They are expected to manage risk, ensure compliance, and deliver strategic value, all while navigating talent shortages and increasing operational complexity. And most are doing it without the end-to-end visibility they need.

Workflows are disconnected, decision-making is reactive, and policies are inconsistently enforced. I have heard this from customers across every industry and, frankly, it is a problem that traditional approaches to procurement technology haven鈥檛 fully solved.

That鈥檚 what makes this moment different. At 麻豆原创 Sapphire, we introduced the Autonomous Enterprise, a fundamental shift in how businesses operate, with AI assistants and agents powering end-to-end execution at scale, with governance built in. Critically, this isn鈥檛 just about adding AI features to existing tools. It is about moving from AI in applications to AI on applications鈥攊ntelligence that works across your entire landscape, not just inside individual products.

Autonomous Spend Management: From concept to reality

Autonomous Spend Management is a core pillar of the Autonomous Enterprise vision, designed to address the fragmentation that holds procurement and finance teams back. By applying agentic AI across procurement, travel, expenses, and external workforce processes, we鈥檙e creating continuity where disconnection exists today鈥攊ntelligent systems that orchestrate activities, connect context, and surface the right insights at the right moment.

What this means for the people doing the work is equally significant. When AI handles routine execution, decision-makers get time and clarity back. They can intervene earlier, with better information, and focus on more strategic work that actually moves the needle.

To bring this to life, we are introducing a new set of Joule Assistants, AI-powered teammates designed to support procurement and spend management across the full life cycle:

• Category Management Assistant: Analyzes spend patterns, delivers market intelligence, and helps build sharper category strategies
• Sourcing Assistant: Manages the entire sourcing life cycle, from drafting RFPs and bids to recommending negotiation strategies
• Supplier Management Assistant: Provides comprehensive oversight of the supply base, from intelligent classification to continuous multi-dimensional risk monitoring
• Contract Assistant: Streamlines contract authoring, flags renewal opportunities, and connects supplier selection through to contract execution
• Requisition Assistant: Guides users to the right buying channel, auto-fills fields, and uses advanced trade-off analyses to help maximize volume discounts
• Buying Assistant:Helps professional buyers identify spend leakage, surface optimal suppliers, and automate order consolidation
• Receiving Assistant: Auto-creates goods receipts and service entry sheets and guides users through quality tracking so nothing falls through the cracks
• Invoicing Assistant: Handles invoice capture, duplicate detection, and payment proposals so finance teams can close faster with fewer errors
• Services Procurement Assistant: Manages the full SOW life cycle from creation through compliance tracking
• Travel Assistant: Simplifies trip planning with pre-spend estimates, streamlined approvals, and built-in compliance guidance
• Expense Management Assistant: Automates expense reporting, capturing details, flagging errors, and keeping everything compliant

The Autonomous Spend Management capabilities run across our cloud ERP application portfolio, including 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP Private, for end-to-end coverage across business processes and systems.

Why connected processes are critical

Connection is just as powerful as intelligence, and that conviction runs through everything we  announced this week. AI can only do so much if the underlying processes are still fragmented.

In next-gen 麻豆原创 Ariba Buying, new Joule Agents support purchasing and policy management through a more intuitive, persona-driven experience, guiding users toward compliant, contract-linked options while improving catalog management and document traceability. Deeper integration with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition and 麻豆原创 ERP Central Component means these capabilities work with existing ERP investments, not around them.

麻豆原创 Ariba Contracts now brings contract creation, approvals, and compliance tracking into a single unified workspace. AI-assisted drafting lets teams create contracts using natural language, while centralized visibility into terms, pricing, and key dates keeps data consistent and connected to downstream procurement processes.

We also introduced a new Joule Agent in 麻豆原创 Ariba Intake Management to automate how procurement requests are captured and routed across 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems. And expanded supplier evaluation capabilities in 麻豆原创 Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance let teams segment performance data by geography, business unit, or category 鈥� with insights feeding directly into to inform sourcing and procurement decisions.

Expanding visibility into services spend and supporting adoption

Nowhere is the need for connected processes more apparent than in asset-intensive industries. In oil and gas, mining, and utilities, external workers can make up 40% of the workforce, yet most organizations are still managing them through manual processes and disconnected systems. The risks are real: expired certifications, overpayments, and poor visibility into work billed versus work actually done.

New 麻豆原创 Fieldglass capabilities address these challenges by bringing together the full contractor life cycle, from the moment a worker arrives on site through to final payment. Organizations can now automate time tracking, verify worker credentials and safety requirements before granting site access, maintain tighter controls over equipment, and dramatically reduce the manual effort involved in invoicing.

We鈥檙e also using AI to accelerate SOW creation by automatically recommending worker roles based on the SOW description and historical buyer data, which reduces manual setup and improves consistency from the start. And to support adoption, WalkMe Premium is now integrated with 麻豆原创 Fieldglass and 麻豆原创 Ariba, providing in-app guidance for tasks such as creating statements of work, approving timesheets, and hiring candidates.

The future of spend management

Autonomous Spend Management marks a fundamental shift from managing processes to delivering business outcomes. From chasing cost savings to actively shaping resilience, margin, and growth. From reacting to events to anticipating them.

The real strategic implication is this: Spend does not happen in isolation. Every contract and invoice has a downstream effect on financial performance. When those decisions are made in context鈥攚ith AI connecting procurement, supply chain, and finance鈥攖he enterprise doesn鈥檛 just run more efficiently, it runs as one system.

That鈥檚 what we are building, and what we announced this week marks a significant step forward.

For more details on this week鈥檚 announcements, see the . For more details on the latest updates in travel and expense, please refer to the

Etosha Thurman is co-business lead and chief marketing officer for 麻豆原创 Finance & Spend Management.

That鈥檚 why the latest recognition from two of the industry鈥檚 most respected research firms鈥擜rdent Partners and Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA)鈥攎eans so much to us at 麻豆原创. Their findings reinforce what we see every day: isn鈥檛 just keeping up with the industry, we鈥檙e setting the standard for innovation, execution, and customer value.

Market leadership confirmed by independent analysts

named 麻豆原创 Fieldglass a 鈥淢arket Leader,鈥� a distinction reserved for providers with universal strengths and top-tier execution. The evaluation looked at every aspect of our portfolio, from supporting the full scope of managing the external workforce鈥攔equisitions, candidates, projects, direct sourcing, SOW/services procurement, integrations, and AI鈥攖o our execution ability, client success, references, talent ecosystem, product vision, and future of work readiness.

We鈥檙e especially proud to be recognized as an 鈥淓lite Performer鈥� in four critical categories: AI Innovation, SOW and Services Procurement, Direct Sourcing, and Total Talent Management. Ardent Partners highlights 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� deep integration with 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions, 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, 麻豆原创 Build Work Zone, and the AI solution Joule, positioning it as a strategic hub for managing external talent and optimizing services procurement. Joule is transforming how users interact with the portfolio, offering conversational, data-driven guidance for requisition creation, SOW intake, job description design, and workflow acceleration.

also confirms 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� global leadership. The portfolio operates in more than 180 countries, supports 22 languages, and enables invoicing in 118 countries, making it the largest footprint in the industry. This extensive reach is further underscored by consistently strong customer retention, reflecting the deep trust and satisfaction 麻豆原创 Fieldglass enjoys among global enterprises.

Customer-validated leadership

Recognition from leading analyst firms is important, but what matters most is the experience of our customers. 麻豆原创 Fieldglass has also been ranked as a category leader by , a respected platform for verified customer reviews. TrustRadius rankings are based on direct feedback from real users, making it a powerful complement to analyst evaluations. While analyst reports validate market position and strategic capabilities, TrustRadius highlights the day-to-day value customers experience, such as ease of use, depth of functionality, and overall satisfaction. This dual endorsement, from both industry experts and actual practitioners, reinforces 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� commitment to delivering solutions that can meet business needs and exceed customer expectations.

Innovation at the core: AI, automation, and analytics

Innovation is at the heart of 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� value proposition. The portfolio鈥檚 embedded AI solution, Joule, helps users initiate job requisitions, design and translate job descriptions, and accelerate approvals through a conversational interface. Rate benchmarking helps ensure customers stay competitive with market rates. Document AI can automate structured SOW creation, while machine learning and skills ontology models can power advanced candidate matching and workforce planning.

SIA notes that 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� 鈥淎I-first鈥� product strategy is embedding intelligence into every workflow, emphasizing seamless data extraction, intuitive user experiences, and impactful use cases across applications. The business intelligence suite delivers real-time and historical analytics, benchmarking tools, and persona-based dashboards, empowering organizations to make data-driven decisions at every stage of the talent lifecycle.

Comprehensive capabilities for a modern workforce

What distinguishes 麻豆原创 Fieldglass is its wide-ranging and comprehensive set of features. The portfolio allows users to effectively manage all kinds of external labor expenses鈥攚hether that’s contingent labor, services procurement, independent contractors, high-volume workers, or field services. It offers streamlined onboarding, advanced and customizable tools for global compliance, AI-driven workflows, and robust skills extraction, helping to ensure depth and efficiency in every area. Additionally, its compliance and audit capabilities, mobile accessibility, and dashboards supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion help create a holistic solution.

SIA鈥檚 research, based on 23 in-depth VMS surveys and 36 customer assessments, found 麻豆原创 Fieldglass excels in supplier management, time/expense/billing, SOW capabilities, candidate sourcing, technical functionality, and customer perceptions. Customers cite the portfolio鈥檚 innovation, influence over roadmap evolution, and ability to scale with their programs. The open API framework, pre-built integrations, and strong MSP partnerships create a connected ecosystem that can support even the most complex workforce strategies.

Customer experience and ecosystem strength

Customer experience is another area where 麻豆原创 Fieldglass shines. SIA鈥檚 customer perception data shows high marks for platform stability, ease of use, integration quality, adaptability, and support. Customers appreciate the portfolio鈥檚 innovation, the ability to influence roadmap evolution, and its capacity to scale with their programs.

Both Ardent Partners and SIA emphasize 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� commitment to continuous innovation. The 鈥淎I-first鈥� and 鈥渟uite-first鈥� strategies focus on embedding intelligence into every workflow and delivering seamless, end-to-end business processes across the 麻豆原创 ecosystem. Key areas of ongoing investment include skills-based hiring, AI, enhanced analytics, and high-volume workforces for SOW management.

A portfolio for the future of work

The latest findings from Ardent Partners and SIA reaffirm 麻豆原创 Fieldglass鈥� leadership, vision, and relentless focus on customer value. Combined with customer-driven recognition from TrustRadius, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass stands as a proven leader in delivering solutions that can empower organizations to unlock the full potential of their extended workforce鈥攖oday and for the future of work.

.

Amber Roth vice president of Global Presales & Strategy for 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

External talent already represents a significant share of the labor: about 20% in the UK and 40% in the U.S., with projections reaching 50% globally by 2050. This surge reflects the growing demand for specialized skills and flexible cost structures.

A and conducted by Economist Impact captures this shift. Drawing on insights from more than 2,000 C-suite executives across industries, the report, 鈥淔rom Cost to Capability: Redefining External Workforce Strategy in 2025,鈥� reveals how the external workforce is evolving from a transactional resource into a core capability that drives adaptability and resilience in the AI era.

The findings underscore a critical imperative: organizations must rethink how they engage talent, integrate technology, and foster collaboration across procurement, HR, and finance to unlock the full potential of external workers.

From cost to capability: a strategic pivot

In 2023, nearly one-third of organizations cited risk reduction as their primary reason for using contingent labor and service providers. By 2025, that number dropped to just 6%. Today, cost efficiency (74%) and access to specialized skills (62%) dominate the list.

Cost efficiency is no longer about short-term savings. It鈥檚 about managing broader business risks, from financial exposure to talent scarcity. As Professor David Ulrich of the University of Michigan notes in the report, 鈥淭o mitigate risk, businesses need to reduce fixed costs, and labor is often a high fixed cost that needs to be seen as a source of growth.鈥�

Leaders increasingly view external talent as a long-term solution for project-based and technology-driven work, especially in fast-moving fields like AI, automation, and data science. Looking ahead, 64% of executives plan to expand their talent networks within three to five years, up from 54% last year鈥攃lear evidence that external workforce strategies are becoming integral to workforce planning.

Building a holistic talent ecosystem

Economist Impact鈥檚 research points to the rise of holistic talent supply chain management鈥攁 model that unites HR, finance, and procurement to forecast talent needs, close skills gaps, and treat the workforce as a dynamic ecosystem rather than a fixed headcount.

This evolution builds on the themes from previous Economist Impact reports, where procurement shifted from cost controller to strategic orchestrator of risk, sustainability, and innovation. Forward-looking organizations now embrace 鈥渢otal talent management鈥� models that integrate people, platforms, and partners while aligning culture and communication across internal and external teams.

Breaking down silos and embedding digital tools for real-time visibility will be essential to managing an integrated, skills-based workforce that adapts quickly to business needs鈥攚hile ensuring external workers feel valued and connected to enterprise goals.

Procurement at the center of workforce transformation

Procurement leaders are moving beyond sourcing and compliance to orchestrate entire talent ecosystems built on governance and collaboration. Yet the function faces challenges: confidence in procurement鈥檚 workforce management skills fell from 51% in 2024 to 43% in 2025, reflecting the complexity of its expanded scope.

CFOs and COOs are also taking a more active role, linking external workforce oversight to financial, compliance, and ESG performance. This trend echoes Economist Impact鈥檚 鈥溾�� report, which showed procurement鈥檚 remit expanding as risk management becomes central to business strategy.

To succeed, procurement must double down on visibility, digital integration, and strategic alignment. Platforms that unify workforce data鈥攆rom contingent contracts to skills mapping鈥攚ill enable teams to balance cost optimization with agility and governance.

AI: driving agility and accountability

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations manage external talent. According to the report, 68% of procurement leaders cite AI proficiency and ethics as their top development priority over the next 18 months. AI can predict workforce needs, automate sourcing, and fill gaps in emerging fields like agentic AI and automation. The payoff: higher productivity and faster decision-making.

But AI also raises a critical questions: who benefits from efficiency gains? How should productivity improvements be measured? Answering these will require new cost models and shared accountability across the enterprise.

As seen in earlier Economist Impact research, AI is once again a catalyst for transformation, redefining how organizations manage, measure, and mobilize external talent.

The external workforce of the future

The evolution of the external workforce underscores a broader truth: agility, capability, and collaboration now define competitive advantage.

Organizations that treat external talent as a strategic asset鈥攊ntegrating governance, data, and culture across internal and external teams鈥攚ill be best positioned to respond to technological change and seize new opportunities.

To meet these demands, companies are turning to solutions like and , which help connect procurement and external workforce management. These solutions can deliver the visibility, intelligence, and agility needed to manage today鈥檚 dynamic workforce ecosystem.

Gordon Donovan is global vice president of Research, Procurement, and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

This challenge reflects broader trends in the 麻豆原创-sponsored Economist Impact report titled 鈥�,鈥� which dives into how companies like Capgemini are leveraging external workers to meet skill deficits and productivity demands. The report highlights how organizations are turning to innovative technologies and strategies to seamlessly integrate external talent, ensuring they stay competitive in a rapidly changing workforce landscape.

In Capgemini鈥檚 case, it used to help manage its contingent workforce program across more than 30 countries. The cloud-based solutions can integrate with other 麻豆原创 solutions and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help optimize external workforce management, helping companies stay resilient in an evolving talent landscape. With the addition of 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, Capgemini has managed contractors and temporary workers across its entire supply chain. The company has successfully leveraged data from over 50 countries, seeing a 26% increase in unitary cost savings with a 50% increase in productivity from the internal procurement services team.

鈥淭he increased visibility into all external workforce-related outcome and process steps has enabled sharpened insights, along with smaller fulfillment time frames, higher fill rates, and improved compliance,鈥� says Andreas Hettwer, group procurement category director at Capgemini. 鈥淲e have truly optimized functions around the external workforce.鈥�

Smart and efficient talent acquisition

In today鈥檚 dynamic business environment, the external workforce鈥攃omprising freelancers, contractors, consultants, and gig workers鈥攈as become a critical component of many organizations. However, efficiently hiring and managing this diverse talent pool while staying adaptable to future workforce needs can be daunting.

This is because talent acquisition for an external workforce requires finding the right people at the right time, often under tight deadlines. The Economist Impact report also shared that internal skills and talent gaps have increased the demand for proper recruitment of the external workforce.

Capgemini serves as a prime example of how this approach works in practice. When it experiences a surge in demand, its preferred suppliers are notified and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions pull recommendations from distribution lists of candidates who have the necessary skill sets. This helps accelerate the hiring process and can ensure Capgemini is choosing from the best possible pool of potential candidates. The data is developed in 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions and extracted into Capgemini鈥檚 various dashboards, instantly providing a comprehensive snapshot of each supplier鈥檚 performance.

Robust data maximizes ROI

Managing an external workforce is a delicate balancing act that involves countless variables. Beyond sourcing talent, it requires tracking budgets, ensuring compliance, and measuring performance. AI-powered automation can help streamline these processes, making it easy to capture, compare, and collaborate on critical information about non-payroll labor. This empowers companies to make informed decisions that maximize their return on investment (ROI).

When inflation surged in 2023, Capgemini fielded a large volume of rate increase requests. Through constructive and fact-based discussions with its supply base, the company managed a cost-rate evolution and shared inflation impact KPIs with its board. This increased executive trust in the global contingent workforce鈥檚 ability to deliver productivity. At the end of the implementation, Capgemini fulfilled 80% of its eligible contingent worker demand.

鈥淲e have full visibility,鈥� Hettwer says. 鈥淲e know the number of contractors, we know our demand per geography, per business line, and we know the cost rates we pay for certain roles, and we measure how the cost rates evolve over time.鈥�

Capgemini is also exploring new ways to use the large amount of data coming from the global deployment of 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, including AI. Economist Impact data reinforces Capgemini鈥檚 perspective, as executives cited integrating traditional systems with AI and machine learning as a top priority over the next three to five years.

鈥淎I will certainly be an important factor in our business,鈥� Hettwer says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e being patient and methodical in order to make sure that we introduce it safely and effectively.鈥�

Driving workforce excellence through innovation and insights

Capgemini’s journey with the 麻豆原创 Fieldglass portfolio demonstrates the transformative power of leveraging advanced technology to manage and optimize an external workforce. By enhancing visibility, streamlining processes, and utilizing AI-powered insights, Capgemini has achieved significant improvements in talent acquisition, supplier performance, and cost efficiency. This resulted in the firm capturing 98% of its global contingent workforce spend with a 60% quicker fulfillment time compared to the start of the program.

As the workforce landscape continues to evolve, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions can equip organizations with tools that enable them to manage the complete lifecycle of their external employees, from requisition and engagement to offboarding and evaluation. These capabilities are vital to remaining resilient, agile, and data-driven while transforming external labor into a versatile, value-driving resource.

Capgemini鈥檚 strategic focus on innovation and compliance sets a benchmark for businesses aiming to unlock the full potential of their contingent workforce in today鈥檚 competitive global environment.

Amber Roth is vice president of Global Presales & Strategy for 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

Looking ahead to 2025, several key trends are poised to reshape the landscape, promising both challenges and opportunities for forward-thinking organizations. To gain insight into what lies ahead, we鈥檝e reached out to Intelligent Spend and Business Network executives at 麻豆原创 for their predictions.

The AI-Powered Procurement Revolution

Etosha Thurman, chief marketing officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at 麻豆原创, envisions a future where artificial intelligence (AI) takes center stage in procurement:

鈥淚n 2025, AI and cloud-based solutions will position procurement at the heart of data-driven decision-making, enabling real-time insights and freeing teams to focus on high-impact initiatives. The future belongs to procurement professionals who blend strategic thinking with relationship management and a combination of functional and technological expertise. These skills will be crucial in fostering cross-functional collaboration and advancing corporate goals, from supply assurance to compliance to sustainability. In the digital age, spend management expertise extends to not just supporting, but also steering the business.鈥�

This prediction underscores the critical role that AI will play in transforming procurement from a support function to a strategic driver of business value.

Streamlining Processes Through Orchestration

Manoj Swaminathan, president and chief product officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at 麻豆原创, highlights the growing importance of process orchestration:

鈥淭he technology landscape is rapidly evolving, and organizations are grappling with a heterogeneous mix of solutions. Many companies now employ multiple systems to meet their end-to-end business needs, leading to siloed processes and confused employees. Procurement, in particular, often suffers from fragmented systems handling everything from purchase requests to supplier onboarding, creating inefficiencies and frustration.

To address this challenge, we鈥檙e seeing a shift toward process orchestration 鈥� a centralized approach that connects disparate systems, streamlining procurement inquiries and status updates. Our newest solution, 麻豆原创 Ariba Intake Management, can tackle this head-on by automating request creation and providing a single point of entry so that organizations can empower employees to adhere to policies and regulations without the burden of manual corrections. This approach can not only save valuable time and resources but also drive user adoption and increase compliance and efficiency, positioning companies to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape.鈥�

The Rise of a New Generation of Procurement Leaders

Jeff Collier, chief revenue officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at 麻豆原创, predicts a significant shift in procurement leadership:

鈥淚n 2025, a shift will occur in the procurement landscape as a wave of fresh faces step into the chief procurement officer role. AI-driven procurement strategies, ever-evolving requirements, and changing demographics have created the perfect storm for new leaders to emerge. As the industry stands on the precipice of transformation, organizations must prioritize nurturing existing talent, upskilling their workforce, and attracting bright young professionals to the procurement function. The stage is set for junior procurement leaders, who have proven their mettle during the challenging COVID-19 years, to rise to the occasion, particularly those who can showcase tangible achievements in sustainability, AI integration, or risk management. Brace yourselves for a year marked by new names, fresh perspectives, and a reshaped procurement industry in 2025.鈥�

The Power of AI Across Business Networks

Val Blatt, chief revenue officer for 麻豆原创 Business Network, offers insights into how AI will transform business networks:

鈥淚n the near term, AI is already making waves by optimizing process efficiency and information sharing within and across companies in a supply chain. As we move into 2025 and beyond, we鈥檒l see AI do more to synthesize intelligence and efficiency across areas like risk, demand, and inventory planning, as well as manufacturing and delivery. This evolution becomes even more relevant because no business does business alone, and AI can synthesize and be predictive across company boundaries. We鈥檒l see AI decision support evolve into decision-making 鈥� and, ultimately, automated process execution. These advancements will occur as the need for AI to sense and predict situations with proposed planning recommendations grows, spanning across related functional areas and processes that involve trading partners in a supply chain.

In its Network Adoption Research Study* sponsored by 麻豆原创, IDC found that 鈥淒igital Champions鈥� who use modern, cloud-based tools like AI, analytics, and business networks have grown over 140% in revenue and profit performance indices from 2016 to 2021. As AI capabilities expand to sense, predict, and execute across organizational boundaries, businesses will gain next-level efficiency, visibility, and compliance. This will enable them to maintain a resilient supply chain that delivers on customer promises, especially in times of disruption, by leveraging the collective intelligence of their entire business network.鈥�

The Evolution of Travel and Expense Management

Christopher Juneau, SVP and head of 麻豆原创 Concur Product Marketing, Intelligent Spend and Business Network Marketing & Solutions, (T&E):

鈥淎s leaders strive to position their company for growth in 2025, they will still attempt to maintain employee spending at 2024 levels. Inflation drove higher spending beginning in 2023, resulting in fewer trips in 2024. As inflation slows, many leaders are likely to expect that their T&E budget 鈥� even if flat year over year 鈥� will go further in 2025.

Meanwhile, finance teams and travel managers will adjust their T&E policies to account for AI as more tasks and processes become automated. Will managers need to approve every expense report? Will they need to review them at all? How can policies and rules be modified so that travelers spend as little time in T&E tools as possible? These are some of the questions they will start to ask in 2025.

Investments in technology innovation and security infrastructure will be top priorities. The risks associated with security and privacy incidents will only continue to grow, which means companies are looking for technologies that deliver greater value to customers with lower risk. It is really a balancing act to move fast without disregarding the very important aspects of security and privacy when architecting solutions 鈥� internally and for customers.鈥�

Looking Ahead

As we look to 2025, it鈥檚 clear that the world of spend management and supply chain is on the brink of transformative change. The convergence of AI, sustainability imperatives, and interconnected business ecosystems will reshape how organizations operate and compete.

At 麻豆原创, we鈥檙e not just observing these trends 鈥� we鈥檙e actively shaping them, working to ensure our customers are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of tomorrow鈥檚 business landscape.

For a deeper dive into the future of procurement, be sure to check out . We will also be hosting a global webinar on these findings on February 4, 2025 titled 鈥�.鈥� This is an excellent opportunity to gain comprehensive insights and stay ahead of the curve. We encourage you to read the report and sign up for the webinar to learn more about the exciting developments shaping the industry.

The future may be uncertain, but one thing is clear: those who embrace these emerging trends and technologies will be best positioned to thrive in the dynamic world of 2025 and beyond. As we continue to design and deliver spend management and business network solutions that drive efficiency, leverage AI responsibly, and create greater visibility for businesses of all sizes, we look forward to partnering with our customers on this exciting journey of transformation and growth.

Cindy McKendry is a director for Intelligent Spend and Business Network Corporate Communications at 麻豆原创.

*Source: 鈥淚DC Network Adoption Research Study eBook: Driving Best-in-Class Supply Chain Collaboration with a Business Network,鈥� #US5084723, August 2023, page 18

With new integrations for , , and , as well as the incorporation of new generative AI features, we aim to automate and streamline procurement, supply chain, and external workforce management processes. These innovations will help empower organizations to access real-time spend data and focus on proactive decision-making, ultimately increasing their visibility and effectiveness.

As businesses continue to embrace advanced technologies, the integration of responsible, relevant, and reliable business AI and , 麻豆原创鈥檚 natural language, generative AI copilot, into the 麻豆原创 suite of solutions represents a significant leap forward in optimizing business processes and accelerating strategic initiatives. By harnessing the power of supply chain data alongside business AI and generative AI, we are setting the stage for practical procurement and workforce scenarios to thrive.

Joule Combined with 麻豆原创 Ariba and 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud Can Improve Procurement Processes and Supply Chain Planning

Digital transformation has brought on endless potential for procurement teams, as embedded generative AI and increased access to data across the supply chain can lead to better visibility into spend. That is why we鈥檙e announcing further integration of Joule into our procurement solutions.

Later this year, will be generally available in 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions. Through this update, sourcing managers can utilize intelligent product and supplier recommendations to develop proposal requests. The combined platform will consider cost-effectiveness, sustainability ramifications, compliance regulations, and previous transactions.

Another new generative AI-based feature in 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions will migrate data from to help provide customers with a 360-degree buying user experience to enable a simple, agile, and collaborative process to identify products and skills in the same purchase order, otherwise known as spend bundling. Buyers can describe their purchasing needs with natural language prompts, and the system will deliver intelligent and personalized recommendations. This will help increase flexibility for buying materials and services, creating a collaborative and straightforward process from searching for products and services through order fulfillment.

To this end, we revealed a version of our generative AI-powered 麻豆原创 Spend Control Tower at 麻豆原创 Sapphire. The command center, which can provide a single location for enterprise-wide spend analytics, can identify tail spend, improve compliance, and constantly identify rapidly increasing costs. This will help create meaningful value for organizations by increasing end-to-end visibility to drive efficient spend performance. Find out how to take advantage of the solution鈥檚 native connections to other 麻豆原创 applications and improved insight to action .

Optimizing 麻豆原创 Fieldglass with Generative AI to Mitigate Risk

HR departments and procurement teams often struggle to collaborate, creating silos that limit the ability to identify proper external candidates who can fill skills gaps in organizations. The latest update to 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions will introduce embedded AI to help reduce risk and increase the value of the external workforce.

We are leveraging generative AI to produce scope of work (SOW) descriptions, job descriptions, and job description translations for external workers, automatically identifying the required skills and qualifications for each organization. This will help remove data silos to enable total workforce management, an organizational strategy to provide visibility into all temporary and permanent employees.

Additionally, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions enhanced with generative AI can rank candidates based on salary preference, skills, and experience. Procurement teams can then identify the best candidates in an unbiased manner to reduce the time to hire, ultimately accelerating strategic decision-making. These added facets will help enhance planning and preparation for all external talent scenarios.

Introducing New Enhancements to 麻豆原创 Business Network

One of the highest priorities for any supply chain professional is to ensure their people, processes, and technology are resilient. Supply chain resilience extends beyond being able to withstand disruptions 鈥� it includes visibility into all activity and agility to react quickly to find and secure alternative sources of supply.

In fact, 麻豆原创 was recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Multi-Enterprise Supply Chain Commerce Network 2023 Vendor Assessment* and by TrustRadius as a .

Our latest modernization of 麻豆原创 Business Network helps enhance customers鈥� communication channels with trading partners for increased visibility and agility. Improved integrations between 麻豆原创 Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration and 麻豆原创 Business Network Material Traceability can allow suppliers to share product genealogy data to help ensure full traceability and compliance across the supply chain. Additional links between 麻豆原创 Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration and 麻豆原创 Business Network Freight Collaboration will help automate updates for inbound deliveries, simplifying management of carrier appointments and shipments.

Enhancements to the 麻豆原创 Business Network Asset Collaboration solution will help increase access to millions of supplier profiles from whom alternative products can be found. These new features across 麻豆原创 Business Network solutions will work to reduce silos between and within organizations, resulting in significant time and cost savings with fewer manual steps in processing work orders.

Strategic Investment Across the 麻豆原创 Suite of Solutions

麻豆原创 has augmented integrations across its entire portfolio of spend management and business network solutions, aiming to improve efficiency. By investing in technology that provides catered and end-to-end solutions, customers can have all-encompassing visibility to all business processes, from procurement of raw materials to delivery of the final product.

What we shared at 麻豆原创 Sapphire will only improve relationships between buyers, suppliers, logistics providers, and service providers across the supply chain, developing a larger view of all functions and employees. This will lead to better decision-making, increased productivity, and improved agility.

Manoj Swaminathan is chief product and technology officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at 麻豆原创.

*Source: 鈥�,鈥� #US49948423, December 2023.

This recognition is especially gratifying as we continue to invest in enhancements and new functionality that make the 麻豆原创 Fieldglass portfolio the benchmark for VMS innovation. Every day, we focus on empowering organizations to:

• Automate the procurement of external workers and services
• Build a strong external workforce and talent ecosystem
• Enable visibility across their extended workforce
• Use analytics and machine learning to engage and manage top talent
• Track and report on all their external workers
• Onboard, manage, and pay multiple resources for multiple assignments

Because of our focus on innovation, we all know the best is yet to come. New enhancements include the use of generative AI to help create and translate job descriptions, as well as to help produce statement of work descriptions. Even more powerful AI enhancements are planned for later this year that will continue to enhance productivity and streamline processes across hiring and workforce management. We will also continue to improve the user experience. And for midsize organizations, we are planning to deliver out-of-the-box solutions that are simpler to deploy.

We will continue to deliver innovations that enable organizations to deploy 鈥� referred to as 鈥渢otal talent management鈥� by Ardent Partners 鈥� across the enterprise.

Recognizing the Strengths of 麻豆原创 Fieldglass

鈥淲ith a firm commitment to extended workforce innovation and the integration of AI-based tools into total talent management, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass continues to deliver next-generation automation and powerful value within the Future of Work movement,鈥� said Christopher J. Dwyer, SVP of Research at Ardent Partners and author of the new study. 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass remains an ideal platform for both procurement and HR leaders to reimagine their contingent workforce initiatives and transform the ways non-employee talent supports work optimization.鈥�

In its assessment of 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, Ardent Partners highlighted some of the portfolio鈥檚 strengths. Here are excerpts from the report:

• Spend management integration: 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass is a pioneer in delivering the 鈥榮pend management鈥� attributes of extended workforce management via on-demand supplier intelligence and guided, proactive spend and financial data. With its tight integration into 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass Vendor Management System enables users with a series of real-time insights into the critical spend components of the external workforce.鈥�
• Automation of statement of work (SOW) management: 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass offers a powerful SOW management and services procurement module that was designed to optimize this extended workforce subcategory in a data-driven, value-added manner. This solution offers a unique and flexible design that enhances SOW creation, management, and reconciliation.鈥�
• A 鈥渙ne-stop鈥� experience for talent information: 鈥溌槎乖� Build Work Zone offers real-time visibility into all workforce (both extended and traditional) attributes through a centralized entry point that brings together 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, other 麻豆原创 systems (particularly 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and 麻豆原创 Ariba), and third-party integrations. 麻豆原创 Build Work Zone can serve as a powerful 鈥榦ne-stop shop鈥� experience for critical talent information.鈥�
• AI leadership: 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass is at the forefront to AI revolution with its fully-embedded generative AI capabilities, including advanced job description automation, real-time talent recommendations, and on-demand pay rate intelligence. The company has built on its already-robust predictive analytics and scenario-building capabilities with added AI-led functionality that provides real-time rate guidance.鈥�
• Total workforce management: 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass is focused on delivering comprehensive 鈥樷�� with an offering that combines external workforce and FTE management with a single, global view. Key integrations with 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors build on this solution with connections into 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud reporting, human capital offerings (like learning and development), candidate experience automation, and a 鈥榬ecommendation engine鈥� that is embedded across the talent acquisition process.鈥�

Ardent Partners鈥� assessment also praised how 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions can simplify assignment management, calling it a 鈥渃ore differentiator.鈥� For managing light industrial, blue collar, and services-heavy labor for asset-heavy industries, the 麻豆原创 Fieldglass portfolio includes end-to-end capabilities like timeclocks and badging, purchase order management, equipment tracking, resource management, and dynamic bill rate management.

Recommendations from Ardent Partners

How do 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions fit the needs of organizations looking to purchase a new VMS, or upgrade from their current one? 鈥溌槎乖� Fieldglass deserves strong consideration from enterprises that are seeking a trusted, global, innovative, end-to-end provider that presents cutting-edge technology that converges with total talent management and artificial intelligence,” Ardent Partners concludes. The report suggests the portfolio deserves consideration for these customer scenarios:

• 鈥淏usinesses that desire AI-led tools and technology to guide talent decisions, fuse intelligence into workforce management, and provide real-time staffing insights.鈥�
• 鈥淐ompanies that need a VMS partner that can optimize enterprise-level services procurement spend and SOW management with innovative functionality.鈥�
• 鈥淥rganizations that seek a VMS platform that focuses on Future of Work readiness and skills-based hiring.鈥�

Vish Baliga is chief technology officer for 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

Ardent Partners鈥� 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor is designed to help procurement, human resources, human capital, and talent acquisition executives navigate the complex and mature VMS solutions marketplace. This report analyzes and assesses the primary VMS solution providers in the marketplace today. You can .

is a leading international bank headquartered in London with a presence in 59 markets. With over 83,000 employees and almost 14,000 external workers, implementing a strategy was crucial for the bank to remain competitive and compliant. Guided by a workplace culture that champions innovation, technology, and sustainability, Standard Chartered supports customers from around the world to open opportunities in new markets and to live up to its brand promise to be here for good.

鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 really important to have that total workforce management view, where we鈥檙e starting to think about workforce planning and skills planning as the future of work,鈥� said Melinda McKinley, global head, HR Strategy and Digital Transformation, Standard Chartered. McKinley key insights from Standard Chartered鈥檚 HR transformation at 麻豆原创 Sapphire Orlando.

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Due to changing regulations, the banking sector has faced an increasing demand for workers with specialized skill sets to meet IT and cybersecurity requirements. This has led many finance organizations like Standard Chartered to tap into the external workforce. Today, Standard Chartered鈥檚 external workers are integral to how the organization operates. But initially, it lacked the technology and insights to effectively manage them.

The bank had an over 20-year-old HR system that made it increasingly difficult to innovate and respond quickly to changing business and regulatory requirements, according to Steve Leighton, head of HR Digital Enablement, Standard Chartered and a member of the team undertaking the HR transformation journey since it began in 2017. 鈥淲e wanted to replace that legacy system, transform, simplify, implement a global process, and really make an improvement in the experience.鈥�

One strategic requirement stood out as key to the success of the HR transformation: 鈥淗ow do we join together our permanent employees and our contingent workers to get a total view of the workforce across the organization?鈥� said Leighton, who presented the project results at 麻豆原创 Sapphire Orlando. 鈥淭his is a building block in our long-term ambition of being able to perform our strategic workforce planning.鈥�

HR Transformation Wins 麻豆原创 Innovation Award

Standard Chartered adopted a total workforce management strategy by integrating with solutions in the cloud to help deliver a truly holistic capability across its permanent and contingent workforce. 鈥淭hat kind of integration 鈥� [麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass] together 鈥� was key for this particular transformation,鈥� Leighton said.

With the implementation of position management, a foundational capability in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central that helps organizations create and manage job positions to maintain a desired org structure, the organization achieved a breakthrough in its HR transformation journey as the result of its clear strategic vision.

鈥淥ne of the key things that set us on a path for a future-ready workforce was really embracing the foundational architecture that position management brings,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淭hat meant immediately we had a visualization of our total workforce 鈥� our contingent and our employee base. It is leading to much stronger data-driven hiring decisions.鈥�

Standard Chartered remediated 75 interfaces to third-party systems, including outsourced payroll solutions, and migrated 3.5 million data records from its legacy platform. It overhauled processes to achieve an 87% reduction of HR reports. With improved visibility of the entire workforce, where legally permissible, it can now capture richer data for diversity and inclusion metrics to further enable its inclusive culture.

A clear focus on employee experience has significantly contributed to the transformation鈥檚 ongoing success. Applying a 鈥渄eep鈥� experience approach, the team evaluated each phase and decision in the project for its potential impact on employee experience. Approximately 200 colleagues participated in user acceptance testing, providing valuable feedback through surveys and interviews. Collecting insights post-deployment also enabled the team to continuously innovate and improve the experience. Among the resulting innovations is a new employee portal with a modernized interface that integrates adoption nudges and chatbots to support colleagues during the hiring process.

鈥淧osition management was a key tenet of being able to facilitate this single workforce capability,鈥� said Leighton, who shared learnings from the project, including the effort required for change management to educate and prepare stakeholders and the diligent approach to the data integration. He noted that this effort paid off by 鈥渃learly culminating in that success.鈥�

Standard Chartered recently for its success in delivering on total workforce management with a focus on experience.

Strategic Vision for Future-Ready Workforce

鈥淲ith 麻豆原创, we now have a truly holistic view of our permanent and external workers,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淭his has not only improved the employee experience and given us richer insights into our entire workforce but has also helped set the foundation for strategic corporate planning, integrated talent management, and management of regulatory requirements.鈥�

Standard Chartered is now focused on leveraging and expanding future-ready workforce capabilities by using the 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud solution for workforce planning. McKinley described how the collaboration of the HR and finance teams is building success for the organization: 鈥淲e鈥檙e working closely with our finance colleagues to bring finance and HR data together a little more seamlessly through the use of 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, with a view to actually making a difference to bottom-up planning through our corporate plan.鈥�

She noted, 鈥淭he value that will create, by moving agreed workforce modelling into the position charts, I think will be a game changer for us in terms of our future workforce planning and skills planning.鈥�

Total Workforce Management from 麻豆原创

A total workforce management strategy allows businesses to keep the whole workforce in focus for increased agility, productivity, and bottom-line impact. 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions combined with 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions can deliver value and efficiency by providing a single view of the entire workforce, allowing managers to onboard, oversee, and pay employees and contingent workers in one place. Organizations using 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions 57% greater HR process speed, 54% reduction in time spent by managers on administrative HR, and 40% less time required to fill positions. Organizations using 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions saw 7.81% savings through competitive candidate sourcing and 16.4% lower project budgets.

Find out more about .

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a webinar with Ian Lawless and David Rae of , during which we discussed effective talent strategies for this unprecedented period. We touched on the changing workforce, the impact of turbulence, and how procurement can build effective talent strategies for 2023.

Talent is a topic that is close to my heart and one that we are hearing is top of mind for procurement executives. Here are three key takeaways from our conversation that procurement leaders can apply to address talent strategies in 2023 and beyond.

1. Focus on Attracting and Retaining Employees to Overcome the Ongoing Talent Shortage

The polycrisis has changed the workforce, and it is time to change with it. , the COVID-19 pandemic, arguably the first and most significant event of this recent polycrisis, has caused long-lasting disruption to the workplace, creating 鈥渁 once-in-a-generation 鈥� or even once-in-100-years 鈥� opportunity to question some of our long-held assumptions about how we work.鈥�

Being able to nurture existing talent, being able to upskill existing talent, being able to recruit young talent to the procurement function 鈥� these are all top concerns. And not just in procurement: logistics is another area where we鈥檙e seeing increased demand for that skill set but where we do not have the capacity or enough capability in our current organizations, especially not to meet the demand that continues to build.

2. Engage and Manage External Workers as a Pillar of Your Strategy

罢辞诲补测鈥檚 workforce must be viewed holistically to include external resources, a practice that is growing more common as businesses seek to gain flexibility and control.

In the most forward-thinking companies I have seen, the CHRO and CPO have a collaborative relationship. It鈥檚 one where they are building a total workforce strategy together that looks at the capabilities within the full-time employee base and being sure that they are recruiting and training to have those critical skills. They are also thinking about what is the best way to leverage contingent workers and service providers to get global reach, specialization, or agility 鈥� to be able to have flexibility to expand or contract the workforce without having to go through the emotional task of restructuring or downsizing.

3. In Times of Turbulence, Meet Workers Where They Are

Agility is key to fulfilling the evolving role of procurement, as well as the demands of the talent pool. Living in a polycrisis has shown that we need different ways of thinking and working. In a dynamic environment, procurement teams must strengthen and regain capabilities that were previously unused or lost given the years of fairly consistent supply chain stability. Businesses must employ new methods to access crucial skill sets while mitigating risk, such as investing in the external workforce and providing flexibility to workers.

In a lot of areas, the last few years have made us very risk weary. CFOs are saying, 鈥淗ow can I better mitigate risk? We鈥檝e been through a roller coaster. I really want to take more risk out of our business.鈥� And one of the ways to do that is to have a dynamic workforce where you can efficiently shift labor or capability where you need it, when you need it.

In this age of uncertainty, procurement responsibilities have increased and are even more in the spotlight. Upskilling procurement talent is a vital part of being more effective and meeting the growing expectations of business stakeholders. But you can鈥檛 do it alone. Thankfully, technology is here to help you manage the complexities and the risk, and make proactive, informed decisions. At 麻豆原创, we continue to listen to the market, to not only address the challenges encountered today but to bring the solutions that will help procurement evolve into the future.

To learn more about the webinar and read a full summary, check out this white paper: .

Explore these solutions from 麻豆原创 that can help procurement leaders navigate through challenging times:

Don鈥檛 miss the opportunity to learn more about the full range of 麻豆原创鈥檚 procurement and total workforce solutions at in Vienna, Austria.

Etosha Thurman is chief marketing and solutions officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at 麻豆原创.

This also complies with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The environment is assessed annually by a certified third-party assessment organization (3PAO) to adhere to NIST 800-53 controls with FedRAMP Parameters. This allows government agencies and highly regulated industries in the U.S. to adopt 麻豆原创鈥檚 market-leading cloud applications for external workforce management and services procurement with an enhanced, enterprise-grade security model.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions are available in the 麻豆原创 NS2 Commercial Regulated Environment (CRE). This is a significant milestone for our regulated customers, as it ensures that the data stored within our system adheres to the regulations put in place by their industry and remains in country.

麻豆原创 NS2 offers the following 麻豆原创 Fieldglass external workforce management solutions: , , and .

History of External Workforce Management

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on increasing labor shortages, organizations were quickly evolving the ways they staffed their teams. One aspect of this evolution was the realization that temporary workers offer a valuable way to address staffing and skill gaps. An found that 42% of workforce spend was dedicated to the external workforce, composed of service providers and other non-payroll workers.

More than two years later, this percentage is projected to rise. A sponsored by 麻豆原创 found that 50% of surveyed organizations plan to increase their use of external workers. This includes the public sector, U.S. state and local governments, and regulated industries such as aerospace and defense, utilities, higher education, life sciences, manufacturing, high-tech, and financial services. Each of these industries are expected to rely on the expertise of external workers.

Managing External Workers in the Public Sector: Uniquely Challenging

Like any other organization, governments and highly regulated industries use external workers to do basic things such as deploy and manage IT, build infrastructure, and perform back-office functions. But unlike the private sector, the need for security is magnified tenfold. When employing external workers, government and highly regulated industries must comply with and adhere to strict and constantly evolving privacy and security standards.

Given the public sector鈥檚 heightened requirements for security, the realities of external workforce management can make things more challenging:

• External workers may have access to critical systems and data. Managing an external workforce means there are temporary and contingent workers who may not be committed to the long-term success of an organization, and these resources may be working with sensitive data. Therefore, it is critical that external workers are securely managed from onboarding through offboarding to help ensure only vetted and trusted resources are allowed into the organization.
• External workforce data must be protected to the highest standards. When hiring and onboarding through a workforce management solution, a worker鈥檚 highly sensitive data is stored within the application. Personally identifiable information (PII), location, and other employee-specific data is highly targeted by bad actors, so it is crucial to protect it according to government-attested regulations.
• Highly regulated organizations require an upgraded innovation model. Organizations need a solution that balances security with innovation. A solution that provides enhanced security based on industry needs, uses a local deployment model, and stays ahead of the innovation curve creates a strong barrier between cybersecurity threats and systems.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass Through 麻豆原创 NS2: Secure, Local, Sovereign

The necessity to comply with local data sovereignty regulations, store data in-county, and control who can access data based on regional requirements were key drivers in bringing 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions into the 麻豆原创 NS2 environment. 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions delivered through 麻豆原创 NS2 provide:

• Localized protection of data: All 麻豆原创 Fieldglass data is deployed and stored on U.S. Amazon Web Services鈥� infrastructure that is dedicated to addressing the needs of highly regulated industries within the cloud. 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions are deployed on infrastructure located within the U.S. From initial deployment to ongoing support, all facets of the 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions are maintained in-country.
• Innovation backed by in-region, expert resources: 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions are protected via a security model that provides local, credentialed resources who understand innovation, business drivers, and U.S. compliance regulations.
• Automated security: 麻豆原创 NS2 leverages tools such as vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection, and continuous monitoring to help ensure data stays protected under an automated and enhanced cybersecurity

麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions delivered by 麻豆原创 NS2 provide a critical line of defense for protecting organizations and ensuring the individuals handling everyday operations are recruited and managed within a highly secure environment. Our sovereign cloud offering mitigates the risk of external threats by limiting system management, providing in-country deployment, and leveraging an enterprise strategy to control data access, data residency, and data sovereignty.

In other words, we keep your data secure so you can focus on what鈥檚 important: your mission.

Lillian Chang聽 is senior vice president for 麻豆原创 National Security Services.
Vish Baliga is chief technology officer for 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

However, insurance companies that rely on this staffing approach find that the external workforce becomes a huge part of overall spend. Often, they overlook tools to help manage this workforce.

In fact, a recent found that insurance companies now spend 40% of their workforce budget on external labor. And nearly three-quarters of companies say that these workers are important to their ability to meet market demand or operate at full capacity.

The external workforce is a key lever in enabling business performance. It is important to meet market demands, improve the customer experience, and reduce risk. With these facts in mind, it鈥檚 easy to see why managing the external workforce should be a priority.

Increase Insight into Your External Workforce

Companies often use traditional procure-to-pay systems to help streamline external workforce management. Yet many insurance companies still don鈥檛 have the insight they need to get top value from their spend.

For example, found that just 34% of companies use procurement technology for contingent workforce management. Some of the respondents use this technology to manage their service providers, but only 20% were able to track and manage their engagement from statement of work to purchase order to invoicing.

Companies also lack insight into fundamental issues such as who is doing the work, the contract terms of each engagement, and the responsibilities of each worker. The challenge is that digital security breaches present risks to the organization, as external workers can take advantage of their digital access if they are not onboarded and offboarded properly.

The research highlighted several other issues that can compromise the value of the external workforce. Nearly half of respondents reported compliance issues and more than 40% reported quality issues regarding resources and projects with external workers. In addition, 44% reported unauthorized spend with contingent workers.

Standardize and Streamline External Workforce Management

What鈥檚 the best way for insurance companies to manage each external workforce engagement so that they get the value they pay for 鈥� and the best possible business results?

Advanced digital solutions for external workforce management can help.

With these solutions, managers can standardize worker onboarding and offboarding processes. They can quickly and intuitively grant access to systems and assets 鈥� and disconnect that access when a worker鈥檚 contract expires. And the technology helps ensure that workers have the right certifications. This is a great way to reduce risk.

Best-in-class solutions let you use any type of proof of service 鈥� such as timesheets, milestones, and deliverables 鈥� on a recurring due date or price-per-unit basis. This feature helps you align payment with the value provided.

You can tailor workflows based on category of service or work provided. For example, you might want to include tiered vendors in the requisition process or require approvals needed for invoicing to ensure your company鈥檚 organizational guidelines can be easily followed.

Increase Bottom-Line Business Value

Other features let you monitor supplier KPIs, such as response time, cycle time, and hire rates. With this insight, you can facilitate reviews and negotiations with suppliers.

Improving your external workforce management processes can also help you provide a better experience for candidates and workers. Intuitive workforce management solutions can make your company more attractive to younger workers who prefer to interact with you using digital technologies. They allow you to manage who is working for you, where workers are located, what they are doing, how much you are paying them, and what access they have to your systems and facilities.

What鈥檚 more, the right procurement technology can help you generate significant cost savings. Modern tools generate reports that enable immediate visibility into contingent workforce and services procurement spend. Analytics features can help you identify opportunities to further operationalize your procurement processes and create new cost efficiencies.

You鈥檝e developed a valuable external workforce. Now, advanced technologies can help it boost your business鈥� bottom line.

Toni Tomic is global head of Insurance at 麻豆原创.

That鈥檚 just how we did it; there was no other option. Or so it seemed.

Then came the pandemic. Businesses were forced to figure out at a moment鈥檚 notice how to stay productive despite closed offices, necessitating many of their on-site people to work at home in spare bedrooms, kitchens, and basements.

Of course, we have had the means to work remotely for a long time. I鈥檒l never forget the first time I attached a whiny modem to a phone line so I could work remotely from my apartment. And like it or not, video conferencing has been around for years.

The pandemic took things to a whole new level. It was like a wake-up call that prompted us to question our long-held beliefs about jobs, locations, and careers.

A new eBook from IDC, sponsored by 麻豆原创, takes a closer look at the lasting effects of our pandemic wake-up call. examines how the disruptions of the past few years have impacted the world鈥檚 supply chains and how businesses have been forced to adapt. It also offers forward-looking strategies to increase workforce resiliency in times of disruption.

What We Learned from the Pandemic — and What It Means for the Future of Work

Workers want flexibility. For many workers, this was their first opportunity to prove to themselves and their employers that remote work is not only possible, but it can also be effective. Many also found that working remotely could lead to a better work/life balance. People have come to like the idea that they don鈥檛 have to commute to the office every day. They also like having a more flexible schedule to accommodate other aspects of their lives.

This need for flexibility impacts the way we work in different ways. Workers are now more likely to ask to work remotely as a term of employment. Alternatively, employers have more flexibility in recruiting because remote working removes geography as a factor in hiring. For example, if you鈥檙e staffing a software development project where the core team is based in Chicago, you aren鈥檛 precluded from hiring a developer in Toronto or someone in the far suburbs. It also frees you to consider contingent workers to fill specific skill gaps for a defined period of time.

Workers are reevaluating what they want from their careers. For so many of us, the harsh realities of the pandemic have been a rude awakening, showing just how quickly life can shift from 鈥渘ormal routines鈥� to something completely foreign. You start thinking, 鈥淲hat am I doing with my life? Why am I so engrossed with my work? Am I in the right job, or should I be doing something else? How can I make time in the day to do other things that I just can鈥檛 seem to get to?鈥�

I鈥檓 sure this has helped fuel what we have come to know as 鈥渢he Great Resignation.鈥� But I would like to think of this as more of a great adaptation than resignation. Many people are no longer interested in working insane hours to make big money, stuck to one company, location, or job. Instead, they鈥檙e asking what they can do to enjoy their working life, or is it 鈥渓ife while working鈥�?

As economic conditions change, it鈥檚 not clear who has the upper hand. Clearly, the exodus of workers during the pandemic put many employers on the defensive. But continuing inflation, fears of recession, and the coinciding possibility of fewer employment opportunities are giving workers reason to reconsider jumping ship.

Job growth in the U.S. has been very strong, with the nation returning to its pre-pandemic employment level in July. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that , which was lower than the month before but still represents significant growth. It鈥檚 unclear how many of these jobs are new and how many are the result of early retirements or workers who have chosen other paths, such as doing gig work or joining the contingent workforce.

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What Employers Are Doing to Avoid Talent Shortages

Regardless of where the economy takes the job market in the coming months and years, employers have been put on notice by the hard-earned lessons of the pandemic and the Great Resignation. From , IDC has identified key strategies organizations are adopting to mitigate the risk of talent shortages. They include:

• Strategic workforce planning: Organizations are emphasizing strategic workforce planning to balance job requirements with the necessary organizational capabilities. This includes evaluating the need to operate functions remotely with centralized capabilities that leverage talent across multiple geographies and worksites.
• Hybrid work models: Nearly all industries, including those which have never before been considered to have remote-work potential, are evolving and innovating to adapt to the demand for hybrid work. For instance, the pandemic has driven manufacturing to embrace a mix of in-office and remote working. IDC predicts that by 2023, 40% of G2000 companies will develop all new processes based on remote-first designs.
• Employee training and engagement: To retain employees and increase skills, businesses continue to invest in training and certification. Additionally, they are using sustainability programs and technology adoption to increase engagement, enable transparency, and build a culture of trust and innovation. The emphasis is on working with technology rather than technology replacing the meaningful components of work.
• Improved recruitment practices: Organizations are proactively building and expanding candidate pipelines, regardless of current hiring needs. They鈥檙e also enhancing the interviewing and sourcing skills of hiring managers, automating recruitment practices, partnering with educational institutions, and using apprenticeships to cultivate a wider talent pool.
• The contingent workforce: Organizations that face a shortage of local talent may end up outsourcing jobs internationally or contracting parts of their processes to a third party. If they lack in-house skills, they might also hire contract workers or turn to managed services to supplement their workforce. Organizations are also turning to contingent labor to right-size the number of employees on the payroll and give them the ability to flex. Using or SOW-based contracts offers businesses the flexibility to act nimbly when business requirements change. Technology enables these organizations to predict requirements for contingent workers, strategize their onboarding, track their productivity and performance, and balance labor requirements with outcomes.

A Workforce in Progress

Adapting to the changes in the workforce we have seen over the past few years is a work in progress. Worker attitudes will evolve, as will business strategies to address them. Technology solutions that organizations use to stay ahead of the trends will continue to prove invaluable to forward-looking business leaders as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of the post-pandemic workforce.

Vish Baliga is chief technology officer at .

鈥淭he pandemic has allowed for a once-in-a-generation 鈥� or even a once-in-100 years 鈥� opportunity to question some of our long-held assumptions about how we work,鈥� he says. 鈥淎ssumptions like needing to work on-site have been reshaped, and we have an opportunity to rethink things at a very fundamental level.鈥�

Once in a hundred years is a pretty long stretch.

But I think he鈥檚 right. As the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report observes, the pandemic and other unprecedented global disruptions have created 鈥渟eismic shifts鈥� in how we work, where we work, and with whom we do business.

Workers sense these shifts and feel empowered. Likewise, events haven鈥檛 escaped the attention of business leaders. Last year, a survey of 232 global executives by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services revealed that 96% of respondents have made or are making alterations to workplaces because of recent business disruptions, while 92% said organizations need to adopt new workplace strategies to remain competitive.

We are in a historic moment, a 鈥渙nce-in-a-generation鈥� opportunity to rethink workforce management at a fundamental level. What do we do with this opportunity? The Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report offers some valuable insights, of which I would like to highlight a few.

Procurement Function for External Workforce Emerges from Its Silo

We鈥檝e been talking about this for a while 鈥� the idea that as businesses come to see the strategic value of procurement in external workforce management, it is emerging from its silo.

You might make the same case about human resources鈥� involvement with the external workforce. The integration of HR and procurement is exactly the kind of change we need. As companies increasingly rely on services procurement and contingent labor, HR and procurement will collaborate more closely and rely on the expertise of each other.

The collaborative process would go like this: HR works with internal departments to identify requirements and validate compliance and how external workers are going to be engaged and managed. Meanwhile the procurement team finds the right sources for talent and creates the contracts with rates and other terms and conditions. Then, the business uses these artifacts to engage the personnel, governed by these contracts. HR, procurement, and other departments can then monitor performance and compliance and report back to the appropriate parties.

Of course, while this type of collaboration is important, it is mostly moving the tactical aspects to the business while setting up necessary guardrails. Moving forward, businesses will need these functions, and other business functions, to collaborate in developing workforce strategies designed to achieve specific business outcomes.

Insourcing versus Outsourcing

It鈥檚 one thing for a business to decide it will use more external labor. It鈥檚 another to make strategic decisions about when and where to use this labor to achieve business outcomes.

鈥淢y sense is that many businesses are still handling hiring and recruitment tactically as opposed to what is the right approach for the business,鈥� says Philip Ideson, managing director of Art of Procurement, in the report. 鈥淭hey should be asking, 鈥榃hat are the outcomes we鈥檙e trying to drive? What鈥檚 our position on insourcing or outsourcing services?鈥欌��

The concludes that 鈥渃ompanies will continue to grapple with the pros and cons鈥� of outsourcing versus insourcing. This is another area where HR, procurement, and other business functions need to engage in strategic discussions.

Of course, any such discussions will undoubtedly come around to the topic of business flexibility. If the past few years have taught us anything, it鈥檚 that flexibility gives businesses 鈥渟uperpowers鈥� that enable them to stay resilient in the face of disruption. Outsourcing is a source of flexibility, for example, allowing businesses to incur fewer fixed costs than with full-time employees. It also helps them adapt quickly to surges in demand, slowdowns, or unexpected events that could derail their success.

The Role of Technology in Strategic Workforce Planning

As the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report observes, 鈥淒igital solutions have long been used to boost efficiency and savings in other areas of the business, and their value is equally key in enhancing external workforce outcomes.鈥�

Vendor management systems like enable organizations to search a wide employee landscape to find and hire the external workers they need to fill roles and staff projects. These solutions can also show where the business is using temporary labor and whether it鈥檚 relying too heavily on one supplier or region. This enables proactive action to minimize service disruption.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions can open opportunities for procurement professionals to focus on strategic, value-add work instead of manual processes that can be automated. Ideson envisions a scenario where 鈥渢echnology will move us to more of a self-service environment where business stakeholders can procure the services they need faster and more efficiently without the involvement of the procurement function.鈥�

As Ideson says, procurement teams could see technology as 鈥渁n existential threat to the profession or an opportunity.鈥� However, given our 鈥渙nce-in-100 years鈥� opportunity, I hope you choose to focus your expertise on strategic workforce planning, not repetitive processes. As you find new ways to use services procurement and contingent labor strategically, you鈥檒l realize significant benefits, including:

• Budget flexibility through fewer fixed costs associated with full-time employees
• The ability to create workforce capacity on demand and scale up or down to meet changing project needs
• Less risk for the business as responsibility for worker results shifts to services companies
• Better value from the ability to actively manage every aspect of external worker engagement
• Optimized results with tools that enable outcome-based performance assessment

This is the promise of vendor management system technology. It can free you from a sometimes overwhelming amount of tactical work, allowing you to realize greater benefits with true strategic workforce planning.

Vish Baliga is chief technology officer at 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.