K. Venkateswaran, CBO & SVP, Enterprise Business, Awign
The gig economy is today being hailed as the future of work. With the emergence of tech-led enterprise gig platforms, it’s only obvious that businesses of varying sizes and sectors want to deploy a gig workforce to offload a core function. Whether hyperlocal or digital, enterprise gig platforms can today carry out any type of work including business development, auditing, auditing, content and data operations, last-mile delivery, proctoring and so much more!
Today, enterprises look for effective solutions that can help them stay agile, productive and aligned with their business goals. They seek the ability and flexibility to scale their business up or down to stay aligned with their goals, with minimal turnaround time (TAT) and expenditure. This is where the gig workforce plugs itself in a seamless manner. Gig platforms can help enterprises assemble a workforce on-demand, reduce fixed incomes, manage end-to-end execution of the work, increase profit margins, and double down on efficiency. Basically, enable your business to penetrate into newer geographies with ease and scale sustainably as you only pay for the outcomes generated.
While the adoption of gig platforms in India began with startups, today large enterprises have also realised the economic value of the gig workforce model and joined the bandwagon. So what are the factors that drive this change on such a large scale? Let us explore some driver’s behind the gig economy’s adoption.
What is driving the gig workforce bandwagon?
We’re sitting at the peak of the digital revolution where the internet penetration in the country (and the world) is higher than ever. With the increase in digital transformation fueled by the same, are witnessing the evolution of India’s gig economy. The boost in digital infrastructure and tech adoption has further led to emergence of enterprise gig platforms. Digital transformation has led enterprises to reimagine the way they work. Moreover, the pandemic also contributed to adoption of enterprise gig platforms, as businesses realised the need to cut losses and stay agile to survive amid financial pressures. Startups and tech-led enterprises started experimenting with the gig workforce model to get access to an on-demand pool of talent which enables them to scale continuously, reduce fixed costs and increases efficiency. The benefits of end-to-end management and execution of core business functions, tech-led processes, along with an outcome-based payout system built higher demand for these platforms. As a result, the gig model not only emerged as the perfect solution that helped them scale their business, variabilize PnLs, and increase profit margins but also one that increased productivity and reduced redundant costs. The ease of integration and on-demand work fulfilment also served as an incentive for enterprises to start gigifying other business functions thereafter.
During the last couple of years, the workforce too has changed its preferences of working. The rising workforce has become very mobile, and prefers to work from locations of their choice. This change was also bolstered by the pandemic, where workers shifted back to their hometowns and found new sources of employment in their own cities. With flexibility at the forefront, the workforce is now opting to choose jobs keeping their preferences in mind. And with the freedom of work and choice that the gig model offers, the supply of the gig workforce has also seen an exponential rise.
How does the gig economy create incremental value?
- Expand footprint and scale rapidly
The gig economy empowers enterprises to expand their presence and scale rapidly without any investment up front. While it might be difficult for an enterprise to set up teams across geographies, an enterprise gig platform can easily deploy a workforce across locations to get the work done. Case in point: Awign has its presence across 500 cities in India, covering more than 12,000 pin codes. Whether you need to expand your business in Ahmedabad or Agartala, we can get it done in a jiffy. - Managing work at-scale
If you are an enterprise that generates large volumes of goods or services on a daily basis, you will definitely require a large workforce to manage the scale as well. With a work fulfilment platform, you can offload the entire operations and management of the work instead of hiring and retaining hundred of full-time workers to get the job done.
- Outcome-based payouts
Since gig work is fulfilled based on outcomes generated, it automatically means that the enterprises can convert fixed costs incurred on recruiting and retaining employees into variable expenses. This directly impacts the bottom line (P&L) for all businesses. - Access to an on-demand pool of workforce ensures agility
Launching a new product/service? Observing seasonal demand in specific months? With Awign, enterprises can maintain flexibility of workforce distributed during ramp up/down periods. The on-demand work fulfilment allows enterprises to quickly scale the workforce up or down and minimize TAT when business requirements change. This is essential in a dynamic business environment when time and cost spent on setting up a team is a crucial component. - Ensures high-productivity and quality control
Enterprises can have hesitation that a gig workforce might not be able to measure KPIs. On the contrary, the benefit of working with a work fulfilment platform is that we take care of KPI management so the enterprises don’t have to! Moreover, the quality of work is always a guarantee with tech-led quality control and assurance. - Save costs on upskilling, reskilling and multiskilling workforce
Enterprises usually spend a lot of resources in upskilling their workforce to increase productivity and operational efficiencies. However, when enterprises outsource their work to an on-demand gig platform like ours, they also outsource the training and upskilling activities. At Awign, we ensure that all our gig partners are first trained, and constantly upskilled while they’re working on projects. While this increases quality of outcomes for enterprises, it also enhances the skillsets of the gig partner which enables them to expand their income horizon.
Case in point
Let’s understand how a gig workforce deployed by a work fulfilment platform can bolster the output, productivity and revenue of an enterprise.
One of India’s largest social media and networking platform was challenged by the high volume of content which needed categorization and moderation, on a daily basis. There were 50+ labels of the content on the platform which led to inaccuracies in labeling them.
Our solution
We deployed over 500+ trained content moderators who completed weekly refresher sessions and assessment tests to bring up the accuracy levels. End-to-end delivery was ensured as the operations team followed up with the reviewers to make ensure the daily production (quantity) and the accuracy (quality) were met as per the client’s expectations.
The results?
Over 30M+ posts were labelled for video tagging, with the number of labels being reduced from 50 to 7. The level of accuracy was increased from 70% in July 2020 to 95% in May 2022. And the bottom line? The revenue for our client went from INR 13K in July 2020 to INR 90L in June 2022! That’s a multi-faceted impact – all through the power of the gig!
Are you also looking to create this level of impact? Get in touch with us to understand how we can make the gig work for you.
