![Emily Yue and Bridget Loudon, co-founders of Expert360, say it has more than 10,000 consultants in its system of which ...](/content/dam/images/g/i/e/e/z/8/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gsb9o7.png/1478653150823.jpg)
Freelance consultants are spoilt for choice over the online platform to advertise their services on with two independent players, Internal Consulting Group (ICG) and Expert360, using very different models for matching clients to work.
A third player, Skillsapien, which aimed to connect small businesses with consultants and other professional services, has switched focus with founder Victor Jiang saying he had moved onto niche markets.
"We've had a major refocus of strategy in terms of going to sub-portals – very niche and specialised," Mr Jiang said.
Electronic vs human matching
Internal Consulting Group uses a platform to allow networks of independent consultants to form teams to bid for projects or respond to client requests.
Consultants are hand-vetted by a project lead or other ICG staff before being presented to clients.
The platform now has 2700 consultants on its books with 1000 actively bidding for projects or contributing intellectual property to the ICG marketplace.
In contrast, Expert360 is a technology-driven play where the matching between client requests and consultants is mostly done electronically.
Expert360 has more than 10,000 consultants in its system of which about 2500 are active monthly, said co-founder Bridget Loudon.
Expert360 takes a 15 per cent clip of work sold through the platform (compared to ICG's 10 per cent).
The company has 45 full-time staff, including a technology team of about 20, and is advertising for more than a dozen additional roles.
Expert360 has attracted $8 million in funding but would not disclose revenue nor if it was profitable.
"A large portion of Expert360's competitive advantage is we are investing in data and matching algorithms," Ms Loudon said.
"We collect every single datapoint on every click, feedback and rating [on the consultants].
"We use that data to try and make the right match for the piece."
Clients who have used consultants from Expert360 include ASX listed firms including Woolworths, AMP, Virgin and Australia Post.
This article has been updated to clarify that Skillsapien has not shut down but changed focus from a broad consulting marketplace to a niche service.
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