Gone are the days when one used to travel miles to interview for a job. With online marketplaces, one can hire candidates for the required job not just from the same city and country, but also from any country across the globe. Online marketplaces have traditionally been places for small and medium buyers to obtain services from small and medium entrepreneurs. But Gary Swart, CEO, oDesk feels differently and expresses, “We are getting noticed by bigger players like Motorola and Sandesk. Motorola needed Asynchronous JAVA Script and XML (AJAX) programmers in Chicago, who they found through our website. After interviewing some, they hired some service providers as well”.
oDesk is looking forward to move in the direction of attracting large corporates as its clients. “We will create a different marketing strategy for large enterprises to notice us,” says Swart. He believes that as long as they have the tools to perform this task, they would bring the global workforce in marketplace. In the long term, Swart does not see that the distinction between SME and large enterprises would exist.
Ian Ippolito, CEO, Rent-A-Coder, a popular online marketplace for software development talent, agrees with Swart. “After targeting companies with one to five employees, we now serve companies with 50 employees. And today, we have large clients like Microsoft, Ebay and Exxon too. It is natural to move up the chain.”
Ian and Gary are further joined by Fabio Rosati, CEO, Elance.com. “For the next two or three years, most of the revenue for us will be coming mainly from SMEs. Larger corporates are more concerned about security issues. Once they are dealt in a better way, we will be able to cater to their needs better,” he says. Nearly 20% of Elance’s clients are now individuals.
Another change Swart is seeing in the online marketplace area is that buyers are increasingly looking at the time-based work model than agreeing to work for the fixed-price model, despite the overall cost of the former being higher. The time-based model allows buyers to pay the service providers for the number of hours they have worked. “Buyers opt for this as it offers greater flexibility and they have to pay only for the real time that providers work. Through this, both sides are building better and long-term relations,” says Swart. Eighty percent users of oDesk opt for the time-based work model.
A common thread across various companies is the shifting trend of suppliers coming from Eastern Europe. “We see service providers from Romania and Ukraine increasing at a rapid rate. And Pakistan is not far behind,” says Ippolito. Following closely after North America, Eastern Europe forms a large percentage of service providers on Elance too.
Hemang Dani, a Web programmer and LAMP developer from Mumbai, India says, “I am registered at GetAFreelancer.com, but I haven’t used it since I joined oDesk. Hundred percent of my business comes from outside India, 60% of which is from the U.S.,” says Dani. Aaron Smith, who has a two-person business in Texas, U.S., also is of a similar opinion. He had used Rent-A-Coder before he joined oDesk, but prefers the latter.
Dani’s income has increased multifold as his monthly figure has reached more than $5,000 a month from a mere $13. He likes the help support channel, serious outsourcing, hourly model and fixed payment dates at oDesk. Smith appreciates that he can hire competitive talent at rates that he can afford. “I found service providers at oDesk who were willing to polish a project because of financial incentives. That is why the hourly model works better, both for the buyer and provider,” summarizes Smith.
