The benefits of a managed service program

The benefits of an MSP are game changing, writes Cameron Robinson.

Get ready to revolutionise how you manage contingent workers within your company with a managed service program (MSP). Often, contractors and consultants are an “invisible workforce” within companies. An MSP will not only bring visibility and control to how you source and engage with these workers, but it will also serve as a genuine enabler for business growth and success.

The benefits of an MSP are game changing and span five broad categories: visibility and control, cost savings, improved efficiency, increased quality, and risk mitigation. We know that every organisation has unique objectives, so each MSP can be tailored to your specific needs. But rest assured, implementing a well-managed MSP will allow you to achieve all five critical benefits.

Visibility and control

Unlock the full potential of your contingent workforce with complete transparency provided by an MSP. Without it, managing your complex contingent workforce can be difficult. But with an MSP, you’ll have a single centralised source of truth for all contingent workforce activity. This will allow you to report quickly and accurately on important metrics such as costs, contingent labour usage, supplier performance, worker quality, and contingent worker hiring time frames. Centralised management and reporting provide the catalyst for data-driven continuous improvement, too.

Cost savings

Save money with an MSP! Creating a centralised program for contingent workforce management allows you to leverage economies of scale, ensure consistent supplier and worker rates aligned to the market, use lower-cost candidate sourcing channels, reduce internal operational costs, and implement a series of further cost-saving measures. Plus, your MSP will typically include a cost-savings target and an agreed cost-savings plan to help measure the bottom-line value it delivers. An MSP can save organisations between 10-20 per cent of their contingent workforce spend.

Improved efficiency

Say goodbye to unnecessary distractions and hello to increased productivity. With an MSP, the contingent hiring process is no longer the responsibility of hiring managers or over-stretched talent acquisition teams. Instead, a team of contingent workforce experts will be assigned responsibility for the contingent workforce life cycle, leaving your core priorities uninterrupted. And your MSP will be underpinned by technology that links these activities together, automating many of them. An MSP can reduce contingent worker hiring timelines by more than 50 per cent.

Increased quality

An MSP provides better quality talent, more often. It objectively measures supplier and worker performance to ensure the best avenues are always utilised. Additionally, an MSP opens new and improved sourcing channels to fill identified quality gaps. The best practices are democratised across the entire organisation, breaking down silos and making the best talent known and accessible to as many hiring managers as possible. An MSP will also improve the quality of service received by hiring managers, internal department leads, contingent workers, and agency suppliers alike.

Risk mitigation

Contingent workforces can pose significant risks if not appropriately managed. An MSP specialises in mitigating these risks, bringing consistency and compliance to the way the contingent workforce is engaged, paid, and managed. An MSP will be accountable for ensuring that all parties involved in the contingent workforce life cycle are upholding their legislative and regulatory obligations. Internal policies and procedures related to the background checking and screening of contingent workers are also centrally managed by the MSP and transparently auditable to provide complete peace of mind.

Who benefits from an MSP?

The entire business! Procurement saves money and reduces supplier burden and risk. HR increases compliance and workforce engagement. Talent acquisition increases their influence across the entire workforce. Meanwhile, line managers enjoy faster and more successful hiring processes. All this adds up to a happy C-suite, too!

Cameron Robinson is the head of enterprise at Solve by Talent.