Isnít it time we embraced technology to work smarter, together?

Isnít it time we embraced technology to work smarter, together?

Many corporations have a large supplier base because they have never efficiently managed the procurement process for temporary staff. Often, organisations are spending too much time managing numerous recruitment agencies and reconciling bills instead of using their vendors more strategically.

When an organisation works with numerous staffing agencies, it can be advantageous to work with an entity known as a managed service provider (MSP). An MSP is essentially an outsourcer which coordinates the relationships and manages the contractors, and handles billing and payment.

Working with a single contact like a MSP really simplifies the process, creates efficiency, and promotes visibility into how much is being spent on temporary staff. MSP offers five core services:

Job requirements management ñ creates standard job descriptions, groups vendors (preferred, approved, diverse firms) and establishes rules as to how job requirements should be distributed to each vendor group.

Vendor management ñ utilises the vendor relationship, analyses rate cards and performs contract negotiations.

Contractor time and expense (T&E) capture ñ provides a means for collecting, monitoring and processing contractor time and expenses.

Consolidated billing ñ creates a single bill for all contractors on the clientís site and handles payment to all agencies.

Business intelligence reporting ñ establishes service level agreements (SLAs) to measure staffing effectiveness on a regular basis.

The basics of vendor management systems

Fueling the provision of these services is an underlying technology, known as a vendor management system (VMS). Essentially, the overall objectives for a VMS are:

To manage and control temporary staffing ñ gaining regular and improved visibility into procurement processes to help reduce costs

To view and report any component of the process in real time ñ identifying problems immediately allowing for rapid adjustments

To integrate with other corporate processes and applications ñ consistency with other internal systems improves efficiency and reduces redundancy

To decrease the time it takes to acquire talent ñ automating the process introduces efficiency gains

To improve the quality of your supply base and candidates ñ tying contractor performance back to the sourcing agency

What does this mean for organisations?

A growing number of managed service providers and staffing agencies (often the same organisation) are embracing VMS technology and now utilise these solutions to improve their efficiency. The advent of VMS provides management and reporting throughout the entire procurement process.

The ability to proactively manage and view all aspects of temporary staffing with a VMS is rapidly changing the landscape. With VMS, client organisations can reduce the number of agencies they use without jeopardising their ability to retain qualified temporary workers at competitive prices. Furthermore, in addition to mirroring client processes, information can be seamlessly shared with a number of other business applications to enable comprehensive reporting, consolidated billing and business intelligence.

How will we benefit?

Depending on the desired skill set, temporary staffing could be managed by an IT organisation, purchasing function or human resources department ñ or some combination of the three. As more companies have involvement from several departments during the temporary staffing process, a VMS has the potential to provide benefits across the organisation in the following areas:

Procurement ñ reduce costs by controlling the temporary staffing sourcing process, enforcing, contracted rate structures with existing suppliers, and enabling multiple agencies to bid market rates on open positions.

Finance ñ improve financial control by managing costs and automating accruals.

Human Resources ñ increase personnel quality, by selecting the best person in the shortest period of time.

Hiring Managers ñ fill positions rapidly by releasing the job requirement to all approved vendors and receiving candidates within seconds.

IT ñ eliminate infrastructure support by delivering VMS applications as a service.

Conclusion

Procurement and management of temporary staffing requires tight collaboration between clients and their suppliers, as well as ongoing management of multiple events and complex business procedures. A vendor management system should fulfil this need by managing a variety of data and process throughout the lifecycle of temporary staffing.