What is an MSP and VMS? How do they work together to get the best value for money in contingent workforce management?

In today's fast-paced business landscape, businesses and organizations rely on outsourcing to multiple vendors instead of carrying out everything in-house. Managing these vendor relationships can be a complex task. and this is where Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Vendor Management Systems (VMS) come into play, and this is never truer than for workforce management.  

MSP’s and VMS’s can be used to manage most, if not all, aspects of workforce management, including finding, engaging, and managing candidates and staff. But what do they individually achieve? And how do they work together to deliver the most effective way to manage a contingent workforce? 

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) 

An MSP manages the contingent worker recruitment process for an organization, and it is responsible for the end-to-end management of the workforce – from supplier management to strategic workforce planning. 

One of the key benefits of using an MSP is the easy access to resources needed to address complex people-based challenges such as skills shortages, repeatable hiring needs and technology management.  

MSPs have specific experts who have a deep understanding of best practices, robust processes, stay up-to-date with the latest approaches and solutions, and are motivated to help organizations get the absolute most out of their contingent workforce and its associated technology.  

This knowledge means that businesses can then focus on their core competencies while leaving the workforce management responsibilities to the experts. 

Vendor Management Solutions (VMS) 

A VMS, on the other hand, is a software platform designed to assist organizations in managing their recruitment supply chain and contingent workforce through data collection and visibility. This means that at all times an organization knows who is part of their workforce, what they are doing and where, which source did the enter from/are contracted to, what that contract is, what they are being paid and what compliance checks have been carried out. 

A VMS provides a centralized platform where organizations can store, track, and analyze key information including hours, pay, skills, qualifications, and contract conditions, and by leveraging this data, organizations can make informed staffing decisions based on real-time data. 

Using MSP and VMS technology together to achieve optimal results 

@Pace is a new collaboration between VMS heavyweights SAP Fieldglass and MSP leaders Guidant Global. By combining both MSP and VMS technology, you get a truly complete workforce management solution designed for UK businesses of up to 5,000 employees, with functionality you might previously have only expected in a major enterprise workforce solution.  

By providing this at a cost and implementation timescale suitable for businesses of all sizes, SMEs can now also harness the power of enterprise level technology.  

“At Guidant, we have a team of SAP Fieldglass accredited experts, and what this means is that we implement the VMS technology directly, meaning the speed of deployment is so much faster,” states Mary Nichols, Director of Sales at Guidant Global.  

“So, @Pace can not only help organizations resolve a lot of their workforce management challenges, but it can be up and running, in a relatively short period of time.” 

If you’re ready to rethink your non-employee workforce management, find out more about @Pace in the video below or at the @Pace webpage. You can contact Guidant Global to speak about @Pace in more detail here.