[Publisher’s note: Our original plan for today was to publish an article focused on the “larger” themes and announcements at Aribe LIVE, but with SAP’s announcement on Wednesday to acquire Fieldglass, contingent workforce is looming large. Read Chris’ great analysis of the deal here]

The Ardent Partners analyst team recently attended this year’s edition of the annual Ariba LIVE 2014 event, which drew over 2,200 executives from around the world to Las Vegas for 2+days of spend management insights, best practices and other exciting aspects (read Andrew’s coverage of one keynote Deutsche Bank’s “No Budget, No PO, No Pay” Plan).

One very interesting attribute of this year’s event represented a sharp shift in the way that companies think about contingent workforce management: acceptance of the fact that, for most enterprises, contingent labor (and all of its forms) remains an overlooked opportunity to drive true organizational value. To address this notion, I spoke to a packed room (seriously, standing room only!) of professionals about what they can do to tackle the complexities of this spend category.

Since it is the subject of my longtime focus, I enjoy the opportunity to speak to business professionals about this topic, and the Ariba LIVE session was particularly engaging in the sense that it showed that enterprises are truly concerned about the missed opportunities that abound in mismanaging or ignoring the contingent workforce category. The range of comments and questions from my session represented specific issues and concerns, such as:

• Procurement executives are truly concerned about how to collaborate with human resources. Some attendees presented an interesting quandary: “How do we bridge the gap between our group and HR?” It’s a loaded question that has many answers. One of my comments revolved around the notion of value. If both groups understand the value of convergence (visibility into total talent is one example), it can help bring the two units closer together.
• The technological landscape in the CWM world can be confusing to those enterprises that are just realizing this opportunity. What is the best solution for managing traditional temporary labor? What value does human capital technology have in this arena? Can spend management software help manage SOW-based projects and services? Do VMS platforms provide true contingent workforce spend / supplier intelligence? Contingent workforce management is perhaps the most multifaceted spend category today, and enterprises who are just embarking on the CWM journey must enact due diligence in the variety of technology options available today.
• There is inherent value in procurement’s vast expertise in managing complex contingent labor. Many of the questions during my session at AribaLIVE were asked by procurement executives who wondered what they could do to improve their company’s management of contract talent. As we recently wrote, procurement’s influence is heavily-felt in the contingent workforce world; the very capabilities that are required to manage complex contingent labor (services, SOW-based labor, projects, etc.) are ingrained in the procurement professional’s existing arsenal, particularly supplier management and strategic sourcing (not to mention an intelligent eye for Big Data and other analytical capabilities).

It is clear that procurement’s ability to manage and influence contingent workforce programs by leveraging its unique expertise will be an important attribute of leading departments in the future.

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