Elance
 |
|
| Type of business | Private company |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California, United States |
| Key people | Stephane Kasriel CEO |
| Industry | Internet online employment platform Freelance marketplace |
| Website | elance |
| Alexa rank |
 17,762 (October 2016[update]) |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required |
| Current status | Merged with Upwork |
Elance was an online staffing platform based in Mountain View, California, United States now operated by Upwork.
Elance was first launched in 1999, its name inspired by a 1998 Harvard Business Review article titled "The Dawn of the E-Lance Economy". It was initially developed as a technology for supporting virtual work. Two years later Elance introduced a vendor management system (VMS) for contractors and third-party services used by large enterprises. In 2006 Elance sold its enterprise software division and developed instead its current web-based platform for online, contingent work.
As of February 2013[update], Elance was being used by approximately 500,000 businesses and 2 million registered freelance professionals, who have collectively earned nearly $850 million up to that date.
A merger with oDesk, another online staffing platform, was confirmed in December 2013. The deal was finalized in April 2014 and the two companies will create a resource that consists of 8 million freelancers and 2 million businesses.
Elance-oDesk relaunched as Upwork in May 2015 with Elance remaining as an Upwork company. Although Elance is still a stand-alone site operated by Upwork, it is expected to merge into the Upwork platform in the near future. The two platforms consist of 10 million freelancers and 4 million businesses.
The Elance website allows businesses to post jobs, search for freelance professionals, and solicit proposals. They can evaluate the contractors applying for the job and, once a contractor is selected, communications and files are exchanged through the Elance system. Payment for jobs, which can either be hourly-rate or project-based jobs, is made by the client through Elance's system, which deducts a percentage of the fee, 8.75%, as a "commission." Elance's Work View tool provides an official record of work completed. For project-based jobs statement of work or milestones are used to indicate progress toward completion, and funds are held in escrow by Elance to ensure payment upon completion of the milestone.
Freelancers search Elance's website for jobs and can research clients' buying histories on the system. Each freelancer can post a profile displaying past jobs and feedback, a portfolio, and specific skill and educational-background information. Registered free users are allowed to submit a limited number of proposals each month while those on paid membership plans can submit additional proposals. Elance offers payment guarantee once work is done using the Elance system.
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