In Part 2 of the webinar recap series on Governance: A Fresh Take for Contingent Workforce Leaders, we break down how data moves through contingent workforce programs and why governance is the foundation that makes the data trustworthy and useful.
As soon as the conversation turns to data, most teams jump straight to dashboards, reports, or new technology. Chris Radvansky, Principal Consultant at RAD Consultants, takes a different approach, starting with fundamentals. He pointed out that it doesn’t really matter what you call it, as long as everyone means the same thing. The real issue, he explained, isn’t terminology. It’s whether organizations have the governance needed to make data reliable in the first place.
Chris described governance as the “table setting” for the entire contingent workforce program. “If you don’t have a sturdy table,” he said, “everything you serve turns into a mess.” Without shared standards, consistent intake, and clear ownership, even the best systems quickly produce fragmented, conflicting information.
In most companies, contingent workforce data flows across a complex ecosystem that includes hiring managers, suppliers, Managed Service Providers (MSPs), finance teams, legal partners, technology platforms, and workers themselves. Problems arise when those groups operate with different definitions, undocumented exceptions, or unclear expectations. Over time, teams bypass systems, introduce workarounds, and lose trust in the numbers.
“If you don’t have strong governance, you’re going to get garbage in, garbage out,” Chris noted. “Or if you want the positive version, quality input yields quality output.”
That foundation matters even more as organizations pursue advanced capabilities like AI, predictive analytics, or workforce forecasting. Chris cautioned that these tools magnify existing flaws if the underlying data isn’t sound.
“If you can’t answer basic questions about the past or today,” he explained, “you’re not going to get close to accurate predictions about the future.” Governance creates consistency. Consistency builds confidence in data. And that confidence turns reporting into insight and insight into better decisions.
Want more on this topic?
Watch the full webinar recording to hear deeper examples and real-world lessons and download our Governance Role-Mapping Template to help align data ownership and accountability across teams.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where we examine stakeholder buy-in and what it really takes to drive behavioral change.
