Open talent platforms are the future of recruiting

Outsourcing (ITO/BPO)

Open talent platforms are the future way to recruit workers. They offer threats and opportunities for service providers. They can help them attract new business, but they can also help companies find employees. In that case, those companies might outsource fewer services.

Open talent platforms help companies find global workers that can deliver the products and services that they need. Businesses worldwide appreciate the skills, speed and scalability that open talent platforms offer. Open platforms are also known as the gig economy or the human cloud.

Some platforms specialise in SMEs, like Appfutura and Talent Alpha. Others specialise in freelancers or both SMEs and freelancers. Examples include:

Open talent platforms are here to stay

Global consulting firm Deloitte estimates that talent platforms manage over €2 billion in outsourced activity, freelance or contract. Global consulting firm Gartner predicts that by 2025 35-30% of the workforce will consist of open talent workers. Currently, that share is around 15-25%. About 33% of open talent services focus on IT, 25% on operations, 15% on marketing, and another 15% on research and development.

Growth even faster in ITO and BPO

We expect the number of open talent workers to increase even faster in the IT and Business Process Outsourcing (ITO/BPO) sectors. In the last 10 years, these 2 sectors have lead the open platform economy.  

Benefits for service providers

Open talent sourcing has many benefits for service providers:

  • Access to many potential projects worldwide;
  • Fewer fixed costs;
  • Easier to compete with big brands;
  • Focus is on talent, not on big brand reputation; and
  • Talent is not an expense but an investment.

Service providers can also use the platforms to find new employees. Joining a platform is usually free of charge.

Registering as a company and as an individual

Although most open talent platforms are for freelancers, SMEs can also register as long as they make it clear that they are a company. It is also possible to register employees as individuals. Buyers are looking for specific skills, so they may find individuals more easily than companies. If your employee gets the job and the contractor is happy with their work, they will likely hire them again.

Find out more

Read more about open talent platforms via our tips to go digital. Also, learn more about how to find buyers in the European ITO and BPO market and the European intermediary landscape for ITO and BPO services.

Globally Cool B.V. wrote this news article for CBI.

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