Future of Sourcing - Managed Service Provider (MSP) https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/managed-service-provider-msp en Mind the Skills Gap https://futureofsourcing.com/mind-the-skills-gap <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Mind_the_Gap.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Mind_the_Gap.jpg" title="Mind the Skills Gap " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1642-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Mind_the_Gap.jpg?itok=vKkNoDoG" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>With more job openings than people to fill them, the skills shortage is starting to bite. We&rsquo;ll show you how to get the talent you need &ndash; and the pitfalls to watch out for.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Talent is the lifeblood of the enterprise. Yet with unemployment low and continuing to fall, it&rsquo;s in short supply. According to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/06/there-are-still-1point4-million-more-jobs-than-unemployed-people-but-the-gap-is-closing.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a>, the U.S. currently has 1.4 million more job openings than unemployed people. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This shift has a huge impact on businesses, which are finding it increasingly difficult to <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/attracting-and-retaining-talent-in-the-face-of-low-unemployment" target="_blank">source the capabilities they need</a> to achieve their goals. For example, a new global research study titled <a href="https://www.fieldglass.com/resources/research/services-procurement-insights-2019" target="_blank">Services Procurement Insights 2019</a>: The Big Reveal published by SAP Fieldglass in collaboration with Oxford Economics found that:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Only 29% of organizations have enough skills in cybersecurity.</li> <li>Just 31% have enough skills in newer technologies such as AI, machine learning, blockchain, robotics and the Internet of Things.</li> <li>Only 48% have enough skills in new product development.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <div>So, the big question is: How do you source the skills you need to be competitive when those skills aren&rsquo;t available as employees?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>A vital source of talent</h2> </div> <div>The research reveals that to source in-demand skills, organizations increasingly rely on the external workforce, which includes <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/the-candidate-experience-kaleidoscope-how-an-msp-can-help-improve-talent-sourcing-engagement" target="_blank">contingent workers</a> (such as freelancers and independent contractors) and service providers (such as consultancies and marketing agencies). &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to the study, many executives say the external workforce helps them achieve a broad range of business goals, such as improving the customer experience/client satisfaction (67%) and increasing speed to market (61%). These are just some of the reasons why the external workforce accounts for a mighty 42% of workforce spend.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>A powerful part of your workforce &ndash; but it needs proper management</h2> </div> <div>The contingent workforce is now on more people&rsquo;s radar than ever (we have recently published a report revealing fresh insights into contingent workers, which <a href="https://www.fieldglass.com/resources/research/contingent-workforce-insights-2019/download" target="_blank">you can read here</a>). However, when asked to picture their workforce, many people still don&rsquo;t think of service providers.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>That needs to change. Service providers are hugely valuable because they enable organizations to source many people with diverse, in-demand skills quickly and flexibly. The research found that service providers play pivotal roles in getting work done and operate at the heart of the enterprise. Many of us are familiar with consulting firms that help organizations build and execute their strategies, particularly around digital transformation. And, of course, companies rely on technology providers and outsourcers for massive development projects, as well as to run parts of their IT infrastructure. There are also marketing consulting firms, brand agencies, PR agencies, law firms and more. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Service providers are also pivotal in providing expertise in critical industry applications. For example, in the oil and gas industry, service providers play a major role in shutdown/turnarounds, which cost millions each day and must therefore be completed as soon as possible. Banks rely on IT consultancies to improve their online and mobile banking platforms and call centers to support their customers. Utilities and rail companies look to service providers for expertise in infrastructure maintenance, among other parts of their business. Service providers are embedded across organizations today, helping them get work done. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Despite the strategic importance and significant amounts spent on service providers, many organizations under-manage them. We call service providers an &ldquo;invisible&rdquo; workforce because they perform vital work, yet many companies do not treat them as a workforce.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Under-managing service providers means companies miss out on the full value of this powerful resource. This can result in unsatisfactory project outcomes. For example, the research reveals that one in four projects done by service providers is not completed on time or on budget. In addition, only 27% of executives are highly informed about service providers&rsquo; quality of work, making it difficult to assess return on investment.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Under-management of service providers also exposes organizations to risks in security, compliance and more. For example, 44% of executives experience digital security breaches with service providers sometimes, frequently or nearly every engagement. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>There is a golden opportunity to improve the management of service providers. Our research presents four key actions organizations can take to reap more value from service providers, boost ROI and mitigate risk. To see the four actions and more key findings, download the <a href="https://www.fieldglass.com/resources/research/services-procurement-insights-2019" target="_blank">report</a>.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contingent-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contingent Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/freelance-workers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Freelance Workers</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-acquisition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Acquisition</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Mind the Skills Gap - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/mind-the-skills-gap"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 26 Nov 2019 01:17:14 +0000 Molly Spatara 1642 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/mind-the-skills-gap#comments The Candidate Experience Kaleidoscope: How an MSP Can Help Improve Talent Sourcing & Engagement https://futureofsourcing.com/the-candidate-experience-kaleidoscope-how-an-msp-can-help-improve-talent-sourcing-engagement <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Canidate_Experience.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Canidate_Experience.png" title="The Candidate Experience Kaleidoscope: How an MSP Can Help Improve Talent Sourcing &amp; Engagement" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1624-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Canidate_Experience.png?itok=vsEB6yOM" width="624" height="325" alt="The Candidate Experience Kaleidoscope: How an MSP Can Help Improve Talent Sourcing &amp; Engagement" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Today&rsquo;s talent landscape is becoming more driven by contingent workers; in some organizations, the number of contingent workers already outpaces full-time employees. It&rsquo;s no surprise then that the pressure on talent suppliers to deliver is high. If staffing suppliers cannot facilitate successful placements at scale, then the revolving door of talent will continue to swing causing companies to waste time, money and resource on endless staffing. An immediate opportunity available to recruiting organizations and their managed service providers (MSPs) is to optimize the candidate experience.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>The Strategic Importance of the Candidate Experience</h2> </div> <div>We all know that first impressions matter. When it comes to talent, the recruiter is often the first point of contact for a potential contractor on behalf of an organization. Think about the discovery journey a candidate undergoes. When searching for a new role or project, he/she does research online, and then as a next step seeks to verify that by speaking to someone in the know (which, more often than not, is the recruiter). It is the recruiter who helps the candidate build trust in the employer brand. If the candidate has a bad experience with the recruiter or does not like what is heard, then most likely he/she will start considering other organizations. And in today&rsquo;s competitive job market, with the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank">most recent unemployment rate at 3.7%</a>, that can be disastrous for hiring organizations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>To win the war for top talent, employers and those responsible for their candidate sourcing and onboarding need to ensure that their processes are candidate-centric with a positive experience. Today, the candidate experience begins at the job description or job ad since it&rsquo;s the first exposure a candidate has to a potential position and employer, setting the tone for the entire candidate experience. It continues through the relationship with the recruiter, from the first time the candidate and the recruiter connect through the candidate journey. The recruiter acts as a filter for the client&rsquo;s brand and the project&rsquo;s value, which is then further analyzed by the candidate, using their own lens to judge. The supplier plays a very crucial role as brand ambassador for the companies they support, showcasing their client&rsquo;s work culture, incentives, opportunities and more.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>The Power of Influence</h2> </div> <div>Joe Girard, who was recognized as the greatest salesmen ever by the <a href="https://www.joegirard.com/" target="_blank">Guinness Book of World Records</a>, had a <a href="https://www.joegirard.com/posts/girards-law-250/" target="_blank">&ldquo;law of 250&rdquo;</a>, by which he meant that if he did a poor job of dealing with someone, he could lose 250 more customers. He believed that was the number of people we could directly or indirectly influence, and this was before the Internet age! Imagine how many prospective candidates can be put off by one bad review on the web? As we know, today&rsquo;s consumers place more emphasis on peer reviews than anything else.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>So as a hiring organization, how much visibility and control do you have over the influence of your candidate experience? Do you know how your supplier base is representing you? Even though a contractor is employed for a specific role for a specific period of time, they also have a set of intrinsic goals that they want to achieve within that short-term assignment. The supplier has to be able to understand the candidates&rsquo; needs and desires from a role and then assess whether they will be a fit for the client:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>What part about the role can the candidate connect with?</li> <li>Is it meeting his/her expectations in terms of the challenges sought?</li> <li>Does it fit with the candidate&rsquo;s desired career path?</li> <li>Does it offer opportunities for growth into the next role?</li> </ul> <div> <h2>Realistically Improving the Candidate Experience</h2> </div> <div>Unfortunately, this deep of a focus on the candidate is often far from the approach that is actually employed. Many recruiters reach out to candidates primarily based on their experience and skillset, simply matching job description to resume or profile rather than &ldquo;selling&rdquo; the candidate on the merits of the company or assignment. How many times have candidates left their assignment early because they did not like the client&rsquo;s environment or because the project did not meet their expectations?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Here&rsquo;s where an MSP can really add value. By strategically focusing on the candidate journey, there are multiple ways to realistically improve the candidate experience:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>A consistent experience through multiple touchpoints</strong></div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">A candidate can end up speaking to three different sets of organizational cultures: the supplier, the MSP and the hiring organization. It is imperative that the candidate receives a consistent message about the opportunity and the company, along with a great experience at every touchpoint. The MSP can and should focus on this journey for the candidate, and work with the supplier regularly to make sure the supplier is up-to-date on any new initiatives at play with the client, and also hold the supplier responsible for ensuring the candidate recruitment journey is reflective of the employer brand. The MSP along with the supplier and the client must map out the candidate journey, right from the first email/call through the subsequent conversation to the onboarding.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>The staffing supplier&rsquo;s brand</strong></div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">The supplier&rsquo;s reputation and processes are important. Candidates want to know whether this supplier will be able to help them find another role when this assignment comes to an end. Will they get training to bring their skills up to speed? Will they be paid on time? The best staffing agencies have their own brands that establish credibility, inspire confidence and entice talent to research their offerings further. By promoting an image that helps candidates identify and connect with them, they drive applicants to their job postings, translating in a more diverse and talented bench of candidates. Effective MSP programs look to engage with staffing suppliers who have brands that will lead to robust talent pipelines and relationships.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>Constant communication &amp; messaging</strong></div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Most organizations are rapidly evolving in one form or another. Are the suppliers able to keep up with the changing value offerings and opportunities that your organization has to offer to candidates? To send the right message to the candidates, the MSP needs to collaborate with the supplier to ensure that the messaging to the candidates is refined and targeted every time. Refined so that it reflects the message you want to share with talent specifically, and targeted so that it shares the details of what the assignment requires in terms of skills and what it offers in terms of challenges and opportunities to potential candidates.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div>For MSPs seeking the highest quality talent for client programs, sourcing suppliers can be a challenging process. However, by seeking out and partnering with staffing suppliers who can champion and execute the desired candidate experience, customer-centric MSP can go a long way in helping to establish a great brand value proposition for a client; i.e. a targeted marketing campaign without any extra expenditure. Just keep in mind that candidates end up having a kaleidoscopic view of your organization, looking through the supplier&rsquo;s and MSP&rsquo;s mosaic, so be judicious about who you select to act as the stewards of your employer brand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contingent-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contingent Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-acquisition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Acquisition</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/recruiting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Recruiting</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/candidate-experience" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Candidate Experience</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The Candidate Experience Kaleidoscope: How an MSP Can Help Improve Talent Sourcing &amp;amp; Engagement - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/the-candidate-experience-kaleidoscope-how-an-msp-can-help-improve-talent-sourcing-engagement"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 23 Oct 2019 21:38:40 +0000 Sameer Srivastava 1624 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/the-candidate-experience-kaleidoscope-how-an-msp-can-help-improve-talent-sourcing-engagement#comments Weighing VMS and MSP deployment options? Experts share their secrets! https://futureofsourcing.com/weighing-vms-and-msp-deployment-options-experts-share-their-secrets <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/VMS_vs_MSP.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/VMS_vs_MSP.jpg" title="Weighing VMS and MSP deployment options? Experts share their secrets!" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1559-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/VMS_vs_MSP.jpg?itok=Dw2_21Uy" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">The&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">c</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">hicken or the&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">e</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">gg?&nbsp;</span>For organizations of all sizes and compositions, it can be a daunting challenge to determine whether to implement a new <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/the-rules-of-outsourcing-have-changed" target="_blank">contingent workforce management solution</a>. Nearly every type of business can benefit from leveraging contingent labor in one form or another as evidenced by the continuing growth in the use and utilization of all manner of non-employee workers. From the traditional &ldquo;temp&rdquo; workers supplementing full-time staff to the more recently use of independent contractors, project workers, freelancers, and other worker classifications that increasingly comprise the contemporary workforce, organizations of all stripes have become more comfortable and reliant on the contingent workforce as a regular part of their business operations. According to the World Economic Forum&rsquo;s insight study <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018" target="_blank"><em>The Future of Jobs Report 2018</em></a>, by the year 2022 between one-half and two-thirds of companies will be utilizing contractors, temporary labor and freelancers to address growing skills gaps.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Not surprisingly, the complexity of modern workforce management has created a crowded field of providers that support the design, development and management of contingent workforces. Two of the most trusted and effective offerings are <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/a-msp-service-delivery-model-based-on-design-thinking" target="_blank">Vendor Management System (VMS) software products and the Managed Services Providers (MSP)</a>. Both have become trusted industry-standard practices and both represent significant challenges to implement successfully. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Yet, despite knowing that intrinsic value exists in applying either a technology or a service (or both) to contingent workforce management, it can be difficult for organizations to determine whether either option is best suited to help achieve their objectives. And for those that conclude there are benefits to employing both, the question is further complicated by the decision surrounding which to deploy first and why. For guidance on making the best of these thorny dilemmas, savvy organizations need workforce management experts to help guide their decision-making and execute on deployment.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>We asked workforce management solution experts for their best advice on how to determine if their operations could benefit from VMS solutions, MSP solutions or both. We also asked them how they help organizations to decide the best order of operations when the decision is made to engage both VMS technology and MSP services. Here&rsquo;s what they said.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>VMS Considerations</h2> </div> <div>Yvonne McAteer is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Strategy at <a href="http://www.nextsource.com/msp-vms" target="_blank">nextSource</a>. Here&rsquo;s how she helps organizations decide if a VMS is the best option for addressing workforce management challenges.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;&ldquo;There are a number of important questions to pose to the customer. For example, any change management or technology initiatives they mention will often help to clarify whether or not VMS makes sense for the organization.&rdquo; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>McAteer shared the top four most salient questions she poses to organizations considering deploying a VMS solution. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ol> <li>Does this tie with the organization&rsquo;s broad strategy, such as bringing speed and agility to the workforce, reducing organizational risk or improving financial performance? &nbsp;</li> <li>Does the organization possess the internal expertise necessary to determine and articulate the workflows and business processes necessary to properly configure a VMS solution? &nbsp;</li> <li>Do you have the internal resources needed to manage a contingent workforce? &nbsp;</li> <li>Are you prepared to align bill rates with suppliers in such a way as to avoid having to revisit them again shortly if the organization intends to field an MSP solution after deploying VMS? &nbsp;</li> </ol> <div>&ldquo;These are mission-critical considerations,&rdquo; said McAteer, noting that typically, it is the larger organization that is more readily equipped to embark on a VMS initiative because they often already have tighter, more mature controls over business processes related to workforce management. Automation enabled by VMS tools is heavily reliant on proper configuration of the software to address workflows that are already proven effective. Whereas smaller organizations may not have an inherently clear set of existing policies and practices that can be easily automated. In the absence of such clarity, there is a higher likelihood that simply deploying a VMS tool will not automatically result in effective utilization of VMS tools.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Similarly, it is somewhat pre-requisite for an organization to have sufficient internal resources available to dedicate to the implementation and management of a contingent workforce. Without the basic management infrastructure in place, implementing a VMS may be putting the cart in front of the horse. The existence of internal workforce management resources also supports the organization&rsquo;s ability to prepare the above-mentioned processes and workflows for staffing supplier management.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&ldquo;The last of the three questions are geared toward an organization that may also be considering adding MSP services to their contingent workforce mix at some point,&rdquo; said McAteer. She adds, &ldquo;It is important to consider the future state so that when negotiating bill rates with suppliers as part of your VMS implementation room is left to absorb the cost of an MSP program deployment at a later date, if the intent is to deploy a supplier-funded model.&rdquo; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>MSP Considerations</h2> </div> <div>When it comes to considering an MSP solution, nextSource&rsquo;s Director of Business Development Joe Olstadt offers three key questions an organization must address:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ol> <li>Do you truly have a well-conceived contingent workforce management policy in effect?</li> <li>Is contingent labor being used strategically or in an ad-hoc manner? &nbsp;</li> <li>How effectively does your organization balance access to talent versus cost savings?&nbsp;</li> </ol> <div>Joe advises, &ldquo;It is often a good idea to craft contingent workforce management policies that work in alignment with your organization&rsquo;s full-time talent acquisition process and hiring strategy. Otherwise, an MSP might operate at odds with your HR and talent acquisition departments and that is a recipe for failure. Having a policy in place improves the probability of success with an MSP solution.&rdquo;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&ldquo;How contingent labor is currently being utilized is also a highly important consideration,&rdquo; says Olstadt. For those already applying a strategic approach to contingent labor usage, Joe suggests, &ldquo;it may be sufficient to simply &lsquo;lift and shift&rsquo; existing contingent labor management processes over to a new MSP partner. However, if a company is only addressing the practice in an ad-hoc fashion more significant re-engineering of workforce management processes may be required to derive the maximum benefit from the application of an MSP to the tasks associated with sourcing and managing a contingent workforce.&rdquo; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Olstadt counsels the majority of organizations opting to engage MSP solutions to consider re-engineering processes for smoother adoption and better results. But he cautions that this level of change requires a strong focus on change management expertise. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>To answer the third question regarding the balance between access to talent and cost savings, Olstadt notes, &ldquo;Organizations should look to its top three or four strategic drivers to determine which consideration should be the priority. You don&rsquo;t want to be hashing this issue out during implementation. You should clearly understand the drivers at play before implementation so that an MSP can hit the ground running with clearly enunciated priorities.&rdquo; Many MSP providers have tools that can help you identify your priorities. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h2><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">The&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">c</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">hicken or the&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">e</span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US">gg?</span></h2> <div>For many organizations, it makes sense to employ the centralization and automation of a VMS technology alongside the purchasing power and compliance capabilities of an MSP service begging the perennial question: which project to deploy first?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Both McAteer and Olstadt seemed to agree that there is no hard and fast rule dictating the &ldquo;best&rdquo; order to deploy these two complementary solutions. Making the decision of which comes first for any given organization will rely on the specific answers developed to the numerous questions posed in each of the assessments detailed above. However, deploying them in tandem decreases implementation time and enables an organization to have both sets of experts involved in design, configuration and launch. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Ultimately, the comparative size of the organization plays a significant role in the decision-making. Typically, larger organizations tend to stand up a VMS first and then, later, an MSP. This is because larger companies characteristically possess greater levels of resources&mdash;both in terms of IT support and in terms of existing process, policy and personnel dedicated to workforce management. This means the underlying infrastructure needed to successfully determine the correct VMS workflows and configurations is already in place and the larger organization can more effectively shoulder the burden of standing up a VMS while retaining stronger control over contingent workforce management. Frequently, once implemented, the VMS provides much more penetrating views into drivers of performance, compliance and a host of other KPIs that the large organization can then use to weigh whether or not an MSP arrangement will drive additional operational benefits.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>For the small and midsize business (SMB) organization without the same levels of internal resources, engaging an MSP first is often more appropriate. Typically more interested in reducing the workloads of their internal resources, SMBs find that MSP engagements deliver added value via the expertise they bring in re-engineering processes and fostering strong, effective change management practices helping drive positive results. With more standardized and well-controlled workforce management operations guided by an MSP, the SMB organization can then take the next steps in partnership with their MSP in selecting and standing up the most appropriate VMS solution. In fact, according to the Staffing Industry Analysts, MSPs can absorb as much as 62% of the workload associated with deploying a VMS platform. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Ultimately though, the decision of &ldquo;which comes first&rdquo; does not adhere in a hard and fast sense to the large company/small company distinction laid out above. There are many variables to consider, regardless of the size of the organization. For just one example, consider that a company of any size that aligns bill rates with their suppliers to account for a new VMS fee would then need to renegotiate with the suppliers again six to 12 months later if/when they elected to layer in new MSP services. Is this level of disruption to be avoided or endured? Other considerations lean toward the cultural. Does your culture emphasize internal control or does it work better culturally when your sourcing managers sit close to your hiring managers? &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In the end, there are so many variables to weigh when making this decision that it is definitely advisable to engage some consultative expertise from a workforce management consultancy.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contingent-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contingent Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management-system-vms" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management System (VMS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/workforce-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Workforce Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/future-of-work" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Future of Work</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Weighing VMS and MSP deployment options? Experts share their secrets! - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/weighing-vms-and-msp-deployment-options-experts-share-their-secrets"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 27 Aug 2019 22:53:53 +0000 Yvonne McAteer 1559 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/weighing-vms-and-msp-deployment-options-experts-share-their-secrets#comments How AI Empowers Service Procurement and Adds Billions to a Company’s Bottom Line https://futureofsourcing.com/how-ai-empowers-service-procurement-and-adds-billions-to-a-companys-bottom-line <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/AI_Supplier_Savings.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/AI_Supplier_Savings.jpg" title="How AI Empowers Service Procurement and Adds Billions to a Company’s Bottom Line " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1524-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/AI_Supplier_Savings.jpg?itok=Vh4ECpda" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>For the modern enterprise, services done well often drive growth. For example, quality <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/why-nearshoring-and-ai-go-hand-in-hand" target="_blank">IT infrastructure services</a> and/or <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/5-ways-marketing-outsourcing-can-drive-business-growth" target="_blank">outsourced marketing</a> can accelerate a company&rsquo;s competitive advantage in multiple ways. Although it&rsquo;s sometimes hard to measure the specific outcomes that services yield, they can have a major impact on a company&rsquo;s results, such as with more successful marketing campaigns, digital transformations, legal wins or other organizational efforts.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>That&rsquo;s why, in recent years, many Fortune 100 companies have significantly increased spend on service providers to meet competitive, productivity and business velocity demands. Companies can&rsquo;t hire and cultivate enough internal expertise as the work gets more sophisticated and specialized and the opportunities more global. Consequently, enterprise service procurement is now a highly complex and expensive undertaking. Procurement leaders must juggle precise requirements scoping, creating a request for proposal (RFP), evaluating proposals, vetting service provider candidates and negotiating across multiple business purchases. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>The Encumbrance of Traditional Service Procurement &nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>While relying more on external service providers&rsquo; expertise to achieve their desired outcomes, companies are also facing several formidable challenges. For one, even as some services are becoming more standardized, and by some measures &ldquo;productized,&rdquo; there are still variances in their approaches. Each project is delivered differently by unique providers; their teams adjust the work product to match specific customer requirements and circumstances. After agreeing to the scope of work, buyers often don&rsquo;t know enough about the service they are buying to evaluate differences among providers, and traditional RFPs struggle to generate a comparable set of proposals. It&rsquo;s quite common to run a complicated competitive bid and end up with two or three proposals that are so distinct that you end up just going with your first instinct, wasting time and effort.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It&rsquo;s also frequently the case that procurement needs to choose between two deficient options: relying on the same providers they already know or undertaking the burdensome RFP process. It&rsquo;s unlikely that your go-to firm is the best one for your every need, so sticking with it for convenience means you might miss out on a provider with better niche expertise. In some cases, you might even find yourself paying more because the incumbent provider knows it can take advantage of your existing dynamic and move its best people elsewhere to impress a newer or more demanding client. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The time and resources spent on traditional service RFPs also delay the business benefit of the service and consume a lot of corporate cycles that could be better applied elsewhere. In many cases, the RFP process can&rsquo;t be done fast enough, given a business&rsquo;s timeline for execution.&nbsp;</div> <div>Services are also about people&mdash;their experience, their work styles, their personalities. Who will fit well in a given situation is context-dependent. It can be challenging to accurately evaluate contextual fit regarding new providers with whom an organization has no familiarity. The quality of the service experience can also vary depending on the providers&rsquo; incentive to serve you. Do they see it as a one-time deal or building a relationship? Realistically, knowledge workers chase opportunity wherever it goes, so keeping them motivated to give you their best effort every time can be tricky.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>AI Shifts the Procurement Dynamic&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a transformative paradigm shift in the service procurement dynamic. AI can cut down the time involved in procurement and improve the quality of every step in the process. For example, whenever a service provider is briefed using a digital scoping tool, the same consistent brief can be used with other providers and made available for similar projects in the future. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Some AI tools can choose from a library of relevant templates so that buyers can more precisely scope needs and more efficiently write briefs. Some sophisticated tools go even further, using dynamic questions that guide buyers in creating a customized &ldquo;Smart Brief&rdquo; by using prior knowledge from similar projects. This increases the quality of proposals and enables consistency among even bespoke proposal formats that make submissions easier to compare and assess. It also inherently shortens the decision-making process; what previously might have taken weeks or months can be done in a few days.&nbsp;</div> <div>AI can also readily match the best service provider candidates to a bidding opportunity. Most of the time, new service providers are sought after when the primary user is extremely unhappy or disappointed with an incumbent. Because incumbents can be so deeply entrenched in these partnerships, it&rsquo;s often a big deal to change, even if their performances are mediocre. Better but smaller providers might often go unnoticed simply because corporate buyers have no knowledge of their performance or because the smaller businesses can&rsquo;t take on the massive administrative burden of RFPs. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>AI-based systems can overcome this disconnect, allowing customers to enter real-time feedback about their experiences with all providers&mdash;large and small&mdash;throughout the service engagement process. Later buyers can reference that information to know how previous assignments went&mdash;think about it like a review on Amazon. The AI engine can also use that input to rank provider suggestions and propose those providers most likely to be the best fit for each project&rsquo;s unique requirements. The continual feedback loop serves to motivate and manage service provider performance.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Lest this seems too one-sided, digital sourcing offers many benefits for service providers as well. AI-based platforms can well serve any provider organization that is delivering great work for its customers. Better transparency on actual performance and skills matching can be a boon for the best service providers, regardless of their size, because expertise can be recognized at a granular level. Service Providers will be rewarded for quality or value and not sheer scale, administrative efficiency, or marketing prowess. In this dynamic, incumbent suppliers might also be more likely to up their game; they may even see increases in revenue and profit from a given customer account because digital sourcing will eliminate lots of wasteful work and enable them to win more projects faster and with fewer resources.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>The Procurement Leadership Opportunity&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Digitization in our lives as consumers has far outpaced that in business-to-business (B2B) commerce, but B2B will catch up in the next several years. At the cusp of this paradigm shift, procurement&rsquo;s early adoption of digitally transformative technology can have far-reaching benefits for the entire company. Beyond the direct benefits of removing inefficiencies, lowering costs and simplifying buyers&rsquo; lives, AI and digitization will free up bandwidth throughout organizations to improve the substantive quality of the work they can do for their customers. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>By my estimate, there is easily an opportunity to double the return on services spend while also substantially reducing costs. That means the average Fortune 500 company, which spends a few billion dollars on services, can add that to its bottom line. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Although there have been massive advances in technology, many organizations are not taking advantage of them because of the associated change management challenges. Many digital transformation efforts falter because their architects hesitate to undertake big steps all at once. Fortunately, digital transformation within procurement is easier and less risky than changing; for instance, the sales or service model that involves a company&rsquo;s customers. At the same time, such procurement transformation offers large-scale rewards for both buyers and service providers. All this should embolden procurement leaders to move faster and perform better across all fronts. &nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cost" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cost</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/spend-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Spend Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How AI Empowers Service Procurement and Adds Billions to a Company&amp;rsquo;s Bottom Line - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-ai-empowers-service-procurement-and-adds-billions-to-a-companys-bottom-line"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 11 Jul 2019 17:12:24 +0000 Yuval Atsmon 1524 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-ai-empowers-service-procurement-and-adds-billions-to-a-companys-bottom-line#comments Women in Global Sourcing: Beth Boegershausen https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-beth-boegershausen <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Beth_Boegershausen.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Beth_Boegershausen.png" title="Women in Global Sourcing: Beth Boegershausen" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1461-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/WIGS_Beth_Boegershausen.png?itok=l3DZlQt5" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Future of Sourcing Digital continues to highlight leaders in the field with the series titled &ldquo;Women in Global in Sourcing.&rdquo; This series strives to highlight, celebrate and acknowledge women who are pioneers and leaders in the industry and who have been influential in moving the industry forward. Future of Sourcing is thrilled to welcome Beth Boegershausen to the series.</p> <p>Beth has over 15 years of experience in the Staffing and MSP industries. &nbsp;Beth&rsquo;s last 13 years have been spent focusing on staffing in a senior production capacity and contingent and permanent recruitment delivery.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><strong>Tell us about your career path. How did you get into this field? Was it purposeful or by accident?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Definitely by accident! &nbsp;After I graduated, I went into a temp agency in Manhattan, seeking temp work and they asked me if I would be interested in an <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/attracting-and-retaining-talent-in-the-face-of-low-unemployment" target="_blank">internal role as a recruiter</a>. &nbsp;Having had zero experience or insight into the staffing industry/indirect sourcing world, I opted to give it a try. &nbsp;I enjoyed it right away. &nbsp;I really liked working with candidates and assisting with their career goals. &nbsp;After about a year operating on the recruitment side of the business, I asked to be moved into a client facing/sales role. &nbsp;The time I spent recruiting gave me the foundation/confidence I needed to help companies/my clients identify their own staffing gaps and needs. &nbsp;I stayed in a high producing sales capacity over the next 11 years of my career in both the New York City and Philadelphia markets and eventually made the transition to the managed service provider (MSP) space. &nbsp;The experience I gained as a producer for a few of the top staffing firms in the world made the transition extremely comfortable. &nbsp;I currently am running two contingent labor programs and managing recruitment process outsourcing &nbsp;(RPO) for a large financial institution in multiple markets across the United States.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Would you follow that same path again if you had the choice?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Yes, I would. &nbsp;Sourcing/outsourcing/talent management is one of those unique industries where you get to wear so many different hats and there literally is never a dull moment. &nbsp;It forces you to learn so many different facets of business that you may not get to experience with a siloed career.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What has been the single most significant development to impact your profession or area of business during your career and why?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>How contingent labor has developed into becoming a far more recognized procurement function. The increase in contract workers and how global companies recognize the importance of having a contract labor force has shifted significantly and as a result, it is an established HR Procurement function that requires subject matter expertise and oversight to regulate/implement, drive governance and compliance processes, cost measures, supply chain management and stakeholder adoption</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Technology, including the use of a vendor management system (VMS), the development of customer relationship management systems (CRMs,) e-procurement tools, cloud technologies, job boards, etc., have created massive shifts as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What&rsquo;s the biggest challenge facing your industry today - and how do you plan to solve it?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I would say that there are four major challenges</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>1. Unbalanced Labor Market<br />&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Demand higher than supply for certain skillsets globally (IT, engineering, skilled trades)</li> <li>Baby Boomer generation beginning to exit the workforce and Gen Y/Z do not have the same skillsets across the population</li> <li>Unemployment lower than ever before</li> </ul> <p>2. Competitive Sourcing/Outsourcing Landscape</p> <ul> <li>Plethora of staffing, MSP and VMS solutions overcrowding the landscape</li> <li>Human capital vendors reputation damaged due to excessive competition</li> <li>Lack of true differentiators in sourcing techniques and approaches &ndash; ultimately vendors are sourcing from the same pool</li> </ul> <div>3. Technology<br />&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Although technology has many benefits to our business, it limits the human interaction/soft skill capture in the sourcing process, which is absolutely critical in the sourcing and delivery processes</li> </ul> <div>4. Client Stakeholders<br />&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Adoption and change management of a new program/process</li> <li>Lack of willingness to adjust historical ways of working and thinking</li> </ul> <div>All of the above cause delays to the sourcing process which slows business productivity and performance, ultimately increasing costs for the business.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What do you consider to be your greatest achievement career-wise?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The establishment of trust based strategic client relationships that have allowed us to implement value driven complimentary solutions. &nbsp;As one example, I sold an RPO solution to my client that resulted in a full transformation of their IT Application Development team which historically had been supported by off shore contractors. &nbsp;The result was that a total of 48 FTE hires ranging from junior level developers through to Senior Solutions Architects. &nbsp;The success has been referred to other areas of the business and we are expanding services.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What&rsquo;s your biggest (as yet) unfulfilled ambition - and what are you doing to achieve it?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I would like to take on a leadership role that expands past the management of my contingent labor programs. The role I envision will allow me to lead and mentor others on building client and peer relationships that will drive value for our company as well as our clients.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What three words do you think your colleagues and peers would use to describe you?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Customer-oriented, attentive and dedicated.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Finally, what piece of advice would you give to young women starting their careers in the field of sourcing, outsourcing and procurement?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Procurement is a profession that I have found to champion diversity and one whereby your success as a female professional will not be hampered.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Sourcing, outsourcing and procurement offer deep insight into all aspects of a business operation &ndash; you get full exposure into indirect and direct processes, which truly is fascinating. Additionally, in your capacity you have a key role influencing business operational performance which naturally connects you to that company and is a source of pride and passion. Sourcing and procurement have historically been viewed unfavorably by organizations and employees alike as a vehicle to control supply chains and reduce costs; however, it is now getting the professional recognition it deserves. A mature and highly functioning sourcing and procurement organization drives improved financial and operational performance, creating an optimized business that is primed for growth. &nbsp;Sourcing and procurement organizations govern internal supply chain behavior, ensure that the best suppliers are enlisted to support an organization at market costs and enable better business operations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This is a challenging yet hugely rewarding profession. I feel valued as a key business partner for my clients and appreciate that my category/in-market expertise are proactively solicited to drive optimization.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/recruitment-process-outsourcing-rpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management-system-vms" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management System (VMS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/labor-market" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Labor Market</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/future-of-work" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Future of Work</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Women in Global Sourcing: Beth Boegershausen - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-beth-boegershausen"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 05 Jun 2019 13:55:36 +0000 Beth Boegershausen 1461 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-beth-boegershausen#comments Women in Global Sourcing: Tracy Scheid https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-tracy-scheid <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Tracy%20624x325.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Tracy%20624x325.png" title="Women in Global Sourcing: Tracy Scheid" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1451-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/WIGS_Tracy%20624x325.png?itok=-L1hUS5p" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div>Future of Sourcing Digital continues to highlight leaders in the field with the series titled &ldquo;Women in Global in Sourcing.&rdquo; This series strives to highlight, celebrate and acknowledge women who are pioneers and leaders in the industry and who have been influential in moving the industry forward. Future of Sourcing is thrilled to welcome Tracy Scheid to the series.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tracy is the Vice President of Operations at <a href="http://workspend.com" target="_blank">Workspend</a>. She is a strategic and results-oriented leader with over 30 years of experience aligning business goals with talent acquisition strategies.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><strong>Tell us about your career path. How did you get into this field? Was it purposeful or by accident?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I started my career in the staffing industry and landed there purely by accident. I had contacted a placement firm to help me find a new job, and after interviewing with them, they hired me internally. Through the years I moved into branch and area management, and in 2006 I started in an MSP role, as a Program Manager for a very large contingent workforce program. This was in the early years of MSP/VMS, and I knew right away that this was where I wanted to be. I loved the complexity of the MSP business (and still do). Although the MSP and VMS businesses are closely tied to staffing and often bucketed in the staffing industry, contingent workforce management is really a combination of supplier management and business process management. I thrived in this environment and rose through various levels of management until I was a Vice President for a large MSP company, responsible for 52 contingent workforce programs and $2.4 billion of spend under management. I leveraged that experience to start a consulting firm with a well-respected colleague, which opened the door to my current role at Workspend, a leading organization that provides total talent solutions. It is extremely important to me to be a part of an organization with values and a focus that closely match my own. Workspend is innovative, and acutely focused on client satisfaction, with a consultative approach.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Would you follow that same path again if you had the choice?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Yes, I would choose the same path. It wasn&rsquo;t a perfect journey, but I learned so much in each of my roles along the way. I had the great privilege of working with so many wonderful, talented, intelligent people and I&rsquo;ve had the chance to learn from exceptional mentors. I&rsquo;m an accumulation of all of those experiences, all of those learning opportunities.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What has been the single most significant development to impact your profession or area of business during your career and why?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The most profound development in staffing, contingent workforce management and total talent management is technology. Technology innovation continues to impact talent management in ways that I could have never been imagined when I first started my career. Predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence continue to drive changes to the technology used to source and manage all types of talent. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>However, the evolution of the contingent workforce itself has also been significant. When I first started my career, temporary workers were a very small part of the overall workforce. During economic downturns in the early 2000s companies started to see contingent labor as a key element in managing resource costs as they addressed peaks and valleys in business, seasonal ramp ups, and niche skill sets. The use of the contingent workforce has grown drastically since then. Companies began to recognize the need for visibility into the use, quality and cost of such a large and vital part of their workforce, and that is when contingent labor started to be seen as a commodity, and generally shifted from being managed by HR to being managed by Sourcing and Procurement.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>At the same time, these organizations saw the value in engaging third party MSPs, using VMS technology to manage staffing suppliers, compliance, cost and quality. The evolution continued with the identification and use of different categories of contingent labor, including independent contractors, freelancers, statements of work and outsourced services.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Companies are now starting to look holistically at all talent, both contingent and regular full-time, in a total talent approach. The management of total talent requires complex, innovative technology that can not only report on current state, but can also position stakeholders to proactively address future needs while continuing to drive value. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What&rsquo;s the biggest challenge facing your industry today - and how do you plan to solve it?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The biggest challenge facing the contingent workforce industry is how quickly the industry is changing. The contingent workforce landscape has already changed drastically in the last two decades. Most economists predict a 50/50 split between regular full-time and contingent workers within the next five years. Finding better ways to integrate all segments of the workforce and building comprehensive service and technology solutions to source and manage all types of labor will require innovation and technological advances specifically around predictive analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Our goal is to create an integrated technology ecosystem to support total talent management, focusing on user experience, predictive analytics, data and AI.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What do you consider to be your greatest achievement career-wise?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I think that my greatest achievement has been helping people advance in their career paths and achieve their career goals. As a leader, I feel that my greatest contribution is mentoring others to achieve their full potential.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What&rsquo;s your biggest (as yet) unfulfilled ambition - and what are you doing to achieve it?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I am so thankful to have had the opportunities that I have had throughout my career. I really just want to continue to be a part of an organization that offers me the chance to be an innovator and thought leader and to continue to make a difference as we rise to meet the challenges of such a dynamic and vital industry.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What three words do you think your colleagues and peers would use to describe you?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Honest, because I believe that being honest and having integrity is the only way to do business and be successful.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dedicated, because I&rsquo;ve always led by example, and I work hard every day to meet deadlines and deliver to both our clients and internal team members.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Supportive, because providing support and service to our clients is my primary focus. I also believe that helping my team succeed, whether it is by taking on a task, providing guidance or encouragement, or simply listening, will always be among the most important things that I can do.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Finally, what piece of advice would you give to young women starting their careers in the field of sourcing, outsourcing and procurement?</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Work hard. Trust and respect are something that you earn. People and relationships matter, so treat people with respect and kindness. Be self-aware. Never stop learning. Recognize that you can learn something valuable from almost everyone you meet. Smile&hellip;a lot. You only live once, and you spend almost every day at work, so have fun with it. Enjoy what you do, but know that you won&rsquo;t always like every part of your job. Your career, like any other part of your life, is unpredictable with ups and downs. You can influence it, but you can&rsquo;t always control the outcome. Do your best, be your best and enjoy the journey.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Leadership</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/recruiting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Recruiting</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/staffing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Staffing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management-systems-vms" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management Systems (VMS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Women in Global Sourcing: Tracy Scheid - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-tracy-scheid"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 21 May 2019 17:29:51 +0000 Tracy Scheid 1451 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-tracy-scheid#comments A MSP Service Delivery Model Based on Design Thinking https://futureofsourcing.com/a-msp-service-delivery-model-based-on-design-thinking <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Design_Thinking_624x325.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Design_Thinking_624x325.jpg" title="A MSP Service Delivery Model Based on Design Thinking" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1435-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Design_Thinking_624x325.jpg?itok=8c08F74B" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>A traditional managed service provider (MSP) solution&rsquo;s plan begins with analyzing the prevailing business constraints in a talent supply chain and then addresses the standard set of program issues using a well-worn solutions playbook. However, this leads to a tactical &ldquo;one shoe fits all&rdquo; approach to service delivery, generally resulting in only marginal improvements in a client&rsquo;s contingent workforce program and is usually limited to operational (i.e., tactical) program features.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Introducing &ldquo;Design Thinking&rdquo;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Enter the concept of &ldquo;design thinking,&rdquo; which is &ldquo;&hellip;<a href="https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-design-thinking-everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/" target="_blank">both an ideology and a process, concerned with solving complex problems in a highly user-centric way</a>.&rdquo; Design thinking seeks to understand the pain of the end user and address this pain from a human-centric perspective. It is often applied in creative functions like website and UI/UX design; however, forward-looking MSP providers are adopting and implementing design thinking within their solution delivery methodology as a means of <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/automation-is-unlocking-the-best-of-what-makes-us-human" target="_blank">championing the customer experience</a>.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Shifting Demand in the MSP Landscape</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It is our opinion that the traditional approach to solution design employed by numerous MSP solution providers in the marketplace lacks a true understanding of the end users&rsquo; pain points. Typically, the MSP is offering a traditional solution suite and, as a result, selling all modules within that suite. This results in a higher cost footprint and &ldquo;big box&rdquo; solution that is not client-specific. In turn, a dislocation has occurred between the services delivered and the needed results, leaving clients asking questions like, &ldquo;how can my MSP truly help me solve my specific challenges?&rdquo; In addition to this dislocation, we often find that service delivery becomes more about setting up a software solution like a vendor management system (VMS) and educating end users on the tool, as opposed to building a truly holistic, cohesive, contingent workforce plan to help solve existing issues and to propel the client forward in a strategic manner.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Focused Internal Team&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In today&rsquo;s market, innovative MSP providers are addressing this solution delivery design dislocation by building an internal team focused purely on solving the complex challenges that clients are experiencing, but doing so in an empathic, user-centric and pain point specific manner. This is a considerable departure from a solutions delivery team, who have typically focused on setting up a traditional &ldquo;big box&rdquo; solution suite MSP. Rather, this focused internal team team takes into consideration the human element of the solution.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Design Thinking&rsquo;s Evolution</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The concept of &ldquo;design thinking&rdquo; has existed for quite some time, but its application has historically been limited to elite technology firms attempting to accelerate their human-centric innovation labs. A good example of this is Steve Jobs&rsquo; initiative with IDEO. However, as MSP and VMS solution providers and other technology partnership ecosystems have become more intertwined, expected and required to solve today&rsquo;s client challenges. The application of &ldquo;design thinking&rdquo; is now being adopted by firms who, in conjunction with their consultative delivery approach, have invested in a new permutation of delivery design and are already applying it to their solution suite. The value of design thinking is that it creates outcomes that benefit stakeholders and end users.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>An Iterative Approach to Service Delivery and Implementing Design Thinking Innovation</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Design thinking is also based on the principles of &ldquo;integrated thinking,&rdquo; which means building around the foundation of competing constraints. By using the very same principles as Steve Jobs did for Apple&rsquo;s approach to product design, leading providers aim to draw deeper insights from statistical, procedural and experiential observations from their client engagements, bring their learnings back for a holistic review, and then, based on these results, create new, meaningful and innovative service and technology offerings.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This approach is especially useful in global contingent workforce programs, where in some instances localization (i.e., customized program requirements for a specific local geography) may be difficult to achieve as they are unique in nature and therefore difficult to benchmark for statistical comparison purposes. The iterative design process and tool configuration is in a state of constant flux and, through data collection via primary and secondary sources, the program is iteratively recalibrated and redesigned until an ideal state is realized, thereby optimizing the end result for the client while accommodating the program&rsquo;s constraints.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>The Passionate Pursuit of the Ideal Contingent Workforce Program State</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>With the application of design thinking principles for implementing MSP and VMS programs in place, clients receive a tailor-made experience that is perpetually evolving the solution towards an approximation of an ideal state.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Functional benefits alone are simply no longer a valuable proposition for our clients or any clients for that matter. An ideal state of operational, administrative, technological and consultative efforts is needed to truly drive value in today&rsquo;s market environment. Design thinking is just one new approach that can be employed in being able to better analyze client programs, innovate with clients and drive greater overall value.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management-system-vms-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management System (VMS</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/software" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Software</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/design-thinking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Design Thinking)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="A MSP Service Delivery Model Based on Design Thinking - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/a-msp-service-delivery-model-based-on-design-thinking"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 02 May 2019 16:52:54 +0000 Sameer Srivastava 1435 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/a-msp-service-delivery-model-based-on-design-thinking#comments How many MSP clients know what they don’t know? https://futureofsourcing.com/how-many-msp-clients-know-what-they-dont-know <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/How_Many_MSP_Clients_624x325.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/How_Many_MSP_Clients_624x325.jpg" title="How many MSP clients know what they don’t know?" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1328-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/How_Many_MSP_Clients_624x325.jpg?itok=MnbaaBq5" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{f6629b4f-10d7-4b62-b7fc-1333b9fcbf70}{248}" paraid="904343049">&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{f6629b4f-10d7-4b62-b7fc-1333b9fcbf70}{248}" paraid="904343049"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">For more than 20 years</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;organi</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ations have been outsourcing the management of their <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/talent-procurement-teams-take-note-the-future-of-hiring-with-ai" target="_blank">contingent work</a></span><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/talent-procurement-teams-take-note-the-future-of-hiring-with-ai" target="_blank"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">force</span></a><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;in part o</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">r</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;in full</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">The</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/organizational-readiness-is-the-new-competitive-advantage" target="_blank">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a> market&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">now&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">represent</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span>&nbsp;*more than $130 billion of spend under management&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">and thousands of third-party agencies are&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">embedded within&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the global supply</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">side ecosystem.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;The core MSP objectives of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">v</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">isibility,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">c</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ontrol and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">avings are now largely&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">viewed as&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">hygiene factors and many client/MSP relationships have</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;matured&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">through multiple&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">contract&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">cycles.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{a7b20b02-5818-48f5-bb65-8510b79585aa}{89}" paraid="2112146676"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">So,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">with all that said</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;you would expect to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">f</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ind&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">a</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">n extensive</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">MSP client&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">population&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">in which&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">talent management&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">excellence is the norm, procurement professionals can boast of having&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the optim</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">al</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">cost/supplier profile in&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">place</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;hiring manager communities have nothing but love and affection for the processes and policies that are embedded within&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">their organi</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ation</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;MSP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;program.</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{a7b20b02-5818-48f5-bb65-8510b79585aa}{151}" paraid="1823224097"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">U</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">nfortunately, d</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">espite</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;years of market evolution</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">at</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;reality is&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">still a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">long way</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;off</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{a7b20b02-5818-48f5-bb65-8510b79585aa}{181}" paraid="762819891"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">W</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">hil</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">e</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;many programs have&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">been through multiple contract cycles</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">internal&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">adoption</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">is still disappointingly low.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">The surface&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">has&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">barely b</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">een&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">broken</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">when it comes to</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;i</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ncluding outcome-based talent via a statement of work and&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">us</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ing</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;predictive analytics to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">proactively manage demand&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">exists</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">on a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">we&rsquo;ll get around to it at some point</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;wish</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">list.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;The&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">incentive</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;for&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">(real)&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">innovation is&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">trapped</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">inside the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">straitjacket</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of a</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">n outdated</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">funding model</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&mdash;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">technological advances are not being sufficiently exploited and all too often&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">price&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">of talent&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">is&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">still&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">considered&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">more&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">important than&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">talent</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;outcomes.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{147e3f48-f7b6-4fb5-bb20-7bb7d9dd6ef4}{52}" paraid="604829"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">It doesn&rsquo;t have to be this way and it shouldn&rsquo;t.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;However, the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">challenge for MSP providers</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;is that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">too few clients are&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">(genuinely)&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">knowledgeable</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">or accepting</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">of the reality of what it takes to run a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">thriving</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;program</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">. Therefore, they&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">often&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">are&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">unaware of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">impact that this lack of understanding will have on the value th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">at th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">eir MSP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;is able to deliver</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{147e3f48-f7b6-4fb5-bb20-7bb7d9dd6ef4}{100}" paraid="1178531863"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">In my experience</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">existing MSP clients should&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">address</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;following</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">five</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">questions</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">:</span></p> <ol> <li paraeid="{147e3f48-f7b6-4fb5-bb20-7bb7d9dd6ef4}{100}" paraid="1178531863"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Are we giving our MSP&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">enough visibility&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">into</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">our overall talent strategy</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and projected demand</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">?</span></strong></li> </ol> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{147e3f48-f7b6-4fb5-bb20-7bb7d9dd6ef4}{147}" paraid="926182080"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">In today&rsquo;s environment</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">if</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">an&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">MSP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;can operate&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ahead of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">a</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">client&rsquo;s talent needs</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, then</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">it&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">is</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;more likely</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">secure the right talent at the right time.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">This&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">is</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">n&rsquo;t</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">rocket science</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;but it</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;s</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">really&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;exception rather than the rule that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">client-side</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;program leads share</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the sort of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">meaningful&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">workforce and budgetary&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">data&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">enable</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">MSP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">plan effectively.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{147e3f48-f7b6-4fb5-bb20-7bb7d9dd6ef4}{247}" paraid="551251017"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Furthermo</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">re, the often-quoted rationale that information is only worth sharing with the MSP once it is definitive</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;otherwise it causes abortive effort, is simply not true.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">The cost to an MSP of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">chasing hard</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">to</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">find talent&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">at short notice far outweighs the cost of refining plans as they go, even if some of those plans never come to fruition.</span></p> </div> <div> <ol> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-font="" data-leveltext="%1." data-listid="3" role="listitem" style="clear:both;" value="2"> <p paraeid="{93febf8e-514e-4dbd-a33d-d79493fe4f47}{14}" paraid="185179971"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Are we leveraging the full breadth of our MSP&rsquo;s supply market knowledge</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;most importantly</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">giving&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">licence to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">act on it?</span></strong></p> </li> </ol> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{93febf8e-514e-4dbd-a33d-d79493fe4f47}{37}" paraid="348710318"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">It&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">amaze</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;me that clients engage&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">MSP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">manage</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;their talent supply network but then give&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">them</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">little to no latitude to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">do any actual management!</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;The concept of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">lifting and shifting</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;all existing suppliers into a newly established program,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">which&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">often contain</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;suppliers&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">are&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">poor performers or not&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">regularly engaged, doesn&rsquo;t&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">pass any reasonable test of sensible business management.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">If y</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ou&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">cho</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">o</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">se</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;an MSP&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">solution because you need better&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">knowledge of the talent supply marketplace&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">then</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;let&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">MSP&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">design the right supplier mix&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">and give&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">it&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the licence to swap suppliers in and out</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">. It doesn&rsquo;t mean that your&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">historical</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;suppliers will be unjustly eliminated, it just means th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">at their&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">performance and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">long-term</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;value&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">will be</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;judged&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">more definitively, which can only be a good thing if you want a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">better&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">talent supply network</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <ol> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="3" data-font="" data-leveltext="%1." data-listid="3" role="listitem" style="clear:both;" value="3"> <p paraeid="{93febf8e-514e-4dbd-a33d-d79493fe4f47}{151}" paraid="76964406"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Has the proportion of contingent talent sourced within our MSP program&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">materially&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">expanded year on year</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, including outcome-based talent</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">?</span></strong></p> </li> </ol> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{93febf8e-514e-4dbd-a33d-d79493fe4f47}{166}" paraid="816509596"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">T</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">he&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">primary&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">goal of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">every</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;program should be to act as the engagement vehicle for&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">all</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">type</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of non-permanent talent</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">To&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">make this happen</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the client-side MSP program leads&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">must</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;view themselves as&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">enablers</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of work rather than&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">controllers</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of incoming talent.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">is</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;enabl</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">er</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;mindset&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">demand</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;a variety of different commercial flows within the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;program design, depending on the type of talent engaged.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">It</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">require</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;MSP to work closely with the hiring/engagement managers to guide&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">decision</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">making on what type of talent is appropriate to different types of work.</span>&nbsp;They (the client side lead) will work collaboratively with their MSP to deploy a range of marketing techniques that &lsquo;sells&rsquo; the benefits of their program internally and users will see value<span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;in&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the program because they will feel it has been designed to support their needs wherever and whenever they arise. &nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{29}" paraid="735549788"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">In contrast, the controller mindset is wired to first and foremost seek consistency of process and compliance. They believe that to obtain widespread adoption the program will need to be mandated and the way to deliver year-on-year business benefit (usually only measured by cost savings and cycle times) will be to restrict the amount of choice available to the hiring/engagement managers rather than liberate it. Controllers consider some types of talent, for example strategic consultancy, as being far too sensitive and difficult to source via the program and are likely to be more domineering in the way they manage the business relationship with the MSP.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div> <ol> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="4" data-font="" data-leveltext="%1." data-listid="3" role="listitem" style="clear:both;" value="4"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{91}" paraid="1435964583"><strong>Are we the most attractive destination of choice for the best contingent talent?</strong></p> </li> </ol> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{98}" paraid="1721209381"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">In today&rsquo;s world</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;talent has&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">more&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">choice</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;than ever before&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">when it comes</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">where they work,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the kind of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">work</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;they do and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">who they work for</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">The growth of the gig economy and the impact of generational differences means that the strength of your&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">customer value proposition</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;is&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">critical</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to finding and retaining the best contingent talent for your organisation.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;Your MSP should&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">advis</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">e</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;you on how attractive you are as a talent destination&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">so&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">you&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">can&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">build</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;cross-functional initiatives</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;that</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;compris</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">e</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;procurement/HR and the hiring/engagement manager community</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">(and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">in some cases representatives of your&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">C</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-suite</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">)</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to constantly keep this under review and front of mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div> <ol> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="5" data-font="" data-leveltext="%1." data-listid="3" role="listitem" style="clear:both;" value="5"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{184}" paraid="1990999342"><strong>Is our MSP making enough money to develop and test new ideas and innovations?</strong></p> </li> </ol> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{191}" paraid="206050070"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Let&rsquo;s r</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">eflect</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;for a minute.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">One of your</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;own customers come</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to you and say</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;they want you to invest a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">six</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-figure sum</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;upfront</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to implement&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">new technology</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, processes and procedures</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;within their organisation</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">Plus, you will need to fully fund and deploy a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">dedicated&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">expert</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">program management team&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">to oversee the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;use of this new infrastructure.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{941f0e0e-23e6-44b4-87ab-c8288127c117}{245}" paraid="961700986"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">The implementation , which could take several months, will not be directly paid for by the customer. Instead they will allow you to earn a tiny percentage of the invoices billed by a raft of third parties that will use the technology, processes and systems that you have put in place. However, you can only add that percentage and earn that income when the customer engages those third parties, which may be ad hoc, regular or never. &nbsp;The customer will not make any contractual guarantee to spend enough money with these third parties for you to recover your up-front investment within a reasonable period. The customer will also not make any guarantee that you will recover the recurring cost of the program management team, despite demanding ever more from them once the program has gone live.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{fdeb6acd-0d42-4d81-ad57-7de11a144e55}{97}" paraid="1216487483"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Would your CFO think that was a great opportunity?&nbsp; Do you?</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{fdeb6acd-0d42-4d81-ad57-7de11a144e55}{101}" paraid="1217776078"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">This scenario is what is known as the supplier</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">funded MSP model and it has become the de</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">facto commercial&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">approach</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;in the industry.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">T</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">he merits&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">of this funding model&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">are&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">an article in itself,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">so in the meantime,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">be</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;realistic about the income that your MSP generates from the spend they manage on your behalf.&nbsp; If you are tracking on or beyond the original spend/volume forecast, then your MSP should (provided you have not driven their fee down to a ridiculously low level</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">)&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">be making enough return to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">invest in new ideas</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">If you are tracking below original forecast, then your MSP will not just question the viability of funding further innovation, more likely they will be questioning the viability of the entire program.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{fdeb6acd-0d42-4d81-ad57-7de11a144e55}{177}" paraid="1601813229"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">As</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the 19</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">th</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;century critic John Ruskin once said &ldquo;It&#39;s unwise to pay too much, but it&#39;s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that&#39;s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.&rdquo;</span></p> </div> <p><a href="https://www2.staffingindustry.com/site/Research/Research-Reports/CWS-Council-Research/MSP-Part-2-2018" target="_blank">*</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contingent-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contingent Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/third-party-risk-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Third Party Risk Management</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How many MSP clients know what they don&amp;rsquo;t know? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-many-msp-clients-know-what-they-dont-know"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 04 Dec 2018 18:03:13 +0000 Paul Vincent 1328 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-many-msp-clients-know-what-they-dont-know#comments Nailing Down Managed Services Requirements: Building the Right Outsourced Structure for Your Organization https://futureofsourcing.com/nailing-down-managed-services-requirements-building-the-right-outsourced-structure <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Managed%20Services%20Guides.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Managed%20Services%20Guides.jpg" title="Creating Managed Service Requirements and building the right outsourced structure for your organization." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1098-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Managed%20Services%20Guides.jpg?itok=dBc15DyS" width="624" height="325" alt="Creating Managed Service Requirements and building the right outsourced structure for your organization." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>When a function or even a full department is outsourced to a managed service provider (MSP), the scope of work, requirements and service needs can at times be hard to nail down, especially as the relationship with the MSP evolves over time and the needs of the business evolve. This is particularly true in the case of IT Managed Services &ndash; an area with frequent need for outsourcing due to resource constraints and/or technical expertise and an area where it is critical that services continue uninterrupted.&nbsp;</p> <p>When evaluating an outsourced service model, there is certainly a balance between having a supplier &ldquo;nickel and dime&rdquo; for every task they take on and having a bundled, flexible solution to meet your service needs. Similar to building or buying a home, a strong foundation is critical; in order to lay the proper foundation of a successful MSP relationship you first have to ensure your go-to-market strategy and Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation clearly define the organizational needs and expectations.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Draw the Blueprint and Build the Frame: Scope&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>If you are looking to outsource a function or evaluate potential suppliers to replace your current MSP, it is important to understand the scope of services and the base level of coverage necessary in the relationship - meaning what is actually being done by your vendor on a day-to-day basis. This will set the stage for defining the majority of the scope. Beyond the routine items, also consider the necessary &ldquo;fire and flood protection&rdquo;- the more extreme scenarios that your organization may encounter and the MSP&rsquo;s expected role in the cases. This may be easier said than done. Think about your organization&rsquo;s security function for instance: the bulk of the work may be made up of day-to-day management, e.g. patches, upgrades, firewall management, etc., but there will also be a component of triage or ramped-up needs if a breach or security threat is detected.&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re looking to go to market with an existing supplier in place, <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/a-clear-understanding-of-outcome-based-contracts" target="_blank">start with reviewing the current agreement</a>, any change orders that have come into play or ancillary SOWs. These can help you to determine what the current supplier considers as core scope versus more project based work that requires additional support or fees. Also review past relationship issues, quarterly business reviews and the level of KPI/metrics tracking in place today &ndash; this will allow you to understand your current service levels and identify gaps or areas that should be improved through the sourcing event.&nbsp;</p> <p>While it is important to capture the day-to-day scope within an RFP, it is also important to understand the less common service offerings. If you can&rsquo;t properly articulate these services, it could result in bidders providing pricing aligned to degraded service levels (the metaphorical cheap materials, bare-bone home finishes) or pricing that is full of assumptions and padding because the bidders don&rsquo;t truly understand your needs (the assumed highest-end materials/finishes).&nbsp;</p> <p>An important step in including these types of services in an RFP is knowing what they are and what your contending supply base considers &ldquo;above and beyond.&rdquo; You can start with your current provider &ndash; they are likely to cast a wide net in terms of the value-add services they provide to further drive home the value they deliver to you as their customer. Ask key questions to learn what they would consider out of the ordinary in terms of service from the current MSP, how involved the MSP was in those incidents, if additional fees were assessed and if the need of the organization warrants having the same or increased level of services in such scenarios.&nbsp;</p> <p>It&rsquo;s important to understand service delivery and needs from both the supplier and stakeholder side &ndash; many suppliers see portions of their service as being extraordinary, whereas the stakeholder may see them as the minimum required to properly deliver the services. To that end, ensure you allow for time in the RFP process for supplier questions or even discussions with key stakeholders to ensure there is a <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/another-brick-in-the-wall-part-1-the-show-must-go-on" target="_blank">full understanding of service needs</a>. By providing stakeholder feedback on questions and discussions to all bidders, you can ensure that each is working from the same assumptions and reinforce closer to apples-to-apples proposals.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Inspection and Appraisal: Data and Metrics/SLAs&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>For outsourcing IT functions, it is important to define what success looks like (what will the inspection cover/what are acceptable results) and how you&rsquo;ll measure the MSP on the level of service they are providing (what&rsquo;s the appraised value/how do you measure the value the MSP delivers). For example, if you are looking to outsource your help desk, you&rsquo;ll want to measure and define Service Level Agreements (SLAs) around how quickly incidents are being resolved (with a focus on the incidents with critical impacts on the business), if incidents are able to be resolved during the initial call, overall customer/end user satisfaction levels, along with a number of other KPIs and metrics. Each service will have its own set of necessary metrics and service expectations that should be defined at the priority level. If your IT group&rsquo;s SLA level expectations are known, outline those expectations within the RFP. If they are unknown as the service is new to outsourcing or expected level of service can&rsquo;t be defined, gather the various SLA proposals by priority for any known/defined metrics and ask bidders to supplement with the other SLAs they are willing to include. SLAs can be approached similarly to pricing by asking for proposals, reviewing the options with your IT stakeholders and negotiating to the right levels based on what the market is offering.&nbsp;</p> <p>Aside from SLA measurement, ensure your provider is tracking the different areas of support they provide. If we think back to the help desk service example, you will want to understand what applications are driving incidents and track/measure supplier performance at the application level as well. This allows your organization to see if there are gaps in the supplier&rsquo;s expertise within a certain application, i.e. those incidents may go unresolved for longer and target root cause analysis and actions to stop pervasive issues when incidents reoccur. Ask questions within the RFP to understand how SLAs are tracked, measured and reported back, along with the proposed remediation plans if SLAs are not met.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Mortgage Structure and Rates: Pricing&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Similar to purchasing a home and structuring your mortgage (i.e. principal amount, length of loan term, fixed vs. adjustable interest rate, taxes and insurance) you will need to ensure visibility into all aspects that would or could affect the total cost of service with the chosen MSP. Your RFP should also be structured to understand what metrics drive pricing for each supplier, e.g., is the service cost resource-based, ticket-based, device-based and how are they structuring their proposal based on this along with any assumptions made around volumes. Models that leverage full time resources are likely to give the most flexibility &ndash; but consider your true service needs as this is almost always the most expensive option given that you are paying for full time support whether it is necessary or not. If you are looking at a&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">resource-based model, also consider your expectations around onsite, onshore and offshore &ndash; what tolerances are in place and what degree of &ldquo;high-touch&rdquo; or deskside support is required &ndash; and define those expectations within the RFP. The trend has certainly been to leverage remote support given the technology changes that make this possible for a variety of different monitoring, maintenance and support options to be supported almost exclusively offsite.&nbsp;</span></p> <p>If you are looking at pricing based on a per unit/volume-based model, you will need to have a good idea of the volumes you anticipate, e.g., knowing your hardware inventory for monitoring, knowing your current help desk volumes by criticality and incorporating these volumes into the RFP. These types of metrics should be available if you have an MSP in place today, but tend to be tracked less accurately when supported by in-house staff. If accurate volumes are not available, be prepared to define some range of potential volumes and to work within an engagement structure that has a true-up or rightsizing period to fit your actual volumes. Also look to understand the pricing model in place during the ramp up or knowledge transfer period and if future years of the engagement would have a backing down/reduction in resource or volume needs &ndash; this is occasionally proposed if the MSP anticipates being able to gain efficiencies as they become more familiar with your environment and organization.&nbsp;</p> <p>As you construct the various scope, SLA and pricing structures within your RFP, find a structure that allows suppliers enough flexibility to optimize their service structure, while providing enough guidance and definition around service expectations and scope to ensure the service proposal is aligned to your organization&rsquo;s needs. In all cases, whether exploring supplier transition or moving from in- to out-sourced, ensure your sourcing process timeline leaves a large runway for implementation (i.e., you need time to &ldquo;build the house&rdquo;). Consider the timelines to get new resources onboarded, understand your environment, ensure knowledge transfer and establish the tracking and reporting structure negotiated through the RFP. Managed services will almost never be delivered in the exact same way across suppliers &ndash; what is important is to understand the goals of the service, how it is ensured and what that means from a performance management and cost structure perspective.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cost" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cost</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation-technology-it" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation Technology (IT)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/service-level-agreements-slas" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Service Level Agreements (SLAs)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Outsourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Nailing Down Managed Services Requirements: Building the Right Outsourced Structure for Your Organization - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/nailing-down-managed-services-requirements-building-the-right-outsourced-structure"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 20 Mar 2018 17:25:36 +0000 Torey Guingrich 1098 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/nailing-down-managed-services-requirements-building-the-right-outsourced-structure#comments IT Managed Services: Mitigating Risk and Maintaining Leverage https://futureofsourcing.com/it-managed-services-mitigating-risk-and-maintaining-leverage <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Risk%20Magagement.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Risk%20Magagement.jpg" title="IT Managed Services: Mitigating Risk and Maintaining Leverage" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1058-xCv-1ymHj5E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Risk%20Magagement.jpg?itok=-U_3C7La" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The managed services market has been an interesting one to watch from a consultant&rsquo;s point of view. There was a heavy trend towards outsourcing many key areas within IT, only for the pendulum to begin swinging to the other end of the spectrum where clients are now pulling some (or all) of those same services back in-house. Nevertheless, your organization is likely to use some level of managed services within the IT organization given constraints on budget, resources or expertise. To keep these managed service relationships from growing beyond the original scope and to ensure you retain leverage with supplier(s), Managed Service Providers (MSPs) need to, themselves, be managed very closely. To set expectations with your supplier from the onset, there are three themes that should be introduced into any MSP relationship:&nbsp;</p> <p>1) <strong>Measure and Track Supplier Performance:</strong> When a supplier takes over a function within your organization, it can be easy to simply measure the supplier on whether or not things continue to run as usual. For example, if you rely on a supplier to manage your network and there continues to be no major outages, they must be doing things right, right? Supplier performance needs to go beyond just availability and a &ldquo;keeping the lights on&rdquo; mentality. When contracting for your managed services, the pricing proposal is going to be dependent on the level of service outlined around availability, response times, resolution times and any other Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that are key to your service.&nbsp;</p> <p>Establish service levels for the key areas that truly affect your organization and that suppliers have demonstrated they are able to measure on a consistent basis. Align with the supplier on reporting expectations to capture the format, frequency and level of detail required for your organization, and then actually measure and track their performance! Establish your internal methodology, as well as escalation thresholds and KPIs outside of the contract-defined SLA. Communicate this to the supplier so that they understand how their overall performance is being measured.&nbsp;</p> <p>2) <strong>Maintain a Competitive Landscape:</strong> When you begin to rely on a supplier for certain areas or functions within the organization, you need to ensure that a balance of power is maintained within the relationship. When working with clients with long-term relationships in place, there tends to be some red flags that indicate that the supplier/MSP currently holds the leverage in the relationship:&nbsp;</p> <p>&middot; Services have not been taken to market or have been taken to market very infrequently or informally.&nbsp;</p> <p>&middot; Contracts have been renewed at original rates to keep the service as is.&nbsp;</p> <p>&middot; Contract documents do not accurately reflect the current scope, or service/scope/requirements settings rely heavily on the incumbent MSP to explain.&nbsp;</p> <p>Any of these on their own can shift the balance of leverage between your organization and the MSP, but many times these work in tandem to make collecting competitive bids for the services a challenge. Whether you are establishing a new relationship or trying to gain control of an existing MSP relationship, it is critical to have very clear scope definition, defined responsibilities of the MSP and your internal resources, reporting on services performed and any necessary realignment of scope (and documentation around scope changes!). For example, if you are utilizing an MSP for your service desk, knowing ticket volumes, ticket types, resolution intervals and other key metrics are key to going to market for similar services. It can be tempting to &ldquo;test&rdquo; the market with high-level, unclear scope, but this will only frustrate alternate suppliers and will not act as a strong basis for improving your current relationship. As you bring on new resources or as scope/ requirements change throughout the span of the relationship, utilize your MSP to provide information/knowledge transfer back to your internal team. There should always be a balance between your internal team and the supplier in terms of knowledge of requirements and scope of services.&nbsp;</p> <p>3) <strong>Plan for the End:</strong> While it may seem counter-intuitive to plan for moving away from a supplier when you are in the process of establishing a relationship, it is actually a key part of contracting and maintaining the points mentioned above around performance and leverage. While ensuring clear documentation and consistent reporting will certainly help in any transition, there is almost always going to be overlap between incoming/outgoing relationships and more detailed information that the incumbent MSP will need to provide in order for another provider to take over service. First and foremost, any sourcing initiative and contractual transition allowance should provide ample time to actually gather the information needed and perform Knowledge Transfer (KT) as required. Ensure your agreement sets the expectations of the supplier for transition support and KT requirements should you not renew your agreement or otherwise determine to terminate early (e.g. SLA failures).&nbsp;</p> <p>To get the most from your IT MSP and continue to maintain your organization&rsquo;s leverage, establish strong management practices that go beyond the traditional vendor management role and implement an agreement that clearly lays out supplier expectations. As the market continues to fluctuate in terms of demand for these services, also consider the right term length for your organization and the services in scope. Managed services typically need some time to prove their ROI, i.e. the MSP should become more efficient over time, so a term shorter than a year does not typically make sense, but this is not to say you need to lock into a term that is exorbitantly long. While you may see some of the MSP resources as part of your team, ensure this does not cloud your approach to supplier and scope management; you will need the leverage at your next contract renewal!</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/technology" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Technology</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-mitigation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Mitigation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contract" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contract</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/managed-service-provider-msp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Managed Service Provider (MSP)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="IT Managed Services: Mitigating Risk and Maintaining Leverage - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/it-managed-services-mitigating-risk-and-maintaining-leverage"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 15 Dec 2017 16:19:28 +0000 Torey Guingrich 1058 at https://futureofsourcing.com