CWS 3.0: April 4, 2012

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Share the Worst with Your MSP

Successful global programs are not only about the availability of suppliers or the availability of technology. Quite often it’s also about the company’s existing process and how it could actually be enhanced regardless of the MSP program.
— Raleen Gagnon, director of market intelligence and strategy, TAPFIN’s Global MSP Center of Excellence

Companies have to be prepared to air their dirty laundry to their MSP for it to be truly effective. They need to get educated on what information the MSP requires. And this often starts before an MSP even comes on board.

The fact is that companies do realize that their hiring needs are different all over the world. They have a lot of regional assumptions already based on their own business. Those perceptions tend to be based on what they hear from their local hiring managers or their regional representation. But this sometimes means they miss the holistic view of a global program because often global operations are very focused on internal metrics, internal priorities, objectives and work streams, says Gagnon.

As a result, buyers of staffing services assume that the MSP will fix any challenges or costs inefficiencies that they’ve identified. “But sometimes, what an MSP can bring to light are steps that the organization can take internally that make the MSP more effective,” says Gagnon.

Gagnon suggests that buyers are sending out more requests for information because that can shed light on what they really need to consider. These discussions identify different legal insight or administrative best practices. Sometimes it’s about how a process can be done more effectively to give companies more efficiency or better rate card assessment. That alone gives the contingent workforce managers something to work with. They start the process of streamlining operations. Ideally this will allow them to pick a provider that can work with their processes and culture.

So put your house in order before you go send out that RFP. For more information and tips on global contingent workforce programs, you can access a replay of Staffing Industry Analysts’ webinar, “Around the World, Global Program Management.” Recorded April 4 and moderated by Editorial Director Subadhra R. Sriram, the replay will be available here on April 6.