Using the internet to sell goods and services between businesses has long been one of the goals of e-business. And today, finally, it’s fair to say that the b2b (business to business) sales channel is well established.
Barely a month goes by now without the announcement of yet another business networking site putting in a debut appearance. Two of the latest developments in this arena are the launch of workology.com and the extension of PeoplePerHour.com.
Workology pitches itself as “a community of professionals, organisations and businesses who create work opportunities for each other - flexible, contract, project-partners, voluntary...”
Currently, membership is free and another way to promote you or your company to a wider online audience. As part of the workology community, members are able to build their own professional-looking mini sites to promote their business services.
Building a web presence within workology is a five-step process that shouldn’t tax even the most technophobic. Membership also obtains unlimited storage space for work samples, a personalised URL, and free optimisation on Google and other search engines. In addition, it is also possible to post work opportunities to the workology community for free and find the flexible professional talent you need.
PeoplePerHour.com, meanwhile, takes a slightly different tack and bills its new networking capability as a means to “facilitate small business outsourcing to 'virtual teams'.” The idea is that the website acts as a marketplace for disparate freelancers to collaborate on business projects.
Freelancers across the world can now join forces to complement each other's skill sets and deliver more complex and involved projects than might otherwise have been the case. PeoplePerHour.com has amassed more than six thousand registered service providers within the past twelve months - a figure that is increasing at a rate of thirty percent per month. The site's new networking function means the concept is now extended to teams, not just individuals.
The benefits to service buyers - generally small business owners - are manifold. Most significantly, the new function enables service buyers to outsource large-scale projects to teams instead of a series of small tasks to individuals. This is more efficient, more reliable and more cost-effective. Service providers benefit from increased opportunities to market and sell their services.
