Driving vendor adoption of a VMS program

Whilst one of the main reasons  for VMS program implementation is spend management, the end goal is the acquisition of  quality talent at competitive market rates, on a timely and efficient basis from the best vendors on the market.

 The ultimate  expectation is the vendor's commitment to deliver a quality service. This includes all aspects of delivery, such as providing quality candidates, excellent support and a high degree of responsiveness. 

 If you want to be a client of choice then significant  issues on the vendor side need to be understood and addressed.  

 Some common key issues are :

 ? VMS participation cost – whilst  program fees and discount structures are known , the  true cost of service delivery is less obvious such as  higher recruiting expenses due to lower time to fill ratios and increased administrative costs due to different  processing procedures for each separate VMS program.

? Low-quality hiring processes- Programs with high vendor population, low responsiveness on submittals and/or an emphasis of speed over quality negatively impact the hiring process.

? Poor communication and feedback

Companies taking a much more disciplined and systematic approach to classify their vendor population, develop more collaborative and strategic partnerships with those vendors who are aligned on the VMS  program’s and company’s objectives. Hence driving increased business value and greater transparency in terms of higher quality candidates, greater cost savings, service and process innovations.

The undeniable truth is that  communication plays a pivotal role when engaging with vendors throughout all stages of the VMS program.  Leveraging strategic vendors’ expertise on VMS program and technology can help avoid complicated and costly to maintain processes.

Communicating meaningful performance metrics to vendors regularly strengthen the relationships and provide the basis for continuous improvement and benchmarking. Value added synergies for both vendors and companies  can be created with tier one vendors beyond basic negotiated commercial terms.

The days of adversarial relationships between vendor and buyer are gone. Reducing vendor complexity through governance and streamlined processes is becoming the norm.