How a Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer transitioned from ineffective, manual contingent workforce management to a centralized, highly-strategic program with Conexis VMS

The Challenge

Contingent workers have become an integral part of the modern workforce, and the benefits of managing a contingent workforce, if done correctly, are huge.

Contingent workers can help improve business flexibility, save money, enhance business agility and help businesses access specialized talent - even in times of talent shortage.

However, managing a contingent workforce can be a complex and challenging task for any organization.

This becomes particularly true when a business manages its extended workforce using nothing but manual spreadsheets and email communication. These manual management methods lead to businesses having a complete lack of visibility and control over their contingent workforce, resulting in rogue spending and a lack of standardized processes.

This was exactly the challenge faced by “The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer”, which was managing these workers through nothing but spreadsheets and emails.

With no centralized management program in place, the company was suffering from a complete lack of visibility into its non-employee workforce - with no clarity into contingent workforce costs, or even contractor numbers.

Instead, spending was spread across the entire company, with supplier contracts being sourced, onboarded, and managed at the local site level.

These decentralized and inconsistent contingent workforce processes meant The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer had no visibility into the types of contractors being engaged, how much, or where, money was being spent, and no management around worker compliance despite operating in a heavily regulated industry.

To transition away from the ineffective process of tracking contingent workforce data on spreadsheets and managing worker requests via email, The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer established it was time to implement a vendor management system (VMS).

The Solution

The lack of visibility that The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer had into its non-employee workforce left the organization suffering from hidden risks, rogue costs, inconsistent processes, and poor decision-making that directly impacted its ability to improve candidate quality and save money.

To improve contingent workforce visibility and control, the organization began searching for a vendor management system that would help its team monitor and track vendor performance, automate and standardize the end-to-end processes of managing contingent workers and staffing agencies, ensure contingent workforce compliance and consolidate the program into one centralized location.

After an initial market scan, The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer found that the legacy VMS providers on the market were too complex and expensive.

After a second market scan, however, the organization discovered Conexis VMS - a solution that has been designed specifically to be easy to set up, easy to use, and cost-effective.

Conexis, which has been built specifically with modern technology and is easy to use unlike the traditional VMS providers, met The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' requirements and could be implemented at a minimal cost.

Conexis VMS was implemented in tandem with the company's managed service provider (MSP) partner, and the organization’s entire contractor population was migrated to the vendor management system in under 60 days. The Conexis full procure-to-pay suite was implemented, and regulatory requirements were custom-built and embedded in the system.

So, how has all of this helped improve the company’s contingent workforce? Let’s find out!

The Outcome

Since implementing Conexis VMS across its entire organization, The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer has been able to regain visibility and control of its contingent workforce - ensuring all hiring managers follow standardized processes and rates when engaging staffing agencies and non-employee workers.

By ensuring all hiring managers are aligned with its overarching strategy and bringing all information into one centralized platform, The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer now has the insights it needs to eliminate rogue spend and improve contingent worker quality.

Here are some of the key benefits the organization has experienced after its implementation of Conexis VMS:

• All suppliers are now managed in one place: With Conexis VMS, all staffing agencies have been brought together in one centralized platform, making it easier for The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer to manage its supplier base.
  
  
• Better Quality Hire: With the Conexis system enabling the reporting and monitoring of key metrics, the Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer was able to quickly improve the overall quality of hire evidenced by significantly improved attendance, attrition rates, and contract fulfillment.
  
  
• Improved Time to Fill: Being able to manage all the open jobs and supplier proposals in one place enabled the organization to react faster to candidate submissions, complete the contract quicker and onboard workers way faster.
  
  
• Full compliance with internal policies and regulatory controls: The easy-to-use vendor management system has enabled the organization to create internal policies that ensure contingent worker compliance in a heavily regulated industry.
  
  
• Full visibility: Conexis VMS has provided full visibility into The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s contractor population, types of contractors, and costs.
  
  
• Full control: The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer is now able to exercise full control over its contractor population, across all departments.
  
  
• Cost savings: The centralized approach to managing contractors has mitigated rogue spend across the program and, as a result, helped the business save money.
  
  
• Ability to track data and performance metrics: Conexis VMS has provided The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer with the ability to track performance metrics across its contingent workforce program and staffing agencies, enabling the business to achieve continuous improvement in regards to its talent acquisition activity.

With complete visibility and control over its contingent workforce program, The Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturer now has the tools and knowledge required to ensure that its non-employee workforce is helping the business achieve its strategic goals.