| Crowdsourcing can be defined is the act of taking a task traditionally performed within your organization and outsourcing it to an undefined, often large, group of people or community in the form of an open call for participation. (Wikipedia) It’s a distributed problem solving model that allows an organization to delegate various tasks for which it does not have the manpower or expertise to external entities or affiliations of networked persons with the expertise, access, or raw capabilities that the organization requires to complete the task.
In addition to being an option for solving problems and completing tasks your organization does not have the manpower for, it can be a great mechanism for knowledge transfer as it can connect people who have ideas and knowledge about certain ways to solve a problem with those people who need a problem solved but don’t have the right knowledge or ideas. It allows an organization to take advantage of a team that is larger than the number of people that can be supported on the organization’s payroll and it can save an organization a lot of money if external experts can get it done more efficiently and cost effectively. For more information crowdsourcing, check out the following posts: |
Sourcing Innovation
Next Generation Supply Management Defined
