This article was taken from the April issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Embrace cloud workforces
Mosaic does exactly what it says on the tin: it's a transatlantic management consulting company that specialises in the financial markets industry. Like others, the two-year-old start-up advises banks on defining operating models for trading businesses and helps clients install highly complex trading systems.
Big deal, you say. Sounds like McKinsey or any other corporate management consultancy. Where Mosaic differs is to resource the work through a network of independent consultants -- a cloud approach to human resources.
The four partners and recruiters in Paris and New Jersey, use Skype to video conference, store data and timesheets online and communicate through Yammer. Clients include five of the top ten UK, US and Canadian investment banks. "We don't have to pay our consultants when they aren't working for clients, so our costs are lower," says Luke Gunnell, one of Mosaic's founders. "Employees" are free to work for other people or have secondary or tertiary careers simultaneously. One owns a vineyard, another runs a software company, another operates the last remaining telex company in the UK. It makes Mosaic not only an employer, but the hub of an entrepreneurial community.
More companies in our Work Smarter package:
Howies
Devi Shetty
UBS
HubSpot
Best Buy
Red Gate
Vestergaard Frandsen
Inditex
McLaren
Behance
LiveOps
Atlassian
D'O
Victors & Spoils
Happy Computers
Cancer Research UK
Generation Press
The Public School
37signals
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
