Provision Embedded Teams Case Study

The Client

Our client, a Fortune-ranked financial firm, was facing a series of workforce management challenges that were negatively impacting their ability to deliver on key initiatives. The stakeholders, including the VP, Director, and Manager-level leaders, sought a more efficient and flexible workforce solution to address their evolving needs while ensuring quality and speed of delivery. 

Client Team Composition 

• Project Managers 

• Content Editors 

• HTML Designers 

• Salesforce HTML Design Specialists 

The Challenge

The client faced critical challenges in their hiring approach which impacted productivity and hindered the ability to focus on key initiatives. Challenges included:

• MSP Dependency: The client was required to procure supplemental talent through a Managed Service Provider (MSP), which funneled candidates from various staffing firms. However, many of the candidates were either out of scope or under-qualified. 

• Slow Hiring Process: It took an average of four weeks to identify and hire supplemental staffing resources, a timeline that was far too slow during critical project periods. 

• Productivity Impact: Managing multiple resources across various staffing firms through the MSP process was time-consuming and detracted from the client’s core focus. 

• High Turnover: Inconsistent quality measures by staffing firms resulted in high turnover rates, leading to frequent disruptions in knowledge retention and negatively impacting project deliverables. 

• Tenure Limits: The client had a 30-month tenure limit for contractors, which created issues in maintaining continuity and consistency in their team’s output. 

• Scaling Challenges: The client needed a model that could rapidly scale up or down based on workload and seasonal fluctuations, all while maintaining team cohesion. 

• Lack of Strategic Partnership: The client was seeking a solution that not only fulfilled staffing needs but also took ownership of key deliverables, allowing their internal team to focus more on client-facing, strategic initiatives. 

The Solution

Provision, a division of Profiles, collaborated closely with the client to develop a tailored Embedded Team Model. The key elements of the solution included: 

• Customized Team Architecture: Provision worked with the client to co-develop a flexible team structure that integrated both full-time staff and the Provision Embedded Team Staffing Model. This model aligned with the client’s long-term goals and the fluctuating demands of their work. 

• Three-Year Forecast Model: A forecast model was created to anticipate work spikes and contractions based on historical data, seasonal influences, and expected growth. This ensured the client had a clear plan for resource scaling. 

• Defined Roles and Market-Based Pricing: The team roles were classified into three categories: Core (steady demand), Standard (moderate demand fluctuations), and Flex (rapid scale-up/scale-down), each with associated market-based pricing to maximize cost-efficiency. 

• Co-Managed Deliverables and SLAs: Profiles co-developed performance deliverables, milestones, and Human Capital SLAs with the client to ensure accountability and consistent quality. 

• Enhanced Benefits for Retention: To reduce turnover, Provision installed an enhanced benefit package for all team members, including elevated PTO, healthcare subsidies, and professional development programs, which optimized staff retention and satisfaction. 

• Dedicated Provision Embedded Teams Program Leader: A dedicated Program Leader was assigned to the client to act as the main point of contact, overseeing daily performance, ensuring deliverables were met, and maintaining adherence to SLAs. 

• Overcoming Tenure Limits: By structuring the engagement through a three-year Statement of Work (SOW) and defining clear deliverables, Provision positioned the partnership as “non-staffing,” allowing the client to bypass the MSP’s 30-month tenure restrictions. 

The Results

The implementation of Provision Embedded Teams delivered transformative results, addressing the client’s core challenges while driving efficiency, quality, and scalability. Below are the key outcomes that highlight the impact of this tailored approach.

• Accelerated Hiring and Onboarding: Provision Embedded Teams reduced the average time to hire from four weeks to just under two weeks, ensuring faster response times during critical project periods. 

• Improved Productivity: The introduction of a dedicated Provision Embedded Teams Program Leader streamlined the resource management process, freeing up the client’s internal team to focus on strategic and client-facing initiatives. This led to a 15% increase in overall productivity within the first year. 

• Enhanced Quality and Retention: The enhanced benefits package significantly improved staff retention rates, reducing turnover, which in turn helped maintain continuity and knowledge retention on key projects. 

• Scalable Workforce: The client was able to scale their team up or down as needed based on workload fluctuations, without compromising on team cohesion or productivity. This flexibility allowed the client to handle peak periods without overcommitting to long-term hires. 

• Bypassing Tenure Limits: The SOW solution enabled the client to sidestep the 30-month tenure limit, allowing for a more consistent and cohesive team over time, while still complying with MSP regulations. 

• Strategic Partnership: With Provision co-managing human capital and key deliverables, the client’s internal leadership was able to focus more on high-level strategic initiatives, resulting in improved client satisfaction and stronger business outcomes. 

• Gradual Build: Over the first 16 months, Provision Embedded Teams expanded from four members to a peak of 40, maintaining an average team size of 29 over a three-year period. The SOW model was able to accommodate rapid team spikes while also absorbing the team downsizing via a deliberately constructed bench of flex resources. 

• Sustained Engagement: As of today, the Provision Embedded Team program is on its third extension.