As Novartis’ global senior category lead of external workforce solutions, Maurice Benz works with four MSPs across the globe. In his two years with the company, he has refined and streamlined TalentFlex, the company’s $600 million program that operates in 14 countries and manages several workforce categories, including time and materials, independent contractors, light industrial and services procurement.

Hired during the Covid-19 lockdown, Benz has increased the program footprint across three additional countries — Brazil, Canada and Malaysia — and is currently working to expand further across the APAC and EMEA regions.

His strategic approach has also helped the program to increase its services procurement spend under management by over 30%. “The absence of consistency made me focus on creating a unified global program to optimize, streamline and consolidate our MSP footprint while expanding into new countries and service lines,” he says.

After witnessing the changing dynamics in the workspace during the pandemic, Benz feels the CW industry is becoming more holistic and technology oriented. “We’re moving toward adapting an integrated workforce approach where how the work gets done will be prioritized over who should do it,” he explains.

Ever eager to learn new things, Benz could see himself on the supplier side of the CW space someday. “It would be interesting to see what the other side of the fence has in store.”