Saas or PaaS: Which is the right path to your Extended Workforce Program?

As the future of work becomes a reality, organizations are beginning to recalibrate their extended workforce programs (EWP) to leverage their brand and talent in a highly competitive environment. This includes the technologies that enable these programs. In this blog, I will break down the main difference between Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to help you evaluate which technology might be the best for your EWP.

Knowing the latest technologies that simplify managing your extended workforce program is fundamental to meeting business objectives. Several technologies exist in the market, and solution providers continue to innovate to solve critical problems such as sourcing, engaging, and managing extended workforce talent. An essential distinction in extended workforce program technology is between Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), significantly affecting the flexibility, effectiveness, and futureproofing of your EWP.

The SaaS Way 

Most legacy vendor management systems (VMS) on the market today are SaaS. All users share a single, common infrastructure and software code in this model. New features need to be deployed within the single code base, with organizations having to manage and deploy configurations to activate and provision them. This takes time, and it is a perpetual struggle to update configurations with all the new features as they arrive on the market. Legacy VMS providers cannot develop the features fast enough, which contributes to the challenge of maintaining and scaling the shared codebase. Some VMS solutions developed an ecosystem of partners to solve these issues. Still, they are challenged to scale adequately while creating custom integrations for the ever-increasing number of talent technology solutions in the market today.

 

PaaS as the Solution  

The PaaS model can overcome these challenges and futureproof your extended workforce program by bringing multiple value-added systems and service providers together on a single platform. This creates a unified solution that helps organizations solve specific problems at scale while maintaining the agility to incorporate and adopt new solutions. Platforms consist of a development layer leveraging both low-code and pro-code tools to design and build applications. They have all the infrastructure tools to host and manage applications as well as bolt-on tools for analytics and data integrations. They also have “app stores” that are marketplaces where you can access third-party technology providers for specialized applications that can easily bolt onto the platform. For example, Bullhorn® for Applicant Tracking, DocuSign® or Conga® to support contract management activities, Zoom ® for video interviewing, Automate Anywhere ® to provide RPA into your hiring process or Verifiable® for healthcare credentialing.

 

The Power of the Platform 

Salesforce.com is one of the leaders in the PaaS market. The Salesforce platform includes Lightning, a component-based framework for application development within Salesforce.com. Lightning is designed to simplify processes for business users who typically may not have any platform experience. The platform then leverages MuleSoft, a Salesforce acquisition noted by some analysts as the leader in integration and entire lifecycle application programming interface (API). MuleSoft brings a seamless integration solution to the platform and helps businesses connect data, apps, and devices on-premises and cloud computing environments with ease. Salesforce also acquired Tableau, one of today’s most adopted analytics and data visualization solutions. Additionally, the Salesforce AppExchange hosts over 6,000 apps, tested and proven to be easy bolt-on extensions to the Force.com applications.

 The Salesforce Platform as a Solution illustrates how organizations can benefit from these state-of-the-art tools as they are continuously updated and seamlessly integrated within the unified platform infrastructure. This makes it easier to scale, accelerate and grow towards your business goals efficiently.

 

Key Takeaways as You Decide: 

      • Organizations are incorporating their contingent workforce into their overall workforce planning. In fact, 80% of companies are leveraging contingent workforces this year, with that number expected to 1 Organizations need to seamlessly integrate the contingent workforce system with core human resource (HR) and internal talent acquisition technology to effectively meet their overall talent strategy.
      • There are thousands of talent technologies in the market, and there could be hundreds within a single company. The tools to seamlessly integrate these into a single talent technology ecosystem provide the business with the tools it needs to succeed alongside the controls required for compliance and security.
      • By leveraging a PaaS, a business can futureproof its technology investment as each tool within the ecosystem consistently advances with new development technology. This drives true digital transformation within the organization by providing and quickly deploying the features it needs to be successful.

That is why Flextrack chose Salesforce as the infrastructure on which to build its next-generation VMS solution. As a reliable partner for MSPs, Flextrack is dedicated to helping you reduce cost through efficiency, increase revenue by giving you access to new markets, and to empower you to delight your customers like never before.

Stay tuned for my next blog to learn why organizations have already adopted these platforms to solve their business problems.

Want to learn more about Flextrack’s extended workforce platform? Contact us.

1 “Extended Workforce Systems: The New Era of Total Talent management,” Madeline Laurano / Aptitude Research, 20219.

Mark has over 25 years of experience in the workforce solutions industry. Mark has been responsible for implementing, operating, and transforming contingent workforce solutions for hundreds of organizations worldwide. Mark has also led technology teams that built and managed VMS solutions and other technology solutions to digitize and transform extended workforce solutions

Mark Zolkos
mark.zolkos@flextrackservices.com

Managing Director, Flextrack