Welcome to the first article in a series that will examine which internal unit owns responsibility for the vast array of intricate attributes of contemporary contingent workforce management. Today’s article will focus on the procurement group and the value that they can and should be actively bringing to the CWM table.

Readers of CPO Rising, both old and new, know that the value of collaboration is a frequent topic on these pages. Often enough, the many processes within the average enterprise require not just the expertise of one division, but collaboration with other units to drive value, visibility and efficiency across a series of corporate processes. Of course, I’m no stranger to the discussion about collaboration; back when I first joined Ardent, I wrote about the value of procurement principles and processes on contingent workforce management programs.

The State of Contingent Workforce Management research study, Ardent’s landmark and groundbreaking report about the evolution of contract talent, has dug a bit deeper into the core of CWM to find which internal units hold the main responsibility for specific attributes of this category. In several key aspects of the contemporary contingent workforce management program, procurement holds the main responsibility for everyday operations, including:

• Management of complex contingent labor, which includes SOW-based projects and services. The State of Contingent Workforce Management study’s CWM Framework details the various capabilities that are required to effectively manage this category of contingent labor…and all are founded in the principles of supplier management, sourcing and procurement. Thus, it is no wonder that the CPO and its team are leading the charge for managing complex contingent labor.
• Relationships with outside vendors (including services). Again, as with the item above, one extension of procurement’s expertise is handling outside services and vendors. With professional and non-professional services encompassing a large portion of the current contingent workforce, it is imperative that the procurement team manages these relationships due to their versatility in handling suppliers and vendors of all types. And, as this component (complex contingent labor) continues to rise in prominence, combined with the intricate SOWs and other agreements tied to these services, procurement is the ideal companion for controlling these relationships.
• Main Vendor Management System (VMS) controls. When it comes to running reports, handling integration between key systems (related to CWM), or deep-diving into analytics, procurement is the group that holds the main responsibility for these arms of VMS technology. These controls are very similar to e-procurement, sourcing and spend analytics technology, allowing procurement to apply their expertise in those areas to the contingent workforce world…which would explain why, besides a collaborative partner in human resources, procurement is often leading the charge in managing contemporary contract talent. As stated in the above bullet, with complex contingent labor often encompassing significant enterprise attention, it is important that VMS tools and greater supplier management capabilities are honed in such a way to mitigate risks, improve contingent workforce spend management and gain clear visibility into projects, agreements, services and suppliers.

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Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Chief Procurement Officer, Christopher Dwyer, Collaboration, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, CPO, People, Technology