Utmost Software

Utmost is a new entrant to the contingent workforce/services solutions space which, over the past several years, has seen the emergence of a number of innovative providers that complement or directly challenge established VMS players. Utmost has gone to market with what it calls an “extended workforce system” or EWS -- a platform that enables an enterprise to manage its total non-employee workforce (encompassing any and all categories of extended workforce, including temporary staffing, independent contractor workers, workers provisioned by services providers under corp-to-corp agreements/SOWs, et al).

Utmost has envisioned and is developing a platform that is uniquely designed to meet current and future needs to optimally engage and manage an enterprise’s extended workforce as a part of its total workforce. Over the 2 years, Utmost has developed a purpose-built technology foundation that will enable enterprises to engage and manage their extended workforce according to how they specifically configure their implemented solutions using a range of capabilities such as Utmost Flow (an intuitive workflow designer), Smart Forms (a way to implement user-facing functionality), et al.

Utmost enables concurrent multiple engagements of contract workers within a given enterprise, even with different rate structures and other attributes. Utmost’s “anomaly engine” continuously monitors the compliance of work arrangements and other variables. Integration with Workday provides various capabilities that support the aim of total workforce management, including, for example, being able to create custom Workday org charts/hierarchies that include extended workers.

So, why did Utmost make it onto the 2020 Future 5 list?

Utmost has taken a truly unique approach to building a comprehensive platform that enterprises can use to address all aspects of their extended workforce, ultimately including lifecycle sourcing, engagement and financial management. Rather than focus on building “a better VMS,” Utmost has focused on building, what we might call, “a post-VMS,” an extended workforce management platform for a future of work in which the extended workforce -- taking many different forms -- will become an increasingly integrated part of an organization’s capability base.

Utmost’s platform approach is decidedly customer-centric -- for workers as well as enterprises. Workers are central to the data architecture and they are supported as engaged members of a platform community and --as Utmost says --not just rate cards. Enterprises not only have access to extensive and deep, purpose-built capabilities to engage with and manage extended workers. They also can flexibly configure their own solutions to address their current needs and any future one over time.

Any threats or challenges ahead?

Utmost’s “platform-up” approach could potentially be a bit of a double-edged sword, as it gradually defines itself in the market where expectations are tightly wrapped around VMS, while at the same time being in rebellion against it. There can be dangers in having too much to offer. But to the extent that Utmost will be firmly anchored in the Workday ecosystem (practically speaking, an extension of Workday HCM), it should enjoy a certain stability working with Workday customers.

Utmost has been very clear about its intent to deliver a platform that will eventually supersede established VMS solutions in its unified approach to extended workforce, scope and depth of capabilities and flexibility/configurability. That said, it faces a climb to reach a state of development that will make it a true substitute for a mature VMS. In the meantime, Utmost will have to contend competitively with other VMS solutions, including some already in the Workday partner ecosystem. But what it may have in its favor is the Workday platform technology extensibility and Workday functional integration.