Launch of Savio, 'a Marketplace for the Insights Industry'

US organisation GreenBook has beta launched Savio, a platform inspired by the 'gig economy' and allowing users to buy in research expertise to use with online research tools or as a standalone service. Features include ratings and reviews, project management tools and payment processing.

Individuals register their expertise, which is found via a search and contracted for by the hour, day or project, but Savio is 'NOT an RFP engine, a directory, or a pay-to-play lead-gen network'. There is no cost to register and the service makes its money from a transaction fee.

Announcing the roll-out on the GreenBook blog, Editor-in-Chief Lenny Murphy said the platform has been built to function as 'an extension to online research tools that don't offer a service component so users of these tools can get help with anything they need: design, moderation, data analysis, consulting, and virtually any other aspect of the insights process'. However, it is also a standalone application, accessible to any visitor whether they are using an online research tool or not.

Putting it together over the past eighteen months, GreenBook has studied the functionality of other professional marketplaces like that of consultants PwC, to 'ensure Savio could build off of their good work', but Murphy stresses that it has been 'purpose-built for the insights industry'. He believes research agencies will sell their teams' expertise on the platform, using it 'to scale globally by contracting talent on demand', and says in the long term it will even be possible for agencies to 'train and certify others on their proprietary techniques, expanding their business through a network of partners'.

A number of partnerships are already agreed - Savio is currently working on scoping and implementing integrations with no fewer than 30 online research platforms, and is also getting approval from 'a number of major brands' as part of their procurement systems. The latter will remove the need for individual experts and supplier organizations in the marketplace to undergo 'the painful approval process themselves'.

Interested parties can participate in the beta launch as buyers, sellers or partners. The platform is at www.savio.pro .