Companies today have to be more flexible than ever before. While the markets have always moved quickly, the pace in the digital age has undeniably ramped up. It’s led to decision-makers having to become more creative about who they hire and why.

What is a contingent worker? Contingent workers are not permanent employees of an organization, but instead work on a temporary or contract basis. Contingent workers are hired to perform specific tasks or projects for a limited period of time, and may be brought on board to fill a gap in the workforce to provide specialized expertise or to address a short-term staffing need. Contingent workers may include independent contractors, temporary employees, freelancers, consultants, seasonal workers, and other types of non-permanent workers.

Benefits to Hiring Contingent Workers

Contingent workers can be drawn to their work for a variety of reasons depending on the individual’s needs and preferences. Some potential benefits include flexibility, variety, independence, skill development, increased diversity, and potentially increased compensation for specialization. As many benefits as there are for the workers, though, there are plenty of benefits for the employer as well.

Quality

A contingent worker can be someone who works in a skilled trade or requires no training, meaning you’re paying for quality. Instead of having to invest a certain number of hours on training someone — which often defeats the purpose of hiring an employee at a lower hourly rate — you get someone who can jump right into the role.

The focus is not on the process that the person is taking, it’s the results that they produce. So, instead of having to walk someone through the entire game plan and monitor them throughout, you get exactly what you’re looking for without the hassle.

Speed

A contingent worker can typically start when you need them to. The right supplier can expedite the search, supply you with a list of candidates, and set up the contract as fast as possible. You can also hire a contingent worker directly. Should the contract go well, you can have a discussion with the worker and then either assign another contract or issue an extension.

This benefit can be a lifesaver when there are skill gaps or hiring shortages. Staffing snags are common in companies, but the ripple effects can be disastrous. One hole in the company can end up crippling multiple departments. A contingent worker can step in on an ad-hoc basis, streamline operations, and keep revenue stable for the company.

Costs

While contingent workers may look a little more expensive at first glance, consider how much you’ll save in benefits, retirement costs, and paid time off. Plus, all taxes are managed by the employee, which can save the accounting team and payroll operations some hassle. In addition, contingent workers are non-salary employees. Once the project is done, you no longer have to pay them anymore.

Examples of Contingent Workers

In the gig economy, there are more examples of contingent workers than ever before:

• Independent contractors
• Freelancers
• Consultants
• Temp workers
• Gig employees
• Non-payroll
• Outsourced employees
• Indirect labor

While there are a number of designations for contingent workers, the IRS largely lumps everyone in the same category. So even if a freelancer traditionally works fewer hours than an independent contractor (on average), the basics remain the same. How you choose to label your contingent workers will likely depend on the nature of the project, the employees you’re planning to hire, and the timeline.

What to Consider Before Hiring Contingent Workers

Compliance & Risk Mitigation to Employment Laws

There are certain companies who will take advantage of contingent workers, which has led to a national debate about how to restructure employment laws. Certain states, like California, have already made changes to regulations. If you want to stay in compliance, you’ll need to know how to stay within the letter (and, ideally, spirit) of the law.

Flexibility for Workers

Contingent workers are ready to get straight to work, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any unexpected events along the way. Whether it’s an economic change or family tragedy, you’ll want to build in some flexibility to the project. If you’re wholly dependent on one contingent worker, it can be just as debilitating to lose them as it would be a full-time employee.

Few Restrictions on Contingent Workers

While contingent workers can be highly skilled professionals (e.g., software engineers, etc.), they don’t have to be. You can hire people for simple tasks like data entry all the way up to your most complex endeavors. Plus, you can have them work either on-site or off, depending on the needs of the project.

Avoids the Need for Layoffs

It’s unfortunately easy for companies to overestimate the workforce they need, particularly if they’re in a sustained period of growth. Only when it’s in the rearview mirror do hiring managers realize that they overstepped in terms of full-time staff. When you hire contingent workers, your workforce is much more flexible allowing your headcount to change according to the ebbs and flows of your business. 

Visibility

Contingent workers are there to do their jobs, and they’re used to working under the radar. Ideally, you hire them, they finish the work, and then companies can reassess the next best steps. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you’re entirely hands-off.

You need to know who’s working on different projects, where they are, what their role is, and how many hours they’re putting in. This standardization is critical to getting the job done — whether you’re managing on your own or employing a Managed Service Provider.

Managing Contingent Workers with Monument

If you’re wondering how to fit contingent workers in with the rest of your workforce, sometimes it helps to talk to a specialist. Monument Consulting helps companies navigate the tricky landscape, so no one finds themselves in hot water down the line. We’re here to not only answer questions but ultimately take some of the burden off your shoulders. Contact us today to see how we can help you get more done.

Generally speaking, a business will leverage a wide range of different resources in order to effectively manage its contingent workforce. This is especially true of those organizations that are in the process of rapid expansion, reorganization, or restructuring of third-party talent.

If your business is in this position, you may have seen two terms regularly used in your research: MSP and VMS. But what are the differences between an MSP vs VMS, and how do they both ultimately contribute to the same larger whole? The answers to those questions require you to keep a number of important things in mind.

What Is an MSP?

Also commonly referred to as a Managed Service Provider, an MSP is a term used to describe a team of people who are singularly dedicated to managing all facets of the contingent workforce program on behalf of a business. This includes essential functions such as supporting the sourcing of suppliers, shortlisting resumes, onboarding of contingent workers, and rate card market analysis – essentially helping to manage the entire req to check lifecycle for a company’s contingent labor workforce program.

Note that in some situations, an MSP may be an internal team of people that is self-managed by the business. More commonly, however, this is an independent, third-party organization performing tasks like those outlined above.

The responsibilities of an MSP will vary and are indeed typically tailored to meet the unique needs of a business. Having said that, examples can include but are not limited to things like:

• Program management.
• Reporting and tracking.
• Supplier selection.
• Negotiations and management.
• The day-to-day management of requisition processes.
• Managing invoices.
• Payment reconciliation.
• Rate benchmarking.
• Business intelligence.
• Regulatory guidance and compliance.
• And more.

Note that an MSP will also act as a kind of “command center” for all third party talent within an organization.

There are many benefits that an MSP will bring with it, chief among them being reduced costs. In many situations it may be easier to hire someone else who specializes in these aforementioned functions than it would be to tackle them yourself. An MSP allows you to bring in true experts and leaders in the field without the costs of building that knowledge in house. Another benefit of an MSP is increasing compliance and decreasing risk. This is primarily done through MSP management of the onboarding and offboarding process, as well as frequent audits. This expertise also helps to significantly streamline processes, which improves productivity across the board.

Enlisting the services of an MSP can also help with the implementation of management strategies, along with making meaningful changes to the ones that are already there. MSPs can assist with program maturity models, the visibility of contingent workforce metrics, they can help consolidate the invoicing process, and more. They can also help make sure that all contingent workers are in compliance with all relevant policies, procedures, and laws.

Note that regardless of the unique needs that an MSP is filling, their performance will still be measured based on the same core metrics. Those are the quality of the work that they’re performing, the amount of time it takes them to reach a desired outcome, and the cost of their services relative to the amount of money they are ultimately saving the business.

What Is a VMS?

A Vendor Management System (also commonly referred to as a VMS for short), on the other hand, is a term that refers to the technology that supports the daily operations of a workforce program. It also involves the data that travels throughout a business’ essential processes, all based on an SaaS (software-as-a-service) model.

The responsibilities of a VMS include but are not limited to capturing day-to-day action in a contingent workforce lifecycle. This might involve tracking the process of identifying a need and/or request, assistance with the overall hiring process, managing the onboarding and offboarding processes, invoicing, assisting with payment processes and more.

One of the major benefits of investing in a VMS includes creating a higher level of visibility into mission-critical data, which in turn brings with it robust reporting capabilities. Organizational leaders will no longer have to wonder about the who, what, and where questions as they pertain to a contingent workforce pool. They will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt. This almost immediately brings with it the opportunity to identify areas for cost savings and efficiency improvements that would have likely otherwise gone undiscovered. After a period of time, it allows for forecasting and trends to be easily spotted, giving the user the ability to front run any problems that might be coming.  It also helps to avoid compliance and risk-related issues, too.

How Do MSP and VMS Differ?

While a Managed Service Provider and a Vendor Management System are both invaluable parts of a contingent workforce program, they’re two totally separate ideas and should be treated as such. An MSP refers to the team of people, while a VMS is the technology they use. For a very simplistic example, an MSP would be the contractor you hire and the VMS would be the tools he or she uses to build a house. Both have the same goal – building the house – but they’re totally separate in the larger scheme of things. Often, an MSP is brought on as a consultant to help pick the VMS; much like the contractor would recommend what building materials to use to build the house.

To that end, an MSP and a VMS work together in partnership to create a smooth, simple connection between the user (like the hiring manager, for example) and the suppliers and/or vendors that they’re working with.

Companies can use both an MSP and a VSM to manage their contingent workforce. Or, they can self-manage with only a VMS by their side. Which of these two options is the most appropriate will ultimately come down to the organization and the unique needs that it is trying to accomplish.

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger, receive the benefits they need, and achieve more. Our expertise is proven, and we’ve worked with a suite of Fortune 500 companies to help implement innovation that lasts. Our agile model allows us to pick the best tool(s) based on the flows and gestures that will truly meet our client’s needs and bring them the best outcomes.

If you’d like to find out more information about what the major differences are between a Managed Service Provider and a Vendor Management System, or if you just want to speak to a professional about your own needs in a bit more specificity, contact us.

Generally speaking, a business will leverage a wide range of different resources in order to effectively manage its contingent workforce. This is especially true of those organizations that are in the process of rapid expansion, reorganization, or restructuring of third-party talent.

If your business is in this position, you may have seen two terms regularly used in your research: MSP and VMS. But what are the differences between an MSP vs VMS, and how do they both ultimately contribute to the same larger whole? The answers to those questions require you to keep a number of important things in mind.

What Is an MSP?

Also commonly referred to as a Managed Service Provider, an MSP is a term used to describe a team of people who are singularly dedicated to managing all facets of the contingent workforce program on behalf of a business. This includes essential functions such as supporting the sourcing of suppliers, shortlisting resumes, onboarding of contingent workers, and rate card market analysis – essentially helping to manage the entire req to check lifecycle for a company’s contingent labor workforce program.

Note that in some situations, an MSP may be an internal team of people that is self-managed by the business. More commonly, however, this is an independent, third-party organization performing tasks like those outlined above.

The responsibilities of an MSP will vary and are indeed typically tailored to meet the unique needs of a business. Having said that, examples can include but are not limited to things like:

• Program management.
• Reporting and tracking.
• Supplier selection.
• Negotiations and management.
• The day-to-day management of requisition processes.
• Managing invoices.
• Payment reconciliation.
• Rate benchmarking.
• Business intelligence.
• Regulatory guidance and compliance.
• And more.

Note that an MSP will also act as a kind of “command center” for all third party talent within an organization.

There are many benefits that an MSP will bring with it, chief among them being reduced costs. In many situations it may be easier to hire someone else who specializes in these aforementioned functions than it would be to tackle them yourself. An MSP allows you to bring in true experts and leaders in the field without the costs of building that knowledge in house. Another benefit of an MSP is increasing compliance and decreasing risk. This is primarily done through MSP management of the onboarding and offboarding process, as well as frequent audits. This expertise also helps to significantly streamline processes, which improves productivity across the board.

Enlisting the services of an MSP can also help with the implementation of management strategies, along with making meaningful changes to the ones that are already there. MSPs can assist with program maturity models, the visibility of contingent workforce metrics, they can help consolidate the invoicing process, and more. They can also help make sure that all contingent workers are in compliance with all relevant policies, procedures, and laws.

Note that regardless of the unique needs that an MSP is filling, their performance will still be measured based on the same core metrics. Those are the quality of the work that they’re performing, the amount of time it takes them to reach a desired outcome, and the cost of their services relative to the amount of money they are ultimately saving the business.

What Is a VMS?

A Vendor Management System (also commonly referred to as a VMS for short), on the other hand, is a term that refers to the technology that supports the daily operations of a workforce program. It also involves the data that travels throughout a business’ essential processes, all based on an SaaS (software-as-a-service) model.

The responsibilities of a VMS include but are not limited to capturing day-to-day action in a contingent workforce lifecycle. This might involve tracking the process of identifying a need and/or request, assistance with the overall hiring process, managing the onboarding and offboarding processes, invoicing, assisting with payment processes and more.

One of the major benefits of investing in a VMS includes creating a higher level of visibility into mission-critical data, which in turn brings with it robust reporting capabilities. Organizational leaders will no longer have to wonder about the who, what, and where questions as they pertain to a contingent workforce pool. They will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt. This almost immediately brings with it the opportunity to identify areas for cost savings and efficiency improvements that would have likely otherwise gone undiscovered. After a period of time, it allows for forecasting and trends to be easily spotted, giving the user the ability to front run any problems that might be coming.  It also helps to avoid compliance and risk-related issues, too.

How Do MSP and VMS Differ?

While a Managed Service Provider and a Vendor Management System are both invaluable parts of a contingent workforce program, they’re two totally separate ideas and should be treated as such. An MSP refers to the team of people, while a VMS is the technology they use. For a very simplistic example, an MSP would be the contractor you hire and the VMS would be the tools he or she uses to build a house. Both have the same goal – building the house – but they’re totally separate in the larger scheme of things. Often, an MSP is brought on as a consultant to help pick the VMS; much like the contractor would recommend what building materials to use to build the house.

To that end, an MSP and a VMS work together in partnership to create a smooth, simple connection between the user (like the hiring manager, for example) and the suppliers and/or vendors that they’re working with.

Companies can use both an MSP and a VSM to manage their contingent workforce. Or, they can self-manage with only a VMS by their side. Which of these two options is the most appropriate will ultimately come down to the organization and the unique needs that it is trying to accomplish.

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger, receive the benefits they need, and achieve more. Our expertise is proven, and we’ve worked with a suite of Fortune 500 companies to help implement innovation that lasts. Our agile model allows us to pick the best tool(s) based on the flows and gestures that will truly meet our client’s needs and bring them the best outcomes.

If you’d like to find out more information about what the major differences are between a Managed Service Provider and a Vendor Management System, or if you just want to speak to a professional about your own needs in a bit more specificity, contact us.

Now, more than ever, people prefer more flexible forms of employment as opposed to the traditional workforce model. The concept of the contingent workforce is one that has become increasingly popular – especially over the last decade. A contingent workforce is one that is made up of freelancers, independent contractors, and consultants who are hired for either a specific amount of time or on a project-by-project basis. There are no illusions that these workers will stay with a company on a permanent basis – instead, the opposite is true. They are temporary positions that can pay well and are important, creating a mutually beneficial situation for all parties involved.

What is Contingent Workforce Management?

A contingent workforce is one that can certainly bring advantages to any organization – but the management of the contingent workforce is equally important. With the right approach and long-term strategy, companies will be able to enjoy all the benefits of this process with as few potential downsides as possible.

There are many elements that make up the contingent workforce management process. Simply put, contingent workforce management is the hiring and managing of temporary employees. Organizations will typically pair a managed service provider (MSP) with a vendor management system (VMS) to manage their contingent workforce process. The MSP works with each of the client’s vendors to ensure all open positions are properly recruited for, and the MSP works with the client to ensure management of the contingent workforce is done compliantly.

Why is Contingent Workforce Management Important to a Business?

More often than not, contingent workers are brought into a business via MSP recruitment with the help of a third-party agency or supplier. In this situation, the supplier would be the worker’s employer of record. The employee does not technically work for the business in question – they work for the agency and have simply been assigned to a specific job for a specific period of time.

All of this also helps to underline the idea, and the importance, of contingent workforce management. These types of workers play an invaluable role in the narrative of any business, but they still require a steady hand in terms of management to ensure that everything flows as smoothly as possible. Contingent workforce management helps to keep permanent employees separate from temporary employees, thus allowing workers to fill the exact position that is required of them at precisely the right time.

When it comes to the effective management of a contingent workforce, there are a number of important things to keep in mind. Foremost, a contingent workforce can quickly assist a business scale as it continues to grow and evolve – or better position the business to account for seasonal fluctuations that are inherent in certain industries. With a permanent workforce, it’s harder to respond to market fluctuations quickly. If you don’t have a certain degree of foresight, you’ll end up at a disadvantage more often than not.

Of course, none of this is to say that effective contingent workforce management isn’t without its fair share of challenges. Yes, employers are able to effectively scale their workforce up or down as an ever-changing situation dictates it. But at the same time, human resources teams aren’t just managing the employees themselves – they’re also managing a relationship with the company who supplied those employees as well. Therefore, things become challenging in that the client doesn’t necessarily have the same level of oversight that it normally would.

Contingent workforce management can be made easier with the following a few key best practices. Finding the right partner for contingent workforce procurement can mitigate challenges that arise when managing your contingent workforce. The right partner will understand what the client is trying to accomplish, and is every bit as invested in its own success as they are.

From a technology perspective, a vendor management system is highly – one that allows organizational leadership to effectively manage the various sources that these contingent employees are coming from. With a strong vendor management system, the client can easily manage and locate their contingent workforce.

Lastly, the help of a managed services provider (MSP) will also be recommended to bring these contingent workers together with the more permanent workforce, allowing them both to become something stronger as a collective than they ultimately would have been able to achieve on their own. That will in turn help not only the employees, but the business itself.

Benefits of Contingent Workforce Management

In order to understand the finer points of a contingent workforce, we must first come to a better understanding of what it is acting as a viable alternative to. In the vast majority of situations, a business will hire all of its employees as part of an in-house workforce. Those employees officially work for the business itself. They are paid some type of yearly salary or, in the case of some positions, an hourly wage. This results in a mutual understanding between both the employee and the employer that the worker will hold the position for a significant amount of time. In addition to the terms of employment, workers who fall under this category also receive the option for additional benefits such as healthcare, paid time off, and retirement benefits.

A contingent workforce comes with numerous advantages for the employee and the employer. These benefits include increased flexibility, fewer costs, and access to high-quality, in-demand talent. Organizations can fluctuate their contract labor numbers depending on their business demands, resulting in fewer layoffs, lower costs, and worker flexibility.

• Increased flexibility

a. A contingent workforce can provide organizations with the flexibility it needs to rapidly scale up or down depending on business needs without delays associated with full-time employees.

• Cost-effective

a. Although contract workers often have higher salaries than full-time employees, organizations do not have to pay the contingent workforce medical benefits, vacation time, or sick pay.

• Training

a. Organizations save time and money with a contingent workforce. Contract workers are highly specialized – they do not require a significant amount of training.

Challenges of Contingent Workforce Management

Although a contingent workforce provides an organization with an abundance of advantages, contingent workforce management also comes with its fair share of disadvantages. Some of these challenges may include difficulty with compliance, job security, training restrictions, and communication barriers.

• Non-compliance

a. Contingent workforces often include a network of vendors – this makes compliance more difficult with a contingent workforce.

• Job security

a. Contingent workers have limited job security due to being hired based on business demands. This may result in contingent workers being less committed to the organization.

• Training restrictions

a. Contingent workers may not have access to corporate training resources that are available to full-time employees.

• Lack of understanding the arrangement

a. The end date of the contingent worker’s contract is not always set in stone. Because of this, contractors may feel led on once their contract has come to an end.

Monument Consulting Can Help

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger and achieve more. Our expertise is proven, and we’ve worked with a suite of Fortune 500 companies to help implement innovation that lasts. Our agile model allows us to pick the best tool(s) based on the flows and features that will truly meet our client’s needs and bring them the best outcomes.

If you’re looking for a partner who’s ready to help, contact us.

At its core, supplier onboarding involves an organization collecting the information needed to set up a third-party as a supplier or vendor for their own supply chain. An integral part of supplier onboarding is ensuring the prospective supplier complies with the laws, regulations, and standards required by your organization.

Before you begin the supplier onboarding process, it’s important to verify whether or not there are existing suppliers within your current supply chain that can be leveraged to meet your needs. Awarding business within your current supply chain will not only help strengthen your existing supplier relationships, but it will also increase the speed of delivery for the task at hand. If you’re unsure whether or not your current supply chain can address your needs, a GAP analysis can be performed to verify if bringing on a new supplier is the right step to take.

If you determine a new supplier is needed, vetting the new suppliers will be crucial to identifying the right partner to move forward with. You need to make sure any partner that you’re considering entering into an agreement with can truly meet your deliverables. To properly vet the suppliers, you should request they complete a Request for Information (RFI). The RFI will determine if this supplier can meet the needs of your client – if the supplier is not a good fit at this time, create a profile for them to store in your database.

 

When is Supplier Onboarding Necessary?

There is a gap or a need your current supplier pool is not filling, but should you immediately look for a new supplier? You may believe a larger supplier pool is the best option – but in reality, a larger supplier pool may dilute your results. When a problem arises, analyze your current supplier pool first by performing a GAP analysis.

Performing a GAP analysis is an integral step in determining whether or not you need to onboard a new supplier. This will either validate that your organization does have a gap within your current supplier base or determine that your gap can be addressed through your current supplier pool. If you can’t solve your problem among your current supplier list, draft an RFI that centers around the issue you are trying to solve, and request suppliers provide the needed information to solidify that they can meet this demand.  Send the RFI to your prospective supplier base – the responses to your RFI will allow you to determine which supplier(s) are capable of addressing your issue at hand.

The vetting process is an integral part of successful supplier onboarding. Vetting is the process of diligently investigating your prospective suppliers prior to moving forward with a partnership. You must collect details from the RFI to determine if the prospective supplier will fill your gap or need. If you determine the prospective supplier is not capable of addressing your issue at hand, create a profile for them to store in your data base. Monument Consulting has an abundant list of suppliers and the needs that they support – creating this database is very useful for when a client comes to us with a gap in the future.

 

Why is Supplier Onboarding Important?

Implementing a supplier onboarding process is the premise of building strong partnerships with your suppliers. Not only will it strengthen your business relationships, but it will also assist your organization to mitigate risks, streamline processes (similar to a VMS), increase efficiency, and ensure compliance within your organization’s internal and external policies and regulations.

While the supplier onboarding process takes time, it is important to ensure all suppliers are fully compliant in order for your organization to minimize exposure to risk. Your hiring team may be eager to fill roles, but it must be done in a compliant manner with a deep due diligence process. Steps you may take to ensure supplier compliance include, but are not limited to, determining their financial health, verifying they have the right level of insurance, and processing a background check.

Although business needs may urge you to fast-track supplier onboarding, missteps in the process can cause business disruptions and impact your current supplier partnerships. To mitigate this, a standardized onboarding process can ensure all requirements are met to form a successful partnership.

 

The Key to Successful Supplier Onboarding

If through your GAP analysis, CW Readiness Assessment, and vetting process you’ve determined that moving forward with a new supplier is the right next step, there are several processes to follow in order to achieve successful supplier onboarding. Below are the main steps you’ll need to ensure the process flows smoothly.

1. Document your approval process
   • Before you build your supplier onboarding process, you should establish clear approval policies. Determine who from your organization needs to approve the onboarding of a new supplier, gather the necessary approval in writing, and store the approval per your compliance requirements.
2. Establish onboarding requirements and expectations
   • Outline your program’s supplier onboarding policies, procedures, and systems. Clearly outlining your requirements and expectations will not only allow your company to easily vet and approve appropriate suppliers, but it will also ensure the prospective suppliers are compliant with your regulations.
3. Establish a communication and training plan
   • As you develop your onboarding process, communication and training must be highly considered. This will increase efficiency, reduce the risk of human error, and strengthen supplier relationships.

Proper supplier onboarding also helps to ensure the supplier understand the rules of the program before they start. Together, examine the rules of engagement and the rules of the program; Define every document that needs to be filled out. As suppliers return the requested documentation, assign a member of your team to be accountable for ensuring each document is filled out completely and accurately. By auditing documentation as it is submitted, you will help mitigate risk of missed information which can result in impacts to your deliverables down the road.

 

After Onboarding

Once you have successfully onboarded your new supplier, your organization must ensure the supplier is fully prepared to support the client. To do so, you must provide training and orientation sessions to ensure your new supplier has all of the information necessary to successfully support your client. You will need to conduct a high-level introduction between the supplier and the client by setting up introductory meetings between the supplier and procurement, HR, management, and other appropriate client resources. Once the supplier has started supporting your client, begin tracking the performance.

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger, receive the benefits they need, and achieve more. Our expertise is proven, and we’ve worked with a suite of Fortune 500 companies to help implement innovation that lasts. Our agile model allows us to pick the best tool(s) based on the flows and features that will truly meet our client’s needs and bring them the best outcomes.

If you’re looking for a partner who’s ready to help, contact us.

The thought of enhancing or implementing your contingent workforce program can be overwhelming. You understand the importance of reducing costs, streamlining processes, increasing the ability to attract quality candidates, and improving compliance… but where do you begin with evaluating your readiness for this level of change?

Look no further! Monument Consulting has you covered. The contingent workforce experts at Monument have developed a readiness assessment to help you decide if now is the right time for a fresh perspective of your program. Monument’s proven “Readiness Assessment” will give your organization the ability to ascertain what your current state of readiness for change is, identify where there are opportunities to improve your program, and provide recommendations on how to achieve your program goals.

The Importance of Assessing for Readiness during Pre-Implementation

Understanding your organization’s current state of readiness for a meaningful transformation is the first step to making a change. To avoid the risk of never getting the change off the ground, you should clearly define the “why” behind your desire to change. Then, work internally to verify that you have the available resources, brainpower, business expertise, and understanding of how viable the longevity of a solution will be. Identifying any weaknesses up front is key to ensuring these obstacles are addressed before they interfere with implementation. Since our company’s inception in 2003, Monument Consulting has helped clients with contingent workforce program enhancements of all shapes and sizes. By utilizing our industry expertise, we will help you evaluate your readiness and identify any potential pitfalls that could prevent you from reaching your goals.

Analyze Your Capacity for Change

Understanding your “why” for change is critical, but do you have the capacity for change? Evaluating your organization’s capacity for change is a crucial step in any transformation. Analyze your organization’s infrastructure, finances, and leadership. This will determine if your capacity for change is sufficient, or it will reveal some areas in need of attention. Once you have your project goals and objectives clearly defined, ask your executives the following questions:

• Do we have the infrastructure to ensure this change goes smoothly?
• Do we have support for this change from the necessary stakeholders at all levels?
• Do we have the resources necessary to implement this change, or do we need to hire new staff members?
• Do our employees have the skills they need to help execute this change or do they need more education and support?
• How will our leaders encourage employee buy-in for this project?
• Can we sustain this change long-term?
• What is our budgetary allowance for the up-front costs involved in implementing this change?
• What is our budgetary allowance for the long-term costs involved in sustaining this change’s success?
• What will the return on investment be for this change?
• After this change is successfully implemented, will it be scalable?

This analysis will leave you with a clear view of your capacity for change, as well as factors that may need more attention prior to embarking on the initiative. As part of Monument’s Readiness Assessment, we will assist with developing an actionable list for your capacity for change considerations – i.e., identify resource gaps; design a business plan to promote stakeholder buy-in; evaluate technology options from a budget and capability perspective.

Determine What Type of Change is Needed

Once your organization determines a well-defined goal, it’s important to understand what options you have available to achieve that goal. Can the issue be solved with a process change? Does a new technology need to be introduced? Can a system integration solve your problem? Multiple paths can often get you to the same desired result, but these solutions can have a variety of different effort and cost levels associated to them. As part of the Readiness Assessment, the solutions experts at Monument Consulting can help you evaluate your current state and make recommendations on the various options you have to help you reach your desired contingent workforce program results.

What to Do if You’re Ready for Change: Partner with Monument Consulting

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision-making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger and achieve more. Our expertise is proven, and we’ve worked with a suite of Fortune 500 companies to help implement innovation that lasts. Our agile model allows us to pick the best tool(s) based on the flows and features that will truly meet our client’s needs and bring them the best outcomes.

If you’re looking for a partner who’s ready to help, contact us.

Vendor Management Systems (VMS) are increasingly popular in the contingent workforce space. The right VMS can allow your business to cut costs, more quickly source qualified personnel, plan for total workforce management needs and adjust to increases and decreases in production and demand. Has your company considered exploring the implementation of a VMS? If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, the contingent workforce management experts at Monument Consulting cover everything you need to know about VMS solutions.

 

Common Capabilities and Value Adds

An effective VMS, or “Vendor Management System,” is a cloud-based technology solution best known for its ability to streamline the management of contingent workforce. Vendor Management Systems can give companies a leg up by providing a one stop shop for visibility into their full contingent workforce, streamlining processes, increasing compliance, and offering advanced reporting and invoice automation capabilities.

Vendor Management Systems introduce automation to your contingent workforce process, which in return, allows in-house human resources, procurement, and PMO departments to focus on more strategic responsibilities without interruption. Handling external workforce management can be complex, but a VMS can help simplify the process by automating common tasks related to areas such as job posting distribution, vendor management, approvals, candidate qualification, onboarding/offboarding, reporting/analytics, timekeeping, and invoicing.

In addition to automation, a VMS can add value from an audit and compliance perspective. A VMS centralizes your contingent workforce information within a single system, creating accessible audit trails to help ensure you’re meeting all compliance requirements.  Additionally, a VMS can ensure full compliance in regards to legislative and company policies by driving consistency in the process.

With today’s challenging  labor market, finding external talent quickly is crucial for your organization.  Vendor Management Systems can help shorten the time it takes time to fill openings. Hiring managers and vendors will be reminded through the VMS when they have a next step in the hiring process and you will have access to VMS reports that can help you better diagnose which vendors are the most successful in reaching your time to fill KPI’s.

Lastly, a VMS will help control costs by ensuring you are getting contingent labor at a fair price. Rate ranges by role title, location, and experience can be set within the VMS so that you can present your best offer for each opening. Vendors will be subjected to submitting candidates at or below the max rate, helping you to have more controls and better insights on your contingent labor costs.

 

The Benefit of Pairing a VMS with an MSP

The source-to-pay capabilities of a VMS can help your company manage the lifecycle of your contingent workforce. Bringing in a managed services provider (MSP) for complete and daily oversight of the VMS simplifies and enhances processes even further. At Monument Consulting we provide full MSP services with a focus on overall program management, strategic guidance on vendor strategy, enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities of the VMS, and streamlining of the invoice process.

 

 

Notable VMS Companies in the Industry and their Differentiators

• SAP Fieldglass: SAP Fieldglass was named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites. SAP’s VMS solution and implementation offers process automation compliance technology, including a single-entry point for all of your locations and business units to avoid any inaccurate or disjointed results; complete supplier partner integration; analytics capabilities; and automated on-boarding processes. They pride themselves on transparency, their ability to work with third parties, and the ability of their various resources to save their corporate partners’ money, particularly on recruiting and training costs.
• Beeline: Beeline’s Extended Workforce Platform (EWP) is focused on providing a solution for workforce agility. They fill staffing needs for corporate clients who are high volume with shift-based workforces. Beeline’s EWP seeks to leverage clients’ brand equity to recruit talent, looking always to find the best prices. They claim decades of VMS success, and growing rates of automation for seamless tracking of all non-employee personnel.
• VNDLY: VNDLY represents its VMS platform as “modern, intuitive, and friendly.” It touts agile software with frequent new releases, built-in API integrations, and “effortless” migration from legacy platforms. This might be a good fit for a corporation that is concerned with keeping existing data while modernizing its platforms. VNDLY wants implementation and launch to be as easy as possible for its clients, and strives to provide an intuitive and configurable interface. In December of 2021, it was announced that Workday had officially acquired VNDLY in a move that will undoubtedly have impacts on the industry for years to come.
• Coupa CCW: Coupa’s goal is to help companies spend less on services, and gain visibility and control during the process. Their VMS aims to provide advanced capabilities to help their corporate clients source and manage workers at scale. They provide onboarding services, processes to reduce compliance risk and improve performance and overall value within your contingent workforce. Among their VMS platforms most important capabilities are staff augmentation optimization, worker tracking acceleration, onboarding compliance automation, and reporting customization.
• 3Story: 3Story supports an extended end-to-end workflow (from procurement through offboarding). The 3Story VMS allows you to track, automate, and process contingent labor with capabilities that can be catered to your organization. 3Story includes a reporting suit that, amongst other areas, allow you to track costs and performance.

Where the VMS Industry is Headed

As with all industries, we’re prepared to see the VMS space incorporate even more machine-learning capabilities and expansions into features incorporating artificial intelligence technology. Integrated solutions are on the rise, as are compatibility with clients’ HR and procurement departments. Additionally, there’s an increasing focus on the candidate/worker experience ensuring it is easy and intuitive to work with a company through their VMS platform.  One thing is for sure: for long term agility and scalability, the effectiveness of partnering with a contingent workforce management provider is here to stay.

Partnering with Monument Consulting

Founded in 2003, Monument Consulting is built on a commitment to our clients and our shared values. Through our genuine passion for delivery, relentless pursuit of perfection, and bold decision making, we are creating a more agile contingent workforce so businesses can dream bigger and achieve more. Our model is vendor neutral, and we partner with industry-leading VMS systems to bring our corporate clients the best outcomes. If you’re looking for a partner who’s ready to help, contact us.