The VMS Market Has Grown – But the Experience Hasn’t Kept Up

The VMS (Vendor Management System) landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. What began as a handful of early pioneers has exploded into a crowded ecosystem, with hundreds of platforms competing for attention within a six to eight billion dollar market. Despite this growth, one thing remains constant. Very few customers would describe their VMS experience as intuitive or delightful.

As Ryan McNair, Vice President of VNDLY Services at Helios Consulting, recently shared on the Ursus, Hiring-u podcast, there is still enormous opportunity for innovation in how organizations manage their external workforce.

Ryan’s experience, combined with the rapid growth of the contingent workforce, is exactly why Helios expanded our Workday partnership and became the first partner certified in Workday VNDLY deployments. The challenges organizations face today, from navigating increasingly complex integrations to deciding between MSP managed and self-managed models, require both technical depth and operational insight.

Why So Many VMS Vendors Exist

When asked why the market has so many vendors, Ryan points to low historical barriers to entry and a widespread belief among industry veterans that they can do better. Many professionals who experience VMS frustrations firsthand eventually begin imagining ways to improve them. Some pursue that vision and create niche platforms focused on verticals such as healthcare or light industrial staffing. Others aim to reinvent the user experience entirely. The result is proliferation, not consolidation.

But platform availability does not solve the root problem. Organizations still struggle with fragmented processes, limited visibility, complicated technology integrations, and the misconception that a tool is a solution. That’s where Workday VNDLY and an experienced VNDLY deployment partner like Helios come in.

The Biggest Technology Shift: SaaS and Cloud Native VMS

Over the last five years, the most meaningful evolution in the VMS space has been the shift from on premise, single tenant deployments toward true SaaS, multi tenant cloud based platforms. This shift, led in part by Workday VNDLY, delivers improved scalability, faster innovation cycles, easier integrations, and a more modern user experience. Yet, as Ryan notes, even this is only the beginning. Many customers still operate legacy systems or are unaware of how much more efficient their programs could be with a cloud native architecture.

Modern VMS solutions like Workday VNDLY reduce technical friction, but they do not eliminate complexity. Integrations remain one of the biggest barriers for companies trying to scale. The shift toward native connectors, APIs, and configuration in the UI has dramatically improved speed to value, but it has also raised expectations. Customers now anticipate an online shopping experience for talent programs. They want hiring managers to work autonomously. They want fewer handoffs, fewer trainings, and fewer bottlenecks. They want the system to simply work.

The Self Managed Debate: Who Should Own the Program

A recurring topic in the industry today is whether companies should self manage their VMS program or partner with an MSP or internal PMO. Ryan is clear. For first generation programs, especially those with more than fifty to one hundred contingent workers, bringing in an experienced MSP or PMO is often the better path. The terminology alone can be overwhelming. The integrations, compliance requirements, approval flows, and rate card strategies require a level of operational maturity that many high growth organizations have not yet developed.

In working with organizations with contingent workforces over the years, the companies most likely to succeed with a self-managed model exhibit two key traits.

For others, attempting to self-manage too early often results in frustration, stalled deployment, and a return to external support.

The Hidden Workload: What Happens After Go Live

One of the most common misconceptions organizations have when implementing a VMS like Workday VNDLY is believing that the heavy lifting ends at deployment. From Ryan’s perspective, this is where the real work begins. Six months after launch, rate cards need updates, integrations need tuning, vendor performance requires review, and adoption challenges surface. Twelve to eighteen months later, if no one is optimizing, the program becomes stagnant. Enhancements go unused, reporting gaps widen, and operational inefficiencies spread.

Along with leading initial deployments, many Workday clients also engage Helios to support optimization efforts as their VNDLY program matures. The work that happens after go live is significant, and organizations often recognize that expert guidance helps them scale more effectively. Helios brings both VNDLY technical expertise and program management experience to ensure the system continues to evolve, adoption improves, and new capabilities deliver value. By partnering throughout the lifecycle, Helios helps clients move beyond a basic deployment and build a high performing, data driven workforce program.

AI Hype versus Real Capability

Artificial intelligence is reshaping every corner of enterprise technology, but Ryan believes much of the AI language in the VMS market today is more vaporware than value. Resume parsing, decision wizards, and predictive scoring are promising concepts, but most vendors have not yet delivered capabilities that materially change workflows or outcomes. That will evolve, but true AI adoption in contingent workforce management is still emerging. Customers must look past the buzzwords to understand what is operationally real.

Data Transparency: The Missing Ingredient

When asked what he would change about the VMS model if he could start over, Ryan highlights one area that continues to hinder program success. Accessible, transparent, real time data. Suppliers and buyers should be working from the same source of truth. Instead, program data often remains locked in disconnected systems or outdated reporting structures. The future of VMS must include more powerful embedded analytics, improved dashboards, and integrated insights that help every stakeholder make faster, better decisions.

Looking Ahead: The Next Five Years

It is likely that the next wave of innovation will focus on convergence. Cloud native integrations, unified data layers, and more intuitive user experiences will allow organizations to run programs with greater autonomy, clarity, and confidence. VMS platforms will more closely resemble ecommerce systems, offering frictionless interactions for hiring managers, suppliers, and administrators.

How Helios Helps Clients Succeed with Workday VNDLY

As the first certified Workday VNDLY deployment partner, Helios brings a unique blend of technical expertise, program strategy, and real-world operational experience to every VNDLY project. We support clients from the earliest stages of planning through deployment, optimization, and long-term program maturation. Our teams help organizations design scalable workflows, align cross functional stakeholders, build meaningful integrations, and adopt new capabilities with confidence.

Whether your organization is launching its first VNDLY program, expanding into new modules, or looking to elevate an existing deployment, Helios ensures that your VNDLY deployment drives measurable business value. Our approach is grounded in collaboration, transparency, and a deep understanding of how modern workforce ecosystems operate. By combining VNDLY product mastery with decades of contingent workforce expertise, Helios empowers clients to create workforce programs that are intuitive, efficient, and built for the future.