Case Studies Upwork needed a faster way to diagnose the performance of their global jobs marketplace

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	Upwork needed a faster way to diagnose the performance of their global jobs marketplace

Upwork needed a faster way to diagnose the performance of their global jobs marketplace

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Applicable Industries	Professional Service Software
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Services	Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	Despite their global reach, the Upwork team runs lean. But with over 5 million companies posting jobs and a community of 12 million freelancers, the team struggled to diagnose changing conditions, quantify the impact to the business, and quickly recommend a clear course of action. The team had a rich set of dashboards that showed when key metrics like revenue and job fill rates changed, but understanding why those KPIs fluctuated required hours or weeks of manual investigation in spreadsheets and BI tools. Read More
About Customer	Upwork is a global online marketplace that connects freelancers with clients. With a mission to increase economic opportunity for freelancers and organizations alike, Upwork serves tens of millions of people worldwide, offering them freedom and flexibility in their work. The platform supports over 5 million companies posting jobs and a community of 12 million freelancers. Upwork's Finance and Strategic Planning team faced challenges in forecasting due to the complexity and diversity of the marketplace, which required a more efficient way to diagnose performance and understand key metrics. Read More
Solution	The Upwork team implemented Sisu, an operational analytics platform powered by machine learning, to diagnose why their critical metrics were changing. Sisu's approach allowed the team to get answers to their toughest business questions quickly and made complex analysis easy and accessible. By continuously monitoring all organizational information, Sisu automatically recommended meaningful facts in seconds and tracked changes to the data over time. This enabled the Upwork team to respond to new inquiries in minutes instead of days and make more data-informed decisions in partnership with the business. Additionally, the team used Sisu to analyze what makes a successful job posting for freelancers and enterprises, sharing these insights with product and client support teams to grow the marketplace. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Professional Service

Software

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

Despite their global reach, the Upwork team runs lean. But with over 5 million companies posting jobs and a community of 12 million freelancers, the team struggled to diagnose changing conditions, quantify the impact to the business, and quickly recommend a clear course of action. The team had a rich set of dashboards that showed when key metrics like revenue and job fill rates changed, but understanding why those KPIs fluctuated required hours or weeks of manual investigation in spreadsheets and BI tools.

About Customer

Upwork is a global online marketplace that connects freelancers with clients. With a mission to increase economic opportunity for freelancers and organizations alike, Upwork serves tens of millions of people worldwide, offering them freedom and flexibility in their work. The platform supports over 5 million companies posting jobs and a community of 12 million freelancers. Upwork's Finance and Strategic Planning team faced challenges in forecasting due to the complexity and diversity of the marketplace, which required a more efficient way to diagnose performance and understand key metrics.

Solution

The Upwork team implemented Sisu, an operational analytics platform powered by machine learning, to diagnose why their critical metrics were changing. Sisu's approach allowed the team to get answers to their toughest business questions quickly and made complex analysis easy and accessible. By continuously monitoring all organizational information, Sisu automatically recommended meaningful facts in seconds and tracked changes to the data over time. This enabled the Upwork team to respond to new inquiries in minutes instead of days and make more data-informed decisions in partnership with the business. Additionally, the team used Sisu to analyze what makes a successful job posting for freelancers and enterprises, sharing these insights with product and client support teams to grow the marketplace.

Impact #1	The Upwork team can now respond to new inquiries in minutes instead of days.
Impact #2	They are able to make more data-informed decisions in partnership with the business.
Impact #3	The team has a more accurate forecasting model and a continuous means to measure the success of the marketplace.

Impact #1

The Upwork team can now respond to new inquiries in minutes instead of days.

Impact #2

They are able to make more data-informed decisions in partnership with the business.

Impact #3

The team has a more accurate forecasting model and a continuous means to measure the success of the marketplace.

Benefit #1	Upwork supports over 5 million companies posting jobs.
Benefit #2	The platform has a community of 12 million freelancers.

Benefit #1

Upwork supports over 5 million companies posting jobs.

Benefit #2

The platform has a community of 12 million freelancers.

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Overview

Upwork needed a faster way to diagnose the performance of their global jobs marketplace

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit