The challenge: Procurement is the bottleneck for both sides
Every solution in the study names enterprise procurement as a barrier, while 71% of companies still source independent talent through consulting firms, so the best solution often never reaches the shortlist.
By Matthew Mottola, Tony Buffum and Jeff Nugent · Published December 1, 2026
Key findings
Every solution in the study names enterprise procurement as a barrier to winning business, and 80% say a lengthy procurement process would keep them from bidding.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Exhibit 26Every solution names enterprise procurement as a barrierPercent of solutionsSource: 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.
71% of companies still source independent talent through consulting firms, against 14% through freelancer platforms, and 57% use no talent platform today.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company survey, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Exhibit 27Companies expect talent platforms to matter, yet most still source through consulting firmsPercent of companiesSource: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company survey, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.57% of companies are unlikely to evaluate a new flexible workforce provider in the next 12 months.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company survey, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
A solution with a verified business case draws more than four times the AI reads of one whose case is not yet verified, and about 50 times the reads of a solution with none.
Source: Human Cloud platform data, pulled Nov 10, 2026.
The chapter in brief
This is the strangest part of the market. Both sides want the same thing, and the process between them keeps them apart.
Companies expect talent platforms to matter long before they start using them: two in three name freelancer platforms and talent marketplaces among the trends with the greatest impact over the next five years. We read the gap as a process problem more than a preference. Adding a provider means a vendor review, a new contract, a security review and a new onboarding flow, run by a team measured on risk rather than on how fast a product ships.
When the process does not work, the work does not stop. It goes around: contractors on the corporate card, purchase orders nobody approved, and managers going straight to platforms. A contractor nobody knows about is a contractor nobody has classified.
Solutions told us what would help. 80% say an efficient process matters most when they decide whether to bid, and every solution that answered said it might respond to a request for proposal run by a neutral third party. Proof shortens the path too: a buyer who can see a named customer and a verified outcome has something to take into a vendor review.
From the practitioners in this chapter
“If it’s a procurement person, they’ve usually been shoved into this category because they were category providers in procurement and then suddenly they’re in charge of people and purchasing people.”
“The whole MSP VMS layering system [...] disengages the hiring manager from the talent.”
“Let them find a way to buy whatever way they need to buy. [...] Whatever way they need to do it, get it through procurement.”
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 →