How to drive more value and reduce risk from contingent workers and services providers

The big spend category that’s not on your radar

There’s a major spend category that is frequently overlooked and under-managed.

Research by SAP Fieldglass found that 42% of workforce spend* is on the external workforce, which is comprised of:

  • contingent workers – independent contractors, freelancers and temporary staff
  • services providers – companies that supply services delivered by people, such as consulting firms, IT outsourcers or call centers

The external workforce operates at the core of the enterprise and helps organizations achieve a broad range of business goals.

The uncertain economic environment has made the external workforce more important than ever. As companies focus on business resiliency and agility, the external workforce gives them fast, flexible access to talent to respond to dynamic business needs. It also enables them to rapidly scale resources up and down to meet demand.

Despite the high stakes, many companies lack visibility into the external workforce and do not manage it effectively.

This e-book will show you how to unlock more value and reduce risk from your external workforce, and explain how SAP Fieldglass can help.

*Source: Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise in Full Force

Driving real business results

Learn more
Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise
in Full Force, SAP Fieldglass research in
collaboration with Oxford Economics.
Read the research report ›

The external workforce plays a pivotal role in the business world. Nearly half of executives (48%) say their company would be unable to conduct business as usual without their external workforce.*

The external workforce helps organizations achieve a broad range of business goals – including boosting organizational agility, increasing speed to market, and reducing risk.

How important is the external workforce in meeting the following business goals?

“Important” and “Extremely important” responses

The external workforce also helps organizations source the skills they need – particularly skills that are in short supply.

Procurement professionals have a huge opportunity. By gaining greater visibility and actively managing the external workforce, they can help their organizations boost agility and resiliency, reduce risk and improve ROI.

*Source: Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise in Full Force

Spotlight on services
procurement

Most people are unaware that nearly 20% of workforce spend is on services providers* (companies that supply services delivered by people, such as consulting firms, IT outsourcers, call centers, marketing agencies and facilities management companies).

Services providers play a vital role in the modern workforce, and organizations spend billions on these services every year. Many organizations excel in managing the financial side of contracts with services providers, but when you are procuring services delivered by people, you also need to manage security, compliance, quality of work and more.

Many organizations under-manage services providers, creating significant risk. For example:

  • 44% of executives experience digital security breaches with services providers sometimes, frequently or nearly every engagement*.
  • One in four projects done by services providers is not completed on time or on budget*.

SAP Fieldglass can help you effectively manage services providers – including each person’s systems and facilities access, certifications, quality of work, progress against milestones and more. This helps you improve ROI and reduce risk.

To learn more about how to our research report on managing services providers, or view the SlideShare by clicking the link and scrolling down.

*Source: Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise in Full Force

Sourcing skills

To source the skills they need, many organizations rely on independent contractors, consultants engaged via Statements of Work, freelancers, private talent channels, staffing agencies and more.

SAP Fieldglass can help you source skills and curate a strong talent supply chain by connecting you to freelance marketplaces and talent channels in our Digital Partner Network; creating your own private talent pool including former contingent workers, retirees and alumni; and engaging staffing agencies and services providers.

We can connect you with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help you run your external workforce management programs and source talent, as well as systems integration partners who have the expertise to get you up and running quickly.

How much do you know about your
contingent workers and services providers?

Think about everyone who does work for you but isn’t on your payroll. That includes independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, systems integrators, outsourcers, call center staff, janitorial companies and more, working everywhere from corporate functions to shop floors and manufacturing facilities. It’s a lot of people and a lot of suppliers.

Can you answer these five questions about them?

Missing a few answers? You’re not alone. Because contingent workers and services providers sit outside traditional governance and HR systems, they are harder to manage than employees.

To discover how to manage these workers more effectively, read our e-book chapter.

Gain visibility

Our research reveals that many organizations lack even basic information about their contingent workers and services providers, such as who is doing the work, where they are located and what they are doing.

Visibility into quality of work is lower still. For example, only 31% of executives are highly informed about contingent workers’ quality of work.

How informed are you personally about the following details of your non-payroll workers?*

“Highly informed” responses

*Source: Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise in Full Force

Manage with rigor

Our research found that most organizations do not apply sufficient rigor in managing contingent workers and services providers. This creates significant risk.

For example, many organizations encounter maverick spend, overcharges and duplicate payments, or rates that deviate from the agreed-to rate card or master services agreement.

How often does your organization experience the following with regard to its non-payroll workers?

“Sometimes”, “Frequently” and “Nearly every engagement” responses

What’s more, nearly half of organizations experience digital security breaches with their contingent workers “sometimes, frequently or in nearly engagement.” Compliance issues are also widespread. This is concerning.

To drive better business outcomes and reduce risk, you must actively manage your contingent workers and services providers – including compliance, security, quality of work and more.

*Source: Contingent Workforce Insights 2019: Expertise in Full Force

SAP Fieldglass
Contingent Workforce
Management

SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce
Management helps organizations around
the world find, engage, manage and pay
their contingent workers.

This sophisticated solution helps you :

  • Gain visibility into your contingent workers – including their skills, certifications, quality of work and more
  • Build a strong talent supply chain, so you can be more agile and quickly source the external talent you need
  • Quickly identify the best candidates for each role, with resume ranking driven by machine learning
  • Automate worker on- and offboarding
  • Stay on top of security by managing contingent workers’ systems and facilities access
  • Monitor compliance with regulations and corporate policies
  • Track company equipment assigned to contingent workers, and request its return at the end of the contract
  • Ensure correct payment by automatically managing complex rate cards, relevant discounts and tax rules
  • Track workers’ time and expenses
  • Harness real-time reporting and advanced analytics
  • Manage your external workforce management program independently or via a Managed Services Provider (MSP)

The result? You can drive better business outcomes, improve ROI and reduce risk.

Visit our website to learn more and watch the video ›

SAP Fieldglass Worker
Profile Management

SAP Fieldglass Worker Profile Management is a straightforward solution that gives you rapid visibility and faster on- and offboarding for ALL your external talent – including external workers who aren’t tied to a job posting or Statement of Work.

With SAP Fieldglass Worker Profile Management, you can:

  • See ALL your external talent, including who they are, where they are working, what they are doing, how to contact them, and which company materials they have been assigned.
  • Automate onboarding activities such as background checks, training and systems access, so external workers can start working productively on day 1.
  • Automate offboarding activities, such as reclaiming company equipment and switching off workers’ systems access at the end of the contract. This helps you simplify compliance, boost security and reduce risk.

The solution can be implemented in a matter of weeks, offering excellent time-to-value.

Visit our website to learn more and watch the video ›

SAP Fieldglass
Services Procurement

SAP Fieldglass Services Procurement helps organizations actively manage services providers (SOW engagements), so they have much better visibility into value for money, quality of work, progress against milestones and deliverables, security, compliance and more.

This leading-edge solution enables you to:

  • Bid out projects to multiple preferred suppliers at once, to help reduce maverick spend
  • Collaborate seamlessly with suppliers throughout the entire contract negotiation process – including redlining documents and evaluating suppliers’ proposals
  • Ensure that contract terms and conditions flow from master agreements into services agreements
  • Automate worker on- and offboarding
  • Simplify compliance by ensuring each worker has the necessary certifications
  • Manage security by tracking each worker’s access to systems, data and facilities – including switching off access at the end of the engagement
  • Track company equipment assigned to each worker, and make sure it is returned at the end of the contract
  • Actively manage performance by supplier, individual and deliverable to service level agreements (SLAs) are met
  • Perform real-time reporting and advanced analytics
  • Automate invoice processing, including automatically applying relevant tax rules and discounts
  • Manage project retainage
  • Manage each services category – whether that’s IT, consulting, field services, maintenance, marketing or something else – in its own way

The result? You can drive better business outcomes, save money, improve quality, strengthen compliance and more.

Visit our website to learn more and watch the video ›

Integrating SAP
Fieldglass with
other applications

SAP Fieldglass has an open API framework designed and developed to work with any enterprise solution – whether on-premise or in the cloud. As a result, you can integrate with and extend your ERP, HR, procurement or accounting tools without building costly integrations.

SAP Fieldglass has productized integrations with SAP Ariba, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP S/4HANA and other SAP solutions, providing SAP customers with a seamless experience.

Learn more ›

Integration with SAP Ariba

Already use SAP Ariba solutions? We have the perfect solution for you, because SAP Fieldglass integrates seamlessly with SAP Ariba.

That means you can continue to manage contingent workers’ and services providers’ contracts, invoices and payments in SAP Ariba. But you can also use SAP Fieldglass to manage each worker’s compliance, security, quality of work, and more.

The result? You can gain insight and more effectively manage your contingent workers and services providers. This helps you reduce risk and boost ROI from this important spend category.

Swisscom has integrated SAP Fieldglass with its SAP Ariba solution, as part of its long-term vision to obtain a comprehensive view of total spend across the organization.

Read their story ›

Digital Partner Network for
SAP Fieldglass Solutions

Through our Digital Partner Network for SAP Fieldglass
solutions, we offer pre-built integrations with numerous
complementary, industry-leading digital solutions across
many categories such as talent channels, freelance
marketplaces, background checks and document
e-signatures.

Why SAP Fieldglass?

Here are just some of the reasons why companies around the globe trust SAP Fieldglass to help them manage their external workforce.

Learn more
Visit the website ›

20 years

SAP Fieldglass has been a leader in external workforce management and services procurement for more than 20 years.

We help you actively manage costs, compliance, security, quality of work and more.

99%

We have a 99% customer retention rate.

Our solutions help you source, engage, manage and pay your contingent workers and services providers

Innovation is in our DNA. Many of our innovations are now industry standards, and we continue to give our customers new capabilities.

180 countries

We have the largest footprint in the industry. Our solutions are deployed in more than 180 countries and more than 20 languages.

We can help you manage even the most complex and dynamic external workforce.

We help you access the skills you need by connecting you to a growing number of talent platforms.

Hear from our customers

SAP Fieldglass has a 99% customer retention rate and we aim to keep it that way. Here are a few examples of our customers who are leading the way in external workforce management.

 

Royal Philips

Hear how SAP Fieldglass helps Royal Philips source the right talent in the right location at the right price for each business need, and generate significant cost savings.

Watch the video and read the case study ›

Swisscom

The company has integrated SAP Fieldglass with SAP Ariba as part of its vision to get a clear view of total spend across the organization.

Read more ›

Sikorsky

Read how helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky deployed SAP Fieldglass in just four weeks.

Read more ›

Halliburton

Hear how SAP Fieldglass is enabling oil field services company Halliburton to better manage and engage contingent workers, become more agile, and mitigate risk.

Watch the video ›

Ahli United Bank

Hear how Ahli United Bank deployed SAP Fieldglass to gain visibility and strengthen compliance across its external workforce.

Watch the video ›

Australian Tax Office

Learn how the Australian Tax Office uses SAP Fieldglass to boost efficiency and compliance across its external workforce.

Read the case study ›

RELX Group

Learn how RELX Group uses SAP Fieldglass to manage more than $100 million in spend on contingent labor every year.

Watch the video ›

Seize the opportunity

The rise of the external workforce represents a huge shift in the way work gets done, and it’s here to stay.

By actively managing contingent workers and services providers, Procurement professionals can add even more value to their organizations by helping to drive better business outcomes and reduce risk. To seize this opportunity, you need to invest in the right technology to help you manage your external workforce more efficiently and more effectively.

Want to learn more? You can:

Follow us

www.fieldglass.com/contact

© 2024 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company.

The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice. Some software products marketed by SAP SE and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors. National product specifications may vary.

These materials are provided by SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP or its affiliated companies shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP or SAP affiliate company products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

In particular, SAP SE or its affiliated companies have no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this document or any related presentation, or to develop or release any functionality mentioned therein. This document, or any related presentation, and SAP SE’s or its affiliated companies’ strategy and possible future developments, products, and/or platforms, directions, and functionality are all subject to change and may be changed by SAP SE or its affiliated companies at any time for any reason without notice. The information in this document is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and they should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

See www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.