Online business services exchange (s-commerce) provider blur Group has described FY13 as its “most successful year to date” following a record-breaking fourth quarter. As can be seen from the metrics provided (see table), everything has been heading in the right direction, with remarkable percentage growth in projects submitted and number of experts on the exchange. Particularly notable was the rising number of projects from India and Australia/NZ. In addition, blur has taken on a number of high-value long-term projects with staged delivery cycles, providing visibility of Exchange use and update through 2014.
Of course, we will have to wait until the full-year results announcement to see what all this has meant for profit (or loss). CEO Phillip Letts has previously commented that he expects to be able to turn the business into 
profit in 2015 and reach high-20s margins by 2020 (see Long way to go for Blur). We don’t question that there is demand for blur’s offering – this release describes its positioning as “operating at the intersection of traditional ERP platforms, community/social platforms and e-commerce marketplaces creating an enterprise-class solution for buying services”. But managing the company’s journey to profitability on the back of such exceptional growth in demand is bound to be challenging (see Blur and the 20% question).