Crowdsourcing background

Crowdsourcing can help enterprises save a lot of money. Companies growing up with the Internet tide have incorporated the concept of making full use of network resources into their strategic design from the beginning, and more and more traditional businesses have begun to be attracted by the group power of the network. Since 2000, multinational companies from developed countries have set their sights on China and India. The low-cost labor markets in these two countries make them salivate. It doesn't matter where the labor comes from. As long as they have access to the Internet, they can live next door or as far away as Indonesia.

In the past, the cost barrier between amateurs and majors was also broken. The door of the market suddenly opened for enthusiasts, part-time workers and enthusiasts, and smart companies also found a shortcut to find talents in the crowd. This kind of manpower is not completely free, but compared with traditional employees, the cost is obviously not mentioned. Outsourcing cannot achieve this goal, and this trend is the concept of crowdsourcing.

With the progress of science and technology, products from product design software to digital cameras are getting cheaper and cheaper in the network era. Someone once said, for example, if the fuel economy can be improved as fast as the price of hard disk, then a gallon of gasoline is enough for us to make 1 14 trips to the moon. In the crowdsourcing era, such a situation is really possible in the future. After people bear the consequences of high oil prices and serious damage to the natural environment, the issue of fuel efficiency and alternative energy sources may be announced overnight, and this matter is likely to be completed by a fashion designer or a middle school student. Of course, it could be you!

Ed Melcarek, 57, is a physicist, but he often rummages through some chemical bottles and jars in a small room. Moreover, he is not employed by any chemical company, more like a freelancer. His research and development work is entirely out of his own interest and the need to reflect his personal value. On most Saturdays, he will walk into this room, pour a glass of wine, light a cigarette, and then start to solve scientific research problems, which come from many Fortune 100 companies and R&D personnel who have troubled them.

On a website called InnoCentive, more than 90,000 scientific research talents like Mel Carrec are gathered. Their names are Solvers, which holds up half the sky for users of this R&D supply and demand network. Correspondingly, Seeker, whose members include Boeing, DuPont, Procter & Gamble and other world-renowned multinational companies. They throw their biggest R&D problems to the innovation center, waiting for experts hiding behind the network to decipher them.

"Innovation Center" was established in 200 1, which was first funded by Lilly Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Now it has become an important R&D supply and demand network platform in the fields of chemistry and biology. Company members (seekers) only need to pay $654.38+0 million to $654.38+0 million for each solution in addition to paying a certain membership fee to the Innovation Center. The problem solving rate of "Innovation Center" is 30%. Jill Panetta, chief science and technology officer of the Innovation Center, believes that the practice of recruiting wise people on the Internet is "30% more efficient than the traditional practice of hiring R&D personnel".

"Innovation Center" opened a whole new world for Mel Carrec. In the past three years, he has logged on this website several times a week to see the new questions posted on it. Although he never received formal training in biology and chemistry, it did not prevent him from becoming a chemical expert. "In my opinion, those chemical problems can be solved with my familiar knowledge of electronic machinery," Mel Carrec said with considerable confidence. "If I still have no clue after thinking for 30 minutes, I will give up." Breaking through a difficult problem and earning tens of thousands of dollars, for him, "it only takes a few weeks, which is quite good", Mel Carrec smiled gently.

This is also a very good deal for companies that are struggling to find answers, especially when they are faced with increasing R&D expenses. "Every R & I know; Houston, vice president of Procter & Gamble, said: "The executives of Company D are facing similar problems. "Every year, the budget growth of R&D exceeds the growth rate of sales. The' Innovation Center' has broken the current research and development model. "

Before 2000, P&G's R&D cost kept rising, but its sales performance was flat, and its share price fell by more than half. Houston was therefore ordered to innovate the road of R&D company. He gave up the practice of reducing R&D staff (P&G has more than 9,000 R&D departments) and decided to change their working methods.

Houston found that many of the company's successful products were the result of cooperation between different departments, so he thought that if the scope of cross-pollination was expanded, better products would be born. At the same time, P&G has set a goal to increase the proportion of innovation outside the company from the original 15% to 50%. According to Houston, six years later, P&G's R&D capability increased by 60%, and its share price gradually rebounded to a new high. "Our definition of company organization has changed a lot," Houston said. "At present, we have more than 9,000 R&D employees, and the number of R&D personnel in the peripheral network has reached 6.5438+0.5 million. It is difficult to define the boundaries between them. "

Procter & Gamble is one of the earliest and best corporate users of the Innovation Center, but the Innovation Center is not the only R&D talent exchange platform it uses. At the same time, it threw out its own R&D project and sought foreign aid through websites such as YourEncore and NineSigma.

Claudia Menashe, the director of the National Health Museum, tried to find suitable photos to match an exhibition about bird flu. Later, a freelance photographer, Mark Harmel, was willing to provide photos. Considering the non-profit nature of the museum, he offered a preferential price of $65,438 +050 each. Menashe originally planned to buy four photos, but at the last minute she changed her mind because she found the photos she needed on a website called iStockphoto. The key point is that the price of these photos is surprisingly low, and each photo is only 1 USD! Menashe chose 56 photos at once, which is less than one tenth of the price of Mark Harmel's four photos.

The treasure-like iStockphoto discovered by Menashe was originally a free website to share and exchange pictures. At present, the price of each picture is only between 1 and $5 (the maximum price of a picture with very large size and pixels does not exceed $40). The reason why it can provide such cheap photos is entirely due to the contribution of its 22,000 amateur photographers, whose photos are paid only a few tens of cents each time.

Similar photo agencies such as IStockphoto once caused panic among large professional photo agencies. 2065438+In February 2003, Getty Images, which occupies 30% of the global market share, acquired iStockphoto for $50 million. "If someone wants to take your business, you'd better make it a part of your business," concluded Jonathan Klein, CEO of Getty. In 20 13 years, the monthly income growth rate of iStockphoto reached 14%, and it is estimated that the number of pictures purchased in 2006 will reach100000-several times the number of expensive professional pictures sold by Getty. In 20 13, the main customers of iStockphoto include not only many small design companies, but also large companies and institutions such as IBM and United Way.

"Now it seems that this is a hole in the levee," professional photographer Harmel took a long time to understand what iStockphoto was all about. In 2000, he earned $69,000 by providing 65,438+000 professional photos for the photo agency, but in 2065,438+02, his income decreased by $65,438+00,000, and the number of photos provided to maintain this income was 65,438+00. This is more than getting twice the result with half the effort?

Harmel is not the only photographer who feels threatened. In the forum of the photographers' union of photo agencies, the voices of artists complaining are endless. "In my opinion, professional freelance photographers have no future," Harmel said helplessly, and he planned to focus his work on propositional works in the future.