why should I add statement of work to my recruitment service?

Statement of Work (SOW) solutions and outsourced business services have long been used to deliver expertise rapidly, to typically non-core business operations and projects.  Under a Statement of Work, business leaders can acquire services that augment their current expertise and, increasingly, SOW arrangements are being leveraged by organisations as part of a robust, agile contingent workforce strategy. 

However, the engagement of SOW services has typically been controlled at a tactical level, with no standardised process, technology or cost control mechanisms across the enterprise. This has led to uncontrolled spending, compliance risks and inefficiencies across the buying process. So much so that 85% of all professionals within contingent workforce management plan to prioritise the control of SOW spend in 2020 and beyond.

Including your SOW offering as part of a managed service comes with some huge benefits which we will explore below. At Randstad, we wish to leverage our global experience of implementing complex SOW solutions as part of a Managed Service, in order to help you build a compelling case for change within your organisation.

Visibility.

Including Statement of Work solutions as part of your Managed Service Provider offering (MSP) gives your organisation a single source of spend, performance and deliverables related data. It is from this position of strength that organisations can start to build one single view of all of their entire contingent workforce population. From supplier performance metrics and contract management data, to invoicing and payment information, adding SOW to your MSP is a crucial first step in understanding what needs to be done and how.

Cost.

When you consider that SOW spend is typically 65% of all contingent labour spend (which is largely hidden), understanding and controlling it represents an enormous opportunity to cut costs. So-called “maverick spending” can only be controlled if you know where it is happening. Having your SOW solution under the umbrella of your MSP, empowers you to optimise spend across the entire buying lifecycle. From requisition and SOW automation, through to engaging suppliers, tracking deliverables and invoicing and payment, double digit savings are more than achievable in year one.

Compliance.

With new legislation like IR35 and GDPR impacting organisations, ensuring your workforce (on and off payroll) is compliant and classified correctly is now mandatory not only for legal, but also for commercial reasons. Delays in onboarding service suppliers due to misclassification for example can lead to both legal problems and commercial disruption. Adding SOW to your MSP ensures the correct governance and controls to prevent these things from happening.

Efficiency.

We all know how easy it is for employees to use the  “familiar” supplier, who has delivered for them before. But if we don’t have a structured framework against which we assess the effectiveness of our suppliers, then how can we be certain that we are acquiring the best possible capabilities, at the best price point? Including your SOW services as part of your MSP ensures suppliers are held to account, and encourages a culture of efficiency across not just spend, but all stages of the buying lifecycle. Across sourcing, acquiring and maintaining supplier relationships, adding SOW to your MSP makes it easier to identify and improve inefficiencies.

Need expert help? Request your free SoW audit now:

The SOW buying process; where are you today?

At every stage of the services buying lifecycle, we can help establish or improve control.  Our modular solution empowers organisations to pick and choose where they most need help, in order to simplify implementation and speed up the process of delivering return on investment to the business.

 

• Visibility: The first step to improving your SOW buying process. We can work with you to build SOW usage heat maps, invoice analysis, demand forecasting and potential cost saving models to help you build a compelling case for growth within your organisation.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: How quickly can you access all of your contingent workforce data covering spend, performance and compliance? 
  
   
• Requisition: We help to standardise the requisition process, automate SOW creation and leverage technology such as natural language processing to guide the buyer through the process.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: Do you have a standardised way of creating SOW’s and requesting services across your organisation?
  
   
• Supplier Onboarding: We can manage or advise on supplier selection, negotiation excellence and Rate Card design to maximise the value you get from your suppliers.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: How are you optimising the value for money you get from your suppliers?
  
   
• Contract Management: A centralised module for contract management, automation and amendments ensures everyone remains on the same page throughout the buying lifecycle.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: Are you managing contracts in such a way that is easily accessible, amendable and transparent for all involved?
  
   
• Project Setup: We codify the SOW into a standardised format to optimise accountability of suppliers and side by side analysis of enterprise wide projects.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: Do you know how many SOW projects are running right now, and which ones are performing best?
  
   
• Supplier Performance: We track and approve deliverables, performance and ROI to maximise service value and optimise supplier selection process.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: who are your top performing service providers, and how did you get to that conclusion? 
  
   
• Invoicing and Payment: We manage and consolidate invoicing and payment information all in one place. 
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: Can you tell which areas of the organisation rely most heavily on service providers?
  
   
• Insight and Analytics: Using our insight, automation and analytics we help you uncover and understand opportunities to improve on the cost, time and effectiveness of your SOW delivery model.
  
  
  
  Ask yourself: Are you in a position to be able to identify and exploit opportunities for improvement?

Why choose Randstad to help you gain control of your SOW buying process?

Randstad’s SOW solution improves visibility, oversight and control of the SOW buying process. With over 1000 managed service programmes across the globe, we have the experience and expertise to assist you with this change every step of the way.

We know that the biggest barrier to successfully integrating your SOW into your MSP, is the complexity of the change management process (resistance to change, legacy technology and embedded ways of working to name a few challenges). This is why we have designed our SOW solution to seamlessly integrate with your MSP, according to three guiding principles:

Data Driven Decisions: For accountability, insight and transparency.

Be it transaction led invoice analytics, supplier capability modelling or resource demand forecasting, we let the data lead the way. Our goal is to empower you and your organisation to understand and leverage key SOW performance metrics to create an approach and delivery model bespoke to you.

Digital Delivery Mechanism: For speed of delivery, value and ease of access.

Using cutting edge mobile and desktop technology solutions, we put the user experience, transparency and accountability of our solution at the heart of our offering. Our guiding principles of “tech and touch” ensure a human first SOW solution, supported by cutting edge technology such as automation, machine learning and cloud based delivery models.

Modular Methodology: For agility, a personalised approach and simple implementation.

We have designed our SOW solution to fit around the needs of your organisation, not ours. This means you can pick and choose elements of our solution that you need the most to ensure the fastest possible route to a tangible return on investment. 

What can we do to add value for you now?

To help you through this tricky first step, we offer a free audit and analysis of all, or part of your organisation's SOW landscape. Our specialist cost modelling team will be able to bring to life the potential savings to be made, whilst our workforce tracking technology will offer you visibility and confidence in where your off payroll labour sits, and how they are classified.

For more information, get in touch with Ben Brierley, SOW Channel Director on the details below.