Crowdsourcing Software Development: Concept, Benefits and Adoption
Keywords:
Crowdsourcing, Crowdsourcing Software Development, Open Call Tasks, Software Development, Software OutsourcingAbstract
Traditional outsourcing – the contracting out of services and technology to a vendor firm, is pretty much a house-hold name. Overtime, traditional software development outsourcing has been laced with certain problems; ranging from overreliance on a single vendor outsourcing firm and over budgeting, to financial loss incurred due to delay in software project delivery. It is therefore imperative to consider alternative outsourcing means. Crowdsourcing is a form of outsourcing that is emerging and evolving. Crowdsourcing, an emerging online business model, harnesses the creative solutions of a geographically displaced network of individuals through what amounts to an open call for proposals. Crowdsourcing software development entails contracting the development of software to an online community of skilled developers; the aim being to produce reliable, effective, high quality and inexpensive products by harnessing the power of crowd; who are in turn rewarded financially or through social incentives. This paper is aimed at exploring the concept of software development crowdsourcing, outlining its benefits over the traditional means of outsourcing software development, the models and methodologies of Crowdsourcing, as well as laying viable claim as to why it is a better and a reliable option; and thus should be adopted.
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