SAP Fieldglass has added four new services to its Digital Partner Network: Toptal, Trusted Health, First Advantage and TalentWave. With them, Fieldglass customers gain the ability to conduct searches for more specialized workers, background checks, verify certifications and improve payment processes.
Expanding the network is intended to give Fieldglass users “more options to scale and manage their external workforce,” according to Senior Vice President Arun Srinivasan. And, it certainly fits with the increasing amount of talk coming out of both SAP Fieldglass and SAP Success Factors about “Total Workforce Management.”
Earlier this year, SAP reported that 65 percent of senior executives believe their contingent workforce was essential to their operating at full capacity and meeting demand, especially in areas such as product development and speed to market.
These workers account for roughly 44 percent of workforce spend, Fieldgass said, and number that’s expected to grow. “On-demand, online marketplaces are becoming increasingly important sources of talent, with 38 percent of executives using these marketplaces today and 74 percent planning to in three years,” said the company’s report, External Workforce Insights 2018.
The report also said 38 percent of executives us online, on-demand services to access talent, and expects that figure to nearly double, to 74 percent, within three years. With that kind of opportunity in mind, Fieldglass positions its partner network as an “ecosystem” that uses pre-built integrations with solutions that help manage external workers.
By now, there’s little question that contingent workers—especially individuals who work on a consulting or freelance basis—have become a key component of the overall labor force. Since 2011, the number of independent contractors earning six figures has grown by some 70 percent, says Forbes, to about 3.3 million people.
Meanwhile, the freelance-job board Moonlighting says companies are using more independents to get work done, and not only at the corporate level. An increasing number of small companies are hiring freelancers, the company said: Their spending on contractors rose 73 percent from 2011 to 2016.
Image: Kurhan
