How to develop a best-in-class extended workforce program in 6 steps
Table of contents Introduction: optimizing the value of your extended workforce
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Step 1. Choose technology and services that combine to
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keep you ahead of the innovation curve Step 2. Establish a plan to include all non-employee talent
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Step 3. Use a multi-faceted talent pipeline strategy
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Step 4. Leverage experts for industry best practices
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Step 5. Apply AI-powered workforce analytics for better
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decision-making Step 6. Long-term thinking for a short-term world
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About Beeline
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How to develop a best-in-class extended workforce program
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Optimizing the value of your extended workforce Your workforce no longer stops at your employees. Contingent workers, SOW providers, independent contractors, shift-based workers, and now AI agents all do work on your behalf, often in separate systems, with little shared visibility into cost, risk, or compliance. With top-tier talent harder to acquire than ever, organizations that once depended on an internal workforce of direct employees are increasingly turning to external talent, all while striving to maintain workforce visibility, physical and data security, and compliance with applicable policies, laws, and regulations. Fortunately, a unique synergy of highly focused technology and services exists to help you achieve these objectives and turn external talent into a competitive advantage for your organization. That is the idea behind workforce orchestration: a coordination layer that governs every worker type, every system, and every compliance requirement across your extended workforce.
How to develop a best-in-class extended workforce program
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STEP 1
Choose technology and services that combine to keep you ahead of the innovation curve A vendor management system (VMS) provides the core technology for visibility, security, compliance, and cost management across your extended workforce. Because it will sit at the heart of your program for years, choose it with the long term in mind. Some providers can deliver a VMS that meets today’s needs. But a best-in-class program needs technology aligned with the entire life cycle of the non-employee workforce. Most full-featured VMS solutions can manage contingent labor and statement of work (SOW)-based projects. Governing every category of external workers takes more: a VMS as the governed system of record, with workforce orchestration as the layer that connects every worker type and every system around it. Ask how your provider innovates. The strongest roadmaps are shaped by the people who use the product, so look for evidence. How much of the R&D comes from client suggestions? Are new capabilities developed with client input through advisory boards, focus groups, and early adopter programs? At Beeline, more than 35% of R&D activity starts with client suggestions, and every new product and system innovation is developed with client engagement. Ask, too, how AI will connect to your workforce data. Wiring AI agents and assistants into workforce systems through one-off integrations or third-party wrappers creates risk and gaps in governance. A better model is one governed connection, such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP), that lets AI act securely on data across sourcing, engagement, and compliance. Beeline MCP is built natively into the platform for exactly this purpose.
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Service is as important as technology Leading VMS solutions are delivered via the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. But the quantity and quality of the services delivered with the software can vary dramatically. Some providers offer only a help desk and break-fix support once your technology is implemented. Others stay engaged throughout the life of your program. Look for a provider that is proactive, not just responsive. That means a named point of contact, regular two-way conversations about your program’s health, operational and technical issues, and new product developments, and access to advisory and support services as your program matures.
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STEP 2
Establish a plan to include all non-employee talent Talent and skill gaps keep widening. The skills shortage has roughly doubled over the past decade. As a result, organizations are sourcing talent from more external labor categories than ever before. Where once they relied primarily on agency-provided contingent staff and SOW-based service providers, companies now are using up to six categories of external labor. Where AI agents should be managed is still an open question for most enterprises, but the principle is simple: get in control and govern before you are governed. Every digital worker that touches your workforce should be sourced, classified, and audited, just like a human worker. Bringing such a complex extended workforce under centralized control depends on your program’s maturity, but it is important from the very start to set clear objectives and implement technology and processes to govern all six categories of labor, technology and processes you won’t outgrow. The Beeline team works closely with our clients to understand your program goals, data collection and exchange requirements, organizational policies, procedures, and preferred workflows. Then we recommend the right technologies from our portfolio to fit your needs and your processes.
Publish your program goals and objectives No extended workforce program can achieve its goals without effective change management and whole-hearted program adoption. It starts by publishing and communicating program goals to your entire stakeholder ecosystem.
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Show how your program goals align with organizational objectives. Instead of using basic terms like “savings” and “compliance,” define the metrics, the key performance indicators (KPIs), you will use to optimize your extended workforce management program. The fundamental question your stakeholders will ask is “What’s in it for me?” Your communications should answer this question for all stakeholders, including your suppliers.
It’s a challenge, but you don’t have to address it alone Beeline’s team can help you establish the strategic plans you will need, along with tools and tactics to drive program acceptance, support, adoption, and expansion. Based on our extensive experience with all types of extended workforce programs, we can help you develop your business case, change management program, and stakeholder communication plans.
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STEP 3
Use a multi-faceted talent pipeline strategy The traditional approach to building a contingent workforce involves managing multiple vendors who recruit and present candidates whose skills, experience, cost, and availability match their clients’ requirements. Since traditional staffing vendors provide access to only a fraction of the talent actually available, it is particularly important for your program to tap much larger talent pools, like independent contractors. Roughly 73 million Americans now work independently, and the independent workforce has grown 114% since 2020, compared with 22% for the overall US job market. These are skilled professionals who run their own businesses, and many organizations still underuse them or misunderstand how to engage them. Doing it well takes more than adding another supplier. It takes classification, compliance, and payment processes built for independent talent. One way to reach this pool is the Independent Talent Network. Instead of posting a requisition and waiting, you draw on a curated, vetted community of independent professionals and engage them quickly, from two directions: talent you already know, such as past contractors you can re-engage before they take other work, and talent the network knows, drawn from a marketplace of experienced professionals with a track record of completed projects.
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The strongest networks go beyond a directory. Experts help scope the need, shortlist and interview candidates, and redeploy top performers to new projects, with transparent, fixed pricing on each engagement. MBO Partners’ Independent Talent Network includes more than 130,000 vetted professionals across 18 skill domains and 112+ specialties, with experience at Fortune 500 companies.
73M
114%
130,000+
Americans now work independently
Independent workforce growth since 2020, vs. 22% for the overall US job market
Vetted professionals in MBO Partners’ Independent Talent Network
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STEP 4
Leverage experts for industry best practices Managing an external workforce program can keep you so busy that you don’t often have time to be strategic. To be truly productive, you need to make the time to get away from your desk, see new products, hear new ideas, and compare notes with other professionals in your field. Beeline has over 25 years of experience across a range of industries and geographies, and many of our employees have run contingent workforce programs themselves. Our experts keep current on industry trends and best practices, and are available to help you.
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On average, Beeline’s client services team has more than 10 years of relevant industry experience: running their own programs, or as MSPs, or as staffing suppliers. Not only can they give you advice based on their own experience and that of their clients and specialists throughout our organization (configuration specialists, reporting specialists, financial operations specialists, and integration specialists), they can also introduce you to your peers and industry experts, and show you how to participate in client communities, regional forums, special interest groups, etc.
25+
10+
Years of experience across industries and geographies
Years of average relevant industry experience on the client services team
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STEP 5
Apply AI-powered workforce analytics for better decision-making Success for your program starts with your implementation. But it doesn’t end there. True success will depend on how you use the data your program creates, combined with all the industry data to keep improving it. Analytics are only as good as the data behind them, and less than 60% of external labor is actively managed today. Tail spend, manual SOW processes, and fragmented supplier bases stay invisible. Bringing every worker type into one system is what makes meaningful analysis possible. With complete data, you can run your program on facts rather than assumptions. You can see where cost savings and quality improvements are hiding, and benchmark rates by labor category and location to make informed decisions at the point of purchase. AI-powered insights raise the ceiling, from skills matching to SOW analysis. And as AI agents join your workforce, their cost, activity, and risk belong in the same data, governed like any other worker.
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Beeline provides the operational and strategic guidance you need to exploit these powerful analytic tools. From program office development and market rate analysis to business process engineering and advanced scorecard creation, we can provide professional consulting and advisory services to help you realize your program’s full potential. Take advantage of our years of technology and program management experience, and you will be on your way to achieving a best-in-class program.
<60% Of external labor is actively managed today
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STEP 6
Long-term thinking for a short-term world Business needs and expectations are evolving faster than ever before. In an age of disruption, HR and procurement leaders are being pressed to rewrite the rules for how they organize, recruit, develop, and manage their workforce. While some view this as a challenge, we see it as an opportunity to reimagine talent sourcing and management practices, and an opportunity to create platforms, processes, and tools that will continue to evolve and sustain the value of your extended workforce program over time. That opportunity is workforce orchestration: moving from managing who does the work to governing how the work gets done, across employees, contingent workers, independent talent, shift-based workers, SOW providers, and AI agents. It is a journey, and it starts with getting every external worker into one governed system. In this environment, a truly best-in-class contingent workforce program must deliver more than just immediate benefits in terms of lower costs, improved security, and absolute compliance. It must also offer innovative ways to optimize workforce productivity now and in the future.
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Your program needs technology that will innovate and grow with you, backed by much more than a 24hour call center. It also needs services and expertise that evolve with your business. The strongest programs combine the two: technology that gives you one governed view of every worker type, and services that help you act on what you see, such as engaging independent professionals safely, sourcing proven talent, assessing risk, and guarding against candidate fraud. Because every organization’s needs differ, look for a provider that assembles technology and services around your outcomes. Beeline brings both. It is one reason more than 450 clients worldwide, including more than 100 Fortune 500/Global 2000 companies, choose Beeline to support their extended workforce programs.
450+
100+
Clients worldwide
Fortune 500/Global 2000 client companies
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About Beeline Beeline is the workforce orchestration company for the extended workforce. Contingent workers, independent contractors, shift workers, SOW talent, and agentic labor are often managed in separate systems, leaving enterprises without a unified view of cost, risk, or classification. Beeline brings technology, services, and data together in one governed system of record. Drawing on 25 years of experience supporting more than 450 customers and managing $1 trillion in workforce spend, Beeline helps organizations engage their extended workforce with confidence, including classification services that assume liability. This unique portfolio has saved customers more than $2.4 billion to date, with support that shows up and innovation that keeps up. Explore more at beeline.com.
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