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The Professional Services Marketplace

Enhancing relationships and engagement between clients and suppliers.

 

Three markets for sector firms

Professional services (PS) is the largest sector in the UK and many other countries. PS firms typically operate in three interrelated markets:

  • As clients to PS suppliers: Instructions between sector firms are worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
  • As clients to non-PS suppliers: The sector is an attractive customer for banks, technology companies and many other industries.
  • As suppliers to non-PS public and private sector clients: A multi-trillion-dollar global industry.

 

Commercial needs and pain points

The dual-zone Marketplace aims to enhance relationships and engagement between clients and suppliers through addressing commercial needs and pain points in the three markets, in particular:

  • Clients wanting to improve their panel management and project costing
  • Clients wanting to source well-managed expert suppliers with high team morale
  • Clients and suppliers wanting a secure way to share confidential documents
  • Suppliers wanting to promote their expertise and value-added services to pre-qualified clients

 

Design parameters

  • Clients want suppliers to be endorsed by fellow clients
  • Suppliers want comparable quality in supplier lists available to clients
  • Clients and suppliers want control over content and personal details shared with others
  • Commercial realities prohibit the same individual from acting as both client and supplier
  • Suppliers avoid using an online market with percentage-based uncapped charges
  • Commercial relationships are enhanced when clients and suppliers have a structured place to meet, exchange ideas and volunteer to help each other

 

Core services

  • Commercial zone: Panel management | Project costing | Sharing confidential documents | Client needs | Supplier services | Alerts | Roundtables | Official panels | Peer comments | Referees | White papers | Sector news | External apps (Management excellence scores; Team morale scores; Relationship mapping; Custom landing pages)
  • Collaborative zone: Volunteer | Make a request | Exchange ideas and issues through discussion forum

 

Eligibility

  • Commercial Zone: Clients and suppliers with a membership of the relevant partnering association in the same country - see below. In addition, suppliers must be on an active client panel for the relevant market in the same country
  • Commercial Zone: Suitably qualified individuals at clients, suppliers, intermediaries and Government, with no requirement for membership of a relevant association or inclusion on a client panel. 

 

Fees

  • Commercial Zone: Suppliers are charged a fixed £500 transaction fee on each project with a gross value exceeding £10k sourced through the Marketplace, with a reduced fee for lower value projects. There is no charge to clients.
  • Collaborative Zone: No charges