As a business owner, it’s always a good idea to stay up-to-date with the latest business practices, even those that might not be directly in your space yet. This is why today we are going to take a look at crowdsourcing. If you are unfamiliar with the term, here’s a short guide to give you some extra insight on how crowdsourcing was born, how it works, and why it’s changing the way many companies are doing business.

What it is.

The term crowdsourcing is a combination of the word “crowd” and the word “outsourcing”. It was coined in 2005 by Wired magazine editors Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the concept of outsourcing, it generally refers to the practice of commissioning a task or a service to a third party, an outsider, if you will. By this definition, crowdsourcing involves reaching out to a large, often anonymous, group of people to carry out a task or project, etc… In today’s digital area, crowdsourcing mostly utilizes online communities to gather additional workforce in a quick, inexpensive way.

How it works.

Let’s say you want a new logo for your company. You try to hire a graphic designer, but the process is just too lengthy and time-consuming, so you decide to use crowdsourcing. You go to an online community and launch a contest with a cash prize for best design. Anyone who wishes to enter the contest needs to submit logo ideas for your business. At the end of the contest you end up with a wide range of logos you can choose from and only a small amount of time and money was invested to reach your goal.

Think of Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia was launched back in 2001. Instead of hiring writers and editors, Wikipedia’s founders gave users the option to add and create content on their own. The result? The most comprehensive encyclopedia this world has ever seen, with over 5 million entries that grow by over 20,000 a month.

How crowdsourcing is changing the business landscape.

So, why is crowdsourcing so popular? The answer is simple; crowdsourcing allows you to solve problems in a cost-effective and time-efficient way. Projects and tasks that used to require insane amounts of planning and staffing can now be carried out by a large crowd of on-demand users. It’s like having an unlimited workforce always available and reachable at any time in every corner of the world.

At Observa we understand how revolutionary crowdsourcing is, and this is why we made it a key component of our strategy. Thanks to the implementation of crowdsourcing, we can offer our customers fast, cost-effective solutions to help them grow their business through real-time data collection.