Why choose an Expert Network Aggregator

What are Expert Network Aggregators and why should you choose one?

Expert networks have significantly improved the experience they offer over time, often providing a truly vital service to their clients, However, there remain many problems when working with these organisations due in large part to the current structure of industry. 

The Expert Network industry has fragmented as it has grown. There are now in excess of 130 Expert Networks globally and this has left the industry far less efficient than it should be for many of its customers. At a high level, this creates two main problems for different customers. 

• Bigger customers often find that no one expert network company can fulfil all their needs. Large users therefore usually need to work with several expert networks to get what they need. Having to work with several Expert Networks creates many challenges and inefficiencies, particularly for individual users in customer firms. 
• Smaller customers often struggle finding the coverage and service they need. This is because most smaller expert networks cannot provide sufficient coverage for a client’s needs alone, and as small customers they are not big enough users to command sufficient interest and attention to detail from bigger networks. 

A new service model has evolved to try and address these (and other) issues: The Expert Network Aggregator

At its core, an Expert Network Aggregator partners with individual Expert Networks in order to aggregate the offerings from these networks to give customers more and better choices. Done properly, this model benefits customers and partners alike by 

• offering customers much better service and 
• offering expert network partners access to customers they may not otherwise reach

Benefits of working with an Expert Network Aggregator

Below are some of the problems and inefficiencies customers encounter dealing with one or more individual Expert Networks. Compare this to how an Expert Network Aggregator can alleviate or mitigate these issues and significantly improve user experience.

Reach

Problem: No single expert network covers all regions for all sectors and specialties. Even when a network covers the appropriate sector, they often cannot provide the enough experts or the necessary variety of specialist expertise within this sector

Solution: Expert network aggregators partner with multiple complementary individual expert networks, including regional and sector specialist networks as well as mainstream expert networks with wide coverage. This gives huge reach and depth of coverage

Speed

Problem: Some customers require a fast response. It is often difficult for individual networks to present relevant experts quickly enough for some customers

Solution: Expert network aggregators send project briefs to multiple relevant expert networks simultaneously. They can respond at the speed of the fastest of these networks

Quality

Problem: Individual experts networks that are not specialists often may not have the right quality or depth of experts on their books for a particular search

Solution: Aggregators work with specialist regional and sector specialist Expert Networks as well as generalists. Through these they are able to source experts others can’t reach

Efficiency

Dealing with a single network or multiple individual networks can lead to many inefficiencies. However, if executed correctly, aggregations can solve many of these inefficiencies for clients. These include but are not limited to:

Duplication 

Problem: Information on experts is often presented in very different ways, making it difficult to compare expertise. This can lead to unnecessary duplication, such as having paid conversations with multiple experts who have the same expertise – and in some cases even the same expert more than once!

Solution: A good expert network aggregator will present information on all experts to customers in the same format, making it easy to compare experience. They may further organise and group submissions by relevant experience. The aggregator will also make sure that any individual expert is only presented once

Costs

Problem: Individual experts very often work with multiple expert networks at very different prices. You can end up paying much more than you need to for the same time with the same expert therefore

Solution: A good aggregator will make sure if an individual expert is presented by different networks at different prices, the customer gets the best price. Note exceptions may need to be made when speed is important

Scheduling

Problem: Sometimes different experts networks can set up conversations with you for experts at the same time, resulting in you missing meetings and paying for conversations you don’t even have

Solution: A good aggregator will organise scheduling on your behalf, making sure experts from all partner networks are efficiently scheduled in agreed time windows

Billing and Other Admin

Problem: Dealing with different billing systems from multiple experts networks can make it difficult to check that you are being billed correctly and that costs are being assigned to the correct project

Solution: A good aggregator will make sure you billed only for what you use in a clear and understandable manner. You will no longer have to look at multiple bills to see where your spend is

In summary, there are many ways that a good expert network aggregator can improve the experience of sourcing external human insights and expertise.  

Whether you are a user / customer or an expert network, if you want to participate in the Consverge transformation you can register on our platform at https://portal.consverge.com/ or reach us at: solutions@consverge.com