For the last decade or so, companies have been looking overseas, to India or China, for cheap labor. But now it doesn’t matter where the laborers are – they might be down the block, they might be in Indonesia – as long as they are connected to the network. (Wired)
Given the sharp uptick in crowdsourcing in many areas of business, the time has come to examine the trend in detail, sussing out the positives and negatives while determining how best to employ its benefits to your own particular branches of industry.
Three Benefits
1. Lower overhead
Companies who utilize crowdsourcing often do so via the internet, meaning that they do not need to provide the computers, paper goods, office space, and other tangible needs of the employees filling these roles. As a result, the company is able to pour more of its resources into other areas.
Crowdsourcing is becoming more than just a popular trend. Businesses are harnessing the problem-solving powers of crowdsourcing.2. Higher creativity
The maxim that “many hands make light work” applies to more than manual labor. Within a traditional team — whether that team is marketing, sales, or management — the number of ideas generated in a given team meeting is somewhat dependent on how many people are in attendance. Within the realm of crowdsourcing, since the only thing necessary for involvement is connection to a network, the number of people who can be involved in a project is almost limitless.
3. Greater symbiosis
Since the rules of supply-and-demand operate within crowdsourcing as well as they do outside of crowdsourcing, the back-and-forth benefits of positive conflict still apply. Since more people are often involved in the process, however, the results are greater.
With more and more companies turning to this to handle some of their more challenging tasks, the time has come to seriously consider this popular trend as a viable option for your business.
For more information on how you can harness the crowdsourcing powers of BlogMutt for your business blog, just contact us.
