DCR Workforce: A Disruptive Provider in the Services Procurement Scene — Year-End Tech Review

This post is part of our 2016 Year-End Procurement Tech Review, in which we offer procurement practitioners a bird’s-eye view of some key vendors and their solutions in select categories. This is the last week of this series, and today we are highlighting a company in the services procurement field.

DCR Workforce is a difficult provider to paint into a box. On one level, DCR provides a next-generation vendor management system (VMS) solution, more than capable of holding its own against some of the better known providers in the sector on a functional basis addressing basic contingent workforce requirements. But on another level, it delivers much more — a statement of work (SOW) capability that is fundamentally different than other VMS providers in approach and capability; a powerful analytics platform for managing broader services procurement activities; and even a freelancer management system (FMS) and supplier network that offers new ways to manage freelancers and contractors.

Quick Facts

• Founded: 1995
• Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, with offices in Sydney; Toronto; Hyderabad, India; Hertfordshire U.K.; Singapore; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Number of employees: 201–500
• Percentage of revenue from procurement/supply: 92%
• Serves customers across all continents
• Customers include Lockheed Martin, Discover Financial Services and Arizona Power Systems
• Industries served include financial services, manufacturing, technology, energy & utilities, construction, business & professional services and telecoms & media

Background & Overview

DCR Workforce, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, develops and provides services procurement/management technology solutions to mainly mid-sized to large enterprises. It is a privately held, minority-owned business that has not sought outside investment to date. Initially focused for some years on technology solutions supporting process management and optimization, the company pivoted in 2012 into the services management/procurement solutions market, where it has tended to be bucketed, perhaps incorrectly, with legacy VMS technology vendors.

DCR Workforce solutions do not conform to the footprint of a typical VMS based on a number of differentiating factors, including entering the services management/procurement solutions market with deliberate emphasis on services (SOW) spend categories versus contingent workforce alone, where typical VMS solutions typically anchor themselves. Its solution implementations today are distributed across a range of industry verticals, including financial services, utilities/energy and engineering (industries where complex services/SOW spend is inherent).

Starting from its first services management/procurement solution client in 2012, the company now has more than 135 clients in three major categories: midsize-to-large enterprises, mid-sized staffing firms that provided supplier management services to mid-sized companies and MSPs. The company reports that growth is now running at about 30%, and it attributes its high growth to its main focus on SOW/services management.

Commentary & Summary

DCR Workforce is a disruptive provider on the services procurement technology scene. By addressing the shortcomings of VMS and source-to-pay technology suite providers in the core SOW enablement area, along with wrapping broader services procurement capability (and even an innovative supplier network model alternative to FMS) inside its core offering, DCR Workforce is arguably the first holistic services procurement vendor in the market.

Even though DCR Workforce’s focus is on broader services procurement enablement, its VMS capability may prove sufficient even for complex contingent workforce programs (based on individual organizational requirements). We do suggest a thorough comparison with third-party solutions in this area, however, based on the prioritization of capabilities. DCR Workforce may or may not be the optimal fit in this case.

Overall, the combined set of capabilities is unique, and the sum is greater than the individual parts. Indeed, the combined solution is one that we believe procurement, HR and IT organizations will increasingly come to value based on overall trends in services procurement spending.

For a more comprehensive analysis and guide for procurement organizations looking to understand whether they should consider adding the provider to their shortlists for consideration, please head over to the Spend Matters Almanac.