Enterprise Crowdsourcing Research Report by massolution: Market, Provider and Worker Trends

document Cloud Labor

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CROWDSOURCING INDUSTRY REPORT
Enterprise Crowdsourcing: Market, Provider and Worker Trends

February 2012 Research Report

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THIS RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 KEY MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

APPENDIX. PROFILES OF PARTICIPATING CSPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

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ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
This research report provides an in-depth analysis of market, provider and worker trends in the crowdsourcing industry, focusing on enterprise crowdsourcing. The report is based on the 2011 Crowdsourcing Service Provider survey, conducted via Crowdsourcing.org, and is the first in a series of research reports, aimed at providing reliable and factual information on the crowdsourcing industry. Thirty two Crowdsourcing Service Providers (CSPs) provided extensive data relating to their operations for calendar years 2009, 2010 and 2011. This data has resulted in this first research report for the Cloud Labor segment of the crowdsourcing industry. The report features:
         

Overview of market growth composition and maturity Analysis of worker trends, composition and earnings Overview of the strategic priorities of CSPs Overview of typical capabilities and functionality of CSPs Profiles of participating CSPs

Additional copies of this report are available for purchase. USA & CAN $2,995 | Euro Zone €2,250 | GBP £1,995
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KEY MESSAGES
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
     

This research report is based on the data collected through an online survey and direct communications with thirty two CSPs The survey respondents represent a significant portion of the enterprise crowdsourcing market Where possible, analyses were conducted separately for different categories of enterprise crowdsourcing, based on Crowdsourcing.org’s proprietary definition of sub-categories The crowdsourcing industry is still in its infancy, led predominantly by start-ups in various stages of financing The market is growing at an accelerated rate (~75% in 2011) Almost two thirds of market revenues are coming from three industry sectors: Internet Services, Media and Entertainment, and Technology The number of crowdsourcing workers is growing in excess of 100% per annum, with highest growth rates in the Software services and Micro-task categories The majority of crowdsourcing workers are 18-40 years old, well-educated, with almost 60% living in developed countries. The majority of workers have primary jobs. Their salaries range on average, across all categories of crowdsourcing and for the regions analyzed, from $7.2 to $15.8 per hour While crowdsourcing has gained traction within some large enterprises, the majority of CSP clients are mostly start-ups and small enterprises based in North America and in Europe Crowdsourcing clients usually initiate small pilot projects as an entry point, but show a high degree of loyalty with 52% of clients contracting more than once for services The quality of the workforce and platform capabilities are top focus areas for CSPs while their primary strategic objectives are largely centered on acquiring scale and building client portfolios CSPs use a wide range of worker screening techniques; their approach to distributing work varies significantly by crowdsourcing sub-category (e.g., Micro-task versus Ideation) CSPs rely mostly on clients utilizing their own staff for the integration of crowdsourced work with client-retained end-to-end business processes

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

     

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

   

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

   

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

     

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SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
This research provides data-driven insights on crowdsourcing market trends. Our analyses are based on the data collected during Q4 2011 through an online survey and direct communications with thirty two CSPs, who were asked more than 100 detailed questions relating to their operations for calendar years 2009, 2010 and 2011. The survey was conducted under strict non-disclosure rules, hence all the data in in this survey is aggregated or averaged. The participating CSPs represent a significant portion of the enterprise crowdsourcing market, collectively accounting for more than $375 million dollars (US) in revenues. The sample of participating CSPs is very diverse. It includes representatives of all five categories of Crowdsourcing.org’s enterprise crowdsourcing sub-category definitions (see page 8):

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

         

Expertise-based tasks Ideation tasks Micro-tasks Freelance services Software services

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

The participants deploy different models of crowdsourcing service delivery, such as:   Provider of crowdsourced workforce   Facilitator of crowdsourced workforce   Crowdsourcing platform vendor To account for incomplete responses and to ensure that the market insights reflected are relevant to the five individual categories, we excluded data that appeared incomplete or questionable and where possible, conducted our analyses separately for each category. This is reflected in the charts in this report that state, for each analyses, the sample size of CSP data used.

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

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SURVEY DATA INCLUDES THIRTY TWO CROWDSOURCING SERVICE PROVIDERS
The participation of thirty two CSPs resulted in a highly significant data set of the crowdsourcing market enabling reliable data driven conclusions that illustrate crowdsourcing market trends. Our CSP respondents represent all the key categories of the crowdsourcing marketplace, including:   Expertise-based tasks   Ideation tasks   Micro-tasks   Freelance platforms   Software services
Composition of respondents by crowdsourcing category Percentage, 100% = 32 CSPs

SOFTWARE SERVICES

16% 37%
EXPERTISE-BASED

FREELANCE

16%

MICROTASKS

16%

15%

IDEATION

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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THE MAJORITY OF THE PARTICIPANTS ARE PROVIDERS OF THE CROWDSOURCED WORKFORCE
For the purposes of this research we defined three models of crowdsourcing service delivery and assigned them to participating CSPs:   A provider of crowdsourced workforce – a CSP that has its own crowdsourced workforce and offers services based on this workforce   A facilitator of a crowdsourced workforce – a CSP that maintains its own technology (e.g., crowdsourcing platform), but uses the workforce of other CSPs   Crowdsourcing platform vendor – a CSP that sells or licenses its proprietary crowdsourcing platform to other CSPs or directly to enterprises that can interface into other CSP workforces. The majority of the participants of this survey (78%) are CSPs providing a crowdsourced workforce. Several crowdsourcing platform vendors also participated in the survey, but they account for a minor portion of respondents (8%).
Note: Although Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) did not participate in the survey directly, many survey participants use the AMT workforce and therefore the AMT marketplace, to an extent, is reflected in this analysis.

Composition of respondents by crowdsourcing category Percentage, 100% = 32 CSPs

FACILITATOR OF CROWDSOURCED WORKFORCE

8%

2%
OTHER

CROWDSOURCING PLATFORM VENDOR

12%

78%
A PROVIDER OF CROWDSOURCED WORKFORCE
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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WE DEFINE FIVE CATEGORIES OF ENTERPRISE CROWDSOURCING
Ideation-based tasks are completed by online workers engaged in the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation is all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. Expertise-based tasks are completed by online workers that are widely recognized as a reliable source of techniques or skills, or accorded authority and status by their peers, or who possess knowledge based on a familiarity with someone or something that can include philosophy, facts, descriptions, information, and/or skills acquired through experience or education. Expertise-based can refer to both the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Freelance services are performed by workers who are not committed to any particular employer long term and serve as independent contractors. Freelanced services usually have more flexible scope and are charged by the day, hour, a piece rate, or per-project basis. Software services include design, development, testing and user feedback gathering for programming code, software products and online applications. These services can be conducted by experts who possess specific skills or certifications; or users with no specialized knowledge or expertise. Micro-Tasks are short duration tasks completed by online workers. Micro-tasks require no specialized knowledge or expertise other than a basic level of comprehension and cognitive judgment.
Note: These categories are defined from a typical enterprise point of view and although some are not mutually exclusive (e.g., Software services may be considered an Expertise-based Tasks), they map well into typical enterprise sourcing categories and therefore present a very practical way of analyzing enterprise crowdsourcing. © 2012 Crowdsourcing, LLC | research@crowdsourcing.org M.9.2.001 PAGE 8

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SECTION 2. MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
The majority of participant CSPs are private companies, of which 68% are owned by founders and the management team. Prior research by Crowdsourcing.org identified that the Venture Capital community invested over 280 million dollars (US) in CSPs in 2011, more than half of it in the form of early stage financing, reflecting relative immaturity of the crowdsourcing market. In spite of growing investments, most CSPs rely on their ongoing operations to fund their growth. Enterprise crowdsourcing continued its pattern of accelerating revenue growth in 2011, with revenues increasing over 75% when compared to 2010. This growth is largely driven by the aggressive adoption of crowdsourcing within the Internet Services, Media and Entertainment and Technology sectors. Stalwarts of traditional outsourcing, like Financial Services, Manufacturing and Government are significantly behind in terms of adoption, presenting significant potential for CSPs. The crowdsourcing industry actively builds supply, with continuous growth of the available workforce base growing at over 100% per annum. Supply is growing at a significantly faster rate than demand, showing early signs of industry misbalance. Crowdsourcing industry revenue is driven primarily by small enterprises and start-ups (especially for Freelance - focused providers), while large enterprises are most prominent in the portfolios of Ideation-focused CSPs and the larger, more mature, Software services CSPs.

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

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THE TYPICAL CSP IS A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT COMPANY
Although CSPs reflect multiple ownership models (including non-profits and business units of other companies), the majority of these companies are private for-profit entities.
Typical company ownership model breakdown for Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage of 29 CSP sample 7%
BUSINESS UNIT OF A PARENT COMPANY

3%
NON-PROFIT COMPANY

3%
PUBLIC FOR-PROFIT COMPANY

87%
PRIVATE FOR-PROFIT COMPANY
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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THE TYPICAL CSP IS TWO THIRDS OWNED BY ITS FOUNDERS AND MANAGEMENT TEAM
The crowdsourcing industry is still in the early stages of maturity. The nascency of the market is apparent in the fact that the majority of the CSPs are early stage startups. This is illustrated by the ownership structure of a typical CSP, which is more than 68% owned by the founder and management team.
Typical equity ownership distribution of Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage 4% 13%
VENTURE CAPITAL OTHER SHAREHOLDERS

15%
INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP

68%
FOUNDER AND MANAGEMENT TEAMS
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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INFLUX OF VENTURE CAPITAL TO CROWDSOURCING IS RELATIVELY LOW
Although Venture Capital investments are not yet a prevalent way to fund the majority of CSPs, in 2011 over $280 million was invested in CSPs with slightly more than half of this amount dedicated to early stage venture financing. Most active VCs in this field are: Baden Capital Benchmark Capital Bessemer Venture Partners Dag Ventures Foundry Group Globespan Capital Partners Google Ventures Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Mikael Larsson
Breakdown of Venture Capital investments in the crowdsourcing industry in 2011 Percentage, 100% = $283 Millions

19%

New Enterprise Associates Quantica SGR Signalpeak Ventures Scale Venture Partners Sigma Partners SilkenbridgeScale Trinity Venture Partners Virgo Capital

UNATTRIBUTED FUNDING

53%
EARLY STAGE

28%
LATE STAGE

Note: A detailed breakdown of the Venture Capital investments in CSPs in 2011 is available on Crowdsourcing.org at: http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/investing-in-the-crowd-vcsinject-280m-into-crowdsourcing-platforms-in-2011/9528
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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MOST CSPs RELY ON THEIR ONGOING OPERATIONS FOR FUNDING
In spite of the overall immaturity of CSPs, their growth and expansion are funded primarily through their ongoing operations, indicating that they generate enough cash to sustain their operations and growth. A typical CSP derives more than 70% of its capital needs from the cash generated by the day-to-day operations of the company. Furthermore, approximately half of all the companies surveyed reported that 100% of their capital is provided by ongoing operations.
Typical source of financing for Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage, based on 22 responses

14%
OTHER

3%
CREDIT FACILITY

12%
FIRM CAPITAL

71%

ONGOING OPERATIONS

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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IN 2010 THE INDUSTRY GREW AT 50% BUT IN 2011 IT ACCELERATED, ACHIEVING A ~75% GROWTH RATE
Enterprise crowdsourcing continues to demonstrate aggressive and accelerating growth. In our sample of CSPs, revenues grew approximately 53% from 2009 to 2010 and then accelerated to approximately 75% from 2010 to 2011.
74.7%

Crowdsourcing industry revenue growth 2009-11 Millions of $US, based on a sample of 15 CSPs

375.70

214.90
Note: This growth analysis is conducted on the GROSS revenues of the CSPs, (i.e., total monetary receipts from the CSPs clients). An alternative approach to measuring revenues would be based on the NET revenues of CSPs, (i.e., total fees collected by the CSPs on all transactions). We did not perform this analysis due to inconsistencies in the responses. 52.5%

140.80

2009

2010

2011

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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INTERNET SERVICES LED IN 2011 AHEAD OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Internet Services contribute the largest share of enterprise crowdsourcing revenues, followed by Media and Entertainment and the Technology sector. While Financial Services and Manufacturing are key industries driving the traditional outsourcing industry, they show a relatively low share of the crowdsourcing industry at 8% and 13% respectively. This leads us to believe that these industries present significant untapped opportunity for crowdsourcing penetration.
Crowdsourcing revenue composition by industry sector, 2011 Percentage, based on a sample of 15 CSPs

TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY RETAIL DISTRIBUTION FINANCIAL SERVICES

3%

OTHER 1%

2%

HEALTHCARE

6%

29%
INTERNET SERVICES

8%

MANUFACTURING

13%

20%
TECHNOLOGY (INC. SW and HW)

18%

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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THE CROWDSOURCING INDUSTRY IS ACTIVELY BUILDING SUPPLY AT A FASTER RATE THAN DEMAND FOR SERVICES
While in the crowdsourcing industry CSPs revenues are growing at a very respectable rate, the supply of labor is growing almost twice as fast, showing early signs of supply/demand imbalance. This imbalance often provides an early sign of upcoming market consolidation. Nonetheless, due to the limited time horizon over which data is currently available, at this stage without further data, it is difficult to predict the timing and extent of this consolidation.
Note: It is worth noting that many crowdsourcing workers register on more than one CSP platform thereby creating double-counting of the workforce. This behavior is recognized within the industry but it remains difficult to adjust for. Either way we do not believe that this double-counting accounts for the full extent of the delta that is being created between industry revenues and workforce base.

Crowdsourcing market revenue growth 2009-11 Millions of $US, based on a sample of 15 CSPs
74.7% 52.5%

375.70

214.90

140.80

2009

2010

2011

Number of crowdsourcing workers in 2009-2011 Millions, based on a sample of 21 providers 6.29
103%

165%

3.10

1.34

2009

2010

2011

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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SMALL ENTERPRISES AND START-UPS ARE DRIVING REVENUE; LARGE ENTERPRISES LEAD IN IDEATION AND SOFTWARE SERVICES
Unsurprisingly, demand in the crowdsourcing industry is driven by small enterprises and startup companies. Collectively they account for over 60% of the market revenues. Start-up companies drive majority of the revenues in the enterprise crowdsourcing market at 39% of revenues. What's more surprising is that large enterprises with revenues above $1B also appear to be early adopters of crowdsourcing, leaving the mediumsized enterprises as the most underpenetrated segment of the market. A closer analysis of the revenue breakdown provides explanation of this phenomenon. Large enterprises are active adopters primarily in the Ideation category and Software services category of crowdsourcing and the least active in Microtasks and Freelance categories.
MEDIUM ENTERPRISE ($100M - $1B IN REVENUES) SMALL ENTERPRISES (<$100M IN REVENUES)
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

Crowdsourcing revenue composition by client size Percentage

LARGE ENTERPRISE (>$1B IN REVENUES)

21%

START-UP COMPANIES & SMALL BUSINESSES (<$10M IN REVENUES)

39%

17%

23%

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ADOPTION VARIES BY CROWDSOURCING CATEGORY
Detailed analysis of the revenue by crowdsourcing category also reveals that the adoption pattern varies by category. Freelance companies are most dependent on startups as clients. Software services shows peculiar reliance on both large enterprises and start-ups, reflecting different strategies and maturities of CSPs in this category. Ideation is focused primarily on large and medium size enterprise clients. Expertise-based crowdsourcing is the most diversified in terms of target client segments, it exhibits almost equal share of every segment.
Note: Enterprise client sizes are defined with total annual revenues as follows: •  •  •  •  Start-up companies and small businesses < $10M Small Enterprise $10M -$100M Medium Enterprise $100M – 1$B Large Enterprise > $1B

Revenue composition by client size and crowdsourcing category Percentage Start-ups & small businesses (<$10M in Revenues) Small enterprise ($10M - $100M in Revenues) Medium enterprise ($100M - $1B in Revenues) Large enterprise (>$1B in Revenues) 23% 21% 31% 35% 30% 25% 0%
EXPERTISEBASED IDEATION MICROTASKS FREELANCE SOFTWARE SERVICES

40%

10% 40%

2% 15% 81%

3%

30%

5% 13% 53%

24%

20%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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SECTION 3. WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
The number of crowdsourcing workers continues to increase at a rate of more than double each year. The growth is driven primarily by the Software services and Microtasks categories of crowdsourcing work. Although the Freelance category is the most mature, its workforce is still growing at over 60% annual growth. Contrary to a commonly held view of crowdsourcing as a transfer of low-skill work to low cost locations, our analysis shows that more than half of all the crowdsourcing workers live in North America and Europe and workers are generally very well educated. Almost half have bachelor degree and only 5% are truly low skills workers with only an elementary education. Crowdsourcing clearly emerged into the market as a part-time, second income opportunity for workers or an opportunity for unutilized workers to join the global workforce. A typical worker participates in the market at least once a month, but only half of them perform some work every day. Almost 77% of all workers have a primary job. Workers that are the most reliant on crowdsourcing as their primary source of income are found in the Freelance services category with about 33% of members of freelance communities indicating that crowdsourcing is their only job. Target salaries of crowdsourcing workers reflect global labor arbitrage and on average, across all categories of crowdsourcing, range from ~$7 per hour (India) to ~ $16 per hour in Western Europe.

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

Most crowdsourcing workers are of a typical working age (between ages 18 and 40). Approximately ~60% of them are male. The prevalence of male workers is driven primarily by Software services and Expertise-based work. Micro-tasks and Ideation tasks are performed, in the majority, by female workers.

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NUMBER OF CROWDSOURCING WORKERS GROWS FAST, PRIMARILY IN SOFTWARE SERVICES AND MICRO-TASKS
Total number of crowdsourcing workers continues growing explosively, in most cases due to new companies entering the market. After posting an impressive 131% increase in 2010 over 2009, the industry continued signing up new workers at a pace of 103% growth in 2011 over 2010. The fastest growing areas of the crowdsourcing workforce are Software services and Micro-tasks, which posted 151% and 133% growth respectively in 2011 over 2010 numbers.
Total number of crowdsourcing workers 2009-2011 Number of workers, based on a sample of 26 CSPs
103%

6.29

1.34
2009

165%

3.10

2010

2011

Growth in the total number of crowdsourcing workers in 2010-2011 by crowdsourcing category Number of workers, based on 26 providers sample 151.3% 133.1% 90.6% 88.5% 67.0%

SOFTWARE SERVICES

MICRO-TASKS

EXPERTISEBASED

IDEATION

FREELANCE

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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THE MAJORITY OF WORKERS LIVE IN NORTH AMERICA OR ASIA PACIFIC
Contrary to a common view of crowdsourcing as a transfer of low-skill work to low cost locations, our sample of participating CSPs shows that almost 60% of all the crowdsourcing workers live in the "buyer" geographies (i.e., North America and Europe). Asia Pacific and South America collectively accounted for ~40% of the crowdsourcing workers.
Workers breakdown by geography Percentage, 100%= 6.3M workers 6%
NORTH AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA

41%

18%
EUROPE

Note: Additional Crowdsourcing.org industry interviews show that Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) worker base features different educational and geographic profile, more skewed toward lower skilled workers. Since AMT did not participate in the survey we are not able to comment on these differences.

ASIA PACIFIC

35%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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MANY WORKERS ARE WELL EDUCATED AND SOME HOLD ADVANCED DEGREES
Contrary to widespread opinion the majority of crowdsourcing workers are not low skilled but are well-educated. Almost half have a bachelor degree or an analogous certificate. Almost 75% of the crowdsourced workforce has received a Bachelor, Master or Doctorate degrees. Only 5% of the workforce is truly low-skilled, (i.e., have undertaken only an elementary level of education).
Breakdown of workers by level of education Percentage, 100%= 6.3M workers

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

5%

3%

DOCTORATE

48%
CERTIFICATE, DIPLOMA, ASSOCIATE DEGREE OR BACHELOR'S DEGREE

SECONDARY EDUCATION

21%

Note: Additional Crowdsourcing.org industry interviews show that Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) worker base features different educational and geographic profile, more skewed toward lower skilled workers. Since AMT did not participate in the survey we are not able to comment on these differences.

23%
MASTER’S DEGREE

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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WORKERS TEND TO TREAT CROWDSOURCING AS A SECOND JOB, AND MOST WORK AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK
The average crowdsourcing worker works at least once per month, about half work as often as once a day. Given this frequency of work, it is not surprising that the majority of crowdsourcing workers holds a primary job and consider crowdsourcing an additional source of income. This is most apparent in the Software Services and expertise-based categories were over 80% of workers indicate that they hold another job.
Worker activity profile Percentage based on responses of 15 providers
ONCE A MONTH

100%

ONCE A WEEK

70%

ONCE A DAY

57%

Percentage of worker community that holds another job. Percentage based on responses of 22 providers 82.1%
AVERAGE 76.7%

75.0%

75.0%

85.0%
66.6%

EXPERTISEBASED

IDEATION

MICRO-TASKS

FREELANCE

SOFTWARE SERVICES

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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SALARIES OF CROWDSOURCING WORKERS REFLECT GLOBAL LABOR ARBITRAGE
Overall average salaries of crowdsourcing workers across all categories of crowdsourcing show clear alignment with global labor arbitrage with Western Europe leading at $15.8 per hour, closely followed by the US, with India trailing at $7.2 per hour1. Typical salary of a crowdsourcing worker is dependent on multiple factors, including skills, crowdsourcing category and type of work performed. For example Micro-task workers earn ~50% less than an average worker in every geography and some workers earn as little as $1.50 per hour.
Average worker salary per geographical location $US per hour 15.8 15.2 13.5 9.0 7.2
1

WESTERN EUROPE

U.S.

EASTERN EUROPE 2

CHINA

INDIA

Average worker salary per location for Micro-Task category only $US per hour 10.2 10.6 8.6 5.2 4.1

Notes: 1  Data excludes Ideation category where salary of workers varies dramatically, based on the specific nature of work. 2  The Eastern European salaries are higher on average as a result of the faster adoption of crowdsourcing in the higher income Central European countries (e.g., Poland, Czech Republic), rather than in their lower income Eastern European counterparts (e.g., Ukraine)
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WESTERN EUROPE

U.S.

EASTERN EUROPE

CHINA
2

INDIA

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TARGET SALARIES OF CROWDSOURCING WORKERS VARY SIGNIFICANTLY
Depending on type of work, number of hours and the workers’ efficiency in performing the work, crowdsourcing workers can earn a broad range of salaries. For example, the top five workers by total earnings, earn on average from $500 per month on Micro-task platforms to an average of more than $8,000 per month on Expertise-based and Software services platforms. This illustrates clearly one of the most fundamental characteristics of crowdsourcing from the workers’ point of view: flexibility.
Monthly earnings of top five workers by crowdsourcing category $US per month 8300

4105

500 MINIMUM
Micro-tasks

AVERAGE

MAXIMUM

Expertise & Software-based services

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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MOST WORKERS ARE BETWEEN AGES 18 AND 40 AND ~60% ARE MALES (1/2)
Workers show an age breakdown very similar to other job marketplaces. The largest age category of the workers is 31-40 years. 86% of all workers are of the typical working age in industries with comparable characteristics and are between the ages of 18-50. School age workers are a very minor part of the workforce accounting for only 4%.
Age profile of the crowdsourcing workers Percentage based on the survey of 20 CSPs

10% 51-60

4% UNDER 18

35% 18-30 21% 41-50

30% 31-40

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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MOST WORKERS ARE BETWEEN AGES 18 AND 40 AND ~60% ARE MALES (2/2)
Gender composition of the workforce points out a preference towards a male population (59% male vs. 41% female). This breakdown varies by crowdsourcing category with most male workers observed in Software services (reflecting the overall profile of the software industry sector) and more female workers in the Micro-task category. Interestingly the Ideation category shows almost perfect 50/50 breakdown.
Gender profile of the crowdsourcing workers Percentage based on the survey of 20 CSPs Average of Female 63.1 50.0 50.0 36.9
59% MALE

Average of Male 56.4

69.8

55.0 45.0 43.6

41%
FEMALE

30.3

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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IDEATION

MICRO-TASKS

FREELANCE

SOFTWARE SERVICES

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SECTION 4. CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND PROFILE
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
As expected, the majority of crowdsourcing clients are based in North America and Europe. When compared to the distribution of workers, Asia Pacific is a net importer of work and Europe is a net exporter. North America is practically in balance, with some prevalence of job export. Small businesses and startups account for almost 80% of the total number of clients, but only ~60% of the revenues, reflecting small sizes of their transactions. Large enterprises bring significantly higher revenue per transaction, but account for only 21% of the revenues. Client portfolios of crowdsourcing service providers are very diverse with the top 1 client delivering on average 12% and rarely more than 20% of the total company revenues. Nonetheless these clients show very high degree of loyalty. More than half of all the crowdsourcing clients buy crowdsourcing services more than once.

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

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CLIENTS ARE MOSTLY BASED IN NORTH AMERICA & EUROPE, EUROPE IS THE LARGEST NET BUYER REGION
North America and Europe are the largest client locations for crowdsourcing, collectively hosting more than 90% of the crowdsourcing clients. Comparing this breakdown with the allocation of crowdsourced workers provides interesting observations:
 

Client distribution by geographic location
NORTH AMERICA EUROPE

Workers distribution by geographic location
ASIA PACIFIC SOUTH AMERICA

Asia Pacific is the largest net supplier geography. It provides 35% of the crowdsourced workforce, while accounts for only 7% of the clients. Europe is the largest net buyer geography. While providing 36% of the world demand, it accounts for only 18% of the world crowdsourcing supply.

2% 7% 36%

6% 18%

35%

 

55% 41%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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THE MAJORITY OF CLIENTS ARE START-UP COMPANIES
Start-up companies account for the largest number of CSPs clients (59% of the total) while large enterprises account for a much lower number (7%). This can be explained by the fact that there are low barriers to entry for a client of crowdsourcing and limited, if any, minimal volume requirements. It is also a further indication of the relative immaturity of the crowdsourcing industry. However, due to the higher transaction volumes of large enterprise clients they make up a larger portion of total revenues. Both analyses shows that the medium enterprise client segment is largely under penetrated, suggesting significant untapped opportunity for CSPs.
Number of clients by client size Start-up companies and small businesses 8% 13% 20% 17% 23% Small enterprise Crowdsourcing revenue composition by client size Medium enterprise Large enterprise

21%

59%

39%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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A TYPICAL CROWDSOURCING CLIENT CONTRIBUTES SMALL SHARE OF THE TOTAL REVENUES, BUT SHOWS LOYALTY (1/2)
A typical CSP has a very extensive portfolio of clients which, given the overall revenue of some CSPs, reflects that the bulk of the revenues come from high numbers of small contracts. The largest client rarely contributes more than 15% of the total revenue of the company. Top 100 companies account for approximately three quarters of the company wallet share. Although some companies have total number of clients in excess of 1000, on average top 1000 companies account for almost the complete wallet of the provider (more than 95%).
Top 100 72.9% Top clients share of the total revenues Percentage across respondents

Top 1000

96.1%

Top 10

56.5%

Top 1

12.2%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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A TYPICAL CROWDSOURCING CLIENT CONTRIBUTES SMALL SHARE OF THE TOTAL REVENUES, BUT SHOWS LOYALTY (2/2)
In spite of the fact that enterprise clients do not currently procure large volumes of crowdsourcing services, when compared to their total outsourcing spend, enterprises that take advantage of crowdsourcing tend to be repeat customers. Survey respondents reported a surprisingly high ratio of clients that made more than one purchase (more than 52%).
Share of repeat clients Percentage across respondents

MORE THAN 10 TIMES

21.5%

MORE THAN 3 TIMES

31.8%

MORE THAN ONCE

52.4%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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SECTION 5. PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES
1.  INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
CSPs differentiate their value propositions primarily based on the quality of their workforce and capabilities of their platforms. In terms of strategic objectives, providers are mostly focused on business development. Their top goals are winning more clients (primarily large ones) and building new market channels. Price per transaction is the most common crowdsourcing pricing model. Price per workers time is adopted primarily by Freelance service providers. More sophisticated performance based pricing occurs mostly in Expertise-based category of crowdsourcing work. Most CSPs feature sophisticated worker selection capabilities, but only half of the CSPs surveyed set buying parameters (e.g., minimum order thresholds) to establish selection criteria for buyers. Automatic work assignment being the most prevalent method, but this varies by category. Micro-task providers use mostly first come-first serve approach, while expertise-based encourage worker collaboration. CSPs rely primarily on in-house expertise for integration and implementation of their offerings; their industry sector knowledge is focused primarily on Internet Services and Technology. CSPs offer wide range of quality control methodologies, worker assessment is the most common. They also measure their service extensively, but only some of the metrics are available to buyers (most frequently worker performance, quality, and qualification).

2. 

MARKET GROWTH AND MATURITY

3. 

WORKER TRENDS AND COMPOSITION

4. 

CLIENT TRENDS AND DEMAND

5. 

PROVIDER STRATEGIES AND CAPABILITIES

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CSPs DIFFERENTIATE PRIMARILY BASED ON THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORKFORCE AND CAPABILITIES OF THEIR PLATFORMS
Quality of the workforce, closely followed by platform capabilities are stated most frequently as most important differentiation factors by CSP, reflecting growing importance of quality in delivering crowdsourcing services. Geographic focus and social responsibility appear the least important differentiation factors for CSPs. The top factor also changes depending on the category of CSP. Expertise-based and Micro-task focused providers selected quality of workforce as the top differentiation factor, while Ideation and Freelance platforms selected workforce management capabilities.
Ratings provided by CSPs of their differentiating factors
OTHER SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS PREMIUM SERVICE PROVIDER COMPANY REPUTATION LOW COST PROVIDER LEADING WORK MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES INDUSTRY FOCUS LEADING WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES SCALE OF WORKFORCE MARKET LEADER LEADING PLATFORM CAPABILITIES QUALITY OF WORKFORCE
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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25 94 102 132 137 158 161 163 168 168 179 219 230

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PRIMARY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE FOR CSPs AT THIS TIME IS SIGNING UP MORE CLIENTS AND BUILDING CHANNELS
In terms of strategic priorities CSPs clearly focus on business development. The most important objectives are winning more large enterprise and small business clients, along with building new channels and new routes to market. While buyer's satisfaction also scores relatively high among CSPs, worker's loyalty and satisfaction are not considered primary goals by the CSPs. As one would expect in the nascent market, increasing the margins has two times lower priority than growing revenues for CSP.
Rating of the strategic focus areas Total rating
OTHER

37 94 95 109 116 116 122 122 126 154 180

INCREASE MARGIN INCREASE WORKER SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY IMPROVE BRAND RECOGNITION ADD CAPACITY (GROW WORKFORCE) SPECIALIZE AND FOCUS ON CORE OFFERINGS INCREASE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY DEVELOP NEW OFFERINGS WIN MORE SMALL BUSINESS CLIENTS INCREASE NUMBER OF CHANNELS AND ROUTES TO MARKET WIN MORE LARGE ENTERPRISE CLIENTS
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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PRICE PER TRANSACTION IS THE MOST COMMON CROWDSOURCING PRICING MODEL
Price per transaction is a prevailing pricing method in the crowdsourcing industry. In particular Micro-task CSPs charge over 95% of their services based on transactionbased pricing model. Price per worker's time is a popular model for freelance sites and software services. Expertise-based providers show a greater diversity of pricing models, including the least prevalent model of performancebased pricing.
Pricing models in the crowdsourcing industry Percentage 8% PERFORMANCE

16% PRICE PER WORKER’S TIME

76% PRICE PER TRANSACTION

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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CSPs ARE MORE DILIGENT IN SCREENING WORKERS THAN BUYERS
CSPs show a different approach to screening clients and workers. When it comes to selecting clients, approximately half of all the providers establish some kind of transaction threshold (most often based on the size of transaction in terms of total dollar amount). When it comes to selecting workers providers tend to exercise more diligence. Almost every provider offers general worker qualification, and more than 80% of CSPs also offer qualification of workers for each task and allow buyers to pre-select workers. There is also a clear preference by providers to qualify workers themselves. While 96% of providers qualify workers, only 64% allow buyers to perform worker qualification directly.
GENERAL WORKER QUALIFICATION PER TASK WORKER QUALIFICATION BUYER-DRIVEN WORKER QUALIFICATION WORKER PRESELECTION

Distribution of companies with and without client volume thresholds Percentage of 23 CSPs responding yes or no.

48% NO

52% YES

Distribution of companies with and without client volume thresholds by category Yes 4% 96% 16% 84% 64% No 36% 13% 87%

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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AUTOMATIC WORK ASSIGNMENT IS MOST PREVALENT; METHODS VARY BY CATEGORY (1/2)
There are 4 most common approaches to work distribution in crowdsourcing:
   

Approach to work distribution Percentage of providers that use this approach

Workers serve tasks on first come, first serve basis Workers collaborate and create teams to address tasks Workers compete for tasks Tasks assigned to workers by marketplace
OTHER

9%

   

WORKERS COLLABORATE AND CREATE TEAMS TO ADDRESS TASKS WORKERS SERVED TASKS ON FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS

28%

Automatic assignment of tasks by the platform is the most common method of task distribution overall.

36%

WORKERS COMPETE FOR TASKS

52%

TASKS ASSIGNED TO WORKERS BY MARKETPLACE
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

60%

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AUTOMATIC WORK ASSIGNMENT IS MOST PREVALENT; METHODS VARY BY CATEGORY (2/2)
Approach to work distribution Percentage of providers that use this approach Micro-task providers
OTHER TASKS ASSIGNED TO WORKERS BY MARKETPLACE WORKERS COMPETE FOR TASKS WORKERS COLLABORATE AND CREATE TEAMS TO ADDRESS TASKS WORKERS SERVED TASKS ON FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

Expertise-based providers 18.2%

0%

0%

36.4%

25%

27.3%

50%

72.7%

75%

27.3%

Micro-tasks and Expertise-based tasks show different preferences and focus on first come, first serve basis and workers' collaboration respectively. The collaborative nature of expertise-based workers reflects complexity of the tasks and the value of collaboration.

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CSPs RELY PRIMARILY ON IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE FOR WORK INTEGRATION INTO CLIENTS' SYSTEMS (1/2)
Majority of respondents indicated that they rely on in-house capabilities and expertise technical integration of their solutions into client's ERP, CRM or legacy environment. This relative lack of industry partnerships is an indication of early stages of the industry maturity.
Technical integration expertise of the Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage of respondents, 100% = 32 In-House Capability 8% 92% 13% 87% 78% Through Partners 22%

INTEGRATION WITH ERP SYSTEMS

INTEGRATION WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS

INTEGRATION WITH CRM SYSTEMS

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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CSPs RELY PRIMARILY ON IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE FOR WORK INTEGRATION INTO CLIENTS' SYSTEMS (2/2)
When compared with providers of a crowdsourcing workforce who recruit and manage their own worker base, crowdsourcing facilitators focus on client service enablement and therefore have invested more heavily in in-house integration expertise (100% of CSP respondents).
Technical integration expertise by crowdsourcing category Percentage of respondents with in-house expertise

Provider of CS Workforce 100.0%

Facilitator of CS Workforce 100.0% 100.0%

72.7% 63.6%

72.7%

INTEGRATION WITH ERP SYSTEMS

INTEGRATION WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS

INTEGRATION WITH CRM SYSTEMS

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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CSPs RELY PREDOMINANTLY ON PROPRIETARY INTERFACES TO INTEGRATE WITH CLIENTS’ SYSTEMS
The task of integration in the client's systems is most often served through proprietary interfaces (79% of respondents) and standard APIs (67% of respondents), which suggests a need for extensive custom integration efforts. We believe that, as penetration of crowdsourcing in the Enterprise increases, the growing complexity of the integration is likely to result in more focus on interface building and more reliance on external partners (e.g., system integration companies).
Most common client interfaces of Crowdsourcing Service Providers platforms Percentage of respondents who offer the interface

CUSTOM INTERFACE BUILDER

41.7%

APIs

66.7%

PROPRIETARY INTERFACE

79.2%

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CSPs ALSO RELY ON IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE FOR SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION (1/2)
Similarly to the integration expertise, most respondents rely on in-house capabilities for the implementation of their solution. For example 100% of the respondents indicated that they have inhouse expertise for adjudication and logic design, 90% and more also indicated presence on in-house project management, process and workflow and sourcing strategy capabilities.
Implementation expertise of the CSPs Percentage of respondents, 100% = 32

In-House Capability 100% 0% 5% 5%

Through Partners 7% 11%

95%

95% 93% 89%

ADJUDICATION LOGIC DESIGN

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROCESS AND WORKFLOW DESIGN

SOURCING STRATEGY

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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CSPs ALSO RELY ON IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE FOR SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION (2/2)
It is interesting to note that facilitators of crowdsourcing services focus primarily on the direct implementation skills, e.g., process and workflow design, adjudication logic, sourcing strategy, while providers of crowdsourcing workforce focus on building in-house "soft" skills of project management and change management.
Implementation expertise by crowdsourcing category Percentage of respondents with in-house expertise

Provider of CS Workforce

Facilitator of CS Workforce 100% 100% 100%

84% 75%

79%

74% 53%

50%

47%

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

PROCESS AND WORKFLOW DESIGN

ADJUDICATION LOGIC DESIGN

SOURCING STRATEGY

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

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CSP‘s INDUSTRY SECTOR KNOWLEDGE IS FOCUSED PRIMARILY ON INTERNET SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY
In terms of industry sector domain knowledge CSPs appear heavily focused on today's two most aggressive adopters of crowdsourcing: Internet Services and Technology. These industries are by far the most prevalent in the providers' skill portfolios; their score in the providers' responses is nearly 3 times higher than the next favorite industry sector (Media and Entertainment). This heavy focus on the early adopters of crowdsourcing is understandable from the short-term point of view, but might become a handicap in the long-term. For example Financial Services and Manufacturing industries are the most important drivers of revenues in the non-government client portfolios of traditional outsourcing service providers, but score very low in today's domain knowledge of CSPs.
Industry sector expertise of Crowdsourcing Service Providers Score based on the survey responses

INTERNET SERVICES TECHNOLOGY (inc. SW and HW) MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT FINANCIAL SERVICES GOVERNMENT AND DEFENSE MANUFACTURING RETAIL DISTRIBUTION OTHER
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

41 35 14 8 4 3 3 8

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CSPs OFFER MULTIPLE CONTROL METHODOLOGIES; WORKER ASSESSMENT IS THE MOST COMMON
Every company offers more than one quality control methodology. Worker assessment is the most prevalent, offered by more than 92% of the providers. Peer and expert review are also common at more that 80% of the providers. Multiplicity and injected testing are the least common approaches to quality control, although they are still offered by more than half of the providers.
Use of control methodologies by Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage of the 22 respondents who use this methodology

INJECTED TESTING (e.g., GOLD STANDARD) MULTIPLICITY WORKERS PREQUALIFICATION EXPERT REVIEW PEER REVIEW ONGOING WORKER ASSISSMENT/RANKING
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

53.8% 57.7% 76.9% 80.8% 80.8% 92.3%

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CSPs MEASURE THEIR SERVICE EXTENSIVELY; ONLY SOME OF THE METRICS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUYERS (1/3)
CSPs measure substantial number of metrics and performance indicators. The most commonly measured metrics are:
     

Use of metrics by Crowdsourcing Service Providers Percentage of the 22 respondents

Task completion Worker performance Worker qualification

TECHNICAL METRICS (e.g., UPTIME) BUYER METRICS TASK CHARACTERISTICS FINANCIAL METRICS QUALITY METRICS WORKER QUALIFICATION METRICS WORKER PERFORMANCE METRICS TASK COMPLETION METRICS

62.5% 62.5% 66.7% 79.2% 83.3% 87.5% 91.7% 95.8%

Most metrics measure tasks and workers, only 62.5% of providers measure metrics targeted at measuring buyers' characteristics.

Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011
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CSPs MEASURE THEIR SERVICE EXTENSIVELY; ONLY SOME OF THE METRICS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUYERS (2/3)
Many of the metrics are largely internal and are not available to buyers. Top metrics available to buyers are:
 

Metrics availability for buyers of crowdsourcing services Percentage of the 22 respondents

Worker qualification (while ~96% of providers measure them, only 68% make them available to buyers) Worker performance (while ~92% of providers measure them, only 68% make them available to buyers) Quality (~88% of providers measure them, 68% make them available to buyers)

FINANCIAL METRICS BUYER METRICS TASK CHARACTERISTICS TECHNICAL METRICS (e.g., UPTIME) TASK COMPLETION METRICS QUALITY METRICS WORKER PERFORMANCE METRICS WORKER QUALIFICATION METRICS
Source: Crowdsourcing.org, 2011

47.4% 52.6% 57.9% 63.2% 63.2% 68.4% 68.4% 68.4%

 

 

Financial metrics are the most infrequently made available to buyers (only by 47% of respondents)

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CSPs MEASURE THEIR SERVICE EXTENSIVELY; ONLY SOME OF THE METRICS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUYERS (3/3)
Other information reported by CSPs are: Reports on workers:   Buyer-specific usage of resources (e.g., number of workers used)   Satisfaction ranking   Worker profile data   Worker time tracking   Worker activity tracing (e.g., desktop screen capture, keyboard/mouse actions)   Skill level of each worker Reports on tasks:   Analysis of task complexity.   Workflow details and overall status   Milestones achievement   Workflow and statistics per task   Dashboards on tasks progression and workload Other reports:   Social impact report   Escrow service

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APPENDIX. PROFILES OF PARTICIPATING CSPs
• 10 EQS • Blur Group • Capseo • CloudFactory • CrowdControl Software • CrowdEngineering • CrowdFlower • CrowdSource • CrowdTogether • DesignRider • Elance • Freelancer • ImageBrief • LINGOTEK • Lionbridge Technologies • MediaPiston
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• Mob4Hire • MobileWorks • Mypitch • New Dialogues • oDesk • PricingProphets.com • Projektwerk • Samasource • ScriptLance • Thinkspeed • Topcoder • Trada • Twago AG • Userfeedback GmbH • Utest • Voice123
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Founded in 2009, USA

10EQS provides high-quality, high-speed solutions to critical business issues utilizing a consulting approach that taps into the collective expertise of the world.

Sugath Warnakulasuriya, CEO sw@10EQS.com www.10EQS.com VALUE PROPOSITION

BUSINESS HISTORY 10EQS was founded by McKinsey & Co. alumni who seek to combine traditional management consulting and problem solving methodologies with the reach of the internet to tap into the expertise of the world on-demand. 10EQS has built a Web 3.0 platform which supports online collaboration, problem structuring, crowd–solving, and end-to-end acquisition-to-fulfillment support for clients and experts. 10EQS now serves a wide range of industries across all regions, and has global sales and delivery presence including in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

         

SUCCESS TO DATE In the last 2 years, 10EQS has served 60+ top global companies in industries ranging from Financial Services, Industrials, Energy, Utilities, High-Tech, Telecomm and Media, in markets including US, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East/Africa. 10EQS has already become a critical business utility for some of the largest and most prominent companies in the world.

Market intelligence and insight Competitive assessment Best practices Benchmarking Engage top experts throughout the world and facilitate their collaboration to develop and deliver targeted, high-quality solutions across a wide range of industries and business functions, quickly and cost-efficiently.

LANGUAGES
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English

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Founded in 2008, United Kingdom

Blur Group is the world's largest Creative Services Exchange, where businesses find Creatives and Creatives can find businesses.

Philip Letts, CEO info@blurgroup.com www.blurgroup.com

BUSINESS HISTORY The business was founded to bring the principles of the open source movement to the world of creative services, offering the potential of disruption to the traditional advertising agency model. The first part of the business was building crowds of Creatives, with individual communities according to their creative and agency expertise - art, designs, marketing, innovation and writing. When these had exceeded 5K, the Exchange was open for customers to brief these Creatives in 2010. Since then, the platform has developed to provide a live online trading platform, where the customer, the creative and the brief team at blur Group collaborate on their active projects and providing data on the state of the Creative Services Industry.

VALUE PROPOSITION The Exchange model ensures optimal value to buyer and provider, a more efficient and transparent process and the highest quality creative.

LANGUAGES
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SUCCESS TO DATE Single largest brief $160K, average brief value increasing monthly, regular $100K briefs.

English with creatives from 130 countries

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Founded in 2010, USA

Capseo applies crowdsourcing to webmarketing.

Anji ISMAIL, CEO Faouzi El YAGOUBI, CTO contact@capseo.com www.capseo.com VALUE PROPOSITION

BUSINESS HISTORY After their internships in Web Agencies, two graduates from a Master Degree in Information System Management, began their reflection on the way to improve the marketing industry. Some issues that it is facing :   Marketing agencies need to outsource some of their work to freelancers but don’t know where to find them.   Enterprises need to hire experts that are natives from the market they are targeting   Freelancers are not able to manage big campaigns by their own and need tools to do so Capseo is the first crowdsourcing platform dedicated to Non-Paid Online Marketing Campaigns such as SEO, Blogs, and Social Media. SUCCESS TO DATE Have secured over 90 clients, built a workforce of over 1400 qualified workers in 20 countries consisting of bloggers, SEOers, Social Media Gurus, copywriters. Capseo is working with market leaders, have achieved significant press and have succeeded in raising seed funding.
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Secured International Volume Quality Scalable performance Automation Workflow algorithm Qualification

LANGUAGES
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English French Spanish Arabic Portuguese German Chinese

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Founded in 2008, Netherlands

We are a creative agency specializing in advertising, crafting and crossbreeding creativity.

Olivier Teepe, Founder olivier@cloudfactory.nl www.cloudfactory.nl

BUSINESS HISTORY Founded in 2011 by Olivier Teepe and Jessica Kersten, Cloudfactory is a dual-purpose agency that pours their heart and soul in to the creation of brands, products, communication and experiences that influence contemporary culture and trends. By injecting thoughtfulness and craftsmanship to the process of product design and brand creation, Cloudfactory helps companies get beyond ideas, turning question marks, into exclamation marks. The Cloudfactory brings together international Creatives from the worlds of copywriting, photography, digital, cookery, music, art direction, technology, planning, film, design and styling. Its strength comes from the collective, allowing originality to be tailor-made for each project. Together, they make an annual Cloudfactory Collection, a collection of products and projects.

LANGUAGES
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English

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Founded in 2011, USA Max Yankelevich, CEO myankelevich@crowdcontrolsof tware.com www.crowdcontrolsoftware.co m VALUE PROPOSITION Gain control over the quality, speed and cost of crowdsourcing. LANGUAGES
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Enterprise quality crowdsourcing. Our clients employ our “crowd handling” technologies to control the quality of output from more than a million global workers on platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk.

BUSINESS HISTORY We started as a research project at MIT Labs to combine artificial intelligence technologies with crowdsourcing. We are now venture-backed company, an Amazon Mechanical Turk Solution Provider, and a trusted partner for Fortune 500 and startup companies alike.

English

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Founded in 2009, Italy and USA Enterprise level crowdsourcing Gioacchino La Vecchia, CEO gio@crowdengineering.com www.crowdengineering.com VALUE PROPOSITION
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Summary This research report provides an in-depth analysis of market, provider and worker trends in the crowdsourcing industry, focusing on enterprise crowdsourcing.

The report is based on the 2011 Crowdsourcing Service Provider survey, conducted via Crowdsourcing.org, and is the first in a series of research reports, aimed at providing reliable and factual information on the crowdsourcing industry.

Thirty two Crowdsourcing Service Providers (CSPs) provided extensive data relating to their operations for calendar years 2009, 2010 and 2011. This data has resulted in this first research report for the Cloud Labor segment of the crowdsourcing industry.

Description CSP respondents represent all key categories of the crowdsourcing marketplace, including expertise-based tasks, ideation tasks, micro-tasks, freelance platforms, and software services.

The following Crowdsourcing Service Providers participated in this industry report: 10 EQS, BlurGroup, Capseo, CloudFactory, CrowdControlSoftware, CrowdEngineering, CrowdFlower, CrowdSource, CrowdTogether, DesignRider, Elance, Freelancer, ImageBrief, LINGOTEK, Lionbridge Technologies, MediaPiston, MobileWorks, Mypitch, NewDialogues, oDesk, PricingProphets.com, Projektwerk, Samasource, ScriptLance, Thinkspeed, Trada, Topcoder, Twago AG, uTest, Userfeedback GmbH, and Voice123.

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Enterprise Crowdsourcing Research Report by massolution: Market, Provider and Worker Trends

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