Anthony Lee (@aplee) from TechCrunch recently wrote an article about the new wave of businesses and services coming into the market, which he calls the Do-It-For-Me Revolution, or “DIFM” for short. DIFM is more than software; DIFM technology combines automation with specialized labor to deliver a complete solution to a business problem. It’s as much about people-powered customer service as it is about code-powered efficiency. DIFM is sweeping the consumer world and will do the same for the business world.

Do-It-For-Me isn't necessarily a new concept. Software-as-a-Service companies have been around for a while, as have companies that provide services for consumers. Yet, what is different is the fact that now these two are merging together.

Anthony’s Key Takeaways:

• Consumers lead the way: Consumers have become drivers of innovation. As new technologies such as social and mobile have become mainstream consumer tools, they’ve inevitably migrated into the enterprise.

• Software: Nearly 2,000 marketing software companies alone are vying for corporate attention, in order to layer their software on top of other services. Many believe that software has become a DIY burden. DIFM makes things simpler.

• Made for small businesses: The DIFM user interface is simple and minimal; complexity is handled by technology and people in the background.

There have been countless B2C services that have useful concepts without the software aspect that is required to make it a user friendly and efficient service, and vice versa. There is no doubt that DIFM/DIWM/Collaborative Economy (whichever way you'd like to phrase it) is where this generation of business is, and has been going. The fact that people are now layering the two services is what is making a big splash. That is what Near Me is all about, creating software platforms for companies to create their online marketplaces.