Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 3rd Edition

THE ONLINE REVOLUTION SERVICES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

BY MICHELLE HUSTLER

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veryone can agree – the internet has changed everything, but, because the speed and span of its impact continues to grow, it can be difficult, particularly for small, Caribbean businesses, to keep up with what is happening and respond to the changes. We have witnessed profound disruptions across every sector driven by the internet. Consider the impact Amazon has had on the retail sector, Uber on the transportation sector, or Airbnb on the accommodation sector. Equally, significant changes are happening across the breadth of the services sector. The root of the developing changes to the services sector lies largely in consumer expectations. As consumers are online everywhere and all the time, the 9-to-5, 5-day-a- week work routine has lost its relevance. Instead, consumers expect a near-instant response to their services needs. To satisfy this need, a 24-7 online workforce has evolved, facilitated by countless online marketplaces that connect service buyers and sellers across the world in a trustworthy and convenient manner. These supply-and-demand-driven services marketplaces have supported the emergence of the ‘freelance’ economy.

Online marketplaces are wide-ranging and varied. They include: business-to-business (e.g. Esq.Me), business- to-customer (e.g. Houzz), customer-to-customer (e.g. Skillshare) models. They cover high-value (e.g. Upwork) and low-value (e.g. Task Rabbit) services. They can be generalized (e.g. Freelancer) or niche-focused (e.g. Dr. On Demand) platforms. Ultimately, every services sector is included and therefore impacted, including: medical, legal, accounting, engineering, architecture, marketing, and IT services, to name but a few. As these marketplaces continue to develop and become more sophisticated, they are equally transforming the way in which business outsource services. Some marketplaces now are offering very specialized, high-end services to businesses, such as Clora, which supports life sciences companies or Paro, which provides a range of sophisticated financial services to businesses. Given that all services sectors are being impacted by this ‘online revolution’, service providers must now reconsider traditional business and export models to account for this changing landscape.

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