Net 30 Blog

Social networking + P2P + credit groups = a renaissance of relationships in commercial credit

May 12th, 2010 by Alex Coté

What a day! Yesterday we launched Cortera Circles™ – another industry first – enabling business professionals from any organization to form their own groups of trusted peers to exchange their ratings and reviews about the businesses they interact with.

Here are just a few examples of Circles created by members since we launched – all sharing their credit risk experiences:

“HVACR” Circle – A Group for the heating, air conditioning, plumbing and refrigeration industry.
“Manufacturing & Distribution – Heavy Duty Truck and Trailer” Circle – A group for manufacturers and Distribution of Truck and Trailer parts for new and pre-owned trucks and trailers, both over the road and off-road truck and trailer equipment.
“Sign Manufacturer” Circle – A group for the manufacturers of architectural signs.

I can’t help but think back to September 2009 when Cortera launched a community-based alternative to business credit reporting. Aimed at small businesses, who were often neglected from the credit reporting process, the service combined credit data with familiar social review and ratings functions — quite literally encouraging a crowdsourced approach to credit reports. The service became an instant hit with the press and a game changing, if not controversial, development in the 100+ year old business credit reporting market. With yesterday’s launch we are building on this successful community foundation while transforming risk management tools from static information solutions to dynamic, real-time social circles where people can share information. Traditionally organizing risk professionals into groups has been limited to the largest organizations. These groups, while highly useful in sharing credit information, meet only a few times per year and lack the efficient movement of risk information required to fully exploit the group’s organization.

The solution: Cortera Circles – A social extension to our platform that brings the tried-and-true – but often exclusive – concept of local and industry-based credit groups to the Web and the masses. Delivered as a free service, in a streamlined form, Circles can be created around a company, an industry or even project or job site–with each supplier and service provider providing their own unique perspective for ultimate financial transparency.

Create your Circle today and start getting the real-time insights you’ve always wanted from your most trusted peers.