Profiles in Supply Chain Enablement: New York company reduces its contingent workforce spend and streamlines temp labor processes

Company: Major Financial Institution (New York)
Company Size: Large
Company Sector: Financial Services
Area(s) of Enablement: Order/Demand Capture, Sourcing, Procurement, Payment, Supply Chain Integration & Infrastructure
Enabler: IQNavigator (Denver)

Case Study:This large financial institution based in NYC spends more than $10 million on contract or temporary workers a year, but the company did not have a clear view of, or control over, its services spending. The company recognized that maintaining financial control and compliance of all services spending is critical to their business success. Many of these purchased services are integral to customer interaction; therefore, they must ensure that they have qualified people with the right skills and service deliverable quality.

In late 2002, the financial institution's executives began to develop several cost cutting ideas to determine what initiatives would create the most benefit for the organization. The results showed a significant savings opportunity in financial institution's services spending especially in contract labor category. The financial institution's executives determined that through the use of automation and better management of suppliers, it would achieve significant results if it focused on optimizing its services procurement process.

The company's objectives included:

• Reduce services spend
• Automate and better manage suppliers.
• Achieve significant ROI by optimizing services procurement process for contract labor category.

Identifying the Right Solution

The financial institution launched a search in the third quarter of 2003 to find the appropriate solution to assist in this project. The highly competitive process concluded in March 2004 with the company selecting IQNavigator, a provider of services procurement and optimization solutions. The financial institution selected IQNavigator primarily due to its solution's functionality, professional presentations and personnel, vendor neutrality and competitive pricing across multiple categories of purchased services.

The financial institution deployed IQNavigator6 in mid-2004. Using a hosted, configurable, all-Web platform, the implementation took 12 weeks and required no capital cost or license fee. The company implemented the IQContingent Workforce module from the IQNavigator6 suite. This is a cross-functional and cross-enterprise services procurement management solution for contractors and temporary workers, covering requisition and candidate submission, time/expense entry and approvals, and invoicing and compliance.

The tool is designed to streamline and automate processes for sourcing, engaging, managing and measuring the acquisition and activities of contingent workers. The module optimizes the financial institution's weekly financial process from time entry via the Web or telephone, to configurable approvals, automated invoice creation, and pre-reconciled payment processing.

Reaping the Results

The financial institution began to see results almost immediately after the completion of the implementation. In less than a year, the financial institution has increased its bottom line, with an average savings of approximately 15 percent.

Today the financial institution utilizes IQNavigator in the United States to manage its contingent workforce and, as a result, is able to realize cost savings while focusing on its own core competencies. The financial institution is now expanding its use of the system in the organization's United Kingdom offices and additional areas of services spending.