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To stay competitive and agile in today’s rapidly changing marketplace, business owners are turning to remote and freelance talent to fill critical roles and access specialized skills. The latest statistics compiled for Forbes Advisor show just how important remote work is becoming in the US:
- In 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees worked remotely, and 28.2% worked a hybrid model.
- By 2025, 32.6 million Americans (22% of the workforce) will work remotely.
- 98% of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time, and 65% want to work remotely all of the time.
- 32% of hybrid workers say they would even take a pay cut to work remotely full time.
- 16% of US companies operate fully remotely.
- By switching to remote work, employers can save $11,000 per employee in “costs associated with office space, utilities and other resources.”
And this trend toward flexibility extends beyond remote employees. The freelancing economy is booming, and, according to Upwork, 64 million Americans freelanced in 2023 (38% of the US workforce), contributing $1.27 trillion to the US economy.
This shift is reshaping the modern workplace, and, as more workers opt for flexible remote and freelance employment models, companies are revising their hiring mindsets and talent sourcing strategies. But new opportunities come with new sets of challenges. Remote workers may experience increased burnout from not being encouraged to set appropriate work-life boundaries. They may feel disconnected from their coworkers if internal communication is ineffective. And companies may be more concerned about cybersecurity risks if robust security protocols and employee education aren’t put into practice.
This is where business management solutions come into play—empowering companies, remote employees, and freelance workers to successfully navigate the new digital workplace.
The Role of Business Management Solutions
The modern, flexible workforce requires modern, flexible solutions. Adopting the right business management technology, like a cloud-based ERP system, empowers businesses to harness the full potential of their remote and freelance workers, driving growth in innovative, future-focused ways. How? By transforming traditionally analog processes—like onboarding, training, performance monitoring, and more—into digital processes, matching remote workers to remotely accessible operations.
Simplified Collaboration
Modern business management systems are centralized hubs, storing and distributing data from all employees, teams, and departments—making that information available anytime, from anywhere. This promotes smooth communication between remote employees, field workers, freelancers, and in-office teams. And smooth communication fosters connection and builds a truly collaborative digital workspace. This 24/7 data accessibility also helps employees balance work-life schedules, giving them the freedom to access the system whenever they like—no matter how early or late that may be.
Streamlined Skills Development
With fostered communication comes space for developing employees’ skills and supporting onboarding in a remote context. The right business management software will provide training modules and learning materials to help remote and freelance employees use the system appropriately, so they can easily and fully support business operations from a distance. Beyond this, the software’s accessible data should serve as a platform for on-the-job learning, giving employees the opportunity to tap into data, documents, and the knowledge of experienced coworkers. Preferably, the software vendor should also provide a flexible licensing model that charges for resources used, not for the number of users in the system. This way, businesses can let remote, freelance, or even seasonal employees use the system as needed without being penalized with extra charges.
Efficient People Management and Payroll
The right business management solution will provide built-in functions and add-on modules that allow companies to streamline and customize human capital management (HCM) and payroll processes. Powerful automation ensures that all employees—remote, in-office, or freelance independent contractors—are compensated accurately and promptly. Such a system will also help companies remain compliant with tax and regulatory guidelines, so they can manage labor and payroll costs and support certified payroll, unions, prevailing wages, and varying tax rules.
Improved Security
With data breaches prolific and cybersecurity concerns high, a comprehensive business management solution offers peace of mind—especially if the software is cloud based. Physical, on-premises solutions require companies to manage their own servers, keep track of updates and patches, and maintain an IT team that can constantly monitor their data. But, with cloud-based software, the vendor takes care of these responsibilities—maintaining servers in its own datacenters, automatically updating software, and making sure all data is safe from the newest cyberattacks.
Adapting to the Future
The future of work is shaping where and how we get things done today. We see it with our own customers like, Incubeta. The growing digital media firm saw the benefits of cloud ERP firsthand when they switched from Sage to Acumatica. Incubeta’s 500 employees now work seamlessly from anywhere, not tethered to physical infrastructure. Says Sean Reuben, Group Chief Financial Officer at Incubeta: “We didn’t have a glitch or misstep when we went into lockdown [for COVID-19] because we were live on Acumatica. We’ve never been more grateful to have complete flexibility in running our global finance function from literally any location.”
Remote and freelance employment models are here to stay, and it is critical for companies to keep pace with the business landscape and adapt their operations to match. Businesses that recognize the value of the flexible workforce and leverage technology to maximize returns are setting themselves up for increased agility, fewer costs, improved talent retention, and sustainable success.
If you have questions about empowering your flexible workforce or would like to learn more about how Acumatica Cloud ERP can help you do that, contact our experts today.
