Every Crowd has a silver lining

Crowdsourcing is gaining traction, despite inherent challenges.

Outsourcing has been around in some form or other for a while. Originating with Internet start-ups looking to access a large pool of low-cost labour over the web, we're now seeing a second inflection point whereby large corporations in recession hit economies are looking to crowdsourcing as a model to support new areas such as content localisation; as an alternative to traditional BPO; and as an option to access globally distributed talent quickly. While crowdsourcing is sometimes used for low-end tasks such as keyword optimisation, a few companies are leveraging the model for their product-led projects, such as packaging, design, marketing, etc.

This white paper by Everest Group evaluates crowdsourcing as a sourcing model in a wider enterprise community.