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The market for contingent workforce solutions has been evolving rapidly, including a new name for a vendor that has a deep history in the sector. VectorVMS, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based provider of a vendor management system (VMS) solution, recently became its own brand after spinning off from PeopleFluent, which had been Peopleclick.
Since “people” are a prominent thread here, we caught up with Marc Husain, the general manager of VectorVMS, where the human touch still drives the services and solutions it provides as part of the Learning Technologies Group (LTG). That spirit of serving people has been ingrained in the business since the late 1990’s, Husain says.
In a Q&A, he walks us through the latest updates in the industry and this company, VectorVMS.
Spend Matters: In case our readers are unfamiliar, can you give a brief history of VectorVMS, PeopleFluent and how your company has evolved over the years?
Our origins go back to a start-up called itiliti, founded in 1999, the year just about every company was in search of IT workers to ensure their systems would be ready for Y2K.
Itiliti recognized a need for a differentiated procurement platform for contingent labor. While there were plenty of procurement tools for material items back then, none had the human touch it takes to source contractors and consultants.
我们开始直接向客户提供服务，但客户指向我们返回其员工配置组织和外包管理服务提供商（MSP）。这实际上是我的角色：MSP的频道管理器。
At itiliti we also recognized the need for companies to be able to cast a wider net — that is, expand beyond traditional staffing models for contingent workers. So it was designed to tap into multiple channels, from traditional staffing to direct sourcing and more.
Two years later, itiliti was acquired by Peopleclick. Our VMS solution, together with Peopleclick’s recruiting software, created an ecosystem that spanned full-time and contingent workforce management. In fact, this was a first-of-its-kind offering combining an applicant tracking system (ATS) and a VMS.
So from our founding, VectorVMS has always emphasized a human touch, multichannel sourcing and integration within the talent ecosystem.
SM: What was the goal of spinning out VectorVMS from PeopleFluent? What message do you want to send to your customers and prospects with that distinction?
WhenLTG acquired PeopleFluent in 2018，他们认为我们的供应商管理系统是一个独特的产品，而不仅仅是在百满钱套装中，而是在LTG的整个技术平台中。
They spun VectorVMS out as its own brand与人民流行的劳动力合规和多样性师一起成为肯定。
对于我们的客户和我们的合作伙伴，是我们自己的实体意味着我们可以专注于他们的需求。在迅速变化的市场上，我们可以更加灵活，这些市场呈现劳动。我们可以以非常具体的方式继续现代化技术 - 例如，满足WCAG 2.0标准，以便更好地支持我们的州政府客户。
SM: What about your company’s strategy and focus has changed with the new brand identity? What, if anything, are you leaving behind with PeopleFluent, and what is VectorVMS embracing that’s “new”?
The difference is having a single focus. Everything we do now can be tailored for contingent labor management.
For example, as part of the emphasis on market agility that I mentioned, we’re looking to evolve through partnerships to support more sourcing channels — specifically, freelance, online staffing and direct sourcing. Contingent labor today encompasses more than the traditional staffing model, so we’re enabling our clients to cast a wider net to get the best talent.
SM：鉴于您的持续运营作为学习技术组的一部分，客户将如何从资源和专业知识中获益，这一生态系统可以带来？
Being part of LTG gives us strong backing and operational resources. And it gives us access to capabilities across the group. We continue to work closely with our colleagues at PeopleFluent, of course. And we’re excited about the possibilities of collaborating with leaders and visionaries at LEO Learning, gomo, Eukleia and Watershed, for example, to integrate L&D into contingent workforce management.
Across what we at LTG think of as “high-consequence industries” (like financial services, manufacturing, transportation and energy), learning compliance is and has long been critically important.
We’re already having early conversations with clients who want to tie learning management into their VMS to extend learning compliance to their contingent workforce.
SM: What makes your solution stand out from other VMS providers in the market? Why do your clients choose your solution over others?
In the last few years, other vendor management platforms and technologies have become quite sophisticated — lots of bells and whistles. But we’ve focused on that human touch, maintaining a simplified, straight-forward and friendly user experience.
The comment we hear most often from clients is that VectorVMS helps them get their job done quickly and simply.
And that, ultimately, is what technology is supposed to do: Make your job easier.
SM: VectorVMS draws on 20 years of experience in the contingent workforce and services industry. How has the industry changed in that time, and what are the major challenges VectorVMS will help customers address going forward?
演出经济引发了重大班次。特遣队工人现在有更多的选择来寻找工作。认为自由管理软件如Workmarket，直接采购和在线人员配置资源，如Taskrabbit和Freelancer.com。
Looking ahead, VectorVMS aims to connect our clients to all these talent-rich avenues for closing skills gaps, ramping up operations, meeting seasonal hiring needs, etc.
虽然没有单一供应商管理技术今天可以提供100％的公司的队伍需求的需求，但我们相信我们可以作为使HCM整合在您的人才生态系统中的平台。这意味着我们的客户可以取得成功，无论他们如何获得人才如何。
SM：最后，自从你决定在一个新品牌下重新进入市场，Viewsvms的名称是什么意思？
We wanted a name that captured our excitement and renewed focus. The word “vector” signifies a purposeful direction and a trajectory into the future. From the client perspective, it’s the path from chaos to control over their contingent labor program.
For me, this connects directly to our laser focus on clients and partners, and the energy and vision we bring to our work every day — our ability to deliver a VMS technology and managed services that propel the talent strategies of our customers.
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