What is VMS Technology, and Why do You Need It?

Did you know that almost every single company relies on the contingent workforce to some extent?

That’s according to a study from The Economist, which found contingent workers made up more than a fifth of the workforce at over half (58 percent) of the businesses it surveyed - with the remaining businesses relying on non-employee workers to some extent. 

The study also found that the number of contingent workers is set for continued growth, with 60 percent of top bosses expecting the use of non-employee workers to increase over the next five years.

Flexibility and cost savings were seen as the biggest benefits to the use of non-employee workers, yet many companies confessed that they are still failing to implement an approach that can centralize how they manage their temporary workforce. 

That's where VMS technology comes in. 

There’s no doubt about it, managing a non-employee workforce is incredibly complex. To manage contingent workers correctly, it’s absolutely essential that your organization gets rid of those time-consuming and error-prone Excel spreadsheets, and uses a vendor management system (VMS) to centralize data instead.

First of all, here’s why you can’t rely on an Excel spreadsheet to manage your temporary workforce

The management of temporary workers comes with thousands of data points. Without a centralized approach across your entire organization, your business will end up overpaying staffing vendors, lack visibility into its non-employee workforce, and wasting time on inefficient processes.

Unfortunately, if you think an Excel spreadsheet is saving your company from these issues - you’re probably wrong. For more information, check out our blog on the 5 Dangers of Using Manual Spreadsheets to Manage Staffing Vendors. 

Here’s a couple of reasons why a spreadsheet isn’t doing the job:

There’s just too much manual work: Whether your company has 10 non-employee workers or 1,000, managing a contingent workforce results in thousands of data points for your business. You have to manage multiple vendors and you have to manage tens, hundreds or thousands of non-employee workers. Without complete visibility into each step of the vendor/worker journey, how will your company ever know if its overpaying non-employee workers or missing out on optimizing processes? 

It leaves your business at risk of human error: Manually typing data into an Excel spreadsheet leaves huge room for error. Keeping up with so many data entries and relationships is virtually impossible through manual processes, meaning those managing your non-employee workforce will likely miss adding crucial data or make mistakes. There’s no way you can successfully manage a non-employee workforce and save money, when you're using outdated or inaccurate information. 

To avoid these risks, it's essential that your company manages its contingent workforce with VMS technology.  

What is a VMS technology? 

VMS technology is a powerful software solution, which is typically web or cloud-based, that enables your company to better, and more strategically, manage its contingent workforce management program. 

VMS technology automates and centralizes all contingent workforce management processes in one software solution, including engaging staffing agencies, sourcing top talent, onboarding contingent workers, time entry and approval, invoicing and so much more. 

VMS technology will give your business unique insights into how your contingent workforce management program is performing, so that you can make better vendor and hiring decisions in the future. 

Why does your business need VMS technology?

By storing data from every step of your non-employee hiring and management process in one centralized location, your business will realize a huge range of benefits from the implementation of VMS technology. These include:

1. Time savings through more efficient operational processes.
2. Significant money savings through increased visibility into your workforce and vendor relationships.
3. Visibility into worker classification.
4. Reporting and analytics that enable fact based decision on improving strategy.
5. The complete automation of all data points associated with your non-employee workforce.
6. Consolidate your vendors into one centralized location.

Want to learn more about how your business can benefit from the implementation of VMS technology? Contact Conexis VMS today. We have built the very first VMS designed specifically for spend volumes with no minimums.