For those of you who read my blog that are in the Human Resources or Talent Management Technology fields, you may be wondering “what ever happened to that Mega List?”  (if you need some history you can click here to see the series of posts).

I have received quite a bit of feedback about the mega list, most of it positive, and most of it wanting more. There seems to be a real need for a place to get comprehensive information about the products, tools, and services in the Talent Management space. All under one roof.

I realized that if I were to create this type of destination I needed something a little more robust than the WordPress site with a cheap directory plugin. I also knew that in order to make this work, I would need to create and engage an interactive community.

With that in mind, I am pleased to announce the “unofficial launch” ofInside Talent Management Technology (www.insideTMT.com), a community for practitioners, consultants, analysts and vendors. The launch is “unofficial” because it will take some time to build up the content and community membership. I also need people to give it a test drive and let me know if anything is not working and collect some feedback. Once there is some critical mass, we will make some more noise.

Here is what you will find on the site:

Product Directory - What will be different about this directory is a separation between the Vendor Company Profile and the Product listings. Vendors will list each of their products separately and all of them will be linked through their company profile. This way we will have a much cleaner categorization.

Consulting Services Directory - There is a separate directory for all of the consulting service companies, as well as Independent Contractors. In addition to their profile, consultants can upload case studies and best practices.

Profile Types - Upon registration you will be prompted to select one of 4 profile types; Practitioner, Consultant, Analyst, or Vendor. Based on your type you will have access to different functions. For example, you will need to be logged in as a Vendor to access the product listing submission.

Community Search and Discussion Groups - Once registered, you will be able to start your own discussion group or join others. But the ability to search and find other practitioners that have experience with a particular product will likely be more valuable.

Product Reviews - This section is reserved for objective reviews of the various products. I loaded up a series of posts based on demonstrations I received at the ERE Expo last month. I will be looking for product experts to assist me in keeping tabs on the market and sharing content regarding how companies are actually solving problems with the technology.

Tools & Templates - Once registered you will have access to the tools and templates download section. I will be loading in many of the tools that I have used over the years such as Project Plans, Vendor Demo scripts, etc. Not much in there yet, but we have also opened it up for any community member to upload templates they would like to share.

Industry News & Analysis - This section is still under construction, but we have started by creating links to some content from the industry’s more well know analysts.  More to come.

So there you have it. I am currently in Las Vegas and about to head down to the HR Tech conference. I will be spending most of my day in the Exhibit hall exploring some the latest and greatest and will be loading up some more product reviews soon.

Please check out the site and let me know what you think.