OnForce Delivers Technology Platform for Harnessing the Freelancer Economy

BOSTON, March 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- OnForce, a leader in technology-enabled workforce management, today introduced OnForce Converge, a private, cloud-based Freelancer Management System (FMS) for managing an enterprise's independent workforce. Available in a subscription-based model, the workforce management solution is designed to provide enterprises with an efficient way of engaging, managing and paying their dynamic, variable freelancer workforce.

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OnForce Converge is a software platform that can be adopted within any company's contingent workforce program and enable the aggregation and management of a company's existing and future "short-assignment" contingent workforce. The platform is designed to work in conjunction with current workforce management solutions including managed solution providers (MSP) and vendor management systems (VMS) solutions, allowing organizations to expand their workforce management capabilities to incorporate contingent workers (independent contractors, freelancers, etc.) who perform smaller, shorter, specialized projects and tasks.

According to industry sources, roughly one in three working Americans, or 42 million people, are freelancers. Additionally, workforce forecasts indicate that independent workers will account for more than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2020.

"The freelancer economy is no longer a circumstance of a few discrete industries. Due to economic pressures, workforce efficiencies and social trends it is now a vibrant category permeating nearly every area of work," said OnForce CEO Peter Cannone. "With OnForce Converge, we are now allowing companies in any industry to fully realize the benefits of the freelance and independent contractor workforce and the trend towards micro-jobbing by providing a software platform for managing 'task-to-talent.'"   

OnForce Converge is an entirely new kind of workforce management solution, but it is based on the company's patented cloud-based online work platform for managing and delivering contractor services within the information technology (IT) and consumer electronics fields. Since 2004, more than two million task assignments have been successfully completed through that OnForce field service contractor platform, making it the largest, most widely used resource of its kind. More than 5,000 enterprises including Apple, Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T and Xerox have used OnForce to engage, manage and pay independent IT contractors. In 2013, OnForce was named one of Red Herring's Global 100, which honors the year's top privately held companies and entrepreneurs from around the world.

A Freelancer Management System for the Expanding Freelancer Economy

Now, with the introduction of OnForce Converge, multiple industries can leverage independent contractors and freelancers based upon best practices of enterprise talent management. Various industries, including financial services (accountants), publishing (content and multi-media creation, graphic design), social marketing (crowdsourcing), education (tutors, exam proctors) and IT (networking, security, mobile, etc.), are leveraging the contingent workforce.

OnForce Converge is a private cloud-based platform with a unique set of capabilities. Key features include:

• Freelancer Management: OnForce Converge is designed to help enterprises efficiently engage, manage and pay a network of freelancers and independent workers. The platform incorporates work management tools such as job templates and work routing rules as well as complete visibility into workers' capabilities, work history and performance.
• Freelancer Talent Consolidation: OnForce Converge can assimilate an existing labor pool or help enterprises build an entire network from scratch with all freelancers consolidated onto a single platform.
• Freelancer Selection and On-Demand Job Filling: OnForce Converge provides a direct connection between the enterprise and the freelancer with visibility into skills, quality and proximity factors. OnForce's mobile app for iOS and Android can reduce time to fill a job to within minutes of posting a work assignment.
• Compliance Management: OnForce Converge collects and analyzes all of the data related to a work event and provides analytical evidence of compliance that mitigates the risk of misclassification.
• Consolidated Invoicing, Administration and Reporting: OnForce Converge eliminates virtually all manual processing of freelancer payments and 1099 administration. Consolidated invoicing can be performed through an enterprise's existing MSP tool set, with OnForce Converge providing all work history and associated costs reported to the MSP for consolidation. All administration and reporting is done under the umbrella of the MSP.
• Timekeeping and Payment: Eliminate rogue spend by consolidating freelancers onto a single platform, bringing cost traceability to the individual, the work performed and the supporting organization. Timekeeping and invoicing are virtually eliminated as freelancers are paid through the software via a prefunded account that results in payment within days.
• Pricing and Availability: OnForce Converge is cloud-based and available immediately with flexible pricing options including percent of spend managed through the OnForce Converge platform (aligned with current VMS pricing models). Subscription and fixed pricing are based on overall transaction volume.

FMS – The Next Frontier in Contingent Workforce Management

As enterprises adopt more workforce efficiency and flexibility and the workforce becomes accustomed to flexible, independent, non-employment work arrangements, organizations may face "freelancer management gaps." These gaps have significant and urgent implications for enterprises, including increased compliance and financial exposure and potential lost competitive advantage from being unable to effectively leverage a mission-critical "freelancer workforce" in the future.

OnForce has authored the whitepaper, "The Freelancer Management System: What is Required For The Next Frontier of Enterprise Contingent Workforce Management," to educate organizations on the "freelancer management gap" and outline the requirements and capabilities of an FMS. To download the whitepaper and learn more about OnForce Converge, visit http://www.onforce.com/converge.

About OnForce

OnForce, a leader in technology-enabled workforce solutions, empowers companies of all sizes in all industries to gain a competitive edge in how work gets done. Its business model allows customers to rapidly grow their businesses, lower service costs, extend skill-sets, and generate new streams of revenue. For additional information, please visit www.onforce.com.

Contact:
Alex Parks
Davies Murphy Group
[email protected]
(781) 418-4212

SOURCE OnForce