Earlier this week, we hosted our first product launch event at Malt to unveil our new features that will improve Malt’s marketplace and enhance the user experience for businesses and freelancers alike.
Since launching Malt nearly a decade ago, we’ve been rather busy chasing our dream to create a world where everyone is free to choose the best people to work with. We believe that success is powered by the combination of the right people, the right team and the right projects and that agility and flexibility sit at its core.
To help us make this world a reality across all industries and businesses of all shapes and sizes, we acquired Comatch last year. And together, we have built a marketplace of over 500,000 freelancers, independent management consultants and industry experts working on projects for over 60,000 businesses.
It’s been a busy year and we’re excited to announce what we’ve been working on behind the scenes. Here’s an overview of some of the new sparkly new additions to Malt’s marketplace to help you #FreelanceInTheFastLane.
Applicant tracking system
We have completely transformed the way freelancer applications are presented to clients. By releasing a new navigation, clients can easily access the entire hiring process, from searching for a freelancer and chatting with freelancers directly within Malt’s marketplace, to managing the project, approving how many hours a freelancer has worked and keeping track of progress with our analytics tool. Soon, clients will be able to find, choose, manage and interact with freelancers in just a few clicks.
ERP system integration
We know that many of our corporate clients work with ERP Systems or Vendor Management Systems (VMS) that help them to have control over their buying processes, all in one place.
We’re thrilled to announce our new ERP integration with over 85 ERP solutions - including Oracle, SAP Ariba, Workday, and many more - meaning our clients can easily manage the process of hiring freelancers, including approvals and reporting.
The integration means that once you find a freelancer, the quote goes straight to your company’s ERP System in just one click. Budget requests will be automatically pre-filled and submitted for approval. Once your budget request has been approved, it will be automatically updated on Malt so your project can start right away.
Enhancing the freelancer experience
Finding the perfect match between freelancers and projects isn’t just about expertise. It’s also about wider skillsets and an alignment in values between the individual and the organisation. That’s why it’s so important that our freelancers have up-to-date and detailed profiles. We’ve made the process of updating their profiles easier so they can be matched quickly with the right projects at the right time.
Financing options
We’re taking the financial stress out of freelancing by handling the payment ourselves. We ensure our freelancers are paid within 10 days of the end of the project, while our clients pay within their standard payment terms (usually 30 or 60 days). This means that freelancers don't need to chase payments and businesses can still follow their company's payment policies.
And features that are coming soon include…
The Malt app for freelancers
We’re committed to creating tools that help our freelancers find and manage their projects, even on the go. Our app has been very popular as it allows freelancers to reply quickly to new opportunities and manage their business from their phones. Soon, we’ll launch our revamped app with more intuitive navigation, and new features, like sharing opportunities with other freelancers in your network.
Taking Malt global
Over the past couple of years, we’ve launched Malt in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and more. Growing a global business means we need to consider the local needs in each market. Following our most recent launch in the UK, we’re adding the ability to pay and get paid in new currencies.
So, how does Malt actually match freelancers with clients and their projects?
We have two machine-learning algorithms behind our matching processes. The search algorithm suggests the most relevant freelancer, which is based on matching a client’s title, description and experience to the client’s project brief. This algorithm also learns what’s most relevant based on what freelance profiles a client has historically selected.
The second algorithm is more complex and we use it when a client isn’t sure what they’re looking for. We seek to understand what skills and type of experience the client needs while understanding which freelancers will likely be available and interested based on their activity and history on Malt.
For complex projects, our algorithms are backed up by our wonderful sourcing team who source and verify freelancers for client projects. That’s the beauty of Malt - we're able to combine the power of AI with a human touch.
We’re utilising our data to evolve our matching algorithm and to have a better understanding of supply and demand.
Malt stories
We were fortunate enough to be joined at Freelancing in the Fast Lane by Erwan Girard, Chief Product Officer at Scality and one of our long-serving freelancers, Luz Delgado.
Scality
Scality has been working with Malt for the last 18 months and today, 80-85% of its teams have hired freelancers to deliver projects and the product and engineering workforce is made up of around 15% of Malt freelancers.
