Reference · 25 terms

Expert network & consultant sourcing glossary

Plain-English definitions covering how expert networks operate, the compliance vocabulary that governs them, and the commercial terms buyers need before a first call. Written for buyers at investment firms, consultancies, and corporates.

Commercial & process 8

Advisory Board / Advisory Council

Also: Advisory Council

An ongoing, retained group of experts convened periodically (rather than a single one-off call) to advise a client on a ongoing basis, commonly used for corporate innovation, product-strategy, or scientific-advisory purposes. Several expert networks and consultant marketplaces offer advisory-board formation as a service alongside their core call-based product.

Related: Expert Call, Engagement

See: expert network

Client-Side Compliance

The compliance obligations that sit with the buyer's own organization, distinct from the network's compliance screening, such as internal policy requiring pre-clearance before any expert-network engagement, or a firm-specific restricted-employer list the buyer must supply to the network before sourcing begins. Even a network with excellent compliance infrastructure cannot substitute for a buyer's own internal compliance process.

See: expert network compliance screening

Engagement

The general term for any paid interaction between a client and an expert or consultant sourced through a network or marketplace, whether that's a single call, a fielded survey, an advisory-board term, or a multi-week consulting project. The word is used broadly across the category regardless of format or length.

See: expert network, consultant directory

Expert Call

Also: Consultation Call

A scheduled phone or video conversation, typically 30-90 minutes, between a client and an independent expert, billed hourly through an expert network. This is the core, most common product an expert network sells, distinct from a written transcript (a past call sold as a document) or a survey (a structured questionnaire fielded to many experts at once).

See: expert network

Honorarium

Also: Expert Call Rate, Consultation Fee

The payment an expert network pays an individual expert for their time on a call or engagement. The client pays the network a higher, marked-up rate; the network keeps the difference to cover sourcing, compliance, and platform overhead. Honorarium rates vary widely by expert seniority, topic rarity, and network, and are not standardized across the industry.

Related: Expert Call, Expert Network

See: expert network

Scoping Call

Also: Kickoff Call

An initial call between a client and an expert network's account team to define the research topic, ideal expert profile, and any compliance restrictions (such as a list of restricted employers) before the network begins sourcing candidate experts. A thorough scoping call reduces the number of poorly matched expert candidates proposed later.

Related: Sourcing Brief, Expert Call

See: expert network

Sourcing Brief

Also: RFP, Sourcing Request

A short written description a buyer submits to an expert network or consultant marketplace describing the topic, ideal expert or consultant profile, timeline, and any compliance restrictions for an engagement. A well-written sourcing brief omits confidential deal, portfolio, or client details and any material non-public information.

See: expert network, consultant directory

Survey-Based Research

A research method where an expert network fields a structured questionnaire to a panel of relevant experts, rather than conducting individual live calls. Useful when a buyer needs to quantify an opinion or trend across a larger sample of experts than a handful of calls could realistically cover.

Related: Primary Research, Expert Call

See: expert network

Compliance & risk 7

Compliance Officer

The individual or team at an expert network responsible for screening experts and engagements for conflicts of interest and MNPI risk. Asking a network to name its compliance officer, rather than accepting a generic reference to "our compliance process," is one of the fastest ways to gauge whether compliance is a genuinely owned function or a marketing line.

See: expert network compliance screening

Compliance Screening (Conflicts Check)

Also: Conflicts Check

The process an expert network uses to check whether a candidate expert has a conflict of interest with a client's research target, most commonly a current or recent employer relationship with the company being researched, before proposing that expert for a call. A credible network can describe this as a specific, repeatable workflow rather than a general policy statement.

See: expert network compliance screening

Expert Vetting

The process a network uses to confirm an expert's identity, credentials, and current employment before adding them to the network or proposing them for a call. Rigorous vetting confirms employment history independently rather than relying on the expert's own self-reported profile.

See: expert network, expert network compliance screening

Expert Witness vs. Expert Network

Two distinct categories that share the word "expert" but serve different purposes. An expert witness is engaged specifically to testify or produce a written opinion in litigation or regulatory proceedings, sourced through legal-specific channels like forensic and expert-witness directories. An expert network, the subject of this site, connects buyers with subject-matter experts for paid knowledge calls, primary research, and advisory work, typically for investment, consulting, or corporate-strategy purposes, with no litigation or testimony involved. Confusing the two when searching for a vendor can send a buyer to the wrong category of platform entirely.

See: expert network

Information Barrier

Also: Chinese Wall

An internal separation within an expert network (or within a client firm) between functions that could otherwise leak sensitive information to each other, for example between the team recruiting and profiling experts and the team managing individual client accounts. Information barriers are a standard compliance control in the expert-network industry, borrowed from the same concept used in investment banking.

See: expert network compliance screening

MNPI (Material Non-Public Information)

Also: Material Non-Public Information, Inside Information

Information about a company that is both significant enough to affect an investment decision and not yet publicly disclosed. Expert-network compliance screening exists largely to prevent an expert from sharing MNPI with a client during a call, since acting on MNPI can expose an investment firm to insider-trading liability.

See: expert network compliance screening

NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)

Also: Non-Disclosure Agreement, Confidentiality Agreement

A legal agreement restricting what confidential information a party can share. In the expert-network context, an expert bound by an NDA with a current or former employer must avoid discussing information covered by that agreement during a paid call, and a network's screening process should check for this before scheduling.

See: expert network compliance screening

Core concepts 10

Boutique Expert Network

Also: Specialized Expert Network

A smaller or vertically-focused expert network, typically covering a specific industry (healthcare, for example) or geography rather than operating as a broad generalist across every sector. Boutiques often move faster or cover a niche better than large networks, but compliance maturity varies more widely and should be verified case by case.

See: expert network

Consultant Marketplace

Also: Independent Consultant Marketplace, Consultant Directory

A platform that matches organizations with independent consultants or boutique consulting firms for project-based work, typically weeks to months long, rather than the single paid call that defines a classic expert network. Catalant, Business Talent Group, and Toptal's consulting practice are examples.

See: consultant directory

Expert Network

Also: Expert Call Network, Knowledge-on-Demand Platform

A platform that connects organizations, typically investment firms, consultancies, and corporations, with independent subject-matter experts for paid one-off knowledge engagements such as calls, surveys, and short advisory work. The network sources and vets the expert, handles compliance screening, and pays the expert an honorarium out of the fee the client pays the network.

See: expert network

Expert Profile

The record a network holds on an individual expert: current and past employers, areas of expertise, and any compliance restrictions (such as a competitor they cannot be matched against). A network's ability to keep expert profiles current and accurate is a direct driver of match quality.

See: expert network

Fractional Executive

Also: Fractional CFO, Part-Time Executive

An experienced executive (commonly a CFO, CMO, or COO) engaged part-time or on a fractional basis through an independent-consultant marketplace, rather than hired full-time. Several consultant marketplaces, including Paro and MBO Partners, specialize in placing fractional executives.

See: consultant directory

Independent Consultant

Also: Freelance Consultant, Solo Consultant

A self-employed professional who provides consulting services directly to clients, typically sourced through a consultant marketplace or a personal network, rather than being employed by a traditional consulting firm. Engaging one directly, rather than through a platform, shifts compliance and classification responsibility onto the client.

See: consultant directory

Knowledge Broker

A general term for any intermediary organization or platform that connects someone who needs specialized knowledge with someone who has it, in exchange for a fee. Expert networks, consultant marketplaces, and open-innovation platforms are all types of knowledge brokers, distinguished mainly by their engagement model (a paid call, a project, or a solved challenge).

See: expert network

Knowledge Marketplace

A two-sided platform where buyers of specialized knowledge (calls, research, consulting projects) are matched with independent sellers of that knowledge (experts, consultants, or researchers). Expert networks and independent-consultant marketplaces are both forms of knowledge marketplace, differing mainly in engagement length and format.

See: expert network, consultant directory

Market Research Expert Network

An expert network used specifically to support market research rather than investment or M&A due diligence: sizing a market, validating a product concept, or understanding customer behavior through expert calls and surveys instead of (or alongside) traditional survey panels. Several vendors in this space, such as Zintro, position themselves specifically around this use case rather than the investor-research use case that GLG and AlphaSights are best known for.

See: expert network

Primary Research

Also: Primary Market Research

Original research gathered directly from a source, such as an expert call, a fielded survey, or an interview, rather than analysis of existing published data (secondary research). Expert networks are one of the main commercial channels for buying primary research on demand.

See: expert network

Expert network sourcing brief

Occasional emails when we publish a new guide, sourcing checklist, or glossary update. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Single opt-in. We store only your email to send these updates. See our privacy notice. This is buyer education, not investment, legal, or compliance advice.