Upwork Recognized as a Market Leader in Ardent Partners’ Digital Staffing Report

Ardent Partners, in their 2023 Digital Staffing Technology Advisor Report, identified Upwork as a “Market Leader,” and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Ardent Partners is a leading research and advisory firm that analyzes the digital staffing industry and contingent workforce, while covering impactful trends on the future of work.

The Digital Staffing Technology Advisor Report is biennial flagship research. The 2023 edition looks at what HR, procurement, and talent acquisition (or talent access, as we’d call it here at Upwork) leaders should be paying attention to in the complex landscape of direct sourcing, talent marketplaces, and workforce and freelancer management. This guidance is more critical than ever: The use of digital staffing solutions has grown nearly 800% over the past five years, Ardent Partners found.

In recognizing Upwork as a “Market Leader,” the Technology Advisor Report evaluated and ranked providers based on solution strength (capabilities) and provider strength, including execution ability, client success and product vision.

“Upwork is the epitome of digital and on-demand staffing, boasting an expansive platform and marketplace solution that provides unparalleled access to the industry’s largest talent network. With its dynamic functionality and comprehensive tools, Upwork continues to redefine how businesses connect with talent across the globe.”

—Chris Dwyer, Ardent Partners SVP of Research and author of the new study

Ardent Partners also outlined how Upwork provides real-time verification, visibility and deep talent intelligence. Their research highlights our workforce management platform, compliance solutions, the quality of the global talent pool available to clients on the platform, and how our “innovative matching architecture blends machine learning, artificial intelligence and human vetting.”

Building on several of those strengths around talent intelligence, visibility and matching, Ardent Partners’ research includes specific mention of Upwork’s Enterprise Suite offering. In Ardent Partners’ estimation, our Enterprise solution is driven by three major principles:

1. Speed of talent match and candidate hire
2. Overall cost of projects supported by network talent
3. Robust quality of workers to drive considerable extended workforce value

To further advance these principles, over the last year, we’ve bolstered what enterprises can achieve on Upwork and how they accomplish it. Within Enterprise Suite, we’ve added more flexible approval workflows as well as improved governance, compliance and planning via self-serve talent performance and user activity reports. We’ve also enhanced search functionality, including a filter for Expert-Vetted Talent to help clients connect with stronger talent matches.

Ardent Partners also noted Upwork’s end-to-end solution to support full-time hiring that enables businesses of all sizes to find, vet, hire, onboard and pay highly skilled professionals for contract-to-hire work arrangements. This gives all our customers the flexibility to choose the work arrangements that best fit their needs. In Ardent Partners’ view, “This marketplace expansion has the potential to transform the Upwork platform into a true total talent offering.”

From more established solutions like Enterprise Suite to newer offerings like our solution to support hiring for full-time engagements, Upwork will continue to innovate to fuel our customers’ success in digital staffing and workforce management. It is our firm belief that this is the responsibility and role of a Market Leader.

To see Ardent Partners’ comprehensive evaluation of Upwork, our solution fit and comparison to other providers in our space, read the full 2023 Digital Staffing Technology Advisor Report and learn more about our Enterprise offering.