Washing Away Inefficiencies With A Managed Services Program

The Dilemma

A North American public utilities company that's been in business for over 100 years and bringing in more than $3 billion of annual revenue, was facing significant workforce challenges. They lacked organization and structure, had no centralized processes in place, and they had almost zero visibility into their procurement spend. In other words, their talent acquisition and management process was a disaster. They did not know where their money or labor were going due to inefficient tracking and metrics. They needed immediate assistance from talent experts if they wanted to manage their talent properly and operate their business efficiently. 

The Strategy

DZConneX (DZX) needed to help our client track their labor spending and supplier sources in an organized way. Our experts determined that a first-generation Managed Service Provider (MSP) program would be the best way to bring structure to our client. DZX's teams would work with the company nationally in various industries including manual labor, light industrial, administrative, clerical, call centers, executive-level account positions, high-level IT and more. We would implement a centralized process for all contingent labor orders to go through the MSP, ensuring that one source was accounting for all labor. 

The Impact

Our experts delivered insight into all aspects of the talent acquisition process and provided critical metrics which allowed the client to find cost saving opportunities. Our client was able to save $1,870,990 with our MSP program while also achieving 100% fulfillment rate for call center classes. Their business forecasting method was also improved which allowed them to plan their future successes. After one year with our  program, an 8.15/10 manager satisfaction rating was reported, proving the DZX program delivered excellent results. 

Water Utilities Industry Fast Facts

85% of the population's water services are supplied by Public Water utilities 

100-175 gallons of water used by an average American each day 

53,000 community water services in the United States 

22 years is the average a water/wastewater professional has been working in the industry 

98% of all community wastewater systems are government owned 

Running a business in the dark is never the right way to accomplish organizational goals. One of DZX's clients, a public utilities company providing drinking water, wastewater, and other water-related services to 46 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada, was essentially operating their business in the dark. They had little to no visibility into what their labor spend was, what it was going towards, who was supplying it, and where it was being allocated in the future. They also lacked an organized acquisition and management process for their contingent talent.

In short, our client was lost in the procurement department and needed an expert's help immediately. Before DZX stepped in to help, managers at the client's organization were able to contact any supplier they wanted and ask for contingent workers, regardless of the cost or prior relationship with the supplier. 

Creating Visibility  

As a first-generation MSP for the client, DZX was tasked with bringing control and consistency to the organization. Rather than different business divisions working with their own supplier to find contingent labor, onboard them, pay them properly and seamlessly offboard them, there would be a centralized process and all orders for contingent labor would be brought through one source - the MSP. 

DZX was essentially the client's first talent expert to help monitor the talent entering and exiting the organization, how much they were making, how well each supplier was performing and optimizing their overall total talent process. We did not get rid of all of the existing suppliers our client had been working with. A large portion of the suppliers stayed with our client, but they were all simply moved under the singular MSP buffer, providing new metrics and visibility into spending. This new-found visibility created savings opportunities at each step. And with DZX’s extensive nationwide vendor list, any new vendors that would be needed were quickly and efficiently added to our client's supplier network.

Saving the IT Department   

While much of the utilities company’s contingent labor management was lacking control and insight, its IT labor was also in need of some vital repairs. Not long after the MSP plan got under way, our experts uncovered that much of the client’s IT department labor was not being managed by the MSP program. The IT department was operating under a Statement of Work (SOW) process which made little economic and tactical sense because the IT roles that needed filling were complex and required special attention from top suppliers to meet their needs.

In partnership with the client, DZX created a solution to evaluate each position the IT department was looking to fill and ask what type of talent structure was most efficient, both for the candidate and the company. In short order, the problem was spotted, identified and successfully conquered head-on. 

In order to fill a number of difficult-to-find SAP-specific positions the department needed, our experts quickly worked to tailor its vendor list to target suppliers who were SAP-certified. When other MSPs may have failed, DZX met with IT leaders to grasp a better understanding of the open roles and helped the client better position itself to respond to and fill more of these niche positions.

Additionally, because of the relationships with suppliers that were already in place, DZX was able to find a number of high-paying, direct-hire IT roles for the client. Our experienced teams also provided insight into diversity spend, which was tracked and reported on with quarterly initiatives implemented based on those results.

Predicting The Future 

Gaining greater insight into current spending and reducing costs because of it is certainly important and one of the key reasons our client chose to work with us. However, another reason clients choose us is due to our forecasting abilities. By DZX providing insight into all contingent labor through one source, we can deliver forecasts on where the company should focus their efforts, where it needs additional candidates if any are needed, and which divisions contingent labor spend should be allocated toward. 

Without using the metrics that come from having an MSP and extracting value to forecast where contingent labor opportunities and pitfalls may lie in the future, those metrics become nothing but numbers. It is in DZX's highly detailed tracking method that we are able to not only provide business value in the present, but also ensure that the business is set up to succeed in the future by staying ahead of the fluctuating contingent labor curve.

In the end, DZX was able to deliver great results to the client and drastically improve their contingent labor strategy. With our MSP program, the client achieved $1,870,990 in total cost savings. They also accomplished a 100% fulfillment rate for call center classes. Finally, an 8.15/10 manager satisfaction rating was reported after one year of program implementation. These numbers prove that DZX accomplished what they set out to do for the client, and it was a successful partnership for everyone involved.