Why businesses are adopting managed services as part of their staffing needs

“The important thing about outsourcing or 7 sourcing is that it becomes a very powerful tool to leverage talent, improve productivity and reduce work cycles.”

— Azim Premji – Chairman, Wipro

Okay. Let me cut to the chase here. The Managed Services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3%, from USD 180.5 billion in 2018 to USD 282.0 billion by 2023. Evidently, these growth numbers are voluminous and demonstrate where the winds are headed and where the ship of your business should adjust its compass. Primarily, a key adjustment it needs to make in the VUCA world is to outsource certain processes and functions to Managed Services Providers (Managed Services), as they will be a catalyst in enhancing the business value chain.

Not only in IT or e-Commerce but even in the Staffing industry, Managed Services are taking a leap forward due to several reasons. But before I get to that, let me elucidate the meaning of Managed Services in the Staffing and Recruitment domain and how they are different from recruiting agencies.

The Role of Managed Services in Staffing and Recruitment

Managed Services in recruitment, simply put, are augmented workforce solutions that go beyond just hiring and deploying manpower, but also provide training and administer the workforce to ensure productive, cost-effective and seamless project execution for their clients. In other words, they go beyond managing the recruitment process (which is the role of a typical RPO provider) and partner with different businesses to provide custom business solutions suited to each industry.

For instance, for a BFSI client, MANAGED SERVICES may provide Merchant Acquisition (POS/EDC) services that include lead generation, sales KYC documentation and onboarding of new merchants. For an e-commerce business, MANAGED SERVICES would not only deploy delivery staff or backend management recruits but also deploy staff to acquire new merchants individually by explaining to them the advantage of taking their business/transactions online, assist in completing their KYC and onboard them onto the platform with ease.

Managed Services can also fulfil workforce training and management needs and ensure their clients are always equipped with a well-oiled people machinery that is designed specifically for their requirements. This can help businesses reduce the time and money they would otherwise have spent on hiring and training employees for various roles and making them become perform better in the market. Whereas with staffing providers, their responsibility stops at recruiting.

Some Value-Adds that Managed ServicesBring into client's Businesses

• Managed Services are specialists that handle specific projects and people better, helping companies manage their costs and risks more efficiently
• They are experts in simplifying and streamlining the cumbersome hiring processes
• They mitigate the risks involved in vetting contingent staff and execute an SLA-driven workforce management program
• Clients get to focus on their core business and growth as the backend and time-heavy processes are managed by the MANAGED SERVICES

How Managed Services Help Build the Business

The presence of a managed service provider can be extremely beneficial to a business.Managed Services pose as a true strategic business partner as opposed to being just a vendor.

• They will identify weaknesses in existing processes and determine areas requiring further optimization
• Where necessary, they will bring in innovations and transitions to create high-impact, tech-enabled solutions that streamline critical business processes
• Managed Services enable the internal staff to shift their attention from mundane duties and focus on achieving important targets that can help the company grow and set a benchmark in its competitive space
• They will ensure that proper grooming standards of the staff are met and that they are adequately trained to represent the brand
• Everyday duties like maintaining network operations, continuous monitoring of the server and storage infrastructure and assisting with desk duties can be transferred to the MANAGED SERVICES
• They will manage the project in and out with a detailed, outcome-driven governance model powered by advanced analytics and BI reporting engine that offer real-time visibility and actionable business insights to the client’s senior management
• With Managed Services, client businesses can ramp up the scale of their workforce in specific geographies or markets
• Managed Services will bring synchronicity to daily operations, make faster corrections to gaps, trigger productivity boost in the workforce, improve business coverage over time and make continuous improvements till operational excellence is achieved

Tech Tools in Managed Service Programs

Industry 4.0 has furnished Managed Services with a range of mobile apps thathelp to develop and deploy end-to-end automated solutions, increasing the value of businesses, delivering seamless customer experience and improving operational efficiency. HR tech tools have been in the employment space for quite some time now and have enabled staffing providers and Managed Services to automate key HR processes – from demand management and candidate pipeline management to sourcing, onboarding, attendance, payroll & benefits, training, appraisals, grievance redressal and employee separation.

Today, Managed Services are revolutionizing the retail industry by deploying Salesforce Automation Apps to streamline and automate daily operations of in-store staff as well as the fleet on street. These tech tools can automate every step in the process of retail workflow, from daily attendance logging to tracking sales and team productivity, taking stock, managing team performance, keeping track of daily tasks and deadlines, conducting store audits and more. Leveraging these tech tools, Managed Services are centralising and demystifying salesforce management of a complex, distributed network with thousands of employees deployed across geographies. Some Managed Services are leveraging Trade Marketing Apps to automate and optimize new product launches, field promotions, visual merchandising, in-store promotions, retail audit, and more.

Now, let’s look at an illustration of how MANAGED SERVICES would design a solution using tech-tools for a client looking to outsource a typical tele-sales process.

The Bottomline

In a nutshell, Managed Servicesgo a long way in making a company more profitable and efficient from various perspectives. It’s clear thatManaged Services are the future avatars of General Staffing as businesses will eventually recruit the more knowledgeable, multi-tasking and hard-working individuals in addition to end-to-end management of their business operations with measurable, improved outcomes.Managed Services have now become an integral and inevitable part of many businesses and can help in doubling the productivity.

By Sudhakar Balakrishnan, Group CEO, FirstMeridian