? How are MSPs leveraging technology beyond process and system automation, to expand talent supply chains, provide dynamic data and reporting, and elevating their customer’s contingent workforce management programs?
For many years now, planning for CW/S technology has been largely tactical, focusing almost exclusively on the capabilities and effectiveness of one VMS solution or another. Technology planning at a strategic level has been rare in CW/S procurement functions, in main part because it has not been necessary in a relatively static technology and supply chain environment. Need a core contingent workforce technology to manage processes, compliance, risk and cost? Adopt a VMS (or work through your MSP to get one). Seeking a specialized category solution? Work with the business owner (e.g., legal, telecom, facilities) to engage a vendor that meets everyone’s needs.
But in recent years, many aspects of the environment in which CW/S procurement executes its mission have begun to change significantly. Under these conditions, strategic planning becomes necessary. Because technology is now and will be presenting CW/S procurement functions with new opportunities to add value to their organizations in a variety of ways, allocating time and resources to conducting strategic technology planning is now an imperative. In most cases, this will mean starting from scratch. But foregoing strategic technology planning opens CW/S procurement to missed opportunities, core mission failure and possibly disruption.
In short: procurement, HR and IT organizations — not to mention line of business owners — need to work together to create their own CW/S technology information architecture through a strategic technology planning process. In Part 1 of this series, we build the case for strategic technology planning and provide an overview of what strategic technology planning means for a CW/S procurement function. In Part 2, we flesh out a targeted approach to CW/S procurement strategic technology planning and practical approaches for implementation within an organization.
In late April, we covered the introduction of SAP Fieldglass Live Insights, an analytical decision support capability that Fieldglass clients can use to make data-informed judgments prior to creating and releasing a requisition, as well as to analyze different sourcing strategies and scenarios. Since that time, we have had the opportunity to receive a demo of Live Insights and an update on launch progress.
Freelancers, contractors, contingent workers, gig workers, independent workforce. However you prefer to call this segment of the workforce, more than 40% of U.S. working adults are currently freelancers or have worked as a freelancer in the past. That share is expected to increase to cover half of the U.S. adult workforce, according to MBO Partners’ 2017 State of Independence in America Report, its seventh annual study of the U.S. freelance workforce.
Last week Spend Matters reported that Shortlist, a platform organizations can use to manage freelancers and service providers, had raised a $1.5 million seed round, bringing total funding from its inception in mid-2015 to $2.3 million. Shortlist now supports more than 25,000 users at companies that include Publicis Groupe, CBRE, Hays, Roche, AKQA and Western Governors University, according to a press release. We recently had the opportunity to talk with Shortlist Co-founder and CEO Martin Konrad about some aspects of the company that may not have thoroughly discussed in the brief press release.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the July 2017 edition of Surplus Record.
The way the freelancer and sharing economies have developed so far, many of these independent workers have gravitated to technology (IT), design and other services-based roles. The opportunity for freelancers in manufacturing, however, is beginning to increase for many of the same reasons it has in other sectors. Chicago-based FactoryFix, for example, matches skilled labor in the engineering/factory automation, maintenance repair (technicians), electrical contractor/panel builders and machine operators/fabrications (including precision machining, tool/die, welding and assembly) areas with manufacturers who need short-term or long-term help.
For over 20 years, vendor management systems (VMS) have been the sole enterprise technology category for contingent workforce and services (CW/S) procurement. Within that category, especially over the last seven years or so, most VMS solutions have been (to a lesser or greater extent) evolving, upgrading their technology, deepening their core functionality and expanding the scope of the kinds of spend that can be managed. One prominent example of the latter has been the development of SOW/services management capabilities. A less prominent example has been the development of functionality for managing independent/contract workers. Finally, some VMS solutions have begun to develop digital sourcing solutions, which in some instances will link to online work platforms.
In many ways, this evolution parallels the shift from largely point solutions for transactional indirect e-procurement technologies to broader source-to-pay (S2P) and procure-to-pay (P2P) suites, networks and platforms. But it is also different, in that it takes advantage of more recent digital enabling technologies, as well as a fundamental shift in underlying workforce dynamics in the market. In other words, it is both “bottoms up” technically and driven by external forces, as well — a perfect recipe for digital disruption. This Spend Matters PRO research brief explores the creation of this new category, which we believe will reshape the current VMS-dominated services procurement ecosystem and drive existing providers to evolve and innovate in new ways.
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Over the past few years, we have been inundated with information and speculation about the future of work, the independent or freelance workforce, the gig economy, online marketplaces and talent clouds. Obviously, amidst all the verbiage, punditry and soothsaying, a lot of significant stuff has actually been happening. But what does it really mean for large organizations?
Spend Matters welcomes this sponsored article from Michael Werblun, chief executive at ZeroChaos.
MSPs have evolved as client expectations, industry advancements, technology innovations and new sourcing channels are changing the way organizations do business.
Traditionally, MSPs were narrowly defined due to the type of work that was outsourced. At that time, organizations had very distinct criteria on which they measured providers. It was all about managing hourly labor, sourcing talent, and performance. Fast-forward to today’s landscape – after nearly two decades into formal contingent workforce management (CWM) programs and MSPs – and it’s clear that the contingent workforce has changed, and resources are different and more readily available than they were in the past.
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There has been so much discussion for so long about the so-called “future of work” that many of us — after several years — have had to take a deep breath and ask ourselves, “Is it here yet?” But while “the future of work” has become largely a platitude, some organizations (both private companies and public entities) and researchers (both industry analysts and academics) have devoted time and resources to tackle the problem head-on through real-world research and pilot projects (or in the case of crowdsourcing, serious adoption). Stanford University’s Human-Computer Interaction Group is one such example.
