Simply put, SAP Fieldglass creates value for all industries that use an external workforce. By providing a comprehensive and centralized platform for managing and optimizing the procurement and management of contingent workers and services, it helps any organization improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Here are some industries that make regular use of external workers, and the challenges they face:
Oil & Gas
Energy and Natural Resources consumers have enormous growth within the Oil & Gas industry, requiring advanced technologies to drive more visibility and operational efficiencies for their external workforce. Nearly half of the spending within this industry is seen on contractors and outsourced services. However, many companies still under-manage those workers and outsourced services.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| Transparency of the end-to-end process due to information being stored across multiple systems. | Framework Orders allow customers to track workers in a single system of record supporting multiple integration feeds. |
| Automation from purchasing event to trigger on/off boarding processes mitigating HSE and Security Risks. | Customized and assigned onboarding activities can be automated as part of the hiring process for all worker categories. |
| Flexibility to run the business through mobile applications. | Supports flexible and automated processes where service entry sheets and service delivery can be submitted, approved, and invoiced via mobile solutions. |
Information Technology (IT)
Technology advances and changes rapidly, often requiring organizations to pivot quickly to meet new challenges and customer demands. In such a landscape, external workers offer the ability to rapidly onboard new skills and meet immediate demands in rising fields such as cybersecurity, networking, and AI.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| Accessing top talent & critical skills in a highly competitive landscape. | Curated pools of potential pre-qualified candidates with critical skills who are already familiar with specific technologies. |
| Growth for most tech firms is outside the U.S. | Supports over 190 countries around the world. Helps customers manage talent pools globally across their supply base. |
| Constant change requires flexibility. | Analytics functions can show where there are skill gaps in an organization so the workforce can be reallocated and scaled accordingly. |
Manufacturing
Manufacturing companies often use temporary workers for assembly line positions, quality control, and warehouse operations to meet production demands and seasonal needs. This flexibility helps them manage fluctuating demand and avoid the costs of maintaining a large, permanent workforce.
Many manufacturing firms also outsource production processes, quality control, and supply chain management to external providers to enhance flexibility and reduce overhead.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| Variable supply chains. | Flexible talent pool can procure the right workers where the need exists. |
| Complex rate structures within factory operations. | Granular management of rate differentials, multi-rate per assignment, allocations, tiers, etc. Flexibility with worker pay types (i.e. role/ task-based rate structure). |
| Compliance with regional labor regulations and safety standards. | Mitigates health and safety risks with onboarding checklists to ensure safety equipment is issued, site inductions completed, and training is completed. Monitors overtime hours and the varying regulations and standards of the 190 countries in which it is deployed. |
| Processes that can’t be managed by in-house employees. | Vast network of suppliers, contractors, and services vendors allows for rapid outsourcing of certain functions. |
Healthcare
The healthcare industry uses external labor for positions such as traveling nurses, physicians, and temporary allied health professionals to address staffing shortages and fluctuations in patient demand.
It helps streamline the hiring process, ensuring that the right healthcare professionals are available when and where they are needed. This improves patient care and reduces costs by eliminating the need for excessive staffing or relying on expensive agency staff.
It also ensures compliance with strict regulations and facilitates the quick onboarding of critical healthcare staff.
Hospitals and clinics often outsource administrative tasks like billing, medical transcription, and IT services to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| Ensure healthcare professionals are properly certified and credentialed. | Pre-qualified workforce allows a company to create talent pools of qualified and that can quickly be deployed. Credential management ensures that resources have the proper licenses and certifications. |
| Identify and relay different shifts and times to their suppliers and workers on a day-by-day basis. | Simplified requisition creation for Shift Manager (2 click Req) or Partner Ecosystem for shift workers. |
| Need the highest level of visibility into day-to-day program management as they ultimately have to report back to local, state, and federal governments. Examples of reports needed are Joint Commission Surveys, State Health Boards, Insurance Reviews, and Spend and Headcount Numbers. | Analytics functions can be tailored to generate reports based on specific criteria. |
Construction
Construction projects often involve specialized tasks that require specific skills or certifications. Companies may bring in external contractors or subcontractors to handle these tasks, such as plumbing, electrical work, or HVAC installation.
The construction industry relies heavily on external labor for various roles, including electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and general laborers, especially during peak construction seasons or large projects.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| The barriers to entry in construction are still low, leading to a large number of competitors and shrinking margins which constrain investments. | Track worker time, expenses, and project costs in real-time. Automate invoicing and payment processes to reduce errors and delays. Analyze spend data to identify savings opportunities and optimize labor costs. |
| Projects are getting larger, more technically sophisticated, and require greater efficiency. | Streamline the process of finding, engaging, and managing workers with specific technical skills. Handle complex service structures with multiple payment vehicles; deliverable based, T&M, and/or contracted rates. Quickly onboard and offboard workers as needed. Deliverable planning with line item due dates and estimated costs. |
| Compliance with various regulations, safety standards, and labor laws. | Monitors the regulations and standards of the 190 countries in which it is deployed. Automates compliance checks, such as insurance, certifications, and background checks. |
| Adding to low productivity and higher risks, the construction industry is bracing for a dramatic reduction in workforce experience due to retiring baby boomers. | Tap into a large pool of contingent workers, freelancers, and contractors. Use analytics to predict future talent needs and plan accordingly. |
Retail
This sector includes consulting, accounting, legal, and marketing firms that frequently hire external professionals for project-based work, expertise in niche areas, or to manage peak workloads.
| Priorities | SAP Fieldglass Solution |
|---|---|
| Commerce systems such as digital storefronts are some of the most complex web applications and by far the most important to company revenue. | Utilizing non-traditional channels and specialist suppliers, organizations can better find the right resources to build and maintain specialized segments of the commerce chain or fix/offload areas that break. |
| Various short-term services requirements such as marketing, advertising, system upgrades. | Manage the delivery of services with statements of work. Monitor negotiated performance SLAs. |
| Retailers will have seasonal fluctuations that necessitate the flexibility to expand and contract their workforce. | Rapidly create and deploy job postings to a vast network of suppliers, automate onboarding, offboarding, and management processes for seasonal workers, ensuring efficiency and compliance. |