Elance is a global Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 platform for online employment, where businesses hire independent freelance professionals with online collaboration tools to help manage remote teams and projects online. Utilizing the platform, businesses can connect with and hire remote workers with skills such as programming, graphic design and writing. Freelance professionals create online profiles and portfolios, submit proposals for jobs that interest them, and manage both work and receive payment through the site.

Background

Inspired by a 1998 Harvard Business Review article titled "The Dawn of the E-Lance Economy" , Elance originally saw the need for technologies for virtual work and launched the site to manage the way businesses buy and manage services. The company, based in Mountain View, California, was founded in 1999 but sold its enterprise business in 2006 , focusing on an online work platform ever since. As of July 2011, Elance has over half a million active contractors, who have earned more than $400 million on the platform.

Website

Elance allows businesses to post a project and assess providers bidding on the project by reviewing qualifications, ratings, portfolios and skill test scores. Once a provider is selected, the employer can then manage people and projects. Registered users can submit up to 10 proposals each month for free, with the option of submitting more proposals with paid membership plans. When a user quotes either an hourly rate or a fixed price to a client, Elance automatically includes a service fee of 8.75%, and after Elance bills the client and receives payment for the work performed, the fee is deducted and the rest is transferred to the worker's account. The company guarantees payment processes for both hour and fixed-price work.

The company allows freelancers to search the site for potential jobs, research the companies and make bids, and then work via a cloud computing

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....

platform, where payment for services performed is guaranteed if they do the work through the Elance system.

Skills

The largest categories of work on Elance are Information Technology, Creative and Marketing which includes jobs for programmers, developers, writers and administrative talent, among others. Elance publishes their Online Employment Report, a quarterly update that includes an updated list of their overall top 100 skills in demand.