New Research: Services Procurement Benchmarking and KPIs -- Truth in Numbers
This move has come as leading-edge companies are pushing to answer "why" as much as "what" or "how much" for both vendor (e.g., rate compliance, response time) and internal performance. Moreover, effectively managing procurement-led KPIs and benchmarking is becoming a stepping-stone to incorporate organizational inputs from HR, finance and other areas of the business. Our analysis not only explores key KPIs and benchmarks to consider in managing a contingent workforce program, but also provides the context of why they matter now more than ever.
A number of trends have converged to drive an increased interest in services procurement not just in kicking the KPIs and benchmarking tires, but hopping in the vehicle from the start. These include an increasingly geographic distribution of flexible workforces as well as the need to get more from contingent procurement savings given the state of the overall economy. Moreover, as companies expand globally, benchmarks and KPIs can play a key role in helping centralized procurement functions -- as well as decentralized managers -- keep a pulse on actual activity. ??
Yet not all organizations place an equal emphasis on measuring and managing by the numbers. Those more inclined to focus overall program management and direction around benchmarking and KPIs are likely to view contract labor as a more strategic component of their overall business. In addition, companies with more sophisticated quality and operational excellence programs in place (i.e., lean, Six Sigma, ISO) or those within in heavily regulated industries where careful reporting is required are more likely to adopt a data-driven management model.
In many cases, organizations choosing to go down the KPI and benchmarking path have implemented a strong vendor management office -- which Spend Matters has observed is more common across IT services spend than other categories. Likewise, those companies with an experienced internally managed operation (often with a multi-year track record of results) or those that rely on a stronger MSP are also more likely to leverage KPIs and benchmarks at the core to improve performance.
In short, this paper explores how best to deploy KPIs and benchmarks in a services procurement context -- including which areas to focus on and prioritize (going far beyond just rate cards). It also explores CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield's experience getting more from their VMS implementation by leveraging benchmarks and KPIs at the core of their effort to measure and improve contingent workforce performance.
If you're curious about the topic, we think you'll find the detail and analysis of how best to deploy KPIs and benchmarks in Services Procurement Benchmarking -- Truth in Numbers to Achieve a New Level of Program Results, to your liking. We also encourage you to check out our other recent research in the services procurement area as well:
Selecting Services Procurement Technology – Options, Approaches, and Philosophy
The Managed Services Connection -- The Evolving Role of MSPs in Services Procurement
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Services Procurement or Contract Labor Management. The KPI's in this report are pretty exclusive to temp/SoW labor management. Not sure it really covers the full breadth and scope of services procurement.
Are the VMS systems in the market really ready for full services procurement or is this just a marketing position to eventually expand into scope? When will someone do a real evaluation of which systems can really manage indirect services expenditures across an enterprise?
Fair enough ... we are planning to explore SOW metrics/benchmarks on a category-specific basis in an upcoming analysis. Stay tuned.