• 3 min read

Investment Banker Gains Visibility into the Talent Supply Chain and Reporting & Analytics Capabilities

Client Profile: An investment manager that provides its services to individuals, institutional investors, retirement plans, financial intermediaries, and institutions

Challenge

In early 2018, our client chose Simplify VMS to provide reporting and analytics capabilities into their contingent labor management program. Prior to onboarding Simplify VMS, the client’s HR managers experienced several challenges with managing their contingent workforce, including:

  • They didn’t have reporting and analytics capabilities over their contingent workforce; they were unable to calculate the return on investment (ROI) per statement of work (SOW) project

  • They didn’t have one centralized process to manage their contingent workforce; creating challenges around determining the absolute value and strategic value of their non-employee workforce

  • They didn’t have visibility into their talent suppliers’ pricing and markups; supplier base opacity often resulted in higher costs to onboard contingent labor resources, which reduced the program’s ROI

  • They did not have an existing vendor management system (VMS) and so they needed support to setup the tool

Through a competitive RFP bid process, the client decided to go with Simplify VMS for its robust reporting & analytics capabilities.

“We needed to show strategic value (i. e., ROI) to the executive team and needed a VMS tool with a robust and flexible reporting &analytics module to help us do this. Simplify’s been incredibly helpful not only in configuring the tool to meet our needs, but also in showing us best practices in creating reports from which we can drive the program’s ROI. We plan on doubling spend through the tool because of the outstanding results we’ve been able to generate.” 

Solution

By onboarding Simplify VMS, the client was able to setup their VMS of choice and centralize their contingent workforce data stream into one channel in five weeks. From this channel, hiring managers were able to pull workforce reports in real-time and develop customized analytics reports, which helped them determine the ROI for each of their internal projects. Additionally, by having visibility into their supplier base, managers were able to further drive ROI from the tool as the client was able to streamline their supplier strategy and acquire higher-quality resources.

Another major benefit of funneling their contingent labor data (e.g., invoices, timesheets, requisitions, etc.) through one tool was the creation of a single channel of information that program stakeholders could leverage for a variety of uses. Specifically, this channel was used to create a program return benchmark from which talent acquisition and procurement managers could evaluate their teams. This ultimately led to a reduction in non-strategic program spend and greater value achieved from their contingent workforce program.

Result

By having robust reporting & analytics capabilities, the client was able to create hundreds of automated reports and associated workflow notifications which helped them drive enormous value from their non-employee labor force. The client sponsor was also able to rationalize their supplier base, source new suppliers, and significantly reduce their administrative workload.

Overall, program managers were able to create measurable metrics for HR and procurement to use, and drive significant data-driven processes through the program. As a result, the client reduced their non-employee spend by $220k in the first year of the program, and program stakeholders expect this number to double in 2019.