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Industry Powerhouses Join Forces to Build the First “Internet of Careers” Platform Using Blockchain

Press Release

 

Global Leaders Champion Launch of Velocity Network: Verified, Trusted Career Credentialing Solution. 

 

DENVER (January 28, 2020) – Joining forces with Velocity Career Labs, developer of innovative blockchain technology, 14 industry leaders from across the HCM and Education markets came together to launch the Velocity Network Foundation. Together, the vendor-neutral, nonprofit organization will define, deploy and champion the Velocity Network: a globally accessible, open-source, blockchain-powered “Internet of Careers.”  

 

The Velocity Network Foundation aims to solve some of the most critical challenges for the future of work while addressing the growing need for data privacy and security. Founding members include Aon’s Assessment Solutions, Cisive, Cornerstone, HireRight, Korn Ferry, National Student Clearinghouse, Randstad, SAP, SumTotal Systems, SHL, Ultimate Software, Unit4, Upwork, Velocity Career Labs and ZipRecruiter. The Velocity Network Foundation was formed to reinvent how people manage their career credentials.

 

 

Disrupted and Volatile Job Markets

 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is driving disruption across global labor markets: skills shortages, accelerated turnover, the shift toward contingent workforces and a growing gig economy. According to a recent study¹ from Korn Ferry, by 2030, a shortage of 85.2 million skilled workers will result in lost revenue opportunities of $8.452 trillion worldwide. Research from Upwork and Freelancers Union² indicates that more than 50 percent of millennial workers are already freelancing while in 2019 alone, 57 million Americans freelanced, representing 35 percent of the entire U.S. workforce.

 

Hundreds of millions of individuals will be affected by the Fourth Industrial Revolution trends, many driven to change their careers or risk displacement. In this reality, career credentials become one of the most sought after and valuable assets for workers, enabling them to navigate through the labor market. As noted at the World Economic Forum in Davos³, 73 percent of employees said they want to own their work-related records and take them as they move between jobs.

 

Businesses, governments and key stakeholders need to accelerate and elevate their game to win against these trends. All bets are on innovations in human resources technology to tackle newer challenges, with increased demand for smart automation, AI and algorithmic matching to connect people with jobs and career development opportunities. Yet, most individuals and organizations still rely on costly, self-reported and unverified methods to exchange data about previous employment, professional achievements and educational certifications, all of which are key to hiring efficiencies. The fragmented data exchange system is holding back the job market and preventing the mitigation of critical challenges facing the job market today.

 

 

Velocity, The World’s Network for Verified Career Credentials  

 

Powered by blockchain, the Velocity Network makes it possible for people to claim and manage their career credentials, including verified education, projects, work history, skills and talent assessments, choosing with whom to share this information and how others use this data. At the same time, employers and educational institutions can rely on trusted, immutable applicant, candidate, student and employee information, seamlessly and effectively achieving significant reductions in the time and costs associated with talent processes, while reducing risk through decisions based on reliable data and supporting compliance in today’s global labor market.

 

Combined, the Velocity Network Foundation’s founding members have career-related data for more than 700 million individuals in their systems, including billions of professional and student credentials and assessments, as well as employment and contract work records spanning job information, pay histories, competencies and more.

 

Dror Gurevich, CEO of Velocity Career Labs, said, “These amazing future-thinking founding members bring to the table what’s needed to kickstart the network effect.” He continued, “The democratic, nonprofit nature of the governance, and the open-source framework will make it a true public utility layer. This is why we are calling it the ‘Internet of Careers.’ It sets Velocity apart from others in this space and attracts many others to join, driving the supply and demand flywheel.”

 

Constellation Research Vice President and Principal Analyst, Holger Mueller, said, “The world of work has forever changed, and Enterprise Acceleration is real, which means enterprises need to act quickly to get their people platforms and data in better shape. The workforce use cases for what Velocity is doing abound, from talent acquisition and employment verification to competency certification and compensation management. Equally compelling will be the ability for workers to have portable work records that are documented in tamper-proof technology. Velocity’s founding members are to be applauded for coming together and collaborating at an industry level to transform how work needs to happen in this new decade and beyond.”

 

Digital transformation expert Jason Averbook, a global keynote speaker, industry analyst, and co-founder and CEO of Leapgen, commented, “The Future of Work is really the Now of Work, and it’s important we don’t fall further behind. That means fixing what’s broken while nurturing innovation. The Velocity Network puts people back in control by building a globally accessible, trustworthy foundation that will underlie global labor markets. It’s exciting to see this impressive roster of founding members who share the vision.”

 

To learn more about the Velocity Network and its founding members, visit the Foundation page at www.velocitynetwork.foundation/foundation.

 

About Velocity Career Labs

Velocity Career Labs was founded in 2018 to reinvent how career credentials are shared across the global labor market, empowering individuals, businesses and educational institutions through transformational blockchain technology – self-sovereign, trusted and decentralized. We call it the “Internet of Careers.”

 

For more information about Velocity Career Labs, visit www.velocitycareerlabs.com  

 

About the Velocity Network Foundation

The Velocity Network Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by Velocity Career Labs, a developer of innovative blockchain technology. The Foundation exists to govern the use of the Velocity Network by all involved parties; continuously build the rulebook, a common framework that ensures operational consistency and legal clarity for every transaction; promote global adoption and support among stakeholders and constituents; guide the development of the decentralized protocols; and support research and development of applications and associated services, fostering a community of open-source developers.

 

For more information about Velocity Network Foundation and the Velocity Network, visit www.velocitynetwork.foundation.

 

Media Contact:

Jeanne Achille

The Devon Group

jeanne@devonpr.com

+1-732-706-0123 ext. 700

 

 

QUOTES FROM THE FOUNDING MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS OF THE VELOCITY NETWORK FOUNDATION

 

Dr. Achim Preuss, Director, Portfolio Assessment, Aon’s Assessment Solutions: “Velocity Network provides an infrastructure where job seekers, incumbents, recruiters, and service providers can contribute and benefit. As far as I can tell, Velocity Network has the most elaborate concept of a blockchain-based, self-sovereign career identity that currently exists.”

 

James Owens, President and CEO, Cisive: “Career Credentials Data is key to sustaining labor markets’ efficiencies and has enormous potential upside for individuals and businesses. And, as Artificial Intelligence in HR gets smarter and more focused on solving specific problems, we all expect to see even further capabilities: smart matching of individuals and career opportunities, predictive analytics and smart people development recommendations.”

 

Mark Goldin, Chief Technology Officer, Cornerstone: “Blockchain is poised to have a significant impact on how organizations hire and develop their talent. Given its secure and verifiable nature, Blockchain will give employers a precise view of employees’ skills and capabilities, enabling them to match job roles better and proactively identify opportunities for learning and development. By having transparent insight into workforce capabilities, organizations can better plan for the future and effectively close the pervasive skills gap that companies are experiencing everywhere.”

 

Lori Webb, SVP Product, HireRight: “With speed to hire and veracity of career credentials being of paramount importance, we see information exchanged through a decentralized identity verification gaining traction in the HR space.  As technology advances, the approach of the Velocity Network Foundation is the right solution to gain broad adoption of participation with self-sovereign identity and an individual’s control of their own career and education records.“

 

Jean-Marc Laouchez, President, Korn Ferry Institute: “Organizations have made significant progress in their ability to manage data regarding employees, but individuals may divide their time working for two or more employers, take gig assignments and move between jobs more frequently than before. No one employer has the holistic employee picture that is needed to make valuable predictions and drive value through analytics and AI.”

 

Larry Hatch, Vice President, Industry & Workforce Services, National Student Clearinghouse: “Self-sovereign identity is here, and it is going to be here to stay. There is an incredible amount of data about all of us out there in the digital ecosystem. The theory and the theme around self-sovereign identity are that the individual will own all of this data via technologies like blockchain.”

 

Ximo Soler, SVP Global Digital Strategy and Innovation, Randstad: “Having a digital validated employment identity, as an example, should make everyone more employable, companies speed up their time to hire and companies like Randstad be able to use our capabilities to enhance the recruitment experience. Velocity Network Foundation creates the perfect ecosystem to bring the Internet of Careers to its max.”

 

Meg Bear, SVP, Products, SAP SuccessFactors: “The workforce of the future will be the most diverse we have seen, not only in gender and ethnicity, but in physical and neurodiversity, age, education, skills, and work-life situations. With more fluidity in the job market, human experience management (HXM) platforms that put people at the center of business are critical to encouraging the co-creation of business processes and greater productivity. Making credentials portable and interoperable is just one step to delivering the best experience for the entire workforce. By leveraging blockchain, the Velocity Network will enable accurate, timely, secure, compliant, and cost-effective verification so organizations can engage the right people at the right time and exist at the forefront of today’s business and technology trends.”

 

Andrew Bradshaw, CEO, SHL: “Employers who demonstrate more empathy have access to better talent. People choose to stay with employers who treat them fairly, who offer them insightful learning experiences, and who earn their trust with clear privacy standards and communications practices. When it comes to talent, doing good is good for business.”

 

Debasis Dutta, VP and GM Product Management for SumTotal Systems: “The maturity of blockchain technology has made it possible to develop a standardized, secure ecosystem with verifiable digital identity and career credentials. SumTotal Systems is excited about the potential of blockchain technology to empower individuals to share their career credentials securely – be it training, certifications, or digital badges – with current and future employers to enhance job mobility and career progression. Organizations benefit by having timely and secure access to verifiable employee data to drive more engagement and talent development opportunities for their employees to reskill and upskill through AI-driven predictive capabilities. Joining the Velocity Network Foundation with the best brains in the HCM space will deliver tremendous value to individuals and the market.”

 

Cecile Alper-Leroux, VP HCM Innovation, Ultimate Software: “Trust is the cornerstone of some of the best and most valuable things in life, and people have the right to trust that their data remain private and protected. Ultimate has chosen to be at the forefront of the evolution of blockchain for people—and, by extension, HR—by becoming a founding member of the Velocity Network Foundation. Throughout our 30-year history, Ultimate’s #1 priority has been to put people first, and I am excited to see the application of our ‘People First’ philosophy at work in future HR technology.”

 

Matthias Thurner, Chief Product Officer, Unit4: “We’re very proud to be a part of The Velocity Network Foundation, championing the “Internet of Careers.” Technology is available today to reinvent how career credentials are shared so that people can take ownership of their data. Digital identity is a vital issue for labor market transformation and an effective digital economy. People need to know that their data is safe and being used in the right way. We see a huge benefit in people owning their work-related records and taking them with them as they move between jobs.”

 

Yvette Cameron, EVP Ecosystem, Velocity Career Labs: “If you’re going to reinvent the way career credentials are exchanged across the global labor market, you had better ensure a deep understanding of the different needs and use cases across its many constituents:  students, freelancers, agency workers, employees, mentors, educational institutions, employers, staffing agencies, employment marketplaces, government agencies and more. When establishing the Velocity Network Foundation, we deliberately reached across the many different types of entities operating in the labor market to ensure the most diverse and deep set of experiences and expertise would drive the initial governing body of the Velocity Network. As the Foundation continues to expand, our vendor-neutral approach will ensure the ongoing diversity of its membership and hence broad use-case expertise, while our open source utility layer will invite a thriving ecosystem of contributors to adapt and built on top of it.”

 

1 The Global Talent Crunch, Korn Ferry, 2018

2 Freelancing in America, Freelancers Union, October 2017

3 Putting Trust to Work, Accenture, 2019