By Praveen Kumar Sah, Co-Founder & CTO, Awign
Author Stewart Brand once famously said, “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
This holds true for every business under the sun, especially when it comes to operations. Globally today, tech has become a crucial component for firms to stay competitive, with benefits that appeal across the board. Thanks to technology in the workplace, businesses were able to seamlessly transition processes and people from traditional operations to remote setups, at the outset of the pandemic. Now, doing so with a full-time workforce – albeit a challenge due to scale – was still easier since employees are more often than not, aligned with organisational processes & goals; but imagine managing a workforce that doesn’t fall under the traditional setup. Instead of an in-office, full-time job with a single company, they work as independent professionals for diverse enterprises across various projects.
That for you is the gig work model.
Embracing the gig – The enterprise story
The pandemic managed to enhance India Inc.’s acceptance and growth for the gig-work model, and while for some businesses, the pull was tactical, for others, it was strategic. Some organisations turned to freelancers to help them get over the immediate layoff problem; the others used the off-time to rethink their HR strategy. This shift was witnessed among the Davids and Goliaths alike!
The prospect of variablising their profit and loss statements, as well as paying solely for a certain output and limited risk was enticing for many. Turning their fixed payroll expense to a wholly variable expenditure that is directly tied to their toplines, without any set upfront investment was a cherry on the cake. Aside from cost savings, the gig economy gave businesses the ability to scale up and down as needed, bringing agility to the entire process and enhancing operational efficiencies. Coupled with access to a varied pool of qualified on-demand workforce, hyperlocal penetration, and outcome-based tasks, there was no reason to not join this trend!
The process accelerated, and today, leading the bandwagon are transportation, media & entertainment, FMCG, retail, construction, with contributions expected from BFSI, assessment, e-commerce, and automotive.
The good folk of gig-town
Imagine working from a location of your choice and also earning enough to plan the next new work location! Sounds fascinating right? This and other such benefits such as choosing projects that fit their schedule, a chance to dabble in myriad roles & profiles, learning new skills on the job – make the gig culture a win-win situation for gig partners. They can not only maintain a healthy work-life balance but also work at hours and locations that suit them and on days that work for them.
Breaking the barrier with tech
Taking centre stage in the growth of the gig economy, technology has conquered the complexity of contingent workforce. Without technology, gig work would just be limited to project-based work. And for an economy that currently has 15 million gig partners across the country , we all know the opportunities run deeper than projects.
Regardless of how advantageous it is, for any enterprise, implementing a gig-workforce independently has its own set of obstacles. Without the correct tools and technology, most firms struggle to manage a substantial on-demand workforce that is not on a regular payroll. However, the emergence of work tech platforms has empowered enterprises to seamlessly complete the entire cycle as each part of the process becomes efficient, courtesy the role of automation and in-built smart-assist features. Work tech cloud-based platforms provide enterprises with the tools they need to manage deliverables and hours spent, as well as evaluate and assess results to increase efficiencies, better communication, and scale higher revenue.
Diving deeper into the role of tech, a no-code technology for example, is capable of providing end-to-end workflow management tailored to business requirements, including the capability to configure the permutation & combination of possible workflows, automatic calculation of payouts, algorithms to determine proficiencies and background of gig-partners, et al. The same tech even offers training interventions along with auto reallocation to meet timelines & SLAs, and project-wide visibility across geos and on-ground insights into attendance, shifts, and work completion.
Today therefore, essaying the role of a champion, tech has enabled enterprises to offload core operational recurring work – rather than just transactional, short-term, project work – to gig partners.
For gig partners, the technology infrastructure of work-tech platforms has made finding work easier and seamless. Processes & apps are designed in a way to ensure a smooth journey – right from applying for a job to landing work based on their skills and location, in-app training, task completion, and even payment – all this, with a few taps on their screen!
The tech of endless possibilities
Scientifically fascinating tech breakthroughs, particularly in AI, robotics, and data analytics, have reduced the distance between individuals and services, especially in the jobs market. For instance, platforms exist today, that with reams of Big Data across India on a second-to-second basis, leverage AI & ML powered smart task allocation that helps ensure the right gig partners are matched for tasks on a real-time basis, and simultaneously, ratify a separate set of Big Data – submitted by gig-workforce across India – with the assistance of image recognition and AI-powered audio transcription.
All while you sit in your cosy WFH workspace, or in your corner cabin, reading this piece in five minutes or less. Ah, the wonders of tech steamrolling all over the globe!