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Crowdsourcing
| Guest post by: John Heap |
Article Overview: Want the widest set of ideas to solve your problem or design your new product? Try crowdsourcing - a way of getting lots of people to contribute ideas. its easy, cheap - and effective.
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Free Download - Do you need a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program By John Heap |
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is a term (first coined in 2006) to
represent a compound of “crowd” and “outsourcing” and represents a concept
where an organisation uses a ‘crowd’ to deliver, or help deliver, services
normally and formerly undertaken by in-house personnel.
The concept emerged alongside what are generally known as “Web
2.0” technologies – and especially social media. These, along with email, have created a connected,
networked world where people are used to ‘talking to’ and dealing with
strangers.
There are a number of ways in which crowdsourcing is working
and moving.
One is for a firm to make an ‘open call’ to the world at
large asking for ideas to solve a particular problem or redesign a product or ….
The ‘reward’ might be a prize (financial
or otherwise), the ‘glory’ or perhaps a share of the potential revenue.
Another is for a firm to submit a ‘need’ (for a particular product,
component, service or whatever) to an agency that represents a range of
suppliers (the crowd). The agency sends
the request to a number of those potential suppliers who can choose to respond and
bid for the business.
The advantage to the company seeking the service is that a
range of potential solutions can be explored easily and cheaply (paying, if at
all, only by results). Presumably, also,
if the first ‘open call’ method is used, there should be a wider range of ideas
… and potentially a better solution.
It is easy enough for anyone to indulge in crowdsourcing if
they already have a network – such as their
Twitter followers, Facebook friends or LinkedIn contacts. They simple pose a problem, ask for ideas and
wait fro the responses to flood in. This
can be a simple way of getting advice, information and ideas. It is cheaper than consultancy and often
proves a rich source of ideas that can be integrated into an effective – and possibly
innovative – solution.
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Article Tags: crowdsourcing, innovation, outsourcing
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