The SIIA is delighted to introduce one of the newest members to join SIIA’s Software & Services Division, Superior Group. I had a chance to sit down with Vice President of Business Development for Superior Group's West Region, Ryan Stenvick, to learn a little more about productivity solutions. Please find my interview below.

Rhianna: Tell us about Superior Group and what makes you unique.

Ryan: Founded in 1957, Superior provides agile productivity solutions organized into three complementary categories:  People, Process, and Project Outsourcing.  Superior’s people services include direct placement and contingent staffing services.  Our strategic process services enhance productivity, compliance, and cost savings through web-enabled MSPs and independent contractor compliance programs.  Finally, outsourcing solutions include CAD, risk management, recruitment, and IT outsourcing.  Superior maintains offices throughout the world in North America, as well as in Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Typically, companies come to Superior because they are concerned about mounting labor costs, are frustrated with candidate quality and prolonged hiring cycles or simply worried about lost productivity or missed deadlines.  Superior’s customers benefit from our availability of resources and locations, combined with the high-touch service and relationship-orientation of our non-hierarchical operations.  We provide custom programs for our customers and tailor solutions to meet our clients’ unique needs.  

Rhianna: How have vendor management systems changed since the cloud became a part of daily opeations for most businesses?

Ryan: The adoption of cloud-based technology has made it easier for VMS providers to sell their product.  As early adopters, SaaS companies, and VMSes in particular have been using cloud-based technology for many years.  Early VMSes sat behind client firewalls and had a lot of customization that wasn’t supported across all deployments.  The move to standard core platforms and cloud-based data storage has enabled VMS providers to offer more functionality across their entire client portfolio with more rapid deployment, etc.

Rhianna: Can you talk about independent contractor compliance and how worker misclassification can impact both the IRS and a business?

Ryan: Worker misclassification negatively impacts both the IRS and businesses.  As for the IRS, worker misclassification results in substantial losses in the form of lower tax revenues, as well as lower revenue to state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds.  As for businesses, intentional or unintentional misclassification can result in substantive penalties, payment of back taxes and payment of overtime.  Worker misclassification by businesses can also negatively impact public relations.  For example and in the State of California, businesses found to have misclassified workers are required to post an announcement detailing the misclassification in a prominent section of their homepage for one year.

Rhianna: Can you explain the differences and similarities between contingent staffing and temp to direct services and why a business might choose to use one over the other?

Ryan: In a contingent staffing relationship, workers are provided by a staffing firm for a company, and are employees of the staffing firm. Companies often seek contingent workers for short-term needs, seasonal peaks, and to supplement unpredictable workloads. In a temp-to-direct relationship, companies are able to “test the waters” by engaging a worker on a short-term basis (while the worker is employed by the staffing firm), and then hire them directly if the relationship is a good fit.  

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA. Follow the Software team on Twitter at @SIIASoftware.