Contingent Workforce: the New Era of Talents

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contractors account for about 26% of the workforce and the managed services market is expected to grow to $257.84 billion by 2022.

Why consider Managed Services?

The concept of Managed Services is to outsource a support function to an expert agency that excels at managing the methods, the resources, and the expertise needed to meet deliverables and milestones within a defined budget.

It is a model that allows a company to operate within known parameters such as budget, timeline, and specific deliverables. It lends itself to scaling up or down based on company initiatives and business drivers. It takes the “sweat” out of the planning and execution of projects. Finally, it ensures success as the performance drives the compensation.

A big advantage of the model is for clients to focus their efforts on Intellectual Property and employee retention and delegate the execution to experts who will continue to deliver as long as the need exists or leave when the function is no longer required. It is one of the most flexible workforce models and has mushroomed in the last 10 years in fast-pace industries.

The contractual agreement is based on Service Level Agreements (SLA) that state the performance and quality metrics of the client/agency relationship for the particular outsourced function.

Common Managed Services handled in the area of Marketing, Operations, and Finance

  • Event Management (either full-service or only components of an event)
  • Creative Services: Graphic Design, Writing & Editing, PPT, Video production
  • Marketing Automation: Eloqua, Pardot, Marketo lead management
  • Data and analytics
  • Program/project management
  • Digital marketing program execution
  • Social media strategy, planning, and execution
  • Web content audit and management
  • Operations: data analysis: mining, quality, cleansing
  • Influencer relations and programs with analysts & press communities
  • Sales operations in M&A: migrating data, transitioning processes, and Day 1 readiness

How to engage in a Managed Services Model?

There is no one size fits all. Clients can bring in one talent or an entire team depending on how much they need to scale and how fast they require results. Flexibility is a key success factor. Companies are also able to choose from a broad pool of skilled, experienced specialists to maximize project efficiency.

The contingent workforce is an increasingly important component of an integrated workforce strategy. To harvest the benefits from this model, clients should align themselves with an established and reputable agency with high expertise in the field. Traditional staffing agencies are not always the right choice because of their general industry knowledge. Clients should demand an in-depth understanding of the marketing discipline for example as well as domain expertise such as technology.

About Netchannels

Netchannels has helped high tech companies for 22 years define and execute marketing campaigns. Our pool of talents is very solid and offers a very broad skill-set. We take the pain out of the hiring process by handling all the labor involved in recruiting, screening and interviewing job candidates. We onboard contractors and provide benefits. We carry a very high business liability insurance and meet all of the financial ratios required by the largest high tech companies. We’re also a certified WOSB.