Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/135744
MSP Helping to remove a "one-size-fits-all" mentality within the MSP will give hiring managers the comfort level they require and allow for broader adoption of the program within their respective categories. you must work with the hiring managers to educate them on the importance of working with the system rather than working around the system. Communicate Clearly While the ultimate goal of MSP and supplier are identical—to provide you with the right contingent employee in the right place, at the right time, and for the right value—it is important for you to communicate clearly with your suppliers. Doing so will help you engage them as allies to ensure that your specific goals are met. For many hiring managers, it's difficult to determine the most effective use of in-house employees, independent contractors, freelancers, and staffing firm employees. Additionally, the use of a contingent workforce is still a new business approach in many departments. Many hiring managers tend to think in terms of adding internal staff or using their own network of independent contractors, rather than identifying ways to harness the power of a contingent workforce. Suppliers are very sensitive to the fact that, despite the many benefits of implementing a vendor management system (VMS) or MSP, hiring is still a human process. They'd like to avoid dehumanizing it as much as possible. End users should clearly articulate the job requirements (such as technical skills required) to suppliers; this will help ensure that the scope of services is correctly aligned in the MSP tool. Ultimately, it is key to train hiring managers across your organization to ask the following questions: • How much control do you want to have over the daily work? • How much do you need to be able to scale up and down with changes in your business? Taking another example from today's digital creative world, many marketing and creative departments have mobile app developers, front end developers and user experience designers on their teams. However, these roles are often miscategorized in the vendor management tool into IT categories or other program categories that are not open to creative suppliers (thus limiting the most qualified suppliers' ability to assist in fulfilling those requirements). Figure 2, below, shows how some of these job types actually fall into several crossover departments. Discovering the answers to these questions can help hiring managers better assess how to allocate the resources available to them. Specifically, as more hiring managers begin to understand that they can shift spend away from freelancers or independent contractors to a highly scalable, flexible, and expert workforce that can work on mission-critical projects, adoption of the program will most certainly increase. To address these crossover areas, consider creating a separate category within the system to allow for special visibility. Working with your suppliers to create new processes such as these will mean that open requirements will get filled quickly—a key for anyone using an MSP. Implementing a VMS/MSP in your organization has many benefits, but in the end, broad cross-department adoption of the program is the key to its success. If you cultivate trust between suppliers and MSPs, clearly communicate with your suppliers, and train and develop your internal teams, you can help build a successful MSP relationship. Train and Develop HR professionals are experts at coaching and developing employees. Ultimately, for an MSP program to succeed in your organization, Paul Petersen is vice president of MSP channel partnerships with Aquent Figure 2 Job Type Responsibility Crossover Departments Mobile App Developers Understand the complex requirements of developing for a wide variety of platforms and screen sizes to make sure end users have an exceptional experience with their favorite mobile apps. Creative, Development/Engineering, IT, Marketing Operations, Product Groups, Product Marketing, Research and Development User Experience (UX) Designers Generate interactive experiences to satisfy even the most specific of audiences. They know the importance of putting yourself in the shoes of a user, and know exactly how to take an interactive project from soup (user analysis) to nuts (personas, site maps, taxonomies, and wireframes). Creative, Development/ Engineering, IT, Marketing Operations Product Groups, Product Marketing, Research and Development, and User Experience Front End Developers Use the latest web development standards and solid handson technical skills to create sites that function properly across a variety of browsers and platforms. They share a brain with Quality Control to ensure flawless execution. Creative, Development/ Engineering, IT, Marketing Operations, Product Marketing, Product Groups, Research and Development, and User Experience MAY 2013 | www.hrotoday.com [47]