As director – sourcing/supplier management, Pratik Patel is transforming how external labor is managed at Mastercard. Three and half years into his role, Patel’s mission is “continuously challenging the status quo and ensuring that we’re optimizing how we drive a better execution from the time, cost and performance standpoints.”

Patel is proud of what he and his team are setting up to manage the financial services corporation’s labor force. They have put into place one streamlined system supervising the entire contingent workflow — from execution of a requisition to managing compliance around Mastercard’s contingent workforce and minimizing the administrative burden on managers. For time and material engagements, they have established  benchmarked/negotiated rate cards with normalized roles, consistent terms and conditions with the company’s supply base. Phase 1 of the program went live in five countries at the end of July.

His team also put a targeted distribution model in place with Mastercard’s contractor program, which sped up the hiring process as the finite supplier pool across the company’s various categories is now more aligned to the company’s needs.

In July, Patel’s role expanded to include supervising the North America tech sourcing team. His role enables him to holistically help manage the process and spend for the execution of Mastercard global contingent workforce; looking forward, he plans for 100% of Mastercard’s contingent workforce to be managed in one system with one process worldwide.