As technology continues to develop, so does it continue to alter traditional business models and shift the way consumers interact with service providers. Crowdsourcing apps like Uber, AirBnB and Turo have promoted sharing economy into the mainstream and have forever changed the way consumers view cab rides, room rentals and car rentals.
Sharing economy is largely built on crowdsourcing — leveraging additional, outside resources to meet growing demand — which helps drive down prices. Big businesses are also beginning to take part in the sharing economy making a balanced move toward hybrid business models.
What’s in it for big business?
By crowdsourcing, companies expand the availability and geography of their services. They invite people to market their resources within their established digital business ecosystem, thus being able to generate indirect revenues from crowdsourcing apps and subscriptions. Instead of thinning their resources in pursuit of additional market share, organisations can train temporary contractors, provide them with service policies and branding, and have the customer needs covered.
Also, as more big businesses begin to adopt the agile methodology of project (and product) management, processes are becoming far more segmented, requiring different employees with various skill sets to fill needs. Take, for example, the testing phase of a new product. While in the past this was done entirely in-house, large-scale beta testing is now taking place wherein interested consumers can take a sneak peek at an organisation's latest offering.
By crowdsourcing the user testing process, organisations are able to see how their product performs in the real world with unbiased testers. Additionally, many of these testers are willing to try new products or software without significant compensation. This results in a larger pool of testers providing vast amounts of raw data at a lower cost than ever before.
A сentral system for crowdsourcing
The only downside of using crowdsourced employees is managing them. From one group to another, each wave of hiring will have different needs, regulations and compensation amounts.
