Frequently Asked Questions
Fideseo On-demand Resources FAQ
- What are on-demand resources?
These are part-time, sometimes also called fractional, contract staff that can augment your various functions in your company. They can be used to bridge a gap, start new initiatives that get handed off to employees, or serve as interim leaders for new or existing functions.
- What’s the rationale for using on-demand resources?
Scalability: Allows you to scale quickly and fill gaps as needed.
Specialized skills: Provides access to skills to match the needs and tasks.
Flexibility: Establishes a pool of resources to flex up or down as required.
Innovation: New projects/initiatives are great candidates for fractional resources.
Accountability: An internal leader is always accountable as a “sponsor” for a specific set of fractional resources, making the team inherently accountable.
ROI: More affordable than full-time employees.
- How do you staff and retain people to fill roles?
Continuous recruiting: We are always in recruiting mode.
Effective onboarding: We align, on-board, and orient every team member with the client culture, values, approach.
Proactive retention: We provide ahead of the curve retention – Fideseo has a great value proposition for its on-demand resources.
Active performance management: We continuously evaluate our resource pool, coverage, speed, and quality.
Accountability: “Buck stops here” mindset with our leaders working with your leaders.
- What areas do your resources cover?
At a high-level, here are the areas where our on-demand resources can help:
- Leadership – C-Level, General Managers, VPs, and Directors
- Product teams – digital product management, project/program management, software engineering/development, tech writing/copywriting/content, QA, UX/UI design
- Compliance analysts
- Finance – Financial analysts, controllers, etc..
- And others – ask us.
- What industries are covered?
- Digital products and services (e.g., SaaS)
- Financial services
- Tech startups – at least three years old
- Others – ask us.
- This sounds expensive – is there any kind of Return on Investment or is it just sunk cost?
It depends on the work. Typically, we see positive ROI well into the double-digits. There is substantial cost and time savings with on-demand resources.
- But wait, if someone is only working part-time, how can they be as productive as a full-time person?
Our experience has been that our On-Demand Resources are so highly skilled, experienced, and productive that we have performed better than internal teams. In fact, an example of this is a client who wants us to build and deliver all their new products/initiatives with our resources given our contribution to their revenue and product with a fantastic ROI.
- How are you any different from other companies offering this service?
The quality of our resources, a proactive approach with great leadership that matches teams/individuals with companies in a great way. Our values as a company are mutual respect, honesty, and integrity. Many companies have great values. We truly live them, and they flow through to how we treat each other and our clients.
- How are these resources led?
What works best is having an internal sponsor, who is a Full-Time Employee of the company. Then we take one of our leaders, work works with your internal sponsor to ensure expectations are set, accomplishments are achieved, and your satisfaction is the top priority. We can share our model with you. It is unique.
- How long of a commitment is this?
Typically, we start with a 3-month term. Beyond that we can work with you to determine the right period/length of engagement.
Vendor Fidelity™ FAQ
- How does this work, given Fideseo’s entire team is outside my company?
Depending on your setup, we look at the different ways to make this work. We can plug-in to your existing process or create one for you. Either way, we start with a best practices workflow that minimizes operational friction, and maximizes value and risk.
- What does your work look like?
We are in the background, making a great experience for employees and vendors in a way that everyone knows where things stand. Outstanding communication and collaboration are our hallmark. Your teams will notice us right away for good reasons. We will free-up their time, so they can focus on growing your business and getting their work done.
- How do you measure success?
Each situation is different. We tune the measures of success to what is most important to you. Here are a few example measures of success:
- Contribution savings
- Time to decision
- Risk reduction
There are many more from which to choose. The right ones will get the results you need, and we’ll determine the right ones after our scoping conversation.
- How do you know how many resources to dedicate to the effort?
It varies, depending on the number of existing vendors, new vendors/month, existing process, etc.. We usually have our team segmented between “clean-up” team for existing vendors and an “onboarding” team for vetting new vendors. Of course, once the clean-up is done, we then focus on the current vendor relationships and decisioning new vendors.
- This sounds expensive – is there any kind of Return on Investment or is it just sunk cost?
There is a demonstrable ROI. With commercial contract management and risk management together, you achieve what we call Vendor Fidelity™, where the savings and cost avoidance pay for the service. The value is real and measurable.
- Is this a cookie cutter approach that you run the same for everyone?
No, we start with a best practice set of initial outcomes and workflows. Then we tune it to your environment. That way, you get the best practice and something that uniquely fits your needs.
- How long of a commitment is this?
Typically, we start with a 6-month term. Beyond that it’s usually an annual renewal, although we have clients with longer term agreements.
- Is this a long-term or short-term solution?
Once you and your team experience Vendor Fidelity™, we are confident you won’t return to the old ways. The value is just too substantial.
- Isn't procurement’s job to onboard vendors?
Procurement employees and teams are responsible for onboarding vendors. They are not trained to screen for risk management, information security, or negotiate favorable high-value terms with vendors. This is particularly the case for services that are technical in nature and need to be aligned to the company strategy or trajectory.
Procurement efforts are often transactional. We manage an ongoing relationship with a vendor to always get high-value outcomes from the vendors, not just when a contract starts or is up for renewal.
- We use vendors to perform a service or provide a product, so I don’t see how this really makes sense?
If you are viewing vendors as a necessary evil, a transaction to get a service or a product in the door, you are likely missing many opportunities to get more value through the relationship. We put a strategic workflow in-place that manages for outcomes that align to your business.
For example, with a new vendor, we establish how they will work with you, negotiate better terms than you’d get, and manage for risk, information security, and compliance. We’ll also look at your existing vendors and make sure they are getting you the highest value you require.