{"id":14756,"date":"2013-06-21T02:09:21","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T09:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.web-strategist.com\/blog\/?p=14756"},"modified":"2013-08-12T16:00:22","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T23:00:22","slug":"provide-a-platform-for-the-crowd-to-become-your-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/21\/provide-a-platform-for-the-crowd-to-become-your-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Provide a Platform for the Crowd to Become Your Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a>
\nAbove Image: Screenshot taken from keynote presentation on the Collaborative Economy.<\/em><\/center>I’m about to tell you that in the most advanced form of the Collaborative Economy, the crowd becomes<\/em>\u00a0the company.<\/p>\n

To set the context, this post is the most advanced form of the Collaborative Economy, and is only part of my ongoing coverage of this next phase of social business. \u00a0Read the definitive research report<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0peruse all the posts on the Collaborative Economy topic<\/a>.\u00a0Let me restate the definition of this movement:<\/p>\n

[The Collaborative Economy is an economic model where ownership and access are shared between people, startups, and corporations.]<\/h2>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Disruption: The Crowd Is Already Replicating Company Functions
\n<\/strong>The Collaborative Economy is where people get what they want from each other, bypassing corporations.\u00a0 They fund, ideate, design, develop, produce, distribute, market, sell and support products on their own. \u00a0As proof points, here’s a\u00a0list of over 200 startups<\/a>\u00a0across various sectors, industries, and geographies.<\/p>\n

Corporations Have Two Options:\u00a0 Fight or Adapt Movement
\n<\/strong>As with social media, disrupted companies have realized they must use the same technologies to regain power.\u00a0 Similarly, corporations have one of two options: 1)\u00a0Fight this revolution by trying to ignore it or by trying to introduce or influence regulation. 2)\u00a0Collaborate with this new economy, invite the crowd in and unlock new business value for all.<\/p>\n

For the corporations that want to explore the second option, read on.<\/p>\n

Adapt: \u00a0Advanced Collaborative Economy The Company Provides a Platform
\n<\/strong>In our research on the Collaborative Economy, the most advanced use case is when corporations allow their customers to participate in core business functions.\u00a0 We call this Provide a Platform (software, services, solutions), whereby companies make available a dedicated area for customers to join in.<\/p>\n

The Rollout: \u00a0How Corporations will Deploy This Concept
\n<\/strong>In my analysis of this industry, I am seeing business functions from every sector being taken on by the crowd.\u00a0\u00a0 They will do one of two things: \u00a01)\u00a0Partner with the startups that offering this, or, 2)\u00a0Host the available enterprise software on their website.<\/p>\n

The below breakdown shows how it’s already emerging
\n


\nCollaborating with the Crowd in Many Business Functions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Business Function:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nElement of a company that can collaborate with crowd<\/em><\/td>\n		Startups:<\/strong>
\nDisruptors and potential partners to corporations<\/em><\/td>\n		Enterprise Software:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nSW providers that enable corporations to self-host the experience<\/em><\/td>\n		Brand Examples:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nWho’s doing it now<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Employment<\/td>\noDesk<\/a>,\u00a0Taskrabbit for business<\/a>, Crowdflower<\/a><\/td>\nManpower<\/a>,\u00a0Kelly Services<\/a>,\u00a0Robert Half<\/a><\/td>\nMany companies are already tapping into on-demand work<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Ideation and Co-Design<\/td>\nQuirkly<\/a><\/td>\nUservoice<\/a>,\u00a0Spigit<\/a>, Crowdtap<\/a>, BrightIdea<\/a>Nn the design side,\u00a0CrowdSpring<\/a> and\u00a099 Designs<\/a>; potentially\u00a0Adobe Creative Cloud<\/a><\/td>\nStarbucks Ideas,\u00a0NikeID<\/a> product designer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Funding<\/td>\nKickstarter<\/a><\/td>\nSelfStarter<\/a>\u00a0by Lockitron,\u00a0Ignition Deck<\/a>\u00a0(Tx Tanya<\/a>)<\/td>\nDodge Dart Registry<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Development and Production<\/td>\nEtsy<\/a>,\u00a03D Printers Industry<\/a><\/td>\nUnknown<\/td>\nUnknown<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Delivery<\/td>\nDeliv<\/a>,\u00a0Postmates<\/a><\/td>\nGoogle Shopping Express<\/a><\/td>\nWa-Mart considered crowd delivery, but no movement sensed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Storage<\/td>\nLockitron<\/a><\/td>\nLockitron<\/a><\/td>\nRelayRide partnered with OnStar<\/a> for instant inventory<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Marketing<\/td>\nCustomers organically share in social channels<\/td>\nExtole<\/a>, BuddyMedia<\/a>\u00a0by Salesforce, Wildfire<\/a><\/td>\nSocial marketing examples exist in great supply<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Sales<\/td>\nIn a limited way:\u00a0 LivingSocial<\/a>, Groupon<\/a><\/td>\nAffiliate programs<\/td>\nReseller programs with verified partners already exist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Support<\/td>\nCustomers do this informally now, often in social networks.<\/td>\nGet Satisfaction<\/a> has been active on this topic;\u00a0Lithium<\/a>,\u00a0Jive<\/a><\/td>\nSocial support examples exist in great supply<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Resell Marketplace<\/td>\nEbay<\/a>,\u00a0Craigslist<\/a>, and many vertical specific, like Gazelle<\/a> (electronics)<\/td>\nWhile unproven, the following have potential:\u00a0\u00a0Oracle CX<\/a>,\u00a0Salesforce<\/a>, IBM Social Business<\/a>,\u00a0Adobe Experience<\/span> and social commerce platform, Bazaarvoice<\/a><\/td>\nPatagonia partnered with eBay on Common Threads<\/a>; Scottevest points to eBay market<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Facilities and Office Space<\/td>\nCompanies can rent office space to each other: \u00a0Liquidspace, Sharedesk, Pivotdesk<\/td>\nWhile many examples are startups, these platforms are open to enterprise corporations too.<\/a><\/td>\nSome corporations offer innovation labs, opening their doors to the market.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co-Support<\/td>\nCustomers do this informally now, often in social networks<\/td>\nGet Satisfaction<\/a> has been active on this topic;\u00a0Lithium<\/a>,\u00a0Jive<\/a><\/td>\nSocial support examples exist in great supply<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The process repeats<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n <\/p>\n

Note: There are other business functions, such as sharing revenue and IP that could also be extended to the crowd; this is only a small sample of what’s possible.<\/p>\n

Challenges Await for all Parties
\n<\/strong>Rife with opposition, the road ahead will require a business transformation and, with it, a series of more challenges await.\u00a0 Challenges over liability, IP ownership, revenue sharing, information security, and concerns over quality lay ahead.\u00a0 Don’t assume that all startups will want to work with corporations. \u00a0I interviewed Airbnb for this research, and asked them point blank if they would partner with hotels. \u00a0They made it clear that’s not a part of their current roadmap.<\/p>\n

Expect New Enterprise Software to Emerge
\n<\/strong>Expect that many social business suite players will get wind of this space and seek to build or acquire players in this space to assemble a suite. \u00a0I’ve briefed a number of the small and large software companies associated with this booming movement and informed them of the opportunities at hand. Expect for now that point players will continue to emerge and, eventually, provide an opportunity for acquisition cycle. \u00a0But for now, we’re just at market identification stage.<\/p>\n

Conclusion: \u00a0Soon Customers and Employees Will be the Same
\n<\/strong>Corporations that adopt these methods and invite the crowd to be part of the company will benefit from a more efficient workforce, reduced costs, and tapping into loyal customers from product ideation to delivery.\u00a0 In this new model, it will be difficult to tell the difference between customers and employees, as the ownership of core business functions are shared with customers.<\/p>\n

In the very near future, the crowd will become the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above Image: Screenshot taken from keynote presentation on the Collaborative Economy.I’m about to tell you that in the most advanced form of the Collaborative Economy, the crowd becomes the company. To set the context, this post is the most advanced form of the Collaborative Economy, and … Continue readingProvide a Platform for the Crowd to Become Your Company<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collaborative-economy","category-matrix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}