which it projects are best for crowdsourcing?

Which IT Projects are Best For Crowdsourcing?

You and your colleagues work together inside the four walls of your company. You have projects that require expertise in several areas.

The problem is that the smartest person in your field invariably works somewhere else.

What does that mean for you?

If you’re in charge of completing a

project, it means that YOU have to find that expert.

You’ll probably have better luckfinding a needle ina haystack.

So.... What CAN you do?

1. Spend precious time and resources trying to locate and hire the experts you need.

2. Outsource your project with the hope they successfully complete it on time.

3. Crowdsource your project.

What is crowdsourcing

exactly?

Well, it's the process of sourcing needed data science, application

development, and design skills (among other

expertise) by soliciting contributions from a

distributed set of experts that can number in the hundreds of thousands.

?Sowhat kind of projects lend themselves to

crowdsourcing.

?Great question.

Projects with one or more of these traits fit the bill:• are well defined.

• can be broken down into smaller parts – granularized or atomized.

• a required skilled set is in short supply.

• there is excessive demand on your company’s limited talent supply.

• you don’t know how to approach a problem.

• enable paradigm shifts in your industry or the way you approach specific challenges.

• need to be finished quickly.

Let’s look at these more

closely.

WELL DEFINED

&

GRANULARIZED

Well Defined & Granularized

A well-defined project is a natural fit for crowdsourcing.

Well Defined & Granularized

Well Defined & Granularized

Well-defined criteria

allow you to granularize your project. This is

very important.

Well Defined & Granularized

Granularization means that the the Community’s top experts

in a specific area will be able to contribute to the parts of the project

where they bring the most value.

Well Defined & Granularized

This allows you to get the best

possible outcome for each aspect of your project,

enabling maximum success for the entire solution.

Well Defined & Granularized

Well Defined & Granularized

Granular projects are likely to finish faster. Only each

individual piece needs to be solved at once. No

single community member takes on the whole.

FASTER &

FASTER

Faster & Faster

No one wants to . . . wait for a project to

be finished.

Faster & Faster

Let’s get on with it. Your boss is

waiting.

Faster & Faster

Crowdsourcing is fast because it allows its problem

solvers (the Community) to work in parallel rather in traditional sequential

innovation.

What does that mean??Faster & Faster

Faster & Faster

It means that with granular pieces each contributing to the whole, the Community can focus on many different problems at once rather than one after the other.

Faster & Faster

Those pieces are then put

back together to get an entire solution to your project quickly.

WHEN PARTICULAR SKILLS ARE IN

SHORT SUPPLY

When a particular skill is in short supply

Imagine you’re looking for a team of expert iOS developers to complete a project

quickly.

When a particular skill is in short supply

Good luck.

When a particular skill is in short supply

When a particular skill is in short supply

Finding, hiring, and onboarding this new team of experts will

take up valuable time that you don’t

have.

When a particular skill is in short supply

When a particular skill is in short supply

The reality is that the best team of iOS developers is spread around the world — one in Palo Alto,

two in Seattle, one in India, and one in Romania.

When a particular skill is in short supplyWhen a particular skill is in short supply

By crowdsourcing, you’re able to use

globally dispersed expert resources at the exact

time or moment needed to keep your project

moving forward.

When a particular skill is in short supply

Talent supply

shortage solved.

WHEN THERE IS EXCESS DEMAND ON YOUR TALENT

SUPPLY

In some instances, your company may have the skills to complete a project, but you’re overextended.

When there is Excessive Demand on Your Talent Supply

Crowdsourcing lets you tap

into additional experts

whenever you want and

however much you want.

When there is Excessive Demand on Your Talent SupplyWhen there is Excessive Demand on Your Talent Supply

Your demand can move

UP or DOWNas you like with no penalties or

additional costs.

This is a perfect example of where

crowdsourcing can complement

your skills and work with your internal teams.

COMMUNITY

When there is Excessive Demand on Your Talent Supply

WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO

SOLVE A PROBLEM OR YOU NEED A

PARADIGM SHIFT

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

You may know that you have

a problem, but figuring out how to solve it is another

story.

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

Simply define your problem and then leverage the

community’s expertise to get innovative solutions to your

problem that never occurred to you.

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

How would you like to change

the fundamentals of genomics

research? Harvard did using

crowdsourcing.

When You Don’t Know How to Approach / Solve a Problem

How would you like to change

the way that the International Space

Station captures energy in space? NASA did using crowdsourcing.

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

When You Don’t Know How to Approach / Solve a Problem

How about replacing TCPIP for space

missions because it doesn’t work well

over great distances in space? NASA is doing that using crowdsourcing.

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

When You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

These projects yield amazing

results to extremely

difficult questions.

Projects That Enable Paradigm ShiftsProjects That Enable Paradigm Shifts

They come up with new and profound ways of looking at a problem and solving it, especially when conventional thinking

has not made significant progress.

When You Don’t Know How to Approach / Solve a ProblemWhen You Don’t Know How to Solve a Problem or Need a Paradigm Shift

Your company may

have such challenges

too.

To review, if your project has these characteristics, crowdsourcing may be the right solution• Granularization• Need for speed• Short supply of talent• Excessive demand on talent• No clear solution to the problem• Paradigm shifts — thinking big

Crowdsourcing may be new to you.

But it’s the way of the

future.

According to Gartner: * By 2016, application service

providers will have replaced 20% of their internal application management staff with crowdsourcing.

* By 2017, 60% of technology product companies will engage their targeted consumer segments through crowdsourcing.

We know that getting started with

crowdsourcing may be

daunting.

Appirio is here to help frame your problems, issue appropriate challenges, and assemble your confidential

solutions.

The best part is you only pay for results and for the best solutions – not for time.

With our crowdsourcing community, built on the world’s most advanced

global innovation platform, we are here to address all your crowdsourcing needs.

Please contact us today to get started!

760 Market Street11th FloorSan Francisco, CA 94102

Tel: (415) 663-4433Tel: (888) 680-SaaS (7227)appirio.com/services/crowdsourcing