Contingent talent has become an increasingly important lever for business growth, and the way organizations approach it is changing fast. The conversation is moving beyond how to manage talent and toward a broader question. What needs to get done, and what is the best way to accomplish it?
That shift was a central theme at the 2026 SIA CWS Summit North America, where our team of experts joined leaders from across the globe to discuss the forces influencing program strategy, technology, governance, talent access, and what comes next.
As proud event sponsors with more than 30 years of experience helping companies manage their extended workforce, we continue to see the role of contingent programs grow more strategic. Here are six takeaways influencing where they go next.
1. Start With the Work, Not the Worker
For years, workforce planning often began with a familiar question. Do we need a full-time employee, contractor, or temporary worker?
That conversation is shifting. Companies are increasingly starting with the need itself and considering factors such as required skills, duration, cost, risk, and desired outcomes before deciding how to address it.
This changes the conversation from filling a predefined role to understanding the problem first. A short-term skills gap may call for a very different solution than an ongoing operational need or a project with clearly defined deliverables.
By defining the need first, organizations can make more informed decisions about the resources and engagement models that make the most sense.
2. Workforce Management Is Becoming Workforce Orchestration
Once the need is clear, businesses need an effective way to connect it to the right resources.
Traditional contingent labor management has largely focused on individual categories and processes. Orchestration takes a broader view by connecting channels that have often operated separately, including employees, contingent talent, independent contractors, external providers, and technology.
Strong orchestration strategies require a few key elements:
- A complete view of available talent and services across the organization
- Clear criteria for weighing cost, risk, skills, timing, and desired outcomes
- Simple processes that connect stakeholders to the appropriate resource
- Flexibility to adjust the mix as business needs shift
The core responsibilities haven’t gone anywhere. Cost control, supplier performance, process, and quality talent still matter. They now sit inside a bigger strategy, supported by workforce data intelligence that shows leaders the whole picture.
3. SOW and Services Procurement Deserve More Attention
One area becoming increasingly important within that broader strategy is Statement of Work (SOW) and services procurement.
SOW engagements represent a significant portion of external spend, yet they have historically sat outside many traditional contingent programs. That is beginning to change.
Statement of Work now accounts for $7.2 trillion of the $10.7 trillion spent globally on contingent services. More companies are also bringing SOW under their existing programs, rising from 53% in 2019 to 66% today.
Contract structures point to the same shift. In IT consulting and services, fixed-price agreements grew from 35.6% of contracts in 2020 to 48.4% in 2025, while time and materials agreements declined from 48.3% to 37.1%. The focus is increasingly moving toward defined deliverables and results.
For leaders, that creates an opportunity to apply greater consistency to how services are sourced, managed, and measured. Bringing SOW and services procurement into the broader strategy can provide a more complete view of external spend while strengthening supplier management, risk controls, and accountability.
4. AI Is Changing Roles, Not Just the Process
AI use in contingent programs nearly doubled in a single year, rising from 18% of buyers in 2025 to 34% in 2026, according to SIA’s Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey. Among high-maturity programs, that figure climbs to 59%.
But the bigger story is how the technology is reshaping roles, skill requirements, and the way responsibilities are divided.
AI agents can process large amounts of data, identify patterns, and automate repetitive tasks. People bring judgment, navigate ambiguity, connect ideas across disciplines, and remain accountable for outcomes. As AI takes on more tasks, organizations need to consider where technology adds value and where human expertise remains essential.
Access to the right skills is another challenge. Forty percent of enterprises report that applied AI expertise is harder to find among full-time employees, creating opportunities to tap independent and contingent talent for specialized capabilities.
The priority should be purposeful adoption. Focus AI investment on clear business needs, strong governance, and measurable value rather than adding technology for technology’s sake.
5. Governance Has to Keep Pace
As organizations expand the ways they access skills, services, and technology, governance becomes even more important.
Without the right guardrails, greater flexibility can introduce inconsistent processes, unnecessary costs, duplicate efforts, and compliance concerns. At the same time, the areas that need to be governed are expanding well beyond traditional worker classification.
Several priorities are moving to the forefront:
- Classification becomes more complex as independent contractors, SOW engagements, and global models expand
- Candidate fraud and identity verification require greater attention as AI makes credentials and interviews easier to falsify
- AI governance introduces considerations around bias, privacy, data use, and regulation
- Global compliance requires organizations to navigate country-specific rules and requirements
- Supplier accountability helps ensure external providers operate according to established standards
The goal is not to limit flexibility but to create a structure that lets organizations use a broader range of resources responsibly.
6. Program Managers Are Becoming Workforce Architects
As the work changes, so does the role of the people running the program. Contingent workforce leaders are evolving in a few important ways.
- From managing contingent labor to advising on how work gets done
- From owning a category to connecting workforce channels
- From filling requirements to solving capability needs
- From measuring rates and savings to measuring business outcomes
- From controlling risk to enabling responsible agility
Workforce architects understand the business and the work behind every request. They ask more and better questions, know the full range of options, and guide hiring managers toward the right decision. Just as important, they stay agile. There’s no single future state, so the best leaders transform their programs without losing sight of what the business needs today.
Building the Next Chapter of Your Talent Strategy
The contingent labor market continues to move toward a more connected model. Organizations are looking beyond individual channels and taking a broader view of the resources available to meet business needs.
For leaders, that means expanding the conversation. SOW and services procurement are taking on a larger role. AI is influencing both processes and skill requirements. Governance is becoming more complex. And the people managing these programs are becoming more consultative across the organization.
The next chapter calls for smarter, more informed decisions and the structure to back them up.
Ready to take the next step in your contingent workforce strategy? With over three decades of experience in workforce management, Atrium is here to guide you every step of the way. Contact us today to start building a program designed for the future of work.
