Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is the new hot topic. Just when you thought you might be getting a grip on cloud computing (blog from 5 June), another new term and business model comes along, brought to my attention by Angeline Vuong from CrowdSPRING. As I understand it, you post your creative ‘requirement', which may be a new website for example, a logo, a brochure or something similar, along with an indication of how much you'd like to pay, and then wait for the responses. You can then choose the one that best fits your needs. Although CrowdSPRING is based in the US, the marketplace is global so there are plenty of UK participants.

Crowdsourcing is not just limited to marketing materials - in this new era of digital marketing the concept is spreading to embrace software development as well. Same principle - you have a need and someone out there can help you meet that need, it's just a case of finding them. You can learn more from this book ‘Crowdsourcing: How the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business', available from Amazon.

On the subject of books, on special offer this month in the Small Business Centre books section, is  ‘Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Step by Step', available to SBC visitors at a 50% discount at £8.99.

Small Business blogs: True Business; moof.mobi