Today’s organizations face a critical challenge: They must remain agile enough to pivot quickly in an increasingly dynamic marketplace, while still maintaining stability and sustainable growth. Increasing pace of change can be seen in the tenure of Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) members; for most of the 20th century tenure held consistent at ~60 years, however that has dropped to ~25 years so far in the 2020’s. Success in the modern business environment demands greater flexibility and agility from operations and cost structure. Historically, companies had to choose: flexibility at the expense continuity, or structure at the expense of agility.
Many have found the answer in the form of a contingent workforce—freelancers, contractors, agency staff, and gig workers— who are redefining the rules of work.
Why Contingent Talent Matters </br> <ul>
Agility and flexibility to match labor needs to business needs
Scale your workforce up or down with ease, adapting to seasonal spikes, market swings, or new growth opportunities. </li>
While contingent labor brings flexibility, it also introduces complexity:
- Hidden spend scattered across business units, often invisible to leadership.
- Lack of data and metrics to truly manage spend and productivity.
- Inability to strategically and objectively manage contingent worker vendor relationships.
Without governance supported by relevant insights, these risks undermine the very benefits companies seek.
**The Contingent Workforce Challenge: Costs Without Accountability**
Most labor-based services rely on supplier self-reporting and manager approval to validate time – a process riddled with risk. In many organizations, the process looks like this:
• A contractor enters their hours into a Vendor Management System (VMS)
• A manager approves the time based on a general sense of the work done
• The invoice is paid, often without deeper scrutiny
This approach assumes trust but lacks objective verification. The tools and processes involved are designed for tracking and automation – not authentication.
The core challenge is that supplier self-reporting, combined with manager approval, does not guarantee that billed hours equate to hours actually worked or value delivered. Ignoring this gap exposes companies to financial risk through overpayment for unworked or under-delivered time, contract overruns, and diminished supplier accountability. It also hampers the ability to shift procurement models toward outcome or deliverable-based agreements, which represent a growing best practice for managing contingent labor.
**How the Sapience Workforce Intelligence Platform Works**
SapienceIQ is a privacy first, enterprise-grade platform that passively collects activity data from endpoints such as laptops, virtual machines, and desktops used by third-party labor. The Sapience data collector, IQ Link, captures signals from active application usage, such as mouse and keyboard interactions, as well as the time spent in work-relevant tools. Combining this data builds a comprehensive picture of how work is being performed across vendors, locations, business units, etc.
The platform can also integrate seamlessly with existing VMS and project management systems, to enhance current workflows and create data correlations. SapienceIQ enables organizations to validate reported time, improve supplier accountability, identify high-performing vendors, and uncover hidden productivity losses. As a result, companies are able to realize measurable cost savings—often exceeding 30%—within months of deployment.
**The Opportunity: Total Talent Management**
Forward-thinking organizations are reframing contingent workforce management as a **strategic differentiator**. By adopting a holistic approach with insights enabled by workforce intelligence, they achieve breakthrough outcomes in vital operational categories:
1. Unified Visibility
Technology platforms centralize contingent workforce data, turning a blind spot into a source of insight.
2. Maximized ROI of Contingent Labor
Correlate supplier-reported hours with actual labor activity to enable identification of anomalies and potential overbilling, while supporting continuous supplier performance improvement.
3. Supplier Ecosystem Strategy
Strategic partnerships, blended with digital marketplaces, create a resilient and diversified sourcing model.
**The Payoff: Have Your Cake and Eat It Too**
Companies that embrace contingent workforce management as a priority achieve more than cost savings:
• Faster innovation through global skills on demand.
• Sustainable growth by balancing fixed and variable costs.
• Resilient and Robust vendor relationships by evolving beyond transactional interactions
**Conclusion**
Contingent talent is no longer a tactical lever — it is a strategic asset. The organizations that thrive in the future will be those that seamlessly integrate contingent and full-time workforces into one strategy.
With the right governance, technology (Sapience Workforce Intelligence), and process driven approach, businesses can rise to the challenges of workforce management. They can have the flexibility of contingent labor and the stability of core employees.
If your organization is looking to adopt a contingent workforce model, or better manage your existing contingent workforce and are interested in learning how SLKone, powered by Sapience, can help, please reach out to to Andrew Klemm Aklemm@slkone.com and / or Drew Wedemeyer, at Drew.Wedemeyer@sapienceanalytics.com.
**About SLKone**
SLKone is more than a consulting firm—we're your partner in translating complex business challenges into tangible results. Our hands-on approach means we work side-by-side with your team, delivering actionable solutions that directly impact your bottom line. At SLKone, we don't just provide solutions—we build the bridge between your challenges and measurable outcomes. Using data-driven insights and deep industry expertise, we create tailored strategies that span across industries and deliver lasting results.
For more information visit https://slkone.com/
**About Sapience Analytics**
Sapience delivers workforce intelligence that helps enterprises optimize organization effectiveness, enhance productivity, and improve operational performance. With our privacy-first platform, Sapience helps organizations make smarter decisions about workforce allocation, performance management, and cost optimization. Sapience clients include leading global banks, insurance and financial services institutions, technology services integrators, digital products and solutions companies, healthcare providers and worldwide energy services companies, among others.
For more information visit https://sapienceanalytics.com/
___
Download this Article as a PDF
Share this post: