26 Nov Considering Your First VMS? A Buyer’s Guide
Deciding that your organization needs to invest in a Vendor Management System (VMS) to manage your contingent workforce is critical. For first time buyers, it can be one fraught with stress as every solution provider vies for attention with what can often be confusing or bloated messaging.
With so many options on the market, finding a VMS that fits your needs can be daunting. It’s a well-known fact that once the choice is made, change management can be hard and can take years, especially if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being stuck in ERP lock-in.
Before choosing a VMS, review the current state of your contingent workforce processes with a lens of finding inefficiency and missed opportunities. This will help you assess if the VMS you are considering meets your needs – it will also guide discussions with experts.
Consider the following:
- Assess your current spend inefficiencies, including any potential blind spots like SOW or independent contractors and set budget goals for the future.
- Do you have clear visibility and insight into your contingent talent?
- Can you immediately report on your entire extended workforce?
- If you have any, what are your supplier performance metrics?
8 vital capabilities you should look for in a VMS as you take calls, set up demos, and begin to understand what’s most valuable for your organization’s needs.
Whether it’s powerful analytics, flexible integrations, or AI-driven automation, the right VMS can transform your contingent workforce management and set your teams on the path of success for years to come.
1. Your new VMS should fully integrate with any HCM you have
When choosing a Vendor Management System (VMS), one of the most crucial factors to consider is its integration capabilities. Look for a VMS that can generate requisitions within any Human Capital Management (HCM) system and seamlessly transfer all data into the VMS. Ideally, the VMS should also allow you to create requisitions directly within its interface and offer intuitive, adaptable workflows.
This flexibility ensures that the VMS fits smoothly into your existing contingent workforce ecosystem whether you’re managing HR, CRM, or procurement tasks. A truly versatile VMS will support any integrations, working hand-in-hand with any system you rely on to manage your organization’s workforce.
2. Your new VMS should be able to automate your contingent workforce processes
A VMS should be more than your information repository. Being able to automate repetitive tasks and processes with minimal manual intervention leaves your teams operating efficiently and having the bandwidth to focus on high-value activities instead. Automation saves time and reduces errors, improving accuracy across entire workflows and supporting program adoption.
3. Your new VMS should empower your team, streamline their work, and enable immediate implementation for a seamless start.
Being able to immediately start implementation and having the flexibility to do so within a low code, no-code environment minimizes dependence on IT for custom coding and updates. Complex coding or reliance on custom-built features often results in bottlenecks, cost overruns, additional manual labor, and complexity that undermine the VMS’s effectiveness. Look for a VMS that anyone on your team can navigate and configure with ease to improve adoption rates and team satisfaction.
Flex Tip
With an advanced feature like a drag-and-drop Flow Builder tool that’s powered by AI, your teams have the freedom to build and scale projects as needed with minimal technical expertise.
4. Your new VMS should take data and create an easy reporting experience for every stakeholder.
When choosing a first VMS, many departments and individuals tend to get involved in the decision-making process, and for good reason. Whether it’s procurement, HR, IT, MSP, Finance, or C-suite level executives, your VMS will need to have the capabilities to span across teams and connect data and insights from many sources and locations. With AI being implemented into most solutions, your VMS should also be able to utilize new technology to become the source your team uses to access critical data insights through advanced analytics and reporting tools. Look for solutions that generate reports quickly and provide predictive and prescriptive analytics to help forecast trends, make data-driven decisions, and identify talent opportunities.
5. Your new VMS should be able to accelerate your hiring processes, giving you quick access to the best talent
Hiring talent can be a lengthy process. In the contingent workforce environment however, time is often the one thing most leaders and teams don’t have much of. A robust VMS should be able to accelerate your req-to-check process as well as help address your contingent workforce skills gaps through robust reporting and planning tools. Choose a solution that has proven examples of providing access to talent through improved visibility and optimized processes for sourcing and managing qualified candidates to maintain a competitive edge and stay ahead of market trends.
6. Your new VMS should make you and your team compliant and support risk management
When managing the extended workforce, compliance is a critical part of managing contingent labor. Your VMS should be a key tool your teams use to maintain regulatory compliance. Visibility and enforced processes that align with legal requirements not only mitigate risk and support governance across your workforce strategy, but also reduce the risk of fines, which can be a source of significant budget drain and brand damage.
Flex Tip
Flextrack is built on Salesforce. With a fully extendible, non-modular architecture that unifies workforce management and stores all data securely on ONE platform. Plus, Salesforce’s robust data security features protect customer information and ensure compliance with security standards.
7. Your new VMS should keep your data secure and protect sensitive information
As technology quickly shifts to artificial intelligence and speed becomes ever more important in solutions, data security proportionately becomes an essential factor in choosing a vendor management system. To keep your sensitive information secure, choose a VMS with built-in robust security measures that protect data at every level.
8. Your new VMS should help you achieve long-term cost savings
A well-designed VMS should lead to significant cost savings over time as it removes the need to rely on third-party tools, ancillary reporting platforms, overreliance on IT, or teams going outside the tool to complete tasks – all contributors to budget overspending that is often hard to track. Additionally, automated integration capabilities, advanced reporting, and optimized resource allocation coupled with secure data ensure compliance and results, minimizing the risk of regulatory penalties and better market pricing insights when it comes to sorting and choosing talent.
Dive into what makes Flextrack Different
Selecting a VMS for the first time can create impact that will stay in your organization for years to come. Discover how starting that journey with the unique capabilities of Flextrack’s Salesforce built platform can future–proof and power your contingent workforce management.
