Demand for third-party workers grows

Startups & Venture Capital

IT on-demand

OnForce connects outsourced technical workers with cos.

 

Boston Business Journal by Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal

Friday, September 7, 2012 

The common refrain among businesses — big and small alike — is that good workers are hard to find. But what if, instead of going through the traditional process of posting ads, performing interviews, and rifling through resumes, you could find precisely the person you needed with just a few mouse clicks?
When it comes to outsourced technical workers, this is the goal of Lexington-based OnForce Inc.: To simply, yet effectively, connect companies with independent IT professionals through a cloud-based technology platform.
“We’ve set the tone of the next generation of the way services are going to be delivered,” said Peter Cannone, CEO of OnForce, which was founded in 2003 and moved to Lexington from New York in 2007.
The vetting and directory company uses patented technology to analyze what it says are millions of data points to help businesses pinpoint the right IT worker (or workers). Jobs can include services such as installations, training and data recovery.
The platform covers 99.4 percent of all Zip Codes in the U.S., and lists well over 100,000 specialists in a variety of IT categories — several thousand of which are active at any point, according to Cannone.
Contractors who want to be listed have to apply, and only about 20 percent are accepted. Once they are, OnForce tracks 28 key metrics to best match them with a company’s needs. “We’ve created this pool of independent contractors on-demand,” Cannone said.
OnForce says it’s enabled 1.5 million service engagements, and now has a pool of 5,000 registered businesses. Customers include AT&T, Xerox and Comcast.
But perhaps most notable is its partnership with Apple, now the world’s most valuable company: OnForce dispatches technicians to help small businesses with setups, configurations and other IT and technical issues related to Apple products.
OnForce has raised at least $21.75 million in equity investment from backers including Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners, and in November received $5 million in venture debt led by North Atlantic Capital.
Cannone declined to disclose specific revenue numbers, but said the company is close to profitability.
Ultimately, companies outsource to save money and to scale their business, according to Sumair Dutta, research director of service management with Boston-based Aberdeen Group.
In a recent Aberdeen poll, 64 percent of businesses in a broad range of industries said they outsourced their field-service work. Of that 64 percent, half said they planned to increase their reliance on outsourcing in coming years, Dutta reported.
“It’s a vibrant market opportunity,” he said, noting other players such as New York-based Work Market Inc., FieldSolutions of Minnesota, and ServicePower, with offices in Maryland and California. “It’s a strong space, with a good level of growth tied to it.”
Part of that demand results from the economy: Although many companies have been hesitant to invest in workers, the need for them remains high, he said, so a compromise can be found in outsourcing.
Going forward, OnForce hopes to grow globally and to eventually expand into more markets. “I like to think we’re really changing the world of services,” Cannone said.

Original story link here.