Businesses searching for the best talent or the ability scale their operations need no longer be constrained by location, talent availability, or even the traditional 9 to 5 workday—if the work can be done on a computer, you can quickly build a team and get the work done through an online workplace. This white paper clarifies everything you need to know about the rise of online work, from its benefits to best practices and how to effectively incorporate it into your business. The online work revolution white paper covers: - An overview of the online work movement - How businesses benefit from online work - How to implement online work - A snapshot of how businesses can best reap the rewards of online work - Types of work best suited to online work

1. The Online Work Revolution
And how businesses are reaping the rewards

2. Executive Summary
Online Work
Outsourcing/
Offshoring
Telecommuting
1985
1995
2005
2015
The Rise of Online Work
The ability to easily hire and manage an Internet-based workforce has become an enterprise game
.
2
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3. Table of Contents
PART ONE
What is online work?
The evolution of the online workplace, reasons for its rapid adoption, and
why its rise represents a revolution in the future of work.
PART TWO
How businesses benefit from online work
extend capabilities, and increase productivity while reducing costs.
PART THREE
How to implement online work
Best practices for transitioning to online work, including how to evaluate and
implement the management model that works for your business.
PART FOUR
The takeaway
A snapshot of how the enterprise sector has, and continues to, reap the
APPENDIX
Types of work best suited to online work
A catalog of the types of work being done online, from writing and design
to data services and software development.
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3

4. Part One: What is Online Work?
talent anywhere in the world.
Fixed-broadband sub-basket as % of GNI p.c
Fixed-Broadband prices drop by 82% between 2008 and 2012
120
115.1
WORLD
164.6
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
100
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
85.1
80
59.4
60
59.7
40
40.3
41.8
30.1
28.5
20
2.5
2.0
1.7
2008
2009
2010
0
1.7
2011
21.5
1.7
2012
SOURCE: ITU World Telecommunications /CT Indicators database
NOTE: Simple averages + preliminary results.
Then and Now
First there were telecommuting and temp agencies. Then came outsourcing and the growth of an online services
sector. Now, widespread, global internet access has powered the next major development in the future of work—
the rise of the online workplace.
is a key factor in the growing viability of online work. Widespread access to a more robust Internet has fueled the
expansion of both the amount and types of work being completed online.
4
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5. But widespread access to a reliable and fast Internet
connection is by no means the only driver of online
work growth. A variety of factors have led to the
rapid evolution and adoption of the virtual workplace:
market. Online work is a lifeline for nascent startups,
providing them with a chance to compete using a
Even larger businesses are feeling the pinch of skills
1. A more highly educated
global population
scarcity. In fact, 66% of multinational companies
say “talent shortages are likely to affect their bottom
line in the next 5 years.” 2 By tapping into an online
A company is still only as good as the quality of its
workers—which is why the emergence of a more
educated and highly skilled global workforce has
been a vital component of the rise of online work.
According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics data,
degree graduates per year worldwide increased
25% between 2006 and 2009.
Genesis Research Associates—95% of businesses
that have hired online agreed that, in the future,
getting hired will be “more dependent on having the
right skills than on location.”1
2. An explosion of online
collaboration tools
4. A shi towards specialized skills
Relatively homogenized skill sets based around
the industrial age manufacturing model have given
way to the information age’s demand for highly
specialized skills.
This shift is clearly illustrated by a recent U.S.
Census Bureau study which found that routine
occupations (those characterized by following
declined by 20% since 1975, while nonroutine
same period of time.
has made virtual collaboration easier than ever.
These tools include Skype, Dropbox, Google Drive,
and Github, to name just a few.
The Rise of Nonroutine Occupations
3. A startup economy and
the rise of the talent wars
Startups have created 40 million American jobs
in the last three decades. This explosion in
top talent, often leaving innovators scrambling
SPECIALIZED ROLES ARE ON THE RISE
60%
55%
Nonroutine Occupations
Routine Occupations
50%
45%
40%
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
to hire the skills they need to get their product to
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5

6. specialists to meet even the most obscure need. oDesk’s job post data for a single month, for
oDesk Job Openings by Skill Required
oDesk Job Openings by Skill Required
SOURCE: oDesk database. All data represents skills listed in jobs posted during the month of May 2013,
Size and color of each skill dot indicates the number of job openings that skill was listed in.
6
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7. Work Being Done Today
work verticals:
SOFTWARE DEVELOPEMENT
DATA SERVICES
To rapidly prototype, address project
backlogs, add to teams’ existing skills, etc.
To research, collect, structure,
and organize information
CONTENT WRITING
CONTENT MODERATION
To create SEO copy, blog articles,
product descriptions, FAQs, etc.
To moderate content and
online conversations
LOCALIZATION & TRANSLATION
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
translate content
To provide customers with
24/7 service
their capabilities, see the Appendix on page 13.
Looking Ahead
The rising tide of the online work movement continues to swell, bolstered by the rapid adoption of both businesses
and freelancers.
workers.3 And the numbers support this prediction, with the online work market on track to reach $2 billion by 2014
after growing 67% in 2012.4 On oDesk alone, more than $1 billion worth of work has been accomplished since its
inception in 2005.
It has also been estimated that the world’s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion by 2014—representing
37.2% of the total workforce—and the Millennial generation is leading the charge. Millennials are quick to embrace
independent, and 62% saying they’ll quit within 2 years.5
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7

8. Part Two: How Businesses Benefit From Online Work
Advantages of the
Online Hiring Model
Traditional Hiring Model
Limitless
Limited
High
Low
Online Workplace
Access to Talent
Scalability
Productivity
Flexibility
Cost
Cost
High
Access unlimited talent
In an online workplace, talent knows no boundaries.
Businesses are no longer tied to a locally based
workforce, but have access to the best people for
the job...regardless of nationality or location.
PHP programmer in Russia or the SEO expert in
Norway, for example—can now be found, hired,
and managed by companies located a world away.
Real-World Implementation:
A successful tech startup in Silicon Valley staffs onethird of its team across all areas of the business—from
customer support and marketing to development and
QA—with the best remote talent available abroad
and in the US, leading to a lean and thriving business
model fueled by a blended workforce.
Scale quickly and responsively
Because online work facilitates ongoing work
companies are able to ramp up and down quickly to
8
Real-World Implementation:
A major travel site engaged an on-demand team of
subject matter experts, maintaining quality while
scaling SEO content development up and down as
demand and seasonality dictated.
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9. Boost productivity
into a 24/7 operation. When thoughtfully managed,
working across time zones allows managers to assign
work at night and wake up to a completed project.
Real-World Implementation:
AOL’s CTO doubled the development team’s
productive work hours by enabling their engineers
to hire freelancers so that work could continue after
they left the office.
Reduce overhead and costs
There are very few facilities expenditures in an online
workplace. No rent, no utilities, no operational costs
outside of an Internet connection and, most likely, a
proper coffee maker. Costs further decline when you
consider access to regionally appropriate wages
across the United States and elsewhere.
Real-World Implementation:
A leading search engine company overcame space
limitations and rising wages in their metropolitan
offshore location by hiring competitively priced
online talent, allowing them to grow without the
restrictions of local infrastructure.
Focus on core competencies
focus on the highly impactful work they were hired for
Real-world Implementation:
One of the world’s best-known personal computer
brands worked with on-demand talent to turn its
slides into beautiful presentations.
Address backlogged projects
Tapping freelance talent to address a backlog of
internal tasks ensures that your core team can focus
freelance team can take care of smaller tasks, like
Copyright © 2014, oDesk Corp. All rights reserved.
Real-World Implementation:
A leading Silicon Valley technology firm has a
distributed bench of software developers to
prototype and test new products so its existing team
can focus on customer-facing projects.
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10. Part Three: How to Implement Online Work
following factors into consideration.
1. Choose the best management structure for your business
Distributed Team 1:1 Management
Managers hire, manage, and work directly with their own freelancer(s).
This structure gives a single manager the ability to improve productivity and focus on core projects by
off the clock.
Centralized Team Management
One manager—either on-site or online—guides an online team.
Managed Services
Hire a company to staff and manage your online team.
In direct contrast to the traditional outsourcing model, which relies on an anonymous workforce with little
workforce, while maintaining visibility into who is doing the work. Typically businesses will be provided with
an experienced engagement manager to hire the team and manage operations.
2. Choose the right work structure for optimal efficiency
10
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11. 3. Set your team up for success
creating a successful online team:
Hire the Right People
Recruiting Services helps them quickly put the right team in place.
Managers more actively involved in the hiring process will want to select applicants by reviewing their online
Start with Short-Term Contracts
will often mix and match their freelancers until they hit on the perfect arrangement of skills and work
Actively Manage Your Online Team
to success, including how and when work needs to be delivered.
Once work is underway, adopt an active management style based on clear and consistent communication.
all members share progress, identify issues, raise concerns, and answer outstanding questions.
Keep Your Team Motivated
Remember that your online workers are skilled professionals seeking to build their careers—give them a
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11

12. Part Four: The Takeaway
•
• Increased access to talent and hard-to-find skills
•
oDesk can help staff up your online workforce, building highly skilled
teams that specialize in a wide array of functions including:
Software development
Localization and translation
Writing and design
Social and content moderation
Customer and technical support
Data services
Explore our online work staffing solutions: odesk.com/info/enterprise
Contact us: enterprise@odesk.com or 855.946.3375
About oDesk Enterprise Solutions
by publications such as The Economist, Forbes, and Inc. magazine as a company that is “transforming the world of
work,” more than 1 million businesses worldwide depend on oDesk and its 4.5+ million freelancers to get the job done.
12
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13. Appendix
Types of Work Best Suited to Online Work
So ware development
Types of work
·
·
·
·
·
Expertise: Eliminate engineering skills gaps
·
·
·
Writing and design
and demand.
Types of work
·
·
·
·
·
Scale: Ramp up or down as business dictates
·
·
Expertise: Source subject matter experts with regional and industry experience
·
Quality control: Optimize cost and quality according to content needs
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13

14. Customer and technical support
Types of work
·
·
·
·
·
Distributed Teams: Deliver support in local languages and time zones
·
·
Time savings: Find and hire for the right skills in a matter of hours
Localization and translation
international markets.
Types of work
·
Translation
·
Website localization
·
Localization development and engineers
·
·
Cost: Geographically appropriate wages
·
Expertise: Hire for both subject matter and localization experts
·
14
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15. Social and content moderation
Types of work
·
Social media content management
·
Message boards and forum moderation
·
Social channel monitoring
·
Video and image moderation
·
·
Scale: Staff up quickly during seasonal volume peaks
·
·
Localization: Deliver content in local languages and time zones
Data services
Types of work
Data Sourcing
Data Augmentation & Validation
Data Management
·
Data collection
·
Data enrichment
·
Cleansing and updating
·
Lead list development
·
Survey creation & management
·
Directory services
·
Data mining
·
·
Document management
·
Data conversion & extraction
·
·
Catalog development
Market research
·
·
Scale: Staff up quickly during seasonal volume peaks
·
Local Expertise: Assemble teams with regional insights
·
Control: Pay by hour, per piece, or per project
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15

16. Sources
for oDesk, Fall 2012
for oDesk, Fall 2012
5. “Millennials and the Future of Work 2013 Survey,” commissioned by Millennial branding
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17. odesk.com
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