Smooth Transition to MSP at T-Mobile

When TAC Europe was appointed Managed Service Provider for T-Mobile, administrative staffing provider Blue Arrow continued to supply staff under the new framework. Instead of working directly with T-Mobile, they now work through the MSP agreement, having their vacancies forwarded to them. However, according to Viv McSweeney, National Account Director of Blue Arrow, “The transition was smooth.”

She reports that the experience was “infinitely better than we expected” and puts the success of the operation down to TAC Europe and Blue Arrow having a good relationship, working side by side at T-Mobile’s Hatfield headquarters. “We face the same challenges and if we have an issue, we sit down together and say 'how can we do this better'. It is in our mutual interest.”

McSweeney points to the two companies sharing a common attitude to compliance and customer satisfaction as key drivers in the quality of delivery. “It is refreshing that we are not expected to deliver against an unreasonable margin, which could compromise the service level. We have always found TAC Europe impartial and honest, which makes the arrangement productive.”

Based on Blue Arrow’s experience of running and working within managed service frameworks, she sees the trend towards MSP's continuing and spreading out to more industries. “In the IT sector, it started in order to take away the recruitment headache from the IT Manager. Many organisations do not know what they are spending on recruitment because it is disparate. There are savings to be found by giving the task to a specialist. “Engineers or IT Managers are employed to build a road or system. Having to do recruitment is not good use of their time.”

The MSP trend is an evolution of the Preferred Supplier List, according to McSweeney, so what next? Blue Arrow’s own MSP model is based on using technology to manage procurement and processes, including timetables, more efficiently. She believes the development of these more sophisticated e-recruitment systems will greatly benefit employers and candidates in the future.



Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) Future Proofing IT & Communication Conference

The first annual conference highlighting Recruitment in the IT and Communications industry was held by the REC in London on 28 September 2005.

The conference looked in depth at demographic changes and employment trends within the IT & Communications Sector with breakout sessions concentrating on legislative challenges, developing winning proposals, politics, people and technology, sourcing large project schemes and managed services from a user’s perspective.

The event provided the opportunity to explore these different aspects with key speakers such as Richard Reeves (The Guardian and Management Today.)

Simon Trippick, Managing Director at TAC Europe, sat on the panel which discussed the future of IT recruitment, he believes that there is a growing recognition within the industry that recruitment companies need to identify their own unique selling point to differentiate them within the market. Now more than ever, it is important for us to show how we can add real value to our clients. Simon commented;

“If the number of agencies continues to grow as some people expect, differentiation will become the number one challenge for IT recruitment companies."