How companies want to work with solutions
Companies choose providers on compliance, speed and proof: every company weighs compliance when it picks a provider, but only 20% of solutions say compliance is what sets them apart.
By Matthew Mottola, Tony Buffum and Jeff Nugent · Published December 1, 2026
Key findings
Every solution in the study calls AI a top trend, against half of companies; every company weighs compliance when it picks a provider, but only 20% of solutions say compliance sets them apart.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Exhibit 28Solutions bet on AI. Companies pick on compliance.Percent of each groupSource: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.
80% of solutions believe enterprises value cost above almost everything else, while only 14% of companies use independent talent to cut costs.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Exhibit 29Solutions overestimate how much companies care about pricePercent of each groupSource: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.86% of companies name how well the contractors themselves are looked after as a capability that decides the choice, and 60% of solutions name customer support as what sets them apart.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Solutions that position on AI are about half as likely to have a business case on Human Cloud as the rest: 7.9% against 14.9%; employers of record lead at 22.8%.
Source: Human Cloud platform data, pulled Nov 6, 2026. Explore it live at humancloud.com/open-cloud/solutions.
Exhibit 30Solutions that position on AI are half as likely to have proofShare of solutions with a business case, percentSource: Human Cloud platform data, pulled Nov 6, 2026. Explore it live at humancloud.com/open-cloud/solutions.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.
The chapter in brief
Put the two surveys side by side and they describe different markets. That gap is an opening, and for solutions the data points to four moves.
Lead with compliance and support, not just AI. AI is a reason to need more expertise; it has not yet become the reason to pick one provider over another. Keep selling the expertise AI demands, but win the deal on who carries the classification risk.
Stop competing on price. Price is the easiest number to compare across bids, but it is not why companies start. Price gets a solution compared. Speed and carried risk get it chosen.
Own the entire workflow, not just the software, and put proof where buyers and their agents read. An agent is not moved by a demo. It reads what is on the page, and the most useful thing on a page is a verified outcome with a named customer.
From the practitioners in this chapter
“I don’t just want to be referred to a pop-up AI agent. I want people behind it that care and know what they’re doing. It’s not just the login.”
Solutions named in this chapter
Each one has a profile on Human Cloud, with its verified business cases.
Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.
All the numbers: flexible workforce statistics 2026 →