Pinnacle Group

09/01/2026

Regulatory change rarely arrives with a clean runway.

The U.S. State Department is proposing changes to J-1 visa regulations that would impose stricter deadlines under SEVIS - the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System - and expand termination authority for program sponsors.

For global enterprise organizations, this is not just a domestic compliance story.

Any workforce program with international talent components - across the U.S., APAC, or elsewhere - needs to consider what tighter compliance timelines and expanded sponsor liability mean for program governance infrastructure. The administrative and risk exposure does not stay contained to one region. It follows the program.

This is the kind of regulatory development that surfaces slowly and then lands hard. Organizations managing extended workforce programs across multiple geographies tend to feel it most acutely when their governance model was not built to absorb regulatory change - only to react to it.

Centralized visibility, consistent compliance frameworks, and governance structures designed for cross-border complexity are not optional features of a mature workforce program. They are the difference between managing a regulatory shift and being managed by it.

If your extended workforce program governance was not designed with global regulatory adaptability in mind, this is a reasonable moment to assess where the gaps are.

Read more:

Proposed J-1 visa changes would raise compliance demands for employers and universities, with stricter SEVIS deadlines and expanded termination authority.

08/26/2026

Most external workforce programs don't have a data problem. They have a visibility problem: spend, headcount, and supplier activity spread across systems that don't reconcile.

The fix rarely sits in one place. Part of it is program design. Part of it is how the VMS was configured. Solving one without the other gets you a partial answer.

We work across both, so you can trace a problem end to end in a single conversation.

The Pinnacle Group and PinnacleSI teams are at Booth #206, and we're holding private meeting slots for working sessions like this one. Thirty minutes, your program, your questions.

Message us to reserve time.

08/21/2026

Six weeks to CWS Summit North America in Dallas.

CWS Summit brings together the people running contingent workforce programs at enterprise scale. Few events put that much practical experience in one place.

Pinnacle Group is a Platinum sponsor, and the PinnacleSI team is with us at Booth #206: program advisory, VMS design and implementation, and program management in one place.

If you're a contingent workforce professional and want to attend, reach out and we'll get you a free pass.

Request a pass: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=J-0Z16oZik6ZZAsubuj6ak45dOqx_XxCmS1ZC7j8rv5UMVZUNlBTTVBYSkM1Q01FOU84MEFBWENaSi4u&route=shorturl

Booth #206, September 28–29.

08/13/2026

Most VMS implementations that underdeliver have one thing in common: the organization treated the platform as the solution.

The pattern is consistent. VMS success depends on structured program design and disciplined ex*****on across multiple phases, not on feature selection or platform capability alone. Standardized workflows, cross-functional governance, and deliberate change management are what drive compliance, scalability, and measurable ROI. The technology enables all of that, but it does not create it.

This matches what we see working with enterprise organizations on workforce program design and implementation. The hard work happens before go-live. Who owns the process? How are supplier workflows standardized across regions while accommodating local regulatory requirements? What does governance look like when the program scales?

Platforms do not answer those questions. Program structure does.

If your organization is evaluating a VMS implementation or trying to understand why a current one is not delivering, the conversation worth having is about governance and operating model design, not technology.

Read more: https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/cws-global-daily-news/why-vms-success-depends-on-structure-not-technology

Stakeholder alignment, process consistency and adoption hurdles often derail outcomes — unless organizations follow a disciplined rollout model.

08/11/2026

Regulatory complexity does not distribute itself evenly across a contingent workforce program. It concentrates at the points where governance is weakest.

Three forces are converging right now: H-1B visa rule changes, expanding pay transparency requirements, and tightening worker classification standards. For enterprise programs, they carry real consequences: disrupted talent pipelines, hiring eligibility risk, and potential financial exposure.

What often gets missed is how these risks enter a program. They rarely arrive as obvious violations. They surface as gaps in supplier oversight, inconsistent data across a fragmented VMS, or classification decisions made without a standardized framework.

That is a program governance problem, not a staffing problem.

Compliance in a contingent workforce program is only as strong as the visibility and controls built into how that program operates. Reactive responses to regulatory change, without the underlying infrastructure to detect risk early, leave program leaders perpetually behind.

Proactive risk management requires knowing where your external workforce sits, how workers are classified, what your suppliers are doing, and whether your program structure can hold up to regulatory scrutiny. That level of visibility does not happen by default. It is designed in.

For procurement and operations leaders managing enterprise contingent workforce programs, the regulatory shifts ahead are worth understanding in detail.

Read more: https://www.staffingindustry.com/editorial/cws-30-contingent-workforce-strategies/new-laws-new-risks-preparing-your-contingent-workforce-program

Regulations are shifting fast, and visibility is no longer optional. Is your strategy built for risk, resilience and results?

08/06/2026

Only 3% of mature contingent workforce programs cite cost reduction as their top priority.

That number, from a recent industry buyer survey, is worth sitting with.

For years, cost savings was the default justification for building a contingent workforce program. Reduce spend. Negotiate rates. Consolidate suppliers. That framing made sense at the start.

But programs that have reached maturity have moved somewhere different. The priorities shift toward talent orchestration, global integration, and advanced sourcing strategies. Cost governance is still present, but it becomes an outcome of better program design, not the objective driving it.

The contrast with lower-maturity programs is telling. VMS implementation, global integration, and cost control dominate that list. Those are the building blocks. Mature programs have already built on them and are now asking bigger questions about how their extended workforce connects to broader business strategy.

This is the maturity journey we see with enterprise customers at Pinnacle Group. The programs that deliver the most value over time are the ones that moved past transactional cost-cutting early, invested in governance and visibility, and built the infrastructure to treat their external workforce as a strategic asset rather than a spend category to manage down.

There is a phrase for this shift: from program manager to workforce orchestrator. It does not happen by accident. It requires the right operating model, the right data, and a governance structure built to scale.

Read more: https://www.staffingindustry.com/editorial/cws-30-contingent-workforce-strategies/from-program-manager-to-workforce-orchestrator

As contingent workforce programs mature, leaders shift their focus to access to strategic talent from operational control.

07/28/2026

Pinnacle Group is a Platinum sponsor of CWS Summit North America, September 28–29 in Dallas.

We'll be at Booth #206 with members of our MSP and program leadership teams, and we're opening the calendar now for private meetings with anyone who wants to dig into their contingent workforce program with us.

If you're a contingent workforce professional and are interested in attending, please reach out for your free pass!

Request a pass: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=J-0Z16oZik6ZZAsubuj6ak45dOqx_XxCmS1ZC7j8rv5UMVZUNlBTTVBYSkM1Q01FOU84MEFBWENaSi4u&route=shorturl

See you in September!

07/04/2026

250 years ago, a bet was placed on the idea that people, given the freedom to work toward something, could build a nation. That bet paid off.

The industrious will behind that founding still shows up everywhere you look: in the people who build, the ones who solve, and the ones who show up every day to move things forward.

Happy 250th birthday, America, and happy Fourth of July. Wishing you a safe and restful holiday with the people who matter most.

From all of us at Pinnacle Group.

06/23/2026

We're at the Southeastern Electric Exchange in Grapevine this week.

If your organization is rethinking how it governs its external workforce - visibility, compliance, cost - we'd value the conversation.

Connect with Sarah Manshack at the event or by message.

https://theexchange.org/conference/

06/19/2026

That's a wrap on WBENC 2026.

Salt Lake City brought together the women business owners, supplier diversity leaders, corporate buyers, and certification community that make this conference what it is every year — and it's hard to overstate what an energizing few days it was.

A few thank-yous from our team:

- To WBENC, for hosting a conference that continues to set the standard for how this community comes together
- To the supplier diversity leaders and corporate program owners who made time to sit down and compare notes, those conversations are the reason we keep showing up
- To Kate Kleyman for being a thoughtful partner on the construction industry panel alongside Sarah Manshack

To the women business owners who shared their stories, their work, and their honest perspectives on what's changing in the marketplace

The conversations we had this week about supplier engagement, the future of workforce strategy, and where the industry is heading next will stay with us long after we get back to our desks.

Until next year.