If you ask many of today’s business executives, you’ll discover that there’s a serious problem with legacy labor models and hierarchical structures. Traditional bureaucratic structures and labor models have been around since the advent of industrialization. They’re based on fixed roles and rules, geared toward market stability and long-term budgeting and planning.

However, today’s business climate demands speed, agility and rapid innovation. Yet legacy approaches and bureaucracy are often ineffective at cultivating these qualities. Instead, they tend to maintain the status quo. In fact, in a recent Accenture survey, 73% of executives reported that corporate bureaucracies are stifling productivity and innovation.

A Better Alternative: Hiring On-Demand

New digitally-created companies without legacy models are dramatically outperforming traditional corporations. In fact, according to Accenture analysis, they’re achieving more than double the market capitalization per employee of incumbent companies. They’re also doing it with fewer employees. They’re able to achieve these results by leveraging on-demand talent and online technology platforms such as Graphite, Upwork and Gigster.

These platforms allow companies to hire independent consultants and freelancers on-demand. Thus, they can more quickly fill talent needs, jump-start new projects, and respond to market changes. They can also leverage internal and external workers to create a blended workforce.

As a result, they’re able to launch new design and development programs or strategic initiatives in weeks or days. This is far more agile than traditional models, which often require months of planning, budgeting, sourcing and launching. Greater agility often results in greater cost-effectiveness as well, as seen in a recent pilot program by Procter & Gamble (P&G).

The Procter & Gamble Experiment with On-Demand Talent

P&G is one of many major companies experimenting with on-demand talent marketplaces. During a recent pilot program, it began augmenting its current workforce with freelance business talent, and the results were striking. Products from the pilot program were delivered faster and at lower cost than conventional methods 60% of the time.

‍As the company moves beyond the pilot program and fully integrates on-demand talent and freelancer management, this advantage over conventional methods may grow even larger. These and similar results are driving many other large corporations and enterprises to follow suit. For example, MasterCard, Airbus and WorldBank, are now using on-demand platforms to hire high-end talent in software development and project management.

It’s all part of a huge trend across businesses that were previously confined by legacy labor models and hierarchical structures. In fact, 85% of business and IT executives now plan to increase their organization’s use of independent freelance workers over the next year. In doing so, they’re following the path of many digital leaders, including some of our Graphite clients.

Case Studies from Graphite Clients

For example, Plated, a fast-growing food delivery startup with over $50 million in venture capital funding, used Graphite to get help with its annual strategic planning process. Through Graphite, the company hired Andy M., a senior strategy consultant to create and facilitate a strategic plan to prioritize growth strategies and initiatives. Plated quickly connected with Andy, who had over seven years of consulting experience at Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company, including relevant experience helping hyper-growth new technology companies. “Andy was instrumental in driving our annual strategic planning process,” says Plated co-founder Nick Taranto. “His background and toolbox were perfect for our executive team. He effectively gathered and distilled quantitative and qualitative data from across our organization, and the results are paying dividends.”

Similar successes have been achieved by hundreds of other Graphite clients, including Banjo, a technology startup with $100 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank. Banjo needed an experienced business analyst to work with its management team on short notice and help research and evaluate several potential acquisition opportunities. Through Graphite, Banjo found Gavin M., a business strategy consultant with over 20 years of professional experience focused on high-growth companies in technology and media. He brought relevant industry knowledge and experience along with an extensive track record of researching, analyzing and evaluating investment opportunities for many technology, management consulting and private equity firms. The end result was a highly professional engagement that delivered Banjo’s desired results on a very tight timeline.

At UpCounsel, a venture-capital-backed marketplace for legal services, the company leveraged Graphite to connect with and hire Robert M. as an interim CFO/controller. Robert was a versatile senior financial and operations professional with experience at Deloitte and with several years of interim CFO leadership. Having worked in many venture-backed startups, he deeply understood the nature of startups and knew how to manage relationships between management teams and venture investors. He had also supervised and initialed equity and debt financing on many levels with multiple startups and emerging growth companies. Robert not only provided the interim CFO and controller leadership that UpCounsel needed, but an initial one-month project turned into on an ongoing role where he’s continued to provide financial leadership on an ongoing basis.

Hiring On-Demand Talent for Your Next Project

As trends point increasingly toward on-demand labor as an ideal alternative to legacy labor models and business structures, now is the time to conduct your own experiment. Using online platforms such as Graphite, companies can complement their long-term traditional workforce with the high-end skills and experience of freelance workers and independent consultants.

At Graphite, we offer immediate access to a global pool of over 5,000 pre-vetted and highly qualified professionals in finance, strategy, marketing, IT and more. Our pros have an average of 10 years of experience, and each has a minimum of two years working at a major firm such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs or the Fortune 500. Getting started is easy. Just log in or create an account and post your job for free. You’ll start receiving top-tier candidates in as little as one hour, and you pay only for work performed by your professional.

Visit www.graphite.com to get started.