Case Study 1

Ericsson Reduces Costs through Streamlined Supplier Management Process

The Challenge
Ericsson, the world's leading supplier in telecommunications, was using more than 100 suppliers to support its information technology staffing needs at its Research Triangle Park, NC, location. Time-consuming tasks such as selecting staffing resources and managing multiple suppliers were the responsibility of each manager within the company. To compound matters, the suppliers were charging inconsistent rates for the same positions. Also, candidate screening, employee management, rate schedules, time card procedures, reporting, invoicing and contract compliance criteria were not monitored.

The Solution
In order to remove the supplier management burden from the Ericsson managers and improve the staffing process, Kelly IT Resources was selected as one of five primary vendors to assist in managing the IT staffing requirements at this location. Within three days, the Kelly IT Resources team performed a full evaluation of the company's current system, analyzed gaps in the staffing process, eliminated unnecessary steps, made improvement recommendations and developed an implementation plan for a new centralized staffing process.

It was also essential that there be no disruption to the workplace during this phase. To ensure a seamless transition, Kelly IT Resources established secondary supplier contracts with many current suppliers to ensure Ericsson's current contract employees remained on their assignments. 

The Results
Ericsson realized significant cost savings and efficiency gains within one year following the implementation of the new centralized staffing process. A neutral rate table was established for all IT positions, regardless of the supplier. In addition, savings resulted by reducing the number of invoices the company received (typically one invoice per week per temporary employee) to a single, consolidated invoice from Kelly, regardless of whether or not the employees worked for secondary suppliers.

Ericsson now receives a single report detailing all temporary staffing spending, by department, that can be used for budgeting and auditing purposes. Also, Ericsson managers no longer have to handle the administrative tasks of dealing with multiple suppliers, therefore allowing them to focus on their core job responsibilities.