oDesk

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/06/a-look-at-outsourcing-through-odesks-eyes/
Outsourcing made easy? Years ago at AT&T there was a drive to have all internal IT resources act as consultants and bid and bidded for upcoming assignments....failure...but good idea. I think the failure came because there was no incentive to work on the less interesting/attractive assignments....imagine that the same approach is taken, but includes varying pay rates, so the less attractive assignments could have higher rates making them more interesting...pretty sure oDesk didn't have AT&T in mind...and it was a side track I took, so back to oDesk.

I read about it in TechCrunch and then decided to give it a try...from a resource perspective, easy to get involved and all, time will tell if anyone would be interested in me for $20 per hour. They use various methods of validating resources and companies including rating systems, tests, references, etc. and various communication channels (Skype, email of course, Yahoo messenger, etc.).

So, the questions is: If you had the same level of communication established with internal resources, for an overall lower price point, ability to select top candidates based on open ratings...why not use oDesk??? (or something like it). The internet is surly removing barriers between those that want and those that have - fewer and fewer middle tiers that add costs!