
Crowdsourcing is a type of outsourcing in which, instead of contracting work to a single provider, we actually engage a large group of people from various places to work on a single or multiple tasks.
Crowdsourcing is becoming a popular business practice and it can yield the results you have never experienced before. More people can make more progress is a simple natural logic, which is applicable today with technology connecting all of us together. One of the strongest example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia which is being edited by million of members. That is the reason its world's largest encyclopedia today.
Crowdsourcing Implementation
Crowdsourcing is best suitable for such tasks in which we need faster results in minimum amount of time. Crowdsourcing engages more people and you compare the results directly, rather than first going through a hiring process and guessing who will work and not. There are different crowdsourcing models yet developing, in which you can give a single task out. Crowdsourcing applications help you manage your tasks and progress of the people working at it.
Generally businesses are crowdsourcing their design, SEO, programming, content development, jobs through various websites, where you can post your work and find interested people to engage. Crowdsourcing is performance basis and the risk to lose is quite less than in other business styles. However your campaign needs to be compatible with crowdsourcing model.
The idea is still new and we will realize its applications, benefits and problems with the time. We believe designing specialized crowdsourcing campaigns and choosing the right platform to work with, can get you best results.
Some crowdsourcing business webs
Odsek
At Odesk you can create virtual teams from multiple geographic locations, and give them a common or multiple tasks to work upon. You can monitor your work force online with easy to handle web application which measure performance on hourly basis.
99Designs
Recently started, we found it an excellent resource to get multiple design ideas from a large number of graphic designers from all over the world. These designers create sample mockups for your requirements and post you online. You select the best design you like and pay for it.
Salesforce
Offers solid web based technology to manage your customer relationships and help you grow. This web based CRM is industry leading and you can organize your sales team in the best manner and get the maximum out put from them.
You do not need to hire and depend on a single person or an in house (costly) team anymore. Crowdsourcing model can really help you boost your business in a short time span. Same like in Outsourcing, you need to document your campaign (requirements) very clearly in order to get desired results. Your campaign planning must take into account that its not an in-house job execution, and a wide spectrum of people will be involved with it. A decent monitoring and assessment technology is required to handle the workers on your job.