blur pulls in more consultancies to online market
Online platform blur Group, which allows service buyers and service providers to find each other, is enjoying continued strong growth. In particular, the platform now boasts some of the largest consulting firms, with two of the Big Four using the platform, as well as large IT and strategy concerns. The latest consulting firm to join the platform is Mott MacDonald.
blur Group is an online platform that facilitates the purchase of services in a streamlined environment that is designed to reduce bureaucratic overheads. The platform allows users to replicate the RfP (Request for Proposal) process in an online environment. Users can create a project outline, providing details about what needs to be done and a budget for the work. blur then shortlists a number of candidate service providers that each make a pitch for the project. Users subsequently select the winning pitch and the blur platform facilitates the (legal) exchange and financial settlements between the parties. The whole services transaction can be done through online and mobile channels.
The platform has in recent months grown rapidly. In the H1 2015 period, blur saw its Enterprise Buyers and Service Providers hit 65,000, a jump of 30% on 2014. Projects too continue to rise, up 20% over 2015 compared to 2014.
On the Enterprise Buyers side, big players like Unilever, Home Retail Group, and the University of Greenwich joined the platform. Further, big already existing players continue to return, contributing to a 75% increase in the proportion of repeat projects listed in H1 2015 on 2014. On the supplier side, growth to the service sees 700 new providers join the platform in the second quarter of 2015, including Ogilvy, Littler Mendelson, Five9, and UK engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald.
With Mott MacDonald joining the platform, the number of large consulting firms offering their service through the online platform is now more than ten. Consulting providers include Big Four players like Deloitte and KMPG, as well as global IT consulting service providers like Accenture, Capgemini Consulting, as well as Oracle for ERP advisory. Even strategy consulting firms such as Bain & Company have found their way to the marketplace as a way of seeking out potential new clients.
“The platform is attracting more enterprise level buyers and service providers than before. Whilst our transition to the Enterprise became more evident in 2014, we have seen increasing momentum in H1 2015 in both the USA and Europe,” explains Philip Letts, blur Group CEO. “Our platform is, more than ever, ready to service the business needs of the larger enterprise organisation. We are focused on our goal of having hundreds of large Enterprise customers broadly adopting the platform serviced by an increasing number of suppliers.”
Comatch
Last week Consultancy.uk featured Comatch's successful first year. The German marketplace for management consultants completed over 40 projects, for a total project value of €17 million.
