- General
- December 6, 2018
- 5 minutes read
Microsoft Introduces the 365 Freelance Toolkit
Microsoft Microsoft has unveiled a new solution designed to cater to the main friction points enterprises experience when deploying freelance…
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| Microsoft |
Microsoft has unveiled a new solution designed to cater to the main friction points enterprises experience when deploying freelance programs. The new solution – the Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit – is launching in partnership with Upwork, a global leading freelance marketplace with over 375,000 freelancers in over 180 countries that went public this September and is valued at nearly $2 billion on the Nasdaq.
The freelancing solution is tackling the fields of internal communications and awareness, team-wide collaboration, data analytics, and workflow automation. These 4 points are key factors in the freelancing scene being needed for successful deployment in enterprises.
According to the Future Workforce Report, 47% of hiring managers at enterprise organizations employed freelancers (up from 44% the previous year), while roughly 9 in 10 hiring managers say they are open to utilizing freelancers rather than temporary workers through a staffing firm. Also according to Staffing Industry Analysts, the total spent on work in the gig economy which consists of freelancers, contractors, solopreneurs and consultants in 2015 was $792 billion.
Experts predict a larger participation of the U.S. workforce in the gig economy within the next ten years, according to Field Nation, 86 percent of independent workers intentionally choose freelancing which marks a rise in the field.
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| Microsoft |
“To thrive in a highly competitive environment with rapidly changing technology and customer needs, enterprises must be agile and adapt to new business models to get work done with external talent. While adding on-demand freelance talent to the mix offers measurable results in speed and efficiency, the path to transforming existing policies and processes is largely undefined.” Microsoft Senior Director of Content Strategy and Gig Economy Paul Estes wrote in an official post.
In summary, the Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit as explained in the above video is a curated set of tools, templates, and best practices to help customers launch, execute, and manage freelance programs at scale.
