Our client, a technology-based ridesharing platform, financial services and food delivery company was eager to bring in an MSP to support their extended workforce program that consisted of all of the client’s non-employed workers. This client was growing quickly and needed a partner that could co-build a solution to find the best talent at competitive rates whilst complying with regulatory framework in different countries. Both Pontoon and the client were committed to building a completely custom and fully integrated solution with executive sponsorship on both sides. This client was especially interested in being involved in the design and build of the program and offered insight to ensure successful adoption from hiring manager stakeholders to the candidates that they hired. Pontoon’s implementation team included experts that had deep knowledge in hiring across locations throughout Asia-Pacific, previous experience implementing first-generation MSPs programs and working with technology clients.
Branding
From the initial launch of the MSP relationship, the program operated under newly created branding that was unique and specific to this initiative. By using a name, look and feel that was independent of Pontoon and the client’s brand, the initiative has its own recognisable identity that made it immediately get the attention of our customer stakeholders. The program was given a name, logo, and branding look and feel that was rolled out through a video message that Pontoon co-built with our customer. Creating this independent brand set this initiative apart from other projects and implementations the customer was rolling out thus the curiosity and buy-in of executives and other senior stakeholders.
Change management
Change Champions were fixtures within each team that were delegated to be subject matter experts that the teams could use as resources for all program-related inquiries. The role of a Change Champion included:
Training
Training sessions were held for people managers, change champions, support staff and key stakeholders. A variety of training sessions were held from recorded-live sessions to platform-specific trainings and all were then housed in the microsite for easy access and quick reference. Specific training sessions were held for each stakeholder group from hiring managers to suppliers to change champions and executive stakeholders.
Microsite and other technologies
A microsite was built that housed all information, training guides, communication archives and marketing materials that would be a one-stop-shop for everything associated with the new program. This served as a main repository for the business to see up-to-date information on the status of the rollout, best practices for hiring through the program and regularly updated training modules for continuous education. The microsite was established on an internal platform for all client users to be able to access and acted as the starting point for new stakeholders to get familiar with the program benefits and instructions on how to hire through the program. Through the microsite, users could access all necessary tools and additional platforms where they would complete tasks like approving and posting new reqs and timesheet/ expense approvals. Other tools like Slack were used to communicate and answer inquires through a dedicated Q&A portal where stakeholders could submit questions and participate in drop-in sessions to ask any questions they had pertaining to the program and get hands-on guidance from the implementation team. 
With continuous feedback from stakeholders and executives was crucial to building a program that would be successful for this client. The program implementation team administered a series of surveys throughout the process to ensure the customer understands the value that would be delivered and fulfilment on expectations of the MSP. The survey offers a scale of 1 – 4. 1 represented a poor experience and 4 represented a great experience. 68% of stakeholders answer 4 out of 4 when asked if they understood the objectives of the MSP program as a direct result of implementation efforts. The remaining 32% ranked 3 out of 4. No stakeholders ranked 1 or 2 on the scale of 4. When stakeholders were asked if they understood the value of the change the MSP would bring, 73% ranked 4/4 and 21% gave a 3 out of 4 rankings. These types of surveys will continue to be administered throughout the first year of the programs relationship to ensure stakeholders are satisfied with their experience and will be promoters to other users in the business.
