In a Web 2.0 World, Successful Crowdsourcing Can Make Your Profits Sky Rocket

Crowdsourcing is about harnessing the power of the crowd.

Crowdsourcing is all about taking advantage of the power of the masses to accomplish tasks for your business. Instead of delegating the task to an employee, crowdsourcing is about announcing a task to a crowd and getting them to do it for you.

The idea of crowdsourcing is not new. Oftentimes, we see companies starting contests on who can design the best logo or write the best slogan.  People then submit their ideas and an award of some sort is given.

In this generation of mobile devices and social media, the quantity and quality of crowds that crowdsourcing can reach has dramatically increased. Thus, more ideas can be farmed from more qualified people.

Benefits of Crowdsourcing

• Low-cost labor. This is what many consider as the biggest benefit of crowdsourcing: you can have an abundance of talented people competing to give you the best value for your money.
• Hassle-free. No employees to maintain and no project developments to manage.
• Great tool for marketing. Reaching out to crowds of people can give your brand more exposure.
• Free research and development. Crowdsourcing can save you the trouble of conducting R & D.
• Discover new talents. The more people who participate, the higher the chances of finding new talents.

My Starbucks Idea

"Share. Vote. Discuss. See" -- My Starbucks Idea

An example of a company that implements crowdsourcing quite well is Starbucks. With its website, My Starbucks Idea, the coffee company has a place where its customers around the world can post their ideas on how Starbucks could be improved. The most popular ideas are then evaluated and possibly implemented by Starbucks.

So how does My Starbucks Idea help the company? It reduces the cost of market research to practically nothing.  Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for research, Starbucks has an open line of communication for the desires of its customers.

Oracle Mix

Larry Ellison - billionaire CEO and co-founder of Oracle Corporation

Oracle, the multinational computer technology corporation, also has its own website for crowdsourcing: Oracle Mix. The website is a social network for the Oracle community.

Not only can the members of Oracle Mix suggest ideas, they can also ask questions, join or create groups, share news and resources — and connect with their peers.

Other Companies

Customers nowadays increasingly demand participation. That is why a lot of companies have turned to crowdsourcing to help them create new products and solutions. Among others, Procter & Gamble, Dell, Threadless, Best Buy and Nike all have digital platforms to extract participation from their customers.

And the customers are almost always more than willing to help. When Starbucks launched My Starbucks Idea, it received 17,000 coffee ideas in its first 14 months.