Complete Guide to Expert Network Services in Korea and Globally - A Practical Guide to Leveraging ENS
Struggling to find industry experts for M&A Due Diligence (DD) or New Business Development initiatives? When a single expert's advice can alter a billion-dollar investment decision, we reveal everything about Expert Network Services (ENS). From GLG to Brainconnect AI, get a comparative analysis of major ENS platforms and a selection guide by expert type for market research and consulting to secure critical insights.
Expert Network Service (ENS) is a service that connects you with industry experts who can provide specialized knowledge when executing critical projects such as M&A Due Diligence (DD) or New Business Development initiatives.
The insights from a single expert with over a decade of industry experience can redirect a billion-dollar investment decision. Yet most people don't know where or how to find that expert when they need one.
This article examines the characteristics of major ENS providers and shares practical know-how for effectively utilizing Expert Interviews during M&A Due Diligence (DD) and New Business Development initiatives.
Definition and Meaning of Expert Network Service
What is Expert Network Service?
Expert Network Service (ENS) is a service that connects companies with subject-matter experts for consultations or project-based collaborations.
What is the value of ENS?
Expert networks serve as a hub connecting companies with industry specialists who provide the specialized knowledge needed in rapidly changing business environments.
Formally launched by GLG in the United States in 1998, it has grown into an industry with a current global market size of $2.3 billion (approximately 3.2 trillion KRW).
Service Formats and Application Areas
ENS conducts research through various methods including in-person, written, and video formats, providing specialized knowledge through telephone interviews, surveys, workshops, and ongoing advisory relationships. It is primarily utilized for M&A Due Diligence (DD), market research, investment reviews, and New Business Development.
Market Status and Trends
Already a common practice in developed countries, ENS was originally used primarily by large corporations in Korea due to high consulting fees, but recently the customer base has expanded to include mid-sized companies, SMEs, and startups.
Recently, Expert Network Services are also embracing digital and AI transformation by improving accessibility through digital platforms and enhancing expert matching accuracy using AI technology.
Introduction to Major Domestic and Global Expert Network Services (ENS)
GLG headquarters image - source: glginsights
1. Global ENS - Industry Pioneers
The most representative ENS company is Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG).
Founded in 1998, GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group) is a pioneer in the Expert Network Service industry, having built a network of over 1.2 million experts based on 25 years of accumulated expertise. Through its platform, clients can directly search for experts and coordinate interview schedules, providing highly reliable services through a systematic expert quality management system. With a diverse portfolio including telephone consultations, surveys, strategy projects, and customized services, it serves as a key partner for global consulting firms and major investment companies.
Beyond GLG, various Expert Network Services including Guidepoint, Third Bridge,AlphaSights,Dialectica,Capvision, andVisasQ provide services specialized in different regions and sectors.
2. Brainconnect AI - AI ENS Specialized in M&A Due Diligence (DD)
Brainconnect AI introduction video capture
Brainconnect AI is a Korean Expert Network Service based on AI technology.
Compared to global ENS providers, it offers Expert Interviews through cost-efficient structures and flexible approaches.
Brainconnect AI's Differentiators
✓ AI Technology-Based Smart Matching
Through AI matching algorithms, it analyzes project requirements and recommends optimal experts. Beyond the simple database search methods of traditional ENS, AI comprehensively analyzes client project characteristics and expert experience to provide the most suitable matches.
✓ Relentless Expert Recruitment
At Brainconnect AI, experts from global ENS backgrounds persistently find even niche market experts who are extremely difficult to recruit. The team is known for its ability to secure even the most in-demand experts—those often unavailable through larger ENS pools—by proactively managing outreach and scheduling.
✓ Project-Customized Interview Design
Most existing ENS providers operate in minimum 1-hour units. However, Brainconnect AI offers flexible interview formats tailored to project needs, ranging from 20-minute Short Interviews for quick validation to extended sessions for in-depth analysis.
✓ Success Guaranteed Through Pre-Briefings
Rather than just providing expert profiles, it provides detailed briefings including career history, areas of expertise, and anticipated discussion points. You can predict what insights you'll gain before the interview, allowing you to dive straight into core issues.
✓ M&A Practice-Specialized Expertise
Brainconnect AI provides specialized services in M&A and consulting, particularly for Private Equity (PE) funds, consulting firms, and corporate investment teams.
It provides professional consulting based on practical experience regarding which experts to meet and what questions to ask during M&A Due Diligence (DD).
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Are you reviewing M&A Due Diligence (DD) or New Business Development investments?
Interview key industry experts through Brainconnect AI to identify actual market conditions and risks that don't appear in financial statements.
Enter the industry you're reviewing and your questions into Brainconnect AI, and AI will recommend optimal experts through big data analysis.
For example, if you enter "Reviewing acquisition of secondary battery materials company, curious about competitive landscape with Chinese companies," you can be matched with former executives or sales managers from that industry.
From Expert Recruitment to booking 20-minute core question interviews, the entire process proceeds systematically, and interview content is automatically recorded so you can utilize critical information needed for decision-making without missing anything.
Expert Network Service Selection and ENS Utilization Guide
Q. Which Expert Network Service should I choose?
When selecting ENS, you must comprehensively review project complexity, expert accessibility, and service structure. Choosing a provider based on cost alone is a common pitfall. The key to success is a service model designed to fit the specific characteristics of your project.
1. Project Complexity and Depth of Expertise
The required service level varies depending on whether it's simple market data collection or in-depth analysis for complex decision-making. Particularly in M&A Due Diligence (DD), identifying implicit industry information and hidden risk factors that don't appear in financial statements is critical, so you must select a service with extensive Deal experience in that field.
2. Expert Accessibility and Matching Accuracy
Top-level industry experts are difficult to access and have tight schedules. Rather than simply having many experts, the ability to persuade key figures who are difficult to recruit determines insight quality. Additionally, the ability to accurately understand project context and match the most suitable expert is important.
3. Service Structure's Practical Suitability
Most global ENS are designed with uniform structures for large corporations and major PE firms. However, Korean mid-sized companies have different project scales, budgets, and decision-making speeds, requiring flexible service design and reasonable cost structures. Particularly since there are many cases where you want to quickly verify only core issues, short interviews must be possible.
Q. Do market research and consulting each require different experts?
Market research is quantitative analysis identifying 'what' and 'how much', while consulting is qualitative analysis clarifying 'why' and 'how'. Therefore, the required expert types are completely different.
Market Research: Field Practitioners Needed
When identifying market size, customer segments, and price sensitivity, experts who have directly experienced actual customer reactions and purchase patterns, such as sales representatives and marketing practitioners, are suitable. In B2B market research, while quality appears important on the surface, factors like on-time delivery performance and the strength of the client relationship often determine purchase decisions. The role of market research experts is to quantify and provide these implicit factors.
When the goal is strategy formulation, process improvement, or organizational change, executive-level experts with experience leading organizational change are essential. Failure experience is particularly important in consulting, as identifying project failure causes enables risk prevention. For example, in organizational change projects, managing employee resistance is often more critical to success than system completeness.
Executive-level experts integrate and analyze 5-year industry changes through regulation, technology, and consumer behavior changes, present competitors' internal decision-making processes for strategic choices, and provide qualitative success factors like organizational culture and leadership that don't appear in documents.
2025 ENS Utilization Strategy and Trends
How will Expert Network Services evolve?
Like other sectors, the ENS market and services are rapidly developing based on AI technology.
Brainconnect AI provides optimal matching using AI based on vast network data.
It analyzes client project information to recommend the most suitable experts, and provides professional interview and research agency services, evolving to the point where AI assists with the entire project design, not just expert matching.
Rise of Customized Services
Many global ENS require substantial costs including retainer deposits exceeding 100 million KRW (approx. $75,000), deposit expiration deadlines, and minimum usage amounts per interview. This rigid structure can be burdensome even for frequent users like PE funds and large corporations, and is particularly prohibitive for companies with only intermittent project needs.
In contrast, services with customized billing structures likeBrainconnect AIallow you to use ENS only when needed and only as much as needed.
For cases requiring intensive expert access for several weeks like M&A Due Diligence (DD), you can use the service only during that period without annual contracts. This is why customized services like Brainconnect AI are gaining attention.
You can recruit only the number of experts needed for project scale and schedule, and flexibly design from 20-minute short interviews to multi-hour in-depth interviews, making it suitable for the working environment of Korean mid-sized companies.
Want to increase M&A Due Diligence (DD) success rates through Expert Interviews?
Successful M&A and New Business Development investments depend on whether you meet real experts with deep understanding of the relevant industry.
Acquire decisive insights from top industry experts at Brainconnect AI.
