Conexis VMS | Blog

What Should an MSP Look for When Choosing a Vendor Management System?

Written by Wayne Burgess | Oct 16, 2020 7:21:42 PM

Selecting the right Vendor Management System (VMS) is one of the most critical decisions a Managed Service Provider (MSP) can make for their clients. As technology evolves, there are increasingly more factors to consider when selecting the right VMS.

For additional insights, We invite you to read our most recent blog published in 2024, on "MSPs: 5 Must Know Factors when choosing a VMS"

The increasing utilization of non-employee labor and the creation of a contingent workforce is now the go-to strategy for organizations that want to improve their flexibility and agility in a bid to meet ever-changing market conditions and produce work on a project-by-project basis.

In fact, according to a study from Deloitte, many large companies estimate that a staggering 30 percent of their entire procurement spend goes toward contingent workers. 

The issue is, the management of this non-employee workforce is complex. Most companies lack visibility and a centralized management structure of their non-employee workforce, which leads to poor quality workers, high turnover, inefficient processes and high spend. 

As a result, many companies are left seeking efficient solutions to better manage the crucial issues across their non-employee workforce. There are two primary methods that organizations turn to:

  1. Managed services providers (MSPs)
  2. Vendor management systems (VMS) 

For an MSP to effectively do their job of managing an organization’s outsourced contingent workforce program, it’s absolutely essential that they have the right vendor management system in place.

In this blog, Conexis VMS looks at why managed services providers must use a VMS solution and what functionalities they should be looking for in the technology.

Why MSPs must use a VMS solution

If you were to search on Google anything related to managed services providers and vendor management systems, you will see countless articles that pit the two together. ‘MSP vs VMS’, ‘what’s the difference between MSP and VMS’ - these are just a couple of examples of the types of content that pops up.

Ultimately, however, an MSP cannot offer their service without using a vendor management solution to automate the management of their client’s contingent workforce and gain true visibility and control over it. 

A VMS is the technology that underpins the entire solution, and it’s unheard of that an MSP would be running a program without a vendor management system in place. With that in mind, what do managed service providers need to look for when choosing a VMS to partner with?

MSP considerations to look for when choosing a VMS 

Vendor management systems are traditionally expensive and come with a range of bells and whistles that your MSP, and its clients, simply do not need. When choosing a VMS the most important aspect is selecting the technology with the functionality that your MSP needs to fulfill its service to clients. 

This functionality could include: 

  • Multi-tenancy to manage multiple clients
  • Ability to submit multiple candidates at once vs one at a time
  • Receivable reporting for various clients
  • The ability to screen supplier candidates before sending to buyers
  • Payrolling 
  • Multi-currency for clients in different locales
  • MSP fee management to manage your fees
  • Sales and tax functionality
  • Consolidated invoicing and vendor payment management
  • Time feed integrations 
  • Direct sourcing capabilities to boost internal non-employee hiring
  • Multilingual features for clients in different countries

How Conexis VMS can help

VMS solutions have traditionally been designed with complex functionality, making them complicated and time-consuming to use.  Conexis VMS is the easiest VMS, built on the latest and greatest technology with the user in mind. 

Conexis VMS will improve your MSP program due to its simplicity, ease-of-use, speed to implement into your client’s contingent workforce management programs (which can be done in as little as 48 hours), and cost-effective pricing program.

By spending less time and money implementing a VMS solution (which gets the same results as more expensive technologies) into your client’s non-employee workforce programs, your MSP will be able to increase its profits.

Want to learn more about why Conexis VMS is the ideal vendor management system for your MSP? Contact us today! Our team of non-employee management software experts would love to answer any questions that you may have. Read more about why MSPs choose Conexis here: VMS for MSPs

Whether you are looking for a new VMS Solution, or just getting started, we are here to help. Contact us for a free no-obligation consultation, take a 2 minute Self-Guided tour of Conexis, or schedule a Personal Demo.