In early 2015, a Working Trends survey among small and medium businesses found that 31% of the participants’ workforce is now composed of freelancers, compared with just 25% in 2011. This figure is expected to grow to 40% by 2018. The surveyed business owners and managers have cited efficiency as one of their reasons in shifting toward freelance workers, as opposed to hiring more regular or contractual staff. Meanwhile, professionals who leave full-time work for short-term contracts say they are earning 275% more than they were in full-time positions, so it’s a win-win situation.
Being output-focused, teams have better work and personal relationships, and are more driven toward success. This trend is helped by the availability of highly-skilled workers, as well as platforms for collaborating, in which geographic and other challenges are overcome with technology solutions.
Cloud computing, for one, has empowered businesses in better scaling and automating their enterprise-oriented applications. Coupled with enterprise mobility, both in-house and freelance workers can enjoy access to the same levels of service while working remotely, thus being productive even outside of the traditional office or full-time employment setting.
Of course, big businesses are not the only ones that reap the benefits. The cloud – in particular software-as-a-service models – have also led to emergence of new thriving markets, in which even small-scale businesses, private practices and freelance professionals can benefit from low barriers to entry, cost-effectiveness and scalability. It’s only but reasonable: because small practices often dispense with traditionally necessary business units like the accounting, finance and IT departments, they will need to access these in the form of third-party services.
Focus on what you do best for increased productivity
Unless you are running a full-fledged ERP, you most probably won’t get all the applications required to run your business in just one platform.
