How long does it take to see the benefits of an MSP

When building a business case for an MSP, the organisations we work with often ask how quickly they can expect to see value from a managed service programme. The answer is faster than you may expect.

What does it take to get an MSP off the ground?

When customers begin their MSP journey, the key questions we’re always asked to focus on are around implementation and investment.

• What does it take to get an MSP off the ground?
• How much does it cost?
• What do you need from us as we plan for implementation?
• When will we begin to see results?

In terms of MSP costs, a supplier funded model means that the management costs of the programme are absorbed by the supply chain at no extra cost to your business. When it comes to resource allocation and what we need from your people, this is often less than you at first imagine.

You’ll need to assign a project manager (PM). This will not necessarily have to be an IT specialist: implementing an MSP is not an enterprise resource planning project. The best PM is someone who's already familiar with contingent talent management within your organisation so that they can be a point person to answer questions. This is also good from a budget perspective as it won’t need to be their full-time job.

Timelines vary, but often when businesses are at the stage when they’re beginning to consider the benefits of an MSP, they need to allow time for a Request for Proposal and Implementation. The implementation phase typically lasts between four and six months, depending on the scale of the project. We’ll provide a breakdown of what is expected from internal stakeholders over this period in terms of time. For a PM, this is usually around ten hours per week. For others in the business, it may average an hour a week but be frontloaded or come in phases.

Client readiness matters

It’s worth noting that when it comes to how many hours will be spent on an MSP project internally, client readiness makes a huge difference.

If everyone’s on board and the whole team is ready and raring to go, this paves the way for the implementation team to finish on time and everything could be completed in 14 weeks. You have the data ready to share, you know who your workers are, who your suppliers are, and who your contractors are, and implementation runs smoothly. Don’t panic if you’re not at this stage though – we can help get you there, but it does add time into the project.

On the other hand, implementation projects can be more difficult if a business is not working towards a fixed date, managers are unresponsive, and leadership isn’t sending clear messages to suppliers. The reason we detail all this is because in reality, how quickly you will see results often depends on the level of buy-in you have from the wider company.

Staffing supplier adoption

We’re often asked how staffing supplier adoption impacts the length of time it takes for your business to start seeing benefits. It can take time negotiating contracts – but you can go live without everyone adopting. As long as key partners are invested, it’s possible to launch before all suppliers are able to accept requisitions. Separate training can be offered to stragglers to catch them up when they are ready.

The benefits of a big bang launch: impact vs effort

When an organisation makes the decision to use an MSP, they’ve two choices: start off small and pilot the programme internally to build a business case or go all in and plan for a ‘big bang’ launch across all service lines and locations.

With a ‘big bang’ approach, the programme is designed so it works for all stakeholders: we’ll spend time with partners from lots of different areas of the business, with different labour categories, so we can tailor processes and the feel and functionality of the VMS to suit the company. If we are talking to managers and suppliers who are engaging warehouse operatives, for example, the process may be streamlined to jump straight to background checks.

From a cost perspective, if all the spend comes in at once then we are able to use ‘supplier finder fees’ to support the programme. With phased implementation this amount will be less. If you are running constant implementation cycles, it also takes longer to see the benefits to the business.

A big bang approach means we can deliver great results for you quickly and you can see the full impact and true benefits early on. Managers and stakeholders usually prefer this approach too, as the implementation can be ‘in and out’ in four to six months rather than staying for years.

How long until you see cost benefits?

While you won’t necessarily see all potential cost benefits on the day your MSP programme goes live, you will begin to enjoy advantages immediately.

From day one, you will already have greater visibility than ever before. Assuming you have opted for a big bang approach, your MSP will capture everything which is known about contingent spend within your business. This will be accessible in one place, enabling advanced reporting the likes of which were previously unimaginable.

From launch day, processes for your hiring managers become infinitely easier: they will never again have to pick up the phone and call four of five staffing suppliers. One simple online requisition and the work is done.

The approval process also becomes much slicker, while making spend compliant and eliminating rogue spend. Compliance is also managed by the MSP from day one. And a standardised rate card means the cost benefit is quickly felt.

Full cost savings will become apparent in six to 12 months. From launch, we recommend a stabilisation period of six months. At this point we take a snapshot and recommend that is used as a baseline for improvements in areas such as cost, time to fill, and participation of staffing suppliers. From here we can create KPIs and move into a different phase where we are really firing on all cylinders.

Let’s build your solution together

When it comes to building an MSP which delivers results quickly, there is no ‘one size fits all’. Here at Guidant Global we like to do things in a better way and there is no such thing as a standard build. We listen to our clients’ goals, get to know the culture of the business, and develop a solution in partnership.

Remember, the sooner a programme is up and running, the sooner you’ll see the value.