As enterprises have taken strides in managing the cost, quality, efficiency and risk of their contingent workforces, many have sought the help of an external Managed Service Provider (MSP) to service their contingent workforce program and/or a vendor management system (VMS), the technology used to manage such a program. SIA recently published separate reports (MSP Market Developments Summary and VMS Market Developments Summary) that provide color on the prominence of MSP and VMS among IT occupations. Based on SIA’s survey results, approximately $35 billion of global MSP spend was tied to IT occupations in 2016, representing 30% of the $117 billion MSP market. IT occupations are even more prevalent in VMS, where $48 billion in VMS spend under management was derived from IT occupations, 35% of the $138 billion global VMS market.

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The share that IT occupations make up of MSP and VMS spend is quite high considering that the IT segment only makes up about 15% of global temporary staffing revenue. There are several reasons for IT’s relatively high share in MSP and VMS, one being that as a high-volume occupation where recruiting and cost management can be challenging, IT is often one of the first areas large enterprises target. Also, MSP and VMS currently have a higher penetration in the US (where IT makes up a larger share of the staffing market) relative to other regions.