The MSP Buying Journey – Made Easy

With the ‘New Normal’ setting in, procurement leaders across Asia are ready to move forward in the buying cycle as it relates to their contingent workforce.

Filling seats has become an unwinnable game

The race to fill seats – or the old game, as we like to call it – does not enable organisations to achieve their business outcomes. Instead, leaders are now more motivated than ever to align their business strategies with their talent strategies. Procurement leaders, especially in Asia, need to be further armed with all the information required to decide on an MSP partner to manage their contingent talent programs.

Is an MSP right for you?

This is answered through an internal buying journey that companies must consider. This vital process starts with Gap Identification, Solution Probe and Requirement Building – as detailed below.

Each step requires discovery to help you arrive at the best solution for your organisation:

• Gap Identification: Identify the problem in your organization and agree that a solution is needed.

Mapping out and identifying problems in the current state is a daunting mission. It unveils and forces stakeholders and buyers to look at the harder questions. Here’s a checklist for identifying your business challenges:

• Do I have visibility over all of my organisation’s “Non-Employed Workers” (NEWs)?
  • Have I defined and categorized my organization’s NEWs correctly and is everyone aware of these definitions?
  • Do I know if all of my organisation’s NEWs are vetted, compliant and governed by one standard across business units / regions?
  • Have I thought about co-employment risk mitigation for my organisation?
  • Has my organisation stretched ourselves where it relates to cost-savings of contingent workforce talent strategy, without compromising on efficiencies and business outcomes?
  • Do I have a mid-to-long-term plan on supplier base management and optimisation?
  • Are there market-driven rates cards in place across job functions & titles?
  • Do I have intuitive reporting and benchmarking to guide future contingent workforce planning?

• Solution Probe: Are there solutions out in the market to solve our problem? Is the answer an MSP? Who are the key decision-makers, influencers and operators that should be involved?

• Requirements Building: What do we exactly require the purchase to achieve?

• Selection: Does this do what we want it to do?

• Validation: Are we sure that this is the best answer to the solution?

• Buying Decision: Has everyone involved come to a consensus?

Check back for more on how to scope out solutions in the Asia Pacific market that will address your organisational problem statement.