In a post-pandemic world where businesses struggle to manage their temporary workforce due to strategic hurdles and lack of operational governance structures, managed services programs (MSP) service providers have stepped up as the go-to partners helping them scale faster and better. XML International’s next-generation global MSP solutions provide global companies with new ways to improve their contingent workforce management (CWM) while ensuring higher transparency through modern processes that streamline all aspects of CWM—turning them into invaluable corporate assets.
Why Partnering with an MSP is a Must in 2022
MSPs Are Key to Successful HR Transformation
For many organizations, hiring temporary staff is the most effective way to augment their workforce. They can respond to rising talent demands, operate large strategic projects, add new skills and expertise, and accelerate global expansion while tackling the challenges of the current candidate-driven job market. However, better vendor management is necessary to manage this workforce category effectively. Business owners know how helpful an expert MSP partner like XML International can be in successfully supporting them through the employment market transformation.
Make the Most out of Your Contract Employees
The use of contingent labor and temporary employment contracts provides employers with flexibility in hiring, facilitating adjustments to the workforce when there’s high demand and low supply. It allows periods of probation for potential full-time new employees. Contingent labor is a less risky way to build a workforce without capital or other means to commit to longer-term arrangements. Although leveraging a global contingent workforce provides access to a vital source of quality talent, it still comes with many operational, financial, and legal challenges and risks that must be carefully managed.
Finding the right temporary resources to fill the talent gaps is becoming increasingly difficult. In 2022, managed services program providers will take a more strategic approach to contingent workforce management. Simple international expansion is not the one-and-only goal anymore. MSPs’ new services and procedures serve as a guide for the clients. As more companies need to implement new workforce models, using an MSP provider could be the best approach to CWM.
The New Role of MSP Providers for CWM in 2022
Managed service providers have taken on a new role in the employment industry. They are the new kids on the block when it comes to optimizing and rationalizing the global contingent workforce management. Now, they provide comprehensive services like contingent workforce data management, administration of recruitment programs, employees training, strategic insights, and, of course, better vendor management processes aligning suppliers more effectively than before.
The demand for managed services programs has increased exponentially. MSP services providers are no longer expected to provide only essential solutions like budget management and talent channels. They are now asked to deliver more advanced features like supplier performance monitoring systems streamlining procurement processes or customized employee retention programs, all while being required to reduce operational costs AND improve productivity.
Change # 1: Prioritizing Branded Direct Sourcing
Direct sourcing—or direct fulfillment—of contingent labor is a significant trend in the new employment marketplace. This approach allows companies to acquire talent by minimizing or eliminating third-party suppliers. It does so through an exclusive branded talent pool developed with managed services providers like XML International. By directly identifying and acquiring temporary resources, companies can deploy contingent talent faster and more cost-efficiently. This approach offers a more agile and talent-centric model aligned with the 2022 candidate-driven job market.
This fresh approach to outsourced hiring allows you to directly engage, acquire and deploy a high volume of contingent workers. You can more quickly fulfill hiring manager needs at a lower cost by directly engaging with temporary staff. Instead of going through a third-party vendor, you can build stronger relationships with contingent teams and get the work done more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, companies can realize more significant cost savings and expenses avoidance through these direct contingent recruitment relationships. The direct fulfillment model in MSP typically includes critical suppliers that play an essential role in delivering niche and specialized skills.
Another critical feature of a direct sourcing program is the retention of essential suppliers of talent, who will be asked to play a more strategic role going forward. The goal of direct fulfillment is not to reduce access to talent – which would happen if your most pivotal suppliers were not retained. Instead, it aims to optimize the supply chain to complement internally sourced talent. From 2022 and beyond, you will be able to seamlessly develop a direct sourcing strategy through branded talent pools with the help of an MSP service provider like XML International.
Change # 2: Approaching the MSP model Holistically
The modern MSPs propose integrated, comprehensive services that help you directly fill requisitions while improving your talent pools and pipelines’ quality and enhancing talent management at every level. The goal is to strengthen the quality of talent and internal stakeholders’ satisfaction with a more holistic model reducing supplier costs. This trend of integrated MSP systems allows access to top talent ranging from freelance contractors all the way down to skilled university graduates—saving time while ensuring that high-quality work gets done quickly.
Based on that, XML International helps you leverage the best talent and supplier networks, which means you’ll benefit from a robust pipeline of potential temporary employees to start filling critical roles in the shortest time frame. You will also get to experience the know-how of a trusted global staffing organization with the complete talent lifecycle management capabilities to meet your full-time, part-time, freelance, statement of work (SOW), and contingent workforce objectives.
Our dedicated MSP teams deliver exceptional experiences for candidates, hiring managers, and suppliers. They help you hire the right resources to reduce time-to-productivity and decide the right volume of temporary staff while monitoring external vendors’ accountability and efficiently driving your projects from start to finish. Besides, our vendor management system (VMS) brings to the table meaningful business intelligence so you can make even more informed hiring decisions.
Change # 3: Capitalizing on Statement of Work Management
Implementing a statement of work (SOW) management model is an opportunity to increase your contingent workforce program’s value. Traditional MSP staffing services offer visibility into budget spending. Still, if you include SOW engagements, you’ll gain extra insight into how, when, and where non-permanent employees were deployed throughout their engagement period, on-site or off-site. Whether combined with an existing MSP program or as a stand-alone solution, SOW management provides visibility into all aspects of the procurement lifecycle.
XML International’s SOW management solutions help quickly identify reliable suppliers, reducing the time spent on vetting suppliers for future engagements and eliminating poor performers from consideration. We monitor milestone achievements, SLA performance, order changes, and budget adherence as performance tracking specialists. We also ensure that suppliers adhere strictly to our SLA guidelines at each agreement stage.
Your onboarding and offboarding processes are validated on your behalf to prevent unauthorized access to your systems and facilities networks. Detailed project tracking confirms that milestones are delivered accordingly while your suppliers work in full compliance with your company policies and other legal requirements. We support your sourcing and negotiation efforts according to your needs, whether we lead on your behalf—as a Master Vendor—or enable others in your company—as Vendor Neutral—to ensure you get the very best value from your suppliers and our VMS technology.
Change # 4: Rethinking Global Employment Metrics, KPIs & Compliance
MSP providers are now bringing more services under one roof, extending their offerings to new verticals and larger customers, emphasizing quality talent, rationalizing managed services, and delivering innovative approaches. Therefore, more precise metrics and more intelligent KPIs must be developed. For example, MSPs need to know where their clients can generate income. This is why reviewing the current revenue stream is essential to measure profitability.
The customer satisfaction score is a great way to measure what’s working and what needs improvement to improve our level of service. We also monitor resources utilization closely: performance vs. projections, resource planning, and identification of costs. We continuously check the project status to avoid wasting time on unproductive projects. We follow up on contract renewal terms giving us time for renegotiation if required.
We are in the midst of a data security crisis. We must be proactive to ensure full compliance with privacy laws like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In addition, we are adopting governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) tools to enhance operational efficiency, provide better risk management, and facilitate decision-making.
Why Choose XML International's MSP Services for CWM in 2022?
XML International contingent workforce MSP is an outsourced solution combining innovative processes, industry’s best practices, and new technology. It allows you to centralize and consolidate all your non-permanent worker spending under one program so that you can optimize your global temporary workforce management for increased visibility and control. In terms of staffing, our MSP services improve the procurement processes’ efficiency by focusing entirely on selection, recruitment, and management of top talent, suppliers and vendors in your industry.
Streamline your contingent workforce supply chain
XML International’s MSP services enable you to easily streamline, simplify and manage the contingent workforce supply chain from requisition to payment and every process in between. The outcome is increased visibility on contingent headcount and spending, reduced costs, greater and timelier access to talent, and greater compliance with company policies, local labor laws, and employment regulations.
We Manage Quality, Availability, and Cost for You
In our MSP model, you keep control of your strategy while we manage the quality, availability, and cost criteria. The service criteria are detailed in a single service-level agreement that specifies the performance metrics of our commercial relationship. A complete solution for your needs, our services include the management of invoicing and payments. Coupled with our vendor management system (VMS), you get a full picture of each of your temporary staff members.
