From Chaos to Calm: How to Spot if Your Business is Ready for it’s First Managed Service Programme

For many organisations, contingent hiring grows gradually over time rather than strategically.

And for many, before they know it their small handful of agency relationships has become a massive supplier network, their contractor approvals are handled by different teams, contractor spend data is living in multiple places, reporting is more of a nice to have and let’s not even get started on what compliance responsibilities are looking like.

At first, this may feel manageable. Over time, it becomes harder to control.

This is often the point where many businesses start asking themselves how they’re going to get more control of their contingent workforce population and begin exploring talent strategies like Managed Service Programmes (MSPs).

But this opens the door to a much bigger question: are they ready for their first MSP (a first-generation) MSP?

In this blog we walk you through exactly what a first-generation MSP is, what implementing one means for your business, and most importantly, how to spot if your business is ready for one.

What does a first-generation MSP do?

First things first, a first-generation MSP isn’t about replacing what works for you with a bank of unnecessary processes. Instead, a first-generation MSP is centred around bringing you more structure, visibility and governance to your contingent workforce hiring for the first time, in a way that’s tailored to your specific organisation’s size, complexity and priorities.

For many of our clients, implementing an MSP for the first time is often where their contingent hiring finally starts feeling like a strategic process rather than chaos.

What does a ‘first-generation’ MSP actually mean?

When we refer to a ‘first-generation’ MSP’, all this really means is the first time an organisation has introduced a structured recruitment model for managing all (or part) of its contingent workforce. And unlike mature MSP environments where programmes may have evolved over many years, a first-generation MSP is more about introducing consistency where there was previously fragmentation.

This can include working with a recruitment partner to source contractor talent, to help with supplier management, governance, reporting and compliance support. It can even include working with that partner to help design a better hiring process and to provide deeper insights into your workforce.

The goal of a first-generation MSP isn’t to just reduce agency usage. The goal is to create a more controlled and effective operating model to provide flexible talent.

How to spot if your organisation is ready for a first-generation MSP

If your organisation is growing, particularly if it’s in a heavily regulated sector like financial services, insurance or pensions, there might be a few challenges cropping up suggesting you’ve outgrown your previously more informal approach to contingent hiring and pointing to the need for a bit more structure.

These signs can include:

• You have multiple suppliers being used inconsistently across the business.
• You cannot easily see total contingent workforce spend, tenure or headcount.
• Compliance responsibilities are split across teams or rely on manual checks.
• Hiring managers have very different experiences depending on role, function or location.
• You are under pressure to improve governance and cost control without slowing delivery.
• You need specialist contractors, but current processes do not consistently deliver quality or speed.

How a first-generation MSP can transform your contingent hiring

A well-designed first-generation MSP isn’t about adding layers of processes, it’s about bringing control, clarity and consistency to your contingent hiring. Rather than disrupting relationships or slowing down recruitment, it adds structure where you need it, all while preserving the agility your hiring managers rely on. Something that’s particularly valuable in specialist or regulated sectors like financial services where access to niche talent needs to be maintained alongside scalability.

Ultimately, a first-generation MSP transforms contingent hiring from a fragmented, reactive process into a controlled, insight-driven function, delivering better outcomes for hiring managers, suppliers and the business.

Are you ready for your first MSP?

If your contingent hiring has become harder to see, harder to govern or harder to scale, it may be time to consider working with a talent partner to implement your first MSP.

If you’d like to chat about this further then don’t hesitate to reach out to find out more about how Sanderson could support you.

And if you’re looking for an easy resource to share with your teams to easily ascertain if your organisation is ready for an MSP, then why not download our handy MSP Readiness Checklist here!