Tech giant turns to Beeline to execute and enforce global contingent workforce program

The challenge

This high-tech leader securely connects industries and communities around the globe with an industry-leading portfolio of technology innovations in networking, security, collaboration, cloud management, and more.

In addition to approximately 80,000 employees worldwide, the company depends on an extensive external workforce of more than 50,000 contingent workers including independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, advisers, and other outsourced workers hired on a per-job and nonpermanent basis. Because of its history of growth through acquisition, having absorbed more than 230 companies as of 2023, the company had an ad-hoc, disconnected approach to managing its large, global contingent workforce. This resulted in inconsistent standards, an overabundance of suppliers, and insufficient central control.

When the business embarked on an enterprise initiative to create and execute a more structured, organized, and coordinated external workforce, it realized its long-time incumbent vendor management system (VMS) could not support the changes needed to source and manage the company’s worldwide contingent workforce. Rather than modify the existing system, they chose to work with a new technology provider focused specifically on contingent human capital management. They chose Beeline.

The solution

Beeline Enterprise accommodated the client’s scale, which encompasses many types of labor categories and compliance requirements across 95 countries. It also met the client’s preference not to build and customize its own technology but to work with a VMS provider whose proven technology was ready to go.

In essence, we wanted to be more out of the box based on industry best practices,” said the client’s global contingent workforce strategy director. Basically, a lot of ‘make it simple, make it safe, make it fast’ is really the construct…. It’s just a lot of sloppiness going away because you take that away and give them a fluid, quick, automated process.”

Working closely with Beeline’s system design professionals, the client’s contingent workforce strategy team set the sourcing policies and procedures the software would reflect and enforce. Based on this collaborative process, Beeline created a comprehensive software solution that guides managers, telling them when and how they can engage with external contributors. The solution then automates all contractor and professional service provider engagements across the company’s many business units.

The results

For the first time, the tech giant is able to execute and enforce its contingent workforce strategy consistently across all external labor categories and all business units in 95 countries.
As the client establishes new practices to manage contingent workers across functional silos and its many business units, the technology to support this strategy must adapt. During this evolution, Beeline’s support organization provides the necessary resources and deep industry knowledge to meet the client’s demanding requirements.
By rationalizing the company’s global supply base, increasing competitive bidding, identifying beneficial synergies, and advising hiring managers, the centralized contingent workforce program office drives cost savings across all categories of outsourced labor.