The external workforce has become an essential part of how organizations access specialized skills, respond to changing business needs, and stay flexible. And as external talent plays a bigger role in workforce strategy, the technology used to manage it must evolve, too.
Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2026 Vendor Management Systems (VMS) Landscape illustrates just how far VMS platforms have come and where they are heading next.
Adoption is already widespread. According to SIA, 88% of surveyed organizations in the Americas and 86% in Europe use a VMS, while another 12% in each region are likely to explore implementation over the next two years. Global VMS spend under management reached US$303 billion in 2025, up 7% year over year.
Get an objective, data-driven view of how SAP Fieldglass performs across contingent workforce management, SOW, compliance, and AI
But what stands out from these figures is how much more organizations now expect from these platforms. SIA describes VMS platforms as moving beyond systems of record to become strategic workforce platforms, taking on a broader role in process automation, compliance and risk management, advanced analytics, and data-driven decision-making.
For workforce leaders, the next era of external workforce management will be defined not just by transactional efficiency, but by how effectively organizations can connect technology, data, and intelligence to make better workforce and spend decisions.
Connected data becomes the foundation
As external workforce programs grow more sophisticated, businesses need a clearer view of the people, suppliers, skills, services, and spend supporting their operations.
SIA emphasizes that accurate and well-governed external workforce data is increasingly important for reporting, predictive analytics, workforce intelligence, and AI. Organizations looking to get more value from AI must first prioritize a strong data foundation. Fragmented or incomplete information can limit the quality of the recommendations and insights AI provides.
The SIA findings are encouraging for SAP Fieldglass in this area. The report gives SAP Fieldglass a 4.93 out of 5 score for reporting and analytics, with capabilities across workforce analytics, supplier performance, SOW visibility, and workforce planning.
When data is connected and accessible, VMS platforms can do more than show leaders what has already happened. It can help them identify patterns, anticipate what may happen next, and make more informed decisions about workforce strategy. That is when workforce data becomes a strategic asset rather than simply a system record.
Services procurement moves closer to the center
SIA identifies the growing importance of services procurement, with statement-of-work management as a strategic priority for both VMS buyers and providers. The field guide notes that SOW represents 39% of spend, while only 13% of client programs currently manage SOW within their VMS platform.
That gap points to a significant opportunity. Services represent a substantial share of external spend, yet many organizations still manage that spend outside the VMS.
Companies increasingly rely on external providers for much more than individual workers. They bring in specialized expertise, project teams, and service providers to deliver defined outcomes. Managing those relationships requires more visibility into suppliers, budgets, milestones, deliverables, compliance, and performance.
In the SIA assessment, SAP Fieldglass scores 4.96 for SOW and services procurement. But the broader takeaway is that external workforce management can no longer treat workers and services as entirely separate areas. As services become a larger and more strategic part of external spend, organizations need a more connected way to manage both and understand how they contribute to business outcomes.
Global scale is really about managing complexity
Managing an external workforce across multiple countries is about much more than geographic reach. Every market can bring a different mix of labor classifications, tax requirements, supplier structures, regulations, and operating models.
Global scale should therefore be measured by more than the number of countries a platform can support. The real challenge is creating consistency while retaining the flexibility to address local requirements.
SAP Fieldglass earned top scores in areas including supplier and engagement management, compliance and audit, and mobile enablement. The field guide also identifies SAP Fieldglass as the leader in geographic coverage and notes support for more than 190 countries and 21 languages.
For global businesses, capabilities such as worker classification validation, supplier qualification workflows, and configurable onboarding requirements can help create a common framework across markets while accounting for local requirements. The real measure of global scale isn’t simply where a VMS operates. It’s how consistently it can help organizations manage workforce complexity across those markets.
AI moves from assistance toward intelligence and action
AI is another area where the market is moving quickly, with an important reality check.
SIA finds that while VMS AI is expanding into areas such as AI agents, predictive analytics, and candidate assessment, adoption remains measured. Buyers are also looking for transparency, configurability, human oversight, and clearer evidence of business value.
That balance matters. The most useful question isn’t simply how many capabilities a platform offers, but how that AI works in practice. Is it grounded in trusted workforce data? Is it built into the workflows where decisions are already happening? Can it help people act in ways that are useful, explainable, and governed?
SAP Fieldglass received the second-highest embedded AI assessment in the field guide’s overall summary, driven by capabilities designed to connect data, intelligence, and automation across workforce and procurement processes.
The meaningful shift isn’t simply toward more AI. It’s from AI that assists with individual tasks to intelligence that helps inform decisions and, with appropriate oversight, enables action.
That evolution is likely to accelerate. But more AI does not automatically mean more value. Lasting impact will depend on pairing sophisticated AI with the right data foundation, strong governance, and connectivity across the enterprise.
The VMS of the future is a decision platform
SAP Fieldglass received the second-highest overall capability score in the SIA landscape, with particularly strong performance across supplier management, services procurement, analytics, compliance, and mobile enablement. But the bigger story goes beyond any score.
External workforce management is becoming more connected. Leaders need to understand people alongside services, suppliers, skills, spend, and risk. They need workforce data that can move across business processes rather than sit in isolated systems and intelligence that helps turn that information into better, faster decisions.
The organizations best prepared for what comes next will be those that can bring those pieces together to build a more agile, informed, and resilient external workforce strategy.
That is where the next generation of VMS technology is heading.
Ansley Condon is global GTM lead for SAP Fieldglass.
Get weekly updates from the SAP News Center, delivered straight to your inbox