Ep. #87 | The Past, Present and Future of VMS’s - Mark Zolkos (Flextrack)

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney speaks to Tom Davenport, Managing Director of Alvius. Alvius is a leading technology company which provides VMS and talent pooling technology solutions to staffing, recruitment, and jobs businesses.

Tom is a 3-time founder. He has also been a consultant for PWC, an Innovation Advisor for the Tesco Group and a soldier in the British Army Reserve.

 In this episode, Connor & Tom discuss:

2.11 Tom’s story – how he became an MD at Alvius
8.15 In the era of talent pools and talent marketplaces, why are recruitment and staffing agencies still in business?
18.31 The fetishization of failure and Tom’s learnings from failure
23.23 The journey of raising money
29.14 The challenges Alvius solves
35.12 The talent scarcity crisis – how can technologies like Alvius’s solve this?
45.05 Is there a role in matching talent outside a country’s borders?
50.05 AI and jobs displacement
54.48 Predictions for future of work

Connect with Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-davenport-8a35011a/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/   
Visit Alvius's website: https://alvius.com
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney speaks to Terri Gallagher, CEO at Gallagher and Consultants. She is also an author and speaker. 

Terri created Walt Disney World’s first contingent workforce program, and grew her expertise working for the largest Global MSP/Staffing companies in the world.  She then started her consultancy firm to break the standard paradigms of traditional contingent workforce solutions.

Gallagher and Consultants employ an emerging model of alternative workforce management, the Adaptable Talent Program approach (ATP), to help businesses manage and optimise their contingent workforce. 

In this episode, Connor & Terri discuss:

• 3:56 Terri’s story
• 7:01 Entrepreneurial journey difficulties learnings
• 12:01 The problems and challenges Gallagher and Consultants solve
• 16:30 Are staffing companies ripe for disintermediation by newer tech providers?
• 18:50 Are large MSP’s and VMS’s at risk from talent marketplaces?
• 22:34 Direct sourcing – why are companies not buying it?
• 25:45 Gallagher and Consultant’s Adaptable Talent Program
• 29:06 The talent availability problem – why do we have it and what can we do about it?
• 37:42 How do we bring deskless workers into remote working?
• 40:44 Future of work predictions

Connect with Terri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrigallagher3/ 
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/   
Visit Gallagher and Consultant's website: https://www.gallagherandconsultants.com
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney speaks to Jon Holden, CRO at Aventi Solutions. Aventi Solutions is a specialist SAP Fieldglass partner who advises large corporates on their extended workforce strategies. 

Jon has had an astronomical career in the human capital sector working for many companies including Services and software companies such as IQNavigator and Beeline.

 In this episode Connor & Jon discuss:

• Jon’s story
• What Aventi Solutions do
• New entrants entering the extended workforce platform market – is it time for some competition?
• Are SAP Fieldglass and Aventi working to combine single point solutions into one application?
• Resource demand planning and strategic workforce planning
• Why do we have a talent availability crisis and what can we do about it?
• Are large enterprises starting to look at global talent pools?
• Is there an opportunity for talent marketplaces to work with enterprises? Would this be a threat to MSP’s and VMS’s?
• AI and its impact on jobs
• Remote work – good or bad?
• Predictions for future of work

Connect with Jon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonholden71/ 
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit Aventi's website: https://aventisolutions.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney talks to Mark Zolkos, Managing Director of Enterprise Strategies and MSP Alliances at Flextrack. Flextrack offers a next generation vendor management system to help businesses acquire, engage and manage their external workforce. 

Mark has a wealth of knowledge around VMS’s and has seen many changes over the years.

In this episode, Connor & Mark discuss:

• Mark’s story
• Key takeaways from Jamiel’s (Tapfin’s Colonel) leadership style
• The challenges Flextrack solves & how it’s VMS is different
• The history, evolution & future of VMS’s 
• The talent scarcity problem – how can we solve it?
• Has the education system evolved enough to prepare us for the future?
• Talent screening – are we too harsh & over-screening?
• Talent marketplaces – why have large enterprises not adopted them?
• AI – negative or a force for good?
• Remote work – concerning or good?
• Predictions for future of work

Connect with Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-zolkos-09b65b3/ 
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit Flextrack's website: https://www.flextrack.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney talks to John Riordan, Chairman of Grow Remote and Board Director at Boundless and Otonomee.

John is an avid supporter of working remote-first. Throughout his career, he has worked for large and well-known businesses such as Virgin Atlantic, Apple and Shopify, helping them implement remote working in contact centre customer service. 

During the episode Connor & John discuss:

• John’s story
• Setting up a contact centre customer service remote work model at Virgin Atlantic
• Remote work and being remote-first
• What is driving return to office mandates?
• Labour Market Paradox and talent scarcity crisis – how can this be tackled?
• Africa – the solution to the demographic drought?
• HR tech – bubble or not?
• Predictions for the future of work
• What Grow Remote does

Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncriordan/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit Grow Remote's website: https://growremote.ie/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor speaks to John Winsor, Chairman and Founder of Open Assembly, Visiting Executive at Harvard Business School and Author. John recently co-authored a book called Open Talent: Leveraging The Global Workforce to Solve Your Business Challenges. This is his sixth book. 

During the episode Connor & John discuss: 

• John’s story
• The speed of larger enterprises adopting freelancers and independent workers not as fast as expected – why?
• Company budgets – do people consider freelancers?
• Remote work and its influence on attrition rate
• Open Assembly – what it is and the challenges it solves
• The main frameworks and key principles in John’s book
• The force multipliers for the Open Talent Model
• The compliance challenge with large enterprises and how Open Assembly help
• AI 
• Predictions for future of work

Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntwinsor/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit Open Assembly's website: https://open-assembly.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor speaks to Sonya Shelton, Founder of Executive Leadership Consulting. Executive Leadership Consulting aligns an organisation’s business strategy with its culture to make it a successful business, as well as a fulfilling place to work. 

Sonya has founded 3 profitable companies, is a contributing writer to Forbes and previously worked as Head of Global Employee Communications at the Walt Disney company. She is also the author of “You’re an Executive But Are You a Leader?”, a number 1 Amazon bestselling book that shares leadership tips and success stories. 

During the episode Connor & Sonya Discuss:

• Sonya’s story
• Her experience at Disney when it faced conflict & a culture transformation
• Should companies include family as a value, or is it dangerous?
• The key principles of her book
• The common struggles leaders have & how she helps
• Imposter syndrome – is this common?
• Is work life balance possible with remote work?
• The labour market paradox – what can we do to mitigate talent scarcity?
• A skills-based internal hiring approach
• Remote work & self-discipline
• AI, automation & its positive impact on jobs
• Cult of the Founder 
• Future of work predictions

Connect with Sonya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceosonyashelton/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit Executive Leadership Consulting's website: https://executiveleader.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney talks to Jill Bassett, Solutions Advisory Expert at SAP Fieldglass. SAP Fieldglass is a cloud-based global vendor management system designed to automate the whole process of finding, procuring, and managing external talent for organisations. Previously, she was a board member at The Manpower Group.

During the episode Connor & Jill cover:

• Jill’s story
• How she found the change from pure place staffing to strategic talent solutions side
• First board meeting experience
• Imposter syndrome
• The transition from Manpower boardroom member to new role at SAP Fieldglass
• The problems & challenges SAP Fieldglass solves
• Demand forecasting
• Evolution of the staffing sector
• Could staffing companies be disintermediated by talent marketplaces?
• Labour market paradox – how can this be solved?
• Traditional education system & jobs of today mismatch
• Remote work – curse or cure?
• Jobs displacement – AI & automation
• Future of work predictions

Connect with Jill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillbassett1/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit SAP's website: https://www.sap.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney talks to Nadia Vatalidis, Head of People and Culture at TestGorilla which offers skills-based assessments designed to identify the best candidates and make your hiring decisions faster, easier, and bias-free. 

Nadia is also an Advisory Board Member at several high growth tech companies. She is at the forefront of many leading success stories when it comes to remote working, async working and global mobility. 

During the episode Connor & Nadia cover:

• Nadia’s story
• The transition from founder to working for a company
• Why is there growth in EOR, AOR & payroll platforms?
• African talent pool – why is it overlooked & what can we do about it?
• Talent demand & talent supply mismatch – why & how can we solve it?
• Talent screening – skills-based hiring
• Remote work – good or bad? 
• Automation, AI & job displacement
• Predictions for future of work
• TestGorilla – what it does & the challenges it solves

Connect with Nadia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiavatalidis/
Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/
Visit TestGorilla's website: https://www.testgorilla.com/
Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/ 

On this episode of The Open Talent Report, Connor Heaney talks to Mel Mallinak, Executive Director of Business Development at The Populus Group. The Populus Group specialises in workforce management solutions for small, medium to Fortune 100 companies, including payroll, IC compliance, MSP, recruiting and foreign national sponsorships.

During the episode Connor & Mel discuss:

• Mel’s story
• Sacrifices & work-life balance
• What challenges The Populus Group solves
• Growth in payroll & IC compliance in the market – why?
• The situation with independent contractor compliance misclassification in the USA
• Talent scarcity – the reason for it & how it can be solved
• Tax arbitration
• IR35 for independent contractors – is anything similar in the USA?
• Talent screening
• Automation & AI – a force for good than more harm?
• Remote working – curse or cure?
• High investment in HR tech platforms and services in recent years – why? 
• Predictions for future of work

Connect with Mel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-mallinak-4572548/ 

Connect with Connor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmconnorheaney/

Visit The Populus Group's website: https://www.populusgroup.com/ 

Visit CXC's website: https://www.cxcglobal.com/