'Huge opportunity for SMEs to get their job done online'

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Saurabh Gupta | 15 Mar, 2011
There lies a huge opportunity for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to explore the potential of online outsourcing marketplaces and get their job done in a cost effective and affordable manner by hiring the best talent for the job, says Xenios Thrasyvoulou, Founder and CEO, PeoplePerHour.com, in an e-mail interview to SME Times.

Excerpts of the interview...

Please brief our readers more about PeoplePerHour.com (PPH)?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: PeoplePerHour.com is an online marketplace connecting small businesses and freelancers all over the world in a trusted environment where they buy and sell services to each other.

Businesses use our site to remain flexible and efficient, scaling their business up or down as and when they need to without the overhead and cost of traditional employment.

Service providers (âFreelancersâ) on PeoplePerhour.com come in many varieties and skills, from self-employed professionals, incorporated businesses or simply people who work around their Job to supplement their income and explore other talents they are passionate about.

How do you see the on-line outsourcing marketplace in India?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: In the last year our usage in India has grown 7 times. We are serving a huge market where essentially every small or medium size business is a potential customer. We believe that with time all SMEs will work in smarter more flexible ways by making use of freelance talent that they can hire in a trusted environment like PeoplePerhour.com. Our site is all about making that basic proposition more accessible, more trusted and more reliable.

Till date PeoplePerHour.com has more than 100,000 registered service providers from across the globe and Indiaâs share is 14 % of the global pie and is growing at a rate of 20%. Also there are more than 36,000 registered businesses from across the globe and Indiaâs share is currently at 7.4 % which is also growing at a fast pace. The quantum of work that is being transacted currently at PeoplePerHour.com is over USD 5m per month and India is currently at 20% of the global pie. The average hourly rate for freelancers globally is USD 26 approximately and for India the average hourly rate is currently at USD 16. Earnings primarily depend on the nature and quantum of work being outsourced which is being calculated on an hourly rate basis.

Hence the above figures itself suggest that online outsourcing is picking up fast in India.

How many Indian SMEs are registered with you? And what is the growth rate of registration?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: Since the launch of PeoplePerHour.com in 2007 in the UK followed by US and India, there are more than 36,000 registered businesses at PeoplePerHour.com from across the globe till date and Indiaâs share is currently at 7.4% which is growing at a fast pace.

How will your services benefit Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: There lies a huge opportunity for the SMEs to explore the potential of online outsourcing marketplaces and get their job done in a cost effective and affordable manner by hiring the best talent for the job. SMEs by posting their jobs will be able to get bids from service providers across the globe and thus will be able to pick and choose based on requirement, budget, scope of work, etc. They can also benefit from the different time zones as service providers are spread across the globe and thus will be able to get their job done with a faster turnaround time. Once the job is done and payment facilitated, SMEs have option to leave âfeedbackâ on the quality and efficacy of the service providers which will help other business to review before allotting task to the service providers.

How you see the SME sector in India in terms of challenges and prospects?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: The biggest challenge is to achieve a mindset shift in local businesses, to realize that they can work in smarter and more cost-effective ways than they are traditionally accustomed to. Equally outsourcing is normally associated to a cost saving solution whilst what is key for high growth businesses is to find top talent and hire them affordably especially if they want to compete in a global arena. Sites like PeoplePerHour.com enable just that.

The key trend we are witnessing is that outsourcing is shifting from a pure cost-saving solution to one of hiring the best talent at the best possible cost. The internet is opening up a huge and competitive landscape for even SMEs and competing in that scenario requires a better execution methodology across all business functions. It is all about raising the bar for business and at the same time opening a huge opportunity. To capitalize on that, businesses need to hire experts in their respective fields affordably, and thatâs what PeoplePerHour.com is all about. This is especially true in case of high growth and emerging economies that are developing an SME sector.

Liquidity of availability of funds is a big challenge before the Indian SMEs. How cost-efficient are your products?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: PeoplePerHour.com is an online marketplace connecting small businesses and freelancers all over the world in a trusted environment where they buy and sell services to each other.

The quantum of work that is being currently transacted at PeoplePerHour.com is over USD 5 m per month and India is currently at 20% of the global pie. The average hourly rate for freelancers globally is USD 26 approximately and for India the average hourly rate is currently at USD 16. Earnings primarily depend on the nature and quantum of work being outsourced which is being calculated on an hourly rate basis.

SMEs can benefit by having their work done by service providers according to global standards as it is also time saving and cost effective.

How can you check online frauds to maintain your services qualitative?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: At PeoplePerHour.com when the work is completed or the next agreed milestone is met, the Freelancer will invoice the client through the site. For Hourly Jobs, the Freelancer will invoice the client weekly stating the hours worked. Clients can then review the work and release the funds held in Escrow, or raise a dispute. Disputes are dealt with in accordance with our dispute resolution policy.

PeoplePerHour.com protects both parties by enabling them to commission work without money exchanging hands, yet keeping the Freelancer assured that clients have funded their account. We charge the Freelancers a small service fee on success that ranges between 4.5% - 10%. Payment outside the site in an effort to circumvent our fees is strictly against our terms of business unless the client chooses to opt-out for a one-off Â£ 500 fee by quoting the job reference number.

Last but not the least, when we are talking about SMEs, what is the USP of PPH?
Xenios Thrasyvoulou: PeoplePerHour.com successfully amalgamates the concepts of online professional reputation and an outsourcing marketplace. Key features include âposting of jobsâ followed by âreview of bids by freelancersâ, âallotment of workâ, âmake payments for the jobâ and the ability to leave âfeedbackâ on each service provider, which helps other businesses evaluate each freelance professional.

PeoplePerHour.com is about finding quality talented people who work freelance, as opposed to the cheapest solution. Hence we are seeing a reversal of trends in that companies in India are using PeoplePerHour.com to outsource work to in the west. It is a cost-effective way of bringing in expertise for those booming companies in India that want to learn from best practice in the West.