The theme of KellyOCG’s recent analyst day was ‘Talent Supply Chain Management’, which they demonstrated using their latest online analytics portal, ‘Talent Supply Chain Analytics’ (TSC Analytics).

The portal has the ability to propose the optimal number of suppliers for a job category, based on supply chain modelling that has identified correlations between the number of suppliers and cycle time. Using predictive analytics, the system indicates where additional suppliers are needed in the case of long cycle times; similarly, it can identify areas where it may be better to reduce the number of suppliers, to help cut cycle times.

The tool is available to KellyOCG’s clients as well as suppliers. Clients (and MSP service teams) can:

• See employment demographics, including hires by job category and by country
• Assess wage differentials of employees and contractors as well as the average service years for each, as well as looking for outliers. This enables metrics to be set to (for example) help convert a proportion of contingent workers to full employees where they have been in the company more than a certain number of years. One client was able to convert 10% of its contingent workers, saving the company $11m per year
• Perform rate analytics and see benchmark data for a job category –  the data feeds that are used to build benchmarks include PeopleTicker, Kelly Services, and EMSI (Economic Modelling Specialists), and the KellyOCG practice.

Suppliers can see what share of a job category they are currently supplying and compare their performance to the benchmark of suppliers in that category, such as average cycle times. Hence, the tool is designed to motivate suppliers.

The KellyOCG analytics team is resourced with labor economists and statisticians. Its vision is that suppliers will send KellyOCG full benchmark data, which in turn can be used to help attract recruiters and encourage clients to use those suppliers.

The technology has been in development over the last two years and is now rolled out to all of its MSP clients, delivering on average 25% productivity improvement by the operations manager.

The KellyOCG Talent Supply Chain Management results are easy to view via the portal, and underpinning the reporting are:

• A KellyOCG proprietary methodology based on the defined supply chain methodology known as SCOR (Supply Chain Operational Reference), GTSC Model 2.3, which has been further developed over the last 12 months to incorporate inputs, activities, and outputs; build in lead times; and look at process levers and metrics through each of the phases of the talent supply chain
• A newly launched talent management consulting team to support companies looking to conduct strategic talent reviews. The team has built a standardized methodology to assist companies in defining and executing talent strategies.

With only ~13% of organizations having strategic workforce planning functions, tools like this are likely to attract attention in the world of HR and procurement. And KellyOCG is one of the first MSP providers to offer an online analytics tool for suppliers, clients and MSP service agents alike.

Over the coming year, NelsonHall expects KellyOCG to build and refine more SOW structures in their analytics to facilitate greater insights in SOW workings. KellyOCG is seeing a 300% pipeline growth in SOW activity, mostly in EMEA, as it gains momentum in a market that is less than a couple of years old.

Overall, based on NelsonHall’s 2014 MSP report, the growth in the global market was expected to be ~16% CAGR until 2018, with ~60% of this market representing a vendor neutral model. As visibility of supplier spend increases, and benefits become more visible through analytics tools like the one offered by KellyOCG, a greater market uptick can be expected in coming years.