#1 The growing importance of matchmaking platforms
Intermediation platforms will continue to play a key role in international connectivity between companies and skilled talent. In an increasingly digitised world, they offer the advantage of speed and international openness for accessing qualified profiles on a global scale. This access to international freelancers goes hand in hand with the possibility of reducing costs and project completion times.
#2 Challenges of the talent shortage
The shortage of talent—particularly in the IT field—continues to hinder companies wanting to recruit specialist profiles. To remedy this, it is becoming increasingly urgent to broaden the talent pool internationally, to make greater use of platforms and to manage the workforce with greater flexibility. These different actions can result in the use of Total Workforce Management, a flexible and agile working method that prioritises skills over status.
#3 The arrival of employer branding for freelancers
The freelance experience is now just as important as the employee experience within the context of talent shortage. Companies looking to attract the most sought-after freelancers must provide an enriching experience and look after their employer brand in order to retain their external talents. Indeed, the latter are becoming more and more demanding when it comes to choosing an assignment.
#4 The new challenge of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence will be a key issue in talent and supplier sourcing over the next few decades. To stay in the race, companies will have to automate and optimise their matching processes in order to improve efficiency and performance. Predictive procurement is an example of AI that is already at work in many companies. This solution predicts procurement needs and optimises the selection of suppliers based on company data.
#5 Environmental and social considerations as a new imperative
The sustainable and inclusive transformation of intellectual service procurement in major groups will no longer be an option, but a necessity. Establishing a real sustainable transition policy with consequent KPIs is becoming essential. Otherwise, legal sustainability standards will quickly catch up with companies that have done nothing to anticipate them. Moreover, all indicators show that better inclusiveness boosts business performance.
The five major Future of Work trends we defined during our Forward event are thus firmly linked to current upheavals in the labour market. The digitisation of the economy and jobs, the rapid development of IT skills, the growing demand for employee flexibility, the development of new technological centres in developing countries and the strong growth in self-employment are all new factors that companies can no longer ignore.
In order to adapt to these, the speakers at Forward identified the need to deal with new technologies, while promoting a sustainable and inclusive transition. Intermediation platforms, task automation and the adoption of AI will be key assets in meeting these new challenges and gaining greater agility.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our speakers once again for sharing their expertise: Laetitia Vitaud, Sylvie Noel, Mathieu Thévenot, Thibaud Cavelier de Cuverville, François Tourrette, Maxime Bodilis, Olivier Vandendriessche, gilles collet, Cyril Audousset, Céline Mazarin, Claire Zagnoli, Léanne Bonhomme, Mathieu Dumas, Jean-Rémy Jacono et Eric Tinoco. We hope to see just as many of you for our next Forward event, which promises to be just as exciting as the first.
