The Gig Economy vs. The Human Cloud

Many of the larger and smaller platforms occupying space on the current Human Cloud skyline (Uber, Lyft, Upwork, TopCoder etc.) are more popularly known as ‘Gig Economy’ platforms. This term loosely refers to the fact that the talent they source on their platform is made up of mostly freelancers who complete a specialized product or service (e.g. Uber drivers) or complete short-term projects (e.g. an infographic from a graphic designer on Fiverr) or micro-tasks (e.g. checking if the bathroom is clean at their local KFC for a few bucks on TaskRabbit) a.k.a. ‘gigs.’ 

The term ‘Gig Economy’ can be misleading however because many of these freelancer platforms are now moving into the B2B Enterprise space where they are now tackling large-scale and longer-term projects. Large distributed teams are being sourced over these platforms creating ad hoc virtual teams of freelancers. The specific challenges of the project-based IT outsourcing landscape and the unquenchable demand for Tech Talent across the globe means that new platforms are emerging to help fill the over 900 million vacancies that make up the global Tech Talent Gap. This is where the B2B Human Cloud platforms are becoming more and more relevant

Talent Alpha was recently mentioned by Staffing Industry Analysts in their yearly #GigEconomy & Talent Platform Report. For those of you unfamiliar with SIA, they are the industry leader in analysis about Talent Sourcing and global Contingent Workforce strategies. We are excited and humbled to be mentioned in several places in the report but specifically as only 1 of 10 SaaS Digital Talent Platforms.

SIA’s insights have been invaluable for Talent Alpha on our journey and this report is a must read for anyone looking to find out more about the Gig Economy, Human Cloud, Talent Sourcing, Staffing, Contingent Workforce, Procurement or HR Tech space in general.