The Business Case for SOW: Services Procurement in the new normal

Preparing for greater workforce visibility

There’s no doubt that the Covid-19 crisis very quickly highlighted what information enterprises did and didn’t know about their workforce, particularly when it came to the extended workforce. However, for Amway, preparations that began in 2018 effectively set the business up to adapt and handle the crisis once it hit in 2020.

Identifying an unknown workforce segment

In 2018, the firm went through a global review of the organization structure which included a cost saving assessment. It was during this review that the HR and Procurement teams identified that, while mature management processes were in place for the temporary labor market and the firm’s Managed Service Providers, the Statement of Work segment of the workforce was a relative unknown.

Finding the right partner

As a result, Amway initiated a strategic process to identify the best partner to develop and run a SoW programme that would drive process improvement, compliance, cost efficiency, streamline vendor management and provide greater transparency of the firm’s extended workforce.

While mature management processes were in place for temporary labor and MSP activity, the SoW segment of the workforce was a relative unknown.

The organization wanted to maximize supply base onboarding ahead of go-live, which required vetting and approval of more than 100 vendors into the programme.

Amway also wanted every programme-facilitated outside services engagement to have a legally approved statement of work for additional compliance.

The solution needed to foster positive programme adoption across Amway, its business partners and its vendors.

The firm felt Guidant Global had the experience, capability and appreciation for the nuances of Amway needed to adapt its approach and deliver a flexible solution.

Agile ready ahead of the pandemic

Having increased visibility of the company’s non-employee workforce allowed Amway to smoothly transition into full remote working at the beginning of the pandemic.

Identifying key roles quickly

With improved visibility of the full extended workforce available on its VMS, the company could swiftly identify the key roles needed to keep the business running and act accordingly.

Adapting to market change

Amway was able to adapt to the changing market quickly and absorb new work by being able to access a truly agile external workforce.

Mitigating misclassification risk

Having both temporary labor and services providers in the programme, and under close management, helped Amway mitigate the risk of misclassification in a tough economic climate.