Managed Service Program (MSP) was first used over 15 years ago as a vehicle for organizations to outsource their operations and bring visibility to spend with a focus on consolidating costs.
Our self-service, on-demand, technology-driven world brings us speed, efficiency and enhances our experience. Our expectations have changed, yet many organizations are still purchasing services the same way they did 15 years ago.
The rapid rate of change will see our world evolve more in the next 5 years than it has in the last 20. It might be time to ask – what value can we bring to a business if we are merely managing a service for them and cutting costs where we can?
“We put a big focus on attracting talented people who are willing to take on the hardest problems — the ones with a spirit to innovate like crazy and popularize our technologies.”
– Pat Gelsinger, VMWare
(currently ranked #1 CEO among U.S. large companies)
Create Experiences or Get Left Behind
Jobs as we know them today are dying. The talent evolution means candidates are charting their own course now more than ever – according to a recent report from HRDive, 60% of the workforce will be considered independent professionals by 2027.
My conversations with C-Suite business leaders are shifting to focus more on “What business objectives are you trying to accomplish in the next 2-5 years and how will talent get you there?”. Whether I’m speaking with a large multinational bank looking to digitally innovate their customer-facing applications, or a consumer goods company that is automating much of their sales and distribution processes, one thing is common. They all need talent to power their evolution.
“Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization.”
– Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet
To enhance the experience of their colleagues by giving them an opportunity to learn new skills and solve new problems, Google’s gTech team created an internal job marketplace with a focus on fostering talent development and supporting strategy shifts. The marketplace has allowed its workforce to participate in employee and manager driven job matching based on skills, preference and a Gale-Shapley Deferred Acceptance Algorithm. On top of enhancing their talent’s experience, the marketplace has also allowed Google as an organization to drive strategic initiatives by leveraging their existing talent and reducing the need to look at the external market to find talent.
Organizations don’t need candidates to fill jobs, they need individuals who can drive their organization and its objectives forward with necessary output. The leaders I speak with aren’t motivated by the status of full-time hire, contractor or freelancer, the skills are needed and the avenue they arrive from is no longer important, talent is talent.
All of the RFPs we have seen for Managed Services the past 5+ years have all had an element of cost savings, but the increasing trend in the recent past has seen a shift to more (70-80%) having an element of value-add services as central to their choice of partner. This is a clear sign that organizations know the value talent brings, but just getting it fast and cheap is not enough.
“People allocation is as powerful as financial allocation.”
-Greg Case, CEO of Aon
If talent isn’t placed at the forefront of an organization’s current business strategy, they’re doing it wrong and will die along with the jobs of yesterday.
MSP: Time to Level Up
Gen 1 MSP’s were all about speed and volume of contractor placements. Gen 2 MSP’s are now focused on compliance, visibility and streamlined supply chains, while also integrating other legal forms of talent. We can easily replace speed, volume, visibility, and streamlined processes with technology. The MSP of the future will deliver enhanced experience and produce enhanced value.
I see 5 elements of the future MSPs value proposition to drive experience:
Technology- underpins the experience of candidates and talent leaders in an organization. On average, businesses use up to 24 recruiting technologies to help improve their hiring process – this is clearly an area for our expertise and consulting to ensure a positive experience for all stakeholders.
Advanced Analytics– MSPs are traditionally associated with providing visibility of the existing workforce. However, in a talent short market where skills are rapidly evolving, we have to lead with future forward data which is actionable. Utilising advanced data models and BI we can advise and lead customers with a view to workforce trends, their own talent and that of the external market. Combining this view of all talent together creates a powerful experience enhancement for customers and talent alike.
Supply Chain- has a direct experience impact to an outsourced program. We must build supply chains comprised of top suppliers that invest and bring value to our programs and our clients – enhancing not only the candidate experience, but the experience of the overall program and its stakeholders. We add no value if we just tap into the same supply chain that every other talent provider is tapping into. The introduction of technology platforms into the supply chain (think gig platforms, freelance communities) will completely change the traditional supply chain and will add additional avenues to talent for our clients. The contingent value proposition must be defined and driven by our supplier ecosystem.
Upskilling/Reskilling- The talent needed tomorrow is not the talent in organizations today, yet only 3% of companies plan to increase skills investments in the next 3 years. We need to show the benefits and outcomes of an engaged workforce enhancing new skills. Leveraging our ecosystem and partners like General Assembly or our supply chain to upskill talent coming into an organization, but also upskill and reskill the talent the organization already has.
Consult from the Front- The talent industry of today will not keep up with the way of working tomorrow. We have to lead by example, becoming the advisors to our clients that help them navigate the ever-changing world of talent. Identifying risk areas in their talent programs, co-designing solutions with them in Sprints and Design Thinking sessions, and constantly evolving and streamlining the way we run a talent program with expertise of LEAN Six Sigma methodologies.
Experience – Outsourced
Managed Services have now become Outsourced Experience. Experience is the new disruption. Technology and speed alone are not enough. The new generation of talent is evolving the new generation of businesses. Expectations are evolving. Candidates expect to be more than just a number- temp is no longer a bad word. All talent is central to an organization and experience is central to them. We have to be the driver of this evolution by having an experience-centered talent solution that will lead us and our clients ahead of the rapid changes in the market. This is the next generation of MSP.
