Kaye Masters is a strategic sourcing manager for Fiserv Inc., a global provider of financial services technology with clients in more than 100 countries.

Masters faced the challenge of her career when Fiserv acquired First Data Corp., a merchant services provider, in July 2019. As a result of the acquisition, the company doubled in size and enhanced its global footprint. She was instrumental in combining the MSP programs for the two companies. The US MSP program went live in April 2020.

Bringing together two large organizations with cultural differences coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic was a major undertaking. “You have sets of two financial systems, with integrations needed for both systems,” Masters says. “We took the VMS technology from one company and the MSP from the other company when we combined the two programs. So, we had half of our managers who were familiar with the MSP but had to learn the new technology.”

Looking ahead, Masters says, “We will be rolling out an MSP program outside the United States, and SOW management is also on our horizon for next year. This is something we’re seeing industrywide. Bringing in more global work will also be a challenge, because of the cultural differences between the United States and less-mature markets. There’s never a dull moment!”