There were 57 million freelance workers in 2019. According to fresh research from UpWork, there could soon be as many as 70 million. For the many companies that utilize freelance workers, this sudden surge could present a plethora of unanticipated obstacles.

In this episode of IT Availability Now, Chris Butler, Lead Principal Consultant, Resilience and Security at Sungard AS, walks us through the budding freelancer movement, the impact it will have on businesses and measures they can take to prepare. Listen to the full episode to learn:

• What’s driving the recent freelancer movement
• Why organizations consistently turn to freelance workers and why this sudden increase could be more problematic than they realize
• The correlation between freelancers and greater IT cybersecurity risk – and how businesses can address this concern
• Additional steps organizations can take to maximize the gig economy without worry 

Alison Brooker is Director, Global Corporate Communications at Sungard AS. With over 16 years of experience primarily in B2B technology, she leads Sungard AS’ global external communications programs. Alison is passionate about how technology enables digital transformation for businesses.

A former Lieutenant Colonel and helicopter pilot in the British Army, Chris Butler now provides executive advisory services in the field of organizational resilience, business challenges of the 21st century, and cyber resilience. As a resilience consultant at Sungard AS, Chris provides senior leadership teams with bespoke training sessions on crisis leadership and management, business continuity, disaster recovery, information security, IT service continuity, and crisis response capability building and coaching.

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