MSP

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The past five years have brought unprecedented change to the greater world of work. The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses across the globe to reevaluated business operations in the face of critical change. Too, the ramifications of the virus itself on human lives (both physical and emotional) sparked people to reimagine how they approached the very concept of “life.”

The unimagine toll of the pandemic was, of course, heartbreaking. Talk to anyone who lost someone from COVID, or, speak to someone who is still suffering from the devastating effects of long COVID. Don’t ever forget how unemployment sparked to 15% in those early, scary months.

I’ve often said (many times on the Future of Work Exchange Podcast) that it’s incredibly difficult to find a “silver lining” amongst the destruction. However, what occurred in the direct wake of the pandemic and throughout the years that followed was a new sense of “thinking” that cascaded from reevaluating business processes into questioning just exactly how we got work done.

So, we head into 2025 with a sharp sense of wonder unlike any other year before. We are free to question anything and everything, free to desire innovation, and, of course, free to pursue the change that we need to experience in order to evolve.

The world of work and talent has long been buoyed by several key solutions, particularly MSP and VMS, that have anchored many of the world’s foremost extended workforce and talent acquisition programs. Now, you may be wondering: “Chris, what the hell is going on? What do MSP and VMS have to do with “change” and “desire” and “evolution” and the pandemic and such?”

Good question. It has become commonplace to push back on ordinary conventions both in our personal and professional lives. We are free to question and ask “Why?” in the face of continued change in business operations, daily life, etc.

I’ve spent nearly 20 years in the extended workforce, HR tech, and talent technology industries. I’ve seen monumental change, I’ve seen transformation first-hand, and I’ve experienced the so-called “evolution” that we all like to believe occurs as technology and innovation continue to expand.

This realm of “question everything” has been ever-so-more-apparent in recent months, especially as business professionals, technology leaders, and others push back on the status quo of MSP and VMS in our industry, citing waning, beyond-bottom-of-the-barrel NPS scores as a major reason why these solutions are headed for black swan events or a complete shift to in-house models.

Let it be said that I am all for change. This is a Future of Work destination; we are focused solely on innovation and progression and evolution and everything that pushes our industry forward. The Future of Work movement dictates that new technology, new business thinking, and new modes of talent acquisition and workforce management all lead the way for reimaging how we get work done.

That being said, MSP and VMS still have valuable, if not critical, roles in our industry. But, before we dive in, let’s tackle the NPS stuff.

“Would you recommend XYZ product to your friend or colleague?” is the foundational question behind NPS scores, which (and please please please remember this!) were borne from consumer-oriented initiatives designed to address the “value” of a product or service.

Now, again, remember, NPS was designed with the consumer in mind, not the business leader or executive. Asking for a recommendation for toothpaste is a helluva lot different than recommending a Vendor Management System platform.

Does it still hold some value? Well, of course it does. So many buying decisions in our industry boil down to references, recommendations, personal introductions, and the experiences we’ve all had leveraging various systems, platforms, solutions, services, etc. Any type of collective “score” can be useful in determining which direction to go in regards to a major professional purchase.

It’s widely known (like, wildly known) in the workforce management solutions arena that MSP and VMS have collective NPS scores that are incredibly negative (literally negative). These scores are so negative that, if someone told you the same exact score for shampoo, you’d not only never purchase a bottle of it, you’d actively shove it off the shelf at Target every time you went shopping.

Here’s the problem with NPS in our industry:

• Let’s repeat: it wasn’t designed for enterprise software or solutions (or services).
• Users and clients typically have to utilize the services or software…so there’s no real “preference” at hand. Professionals can’t just decide to change their VMS platform on a random Wednesday like they would the type of lettuce they use for their salad at lunch.
• There are so many, so many nuances in the dynamic world of enterprise software/solutions that it is incredibly difficult to state a generalized “recommend or not recommend” decision. The typical MSP client leverages literally dozens of facets of their solution, such as talent communities, recruitment, timesheets, sourcing, hiring, reporting, analytics, etc. No single MSP does everything amazingly, just like no MSP does everything terribly.
• Individual user-perceived value does not equate to enterprise-perceived value.
• Because MSP and VMS utilization is over the long term (three years, five years, etc.), any NPS-related metric is mostly based on recent failures rather than historical successes.

More importantly, with NPS aside, the world needs Managed Service Providers and Vendor Management Systems. They are the bedrock of operational efficiency for extended workforce management and contingent labor sourcing, as well as direct sourcing, freelancer management, staffing optimization, and services procurement (and SOW management).

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research pegs the extended workforce as nearly 50% of the average company’s total talent. Even if we merely look at the contingent workforce arena through bleak lenses (no innovation, no technology progression, etc.), there is absolutely a place for these solutions.

Years ago (2019) I wrote about why the MSP model needed to evolve in the face of changing business dynamics. I recommended that MSPs facilitate more end-user-specific consulting/advisory services to keep up with evolving staffing needs. I suggested that MSPs leverage predictive analytics and scenario-building to deepen their reporting efforts for client programs. And I also recommended that MSPs lean into emerging technology, tap into skills-oriented talent strategies, and help their partners focus on strategic workforce planning.

Six years later, what do we see? MSPs have expanded the breadth of their offerings to align better with their clients’ shifting requirements. They have built true talent technology ecosystems to augment extended workforce programs. They’ve embraced skills-based hiring. And many, if not all, MSPs have either bought into artificial intelligence or are about to roll out AI-led offerings in the months ahead.

VMS platforms have evolved from point solutions to true enterprise systems. They are the veritable nexus of extended workforce management. Look at some of the market-leading platforms, many of which have AI weaved into the very fabric of their functionality. These platforms can help a hiring manager or CW leader find talent in mere seconds, lock down the sourcing of a candidate, and have them onboarded more quickly than we could dream even a few years ago.

I’m incredibly passionate about this space. I live for the Future of Work. I can be a dreamer and think aloud of all of the amazing things that could happen in the business arena. However, I try my best to be a realist and ground myself from time-to-time. I say that because I know this: after so many years of being the preeminent solutions in the contingent workforce industry, I realize that there are many inherent issues with the models we’ve grown to depend on.

Not every MSP-led program is successful. Not every VMS-supported initiative thrives the way it should. Even market-leading MSPs have offerings that could be considered archaic. Best-in-Class VMS platforms still have technological gaps. RFPs can be a nightmare for the even the most experience procurement, HR, or talent acquisition executive.

I’m not naïve enough to stand here and say that MSPs and VMS systems are all awesome all of the time. I understand that there are shortcomings and that not everyone is thrilled with their workforce partners, especially in a tight labor market that is becoming more talent- and candidate-centric as the months pass.

However, I have spent enough time in this industry and have spoken to thousands of business leaders and I know this and I will stand by it 100%: MSP and VMS are the nucleus of the extended workforce industry. They are trusted solutions that routinely manage BILLIONS of contingent workforce spend every year. They are actively innovating to meet customers’ transformative needs. They have client service and client delivery leaders that could analyze a program and pinpoint prescriptive guidance and strategies while blindfolded.

To say that NPS scores are a reason why the market needs to move away from these longstanding, mature solutions is so short-sighted. The Future of Work isn’t about abandoning proven foundations – it’s about building upon them with innovation and forward-thinking approaches. MSP and VMS solutions continue to evolve, adapt, and transform alongside the changing dynamics of the global workforce. Their value proposition extends far beyond what any consumer-focused metric could possibly capture.