3 simple reasons why an MSP should configure your VMS

With more employers looking to reduce the cost of their contingent workforce, many are turning to technology to better monitor and manage flexible talent pools and the suppliers that deploy these workers. A Vendor Management System (VMS) is often the natural solution to this problem.

VMS software facilitates the procurement and management of contingent workers, providing the data and automation needed to get maximum value from an increasingly flexible worker population. But while a VMS may have all the ‘bells and whistles’ on paper, configuring it correctly for your business and its supply chain is no easy task.

In this article, we make the case for avoiding a DIY approach to configuring your VMS and getting a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to handle it for you instead.

MSP responsibilities

Before we delve into the reasons why you should avoid configuring your VMS yourself, it’s important to stress that an MSP can do so much more than simply configure your VMS. An MSP will also take responsibility for:

Full supply chain management
Contingent workforce data collection
Compliance review
HR systems integration
Change management

Read our blog on the differences between and MSP and VMS for more information on what to expect from each solution.

Here are the main reasons why you should avoid a DIY approach to VMS integration and utilise the knowledge and experience of an MSP instead.

Making informed decisions

There’s a wealth of VMS technology on the market for employers of all shapes and sizes. The challenge, though, is knowing which one is right for your company. For example, a solution may have creative tech integrations built in, but are they really necessary? Or is this an additional cost that you could do without?

Equally, it’s important that any VMS solution is adapted to suit your company, its existing systems and those used by its supply chain. Taking a solution that works for one business and shoe-horning it into your systems will create extra work and will likely impact not only the success of the VMS configuration, but also the timescale for roll-out.

This is where an MSP can add real value. They will have extensive experience of working with VMS providers and integrating VMS solutions across multiple businesses - and will know what is and isn’t feasible when it comes to fully optimizing a VMS to drive strategic business value.

Utilising the knowledge and prior experience of an expert

No one business unit can be the source of all workforce knowledge. Just as HR and procurement teams would utilise the expertise of employment lawyers before amending or reviewing contracts and health and safety experts when setting up an office in a new location, so too should these teams use the knowledge of an MSP.

As the old adage goes, ‘you don’t know what you don’t know.’ If VMS integration is new for you or your firm, it’s difficult to know what questions to ask. As a result, you may get a solution that can provide an element of what you need, but doesn’t really meet the true requirements of the business. Or perhaps, you have the internal expertise to configure the VMS for your current needs, but not to ensure the configuration is scalable to include other geographies and business units.

An MSP will bring years’ of experience in configuring Vendor Management Systems in other businesses, seeing what works well in specific situations, to make recommendations for yours. This knowledge is crucial to getting a programme that provides real value.