ProProcure launches TalkProcurement.com to deliver knowledge and networking to Procurement professionals
London, April 28th 2010,
ProProcure, the marketing procurement partner to multinationals, have announced the launch of
TalkProcurement.com, a free online community exclusively for professional buyers to share, discuss, and network.
While unveiling the site, ProProcure founder Frank Treanor explained the rationale;
“It was really our customers that came up with the idea. They were frustrated with the limited opportunities to share knowledge and ideas with their peers in other large companies due to time and cost constraints, they simply do not have an easy way to network.
At first we considered using existing business networking sites as a platform but they tend to be full of sales people and recruiters. It’s also impossible for buyers to speak to each other without disclosing their names, positions and companies and that is something we already knew wouldn’t work for many of our existing clients.
We had to find a way of letting these people interact without the risks. TalkProcurement.com was created to enable discussions to take place securely and even anonymously if required.
At the end of the day TalkProcurement gives buyers easy access to the opinions and ideas of their peers working for other large companies around the world. Ultimately we hope that it will help promote best practise in a relaxed, informal setting.”
What makes TalkProcurement unique is that only procurement professionals have been invited to join the community. No salespeople, no recruiters, in fact no-one with any commercial interest other than professional buyers from across the world. New users register free online then, once verified can chose to either use an alias or allow other members to see their real details. Members are then able to post discussions, arrange private online meetings, and contribute to roundtables and polls.
The community relies on the protection of users against sales pitches and recruiters. This includes ProProcure, who have taken the decision to outsource the management of the content to ensure neutrality;
“While we hope that our investment in creating the community generates positive PR for us and raises awareness of our marketing procurement services, we have outsourced content management to avoid any conflict of interests. In time content will be totally driven by its members.
“We are confident that the demand for us to build TalkProcurement will make it a success within its niche. We all use LinkedIn, and it is a fantastic resource but what differentiates TalkProcurement is the anonymity and security it gives to genuine procurement professionals wanting to share knowledge.”
As well as discussion forums, blogs and polls, users can also expect to generate their own webinars and roundtables. If discussions are showing a particular trend towards one subject then the content managers have the scope to offer webinars or roundtables on the subject.
“We all receive calls on a weekly if not daily basis offering the chance to attend a seminar or a speaking opportunity. These are so popular now that it’s hard to imagine the subjects or content all being driven by market requirements. I know that many of the better event organisers are smart, with their finger on the pulse but we wanted to use our expertise to deliver this digitally. In time we may see specialist vendors and industry experts chairing some of these events, but only if members ask for that to happen.”
TalkProcurement can be found at
www.talkprocurement.com or follow us on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/talkprocurementThis Social Media news release is available at: -
http://blogit.realwire.com/?ReleaseID=18442
