Powering Up Program Performance

Meeting Missions: Rebooting a Tech Leader’s Contingent Workforce Program

Providing an excellent user experience is key to user adoption and engagement – and a successful partnership. Customer service is especially important when your client had a previous poor experience with another managed service provider (MSP). This was the case when an international software company returned to Allegis Global Solutions (AGS) after briefly engaging another MSP. The client sought to partner again with AGS in hopes that we could reinstall trust in the program and deliver results.

With this in mind, the AGS team conducted a thorough current-state analysis of the client’s contingent workforce program and found several critical challenges that needed to be addressed in order to revive the program, such as:

• Low confidence in the program due to previous provider’s ineffective management and poor customer experience
• Inconsistency in the hiring manager, supplier and worker experience, causing program adoption to fall from a high of 50% to 30%
• Decreased diversity spend, as the interim program was ill-equipped to support the client’s diverse spending goals
• Excessive average bill rates and lengthy time-to-fill rates
• Minimal access to self-service analytics, hindering decision-making, complicating goal alignment and further frustrating users

In addition to these challenges, the analysis revealed that the client had very limited visibility of their contingent workforce, despite the fact that they engage a significant global population of external workers. Without this critical information, the client utilized inconsistent and costly buying practices. Overall, the incumbent MSP program had become cumbersome and unsatisfactory. It was critical that AGS deliver a top-notch user experience to improve adoption and visibility for the client.

Taking Action: Delivering a Program Upgrade

Reestablishing trust – while simultaneously driving changes that yield quick results – was crucial. Together, AGS and our client worked to define their key priorities and establish a vision for the future. We introduced plans for greater governance of the program, setting specific milestones and detailing a project plan that prioritized change management.

Next, we needed to revitalize the program’s brand internally to repair the reputational damage from the previous provider. This included a new brand identity and a revamped intranet page for the program, which centralized promotional videos and educational materials to support hiring managers. By creating a “one-stop shop for staff augmentation” and remaining transparent with plans and training, we began to rebuild trust in the program. Furthering this effort, we held brown bag sessions and strategic meetings with business partners and leaders to not only highlight how easy the program was to use, but the value it could deliver in terms of strategic sourcing, cost savings, compliance and wider supplier networks. Pre-mandate, these efforts fostered voluntary adoption by various business groups -- increasing program adoption from 30% to 49% in less than a year.

Data was to be our guide in driving stakeholder education, informed decision-making and transparency in each step forward. We used an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to make informed estimates on staff augmentation spend and activity. We developed streamlined, self-service dashboards through our Acumen^® Intelligent Workforce Platform, empowering stakeholders with near real-time insights to enable informed decision-making and strategic planning. Connecting this access to data helped drive better buying behaviors, cost reductions and other key metrics such as time-to-fill.

Every action was geared towards designing a better user experience to increase adoption and build momentum towards a program mandate, which we believed was necessary for driving comprehensive strategic change across the client’s complex and global staff augmentation portfolio.

Delivering Impact: Providing Sustainable High-Level User Experience

Through a focus on overperforming, driving exceptional delivery and a personalized high-touch experience for both managers and suppliers, we secured the program mandate. With an expedited implementation that required intense commitment to operational and supplier readiness, the global mandate was in place in just six weeks – skyrocketing program adoption to 80% globally.

The results have demonstrated a widespread impact:

Cost Savings

Our efforts improved compliance and fostered a more competitive sourcing environment, which increased from 50% to 90% globally and maintained time-to-fill ratios. In less than a year of the program mandate, we reduced average bill rates from 123% to 92% of the maximum bill rate, leading to $9 million in savings. More competitive buying practices led to a further $2 million in cost savings through renegotiations.

Transparency and Governance

AGS empowered our client’s users with real-time access to vital data through more than 20 easy-to-use self-service dashboards, featuring up-to-date data with advanced filters for comprehensive, near-instant analytics. These tools are crucial in making informed forecasts and trend predictions that continue to optimize the program with greater visibility and consistency in contingent workforce management.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Developing a program that encouraged competitive sourcing and access to analytics also positively impacted the client’s DEI goals. Creating room for a more competitive supplier system amplified opportunities for small and diverse suppliers while fostering inclusivity and more competitive rates. In addition, access to data via our dashboards provided users with the information they needed to make decisions that aligned with the company’s DEI goals.

With the program properly aligned to the client’s goals and an optimized user experience, AGS is committed to continuously improving and growing the program through additional initiatives, such as a misclassification exercise, expanding the direct sourcing program to more regions and additional skill sets, enhancing diverse supplier tracking and reporting capabilities, optimizing remote sourcing strategies and policies, and exploring new ways to leverage AI and machine learning for enhanced productivity.

Overall, we have restored confidence in the program by delivering excellent customer service, leveraging data with precision and aligning decision-making with broader business objectives. We have transformed the client’s contingent workforce program to deliver substantial value and make a profound impact on the client’s users, leaders, suppliers and profitability.