If you thought the online digital services industry is an insignificant part of the global economy, think again. With the rise of the freelance economy, the use of online services for graphic design and system/app development is growing by leaps and bounds.

Well, these two areas form the core focus of this article, but an analysis of the market reveals how the whole online digital services ecosystem is undergoing a tremendous revolution at the moment.

A Booming Global Marketplace

Digital services include a plethora of fields such as graphics design, web and app development, video editing, content writing & translation, and sales & marketing to just name a few. These play a pivotal role in helping businesses flourish and prosper in an ever-changing world.

Studies have shown that the online services market currently stands at about USD 1 billion per year, having increased from a figure of USD 700 million in the year 2009.

Amongst the countries identified with the most number of online service providers are the US, Philippines, Bangladesh, Russia, and the UK while France, US, UK, Israel, and Germany remain amongst the countries generating most online service requests on popular global marketplaces.

Here Are The Quintessential Skills: And They Overlap!

It’s no surprise that technology, design and multimedia find top ranks amidst the online services mot commonly sought. This includes IT and programming services as well as graphic design.

In fact, industry pundits have suggested how web development and graphics are now considered quintessential skills every professional must possess at least some working knowledge about. Needless to say, masters of these arts will always be in demand, no matter what.

It’s also interesting to look at the revenue of graphic design services in general in the US for a quantitative estimate of the functioning of the industry. Once at 7064 million US dollars in 2009, the services are projected to reach a whopping 10401 million US dollars mark in 2020 if experts are to be believed.

Now, consider the global web development trends, which align well with the graphic design portfolio. Consumers today are increasingly demanding responsive web and mobile design paired with a superb User Experience (UX) comprising fast loading image and multimedia-rich websites. Businesses globally are chasing online services in these areas. After all, a recent research shows how nearly 67% of consumers would simply abandon “plain” content given a span of 15 minutes to read something “beautiful” instead.

Interestingly, this also serves to illustrate how online graphic design and developer services, two otherwise very different areas, have quite an overlap in the modern era where the creation of a powerful real-world experience engaging end users through a virtual framework is paramount.

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The Holistic Approach

In the light of the findings, a holistic approach is perhaps the best way for businesses and online services alike to stand apart from the competition.

It’s important to focus on the core skills and get them right really well, but an understanding of the way allied fields work in tandem with your services to help achieve the intended result can offer invaluable insights into improving your own offerings in an industry that values user experience over anything else.

Ease of Discovery & The Need for P2P

One of the main reasons driving online services in these fields is the success of services marketplaces in general, which offer clients the ability to obtain paid work from freelancers and professionals. Online services marketplaces help generate leads easily and quickly, connecting customers with freelancers possessing relevant skills.

Traditional talent discovery portals, though, are increasingly falling short of meeting expectations on both sides of the spectrum as the need for a truly global, peer-to-peer marketplace is felt. One, that is completely decentralized and trustless, bringing power into the hands of the community itself.

The Future

The online graphic design and development services are industries ripe for disruption. Online marketplaces and freelancing portals have, no doubt, revolutionized the space with promising opportunities, but the future is decentralization. If the community has to grow, it has to grow together.

Online marketplaces such as CanYa are leading the change by eliminating middlemen out of the equation so that the interaction between businesses and freelancers is direct. This indeed appears to be a win/win situation for both parties. The platform is set to launch globally in March 2018 and is slated for decentralisation by the end of the year. Their website roadmap schedules the updated app launch for July and the Advanced Matching feature for October- this functionality uses Machine Learning to map job requests with the best freelancers available.

The use of cutting-edge technologies such as the blockchain has the potential to transform the online services ecosystem for the better. This would not only empower service providers to deliver their best, but, even Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and businesses who would also then be in a better position to seek online services to refine their user experiences.

The future is exciting and it lies right ahead!