Online Reverse Procurement Marketplaces and Auctions

Technology Roadmap Sections and Deliverables

Roadmap Overview

The technology that we will consider through a technology roadmap is online reverse procurement marketplaces and auctions, which are online marketplaces and auctions where service providers bid on different service requests from people and companies in need of contract work. Examples include Upwork, Mechanical Turk, and other industry specific markets and auctions.

The chosen figure of merit is user base, measured as either active buyers (of products) or service providers (for services). We have chosen to segment by several major e-commerce platforms of both services and products, which generally show the relative scope and growth of each sector. Figure of Merit: User Base [# buyers of products, providers of services] Theoretical Limit: World Population (all transactions for goods/services are online)

The technology that we will consider through a technology roadmap is online reverse procurement marketplaces and auctions, which are online marketplaces and auctions where service providers bid on different service requests from people and companies in need of contract work. Examples include Upwork, Mechanical Turk, and other industry specific markets and auctions.

Design Structure Matrix (DSM) Allocation

Roadmap Model using OPM

Figures of Merit

Scale [%] [$ of services transacted online/$ of total services transacted online & offline]

User Base [# Total Active Users] (can subdivide to separate sides of market: buyers and service providers)

Average Margin [%] [average of market fee / total transaction value] (declining margin shows broad acceptance and use along with industry maturity)

Transaction Speed [Minutes] [measured from payor’s initial interest in seeking contract work to contracting, and does not include fulfillment time (which may or may not be shortened)]