The model used by Level Group aims to improve how companies manage relationships with their suppliers and service providers.
Since 1990, the outsourcing of production and service provision in Brazil has been gaining ground across various sectors of the economy, aiming to increase productivity and quality within production processes. On one hand, this can be advantageous for the hiring company, but down the line it can become an issue if the contractor fails to comply, for example, with its labor and social security obligations.
To prevent surprises, contract and supplier management models exist today—still a relatively new concept in the country, but one that has brought significant results to organizations that have adopted this system. Level Group is one of the leading companies in this field, dedicated to managing relationships between businesses and their suppliers and service providers.
This work is divided into three areas:
– Contract Management, which covers the procurement of products, materials, or services to ensure agreed outcomes, such as performance, cost, service level, and risk;
– Contractor Management, which monitors labor, social security, and Occupational Health and Safety obligations; and
– Supplier Management, which tracks suppliers from multiple perspectives, including labor/social security/OHS, environmental/social, technical-operational, and financial aspects.
According to Walter Freitas, the Level Group executive responsible for the area, “each project is developed to enable a clear understanding of the client's current situation, offering recommendations for reviews and the adoption of best practices. Based on these findings, the Level Group team takes over the activities supported by the company's toolset to ensure productivity and the alignment of managers both inside and outside the organization.”
Today, Level Group serves companies across various industries, such as Amata, Caterpillar, Cielo, Coca-Cola, Globo, and NET. One of the main benefits for clients is contract oversight, providing visibility into managerial activities (management of contractual obligations, labor and social security risks or liabilities, suppliers' operational and financial risks, contract renewal deadlines, price adjustments, indexation trends, SLAs, penalties, warranties, and other critical aspects overseen by contract managers), as well as fast access to this data.
“Across all these solutions, another key benefit is that, in addition to the service itself, clients can use our platform to track our work and make decisions based on real-time information, with the capability of integrating it into the company's core system (typically an ERP). Since enterprise systems tend to be more expensive and less user-friendly, our solution simplifies managers' day-to-day operations and covers areas that are often left without proper tool support,” highlights Freitas.
According to Adriano Dutra, a consultant at Level Group, “contractor management brings long-term benefits to hiring companies, including early detection of unpaid labor and social security obligations; proactive liability settlement throughout the contract term; identification and reduction of hidden liabilities; mitigation of reputational risk for the contracting company; and safeguarding the rights of outsourced personnel.”
