Communications expert Jackie Sloane can count on one hand the number of people she has worked with over the years who became true partners.

They are the ones she can rely on not only to get the job done but also to keep her best interests at heart, she said. Two are virtual professionals who primarily communicate via e-mail and telephone, proving that it's not all about face time, said Sloane, president of Sloane Communications, a Chicago executive coaching and marketing communications firm.

"In life, you can't find that many people where you work extremely well together," she said. "A lot of people aren't sophisticated with how to deal with clients. They may be gifted in their skill but don't know how to communicate."

The issue is becoming more common as companies shift more aspects of their business to outsiders. As technology has made it easier than ever for companies to work with the virtual professional, outsourcing has been on the rise.

The number of jobs posted on Elance, a Web site that matches freelance providers with companies looking for help, climbed 78 percent in 2007, to about 150,000 projects, the company said. Some 36,300 clients bought services in 2007, up about 60 percent from 22,500 the previous year, and the Web site currently boasts about 40,000 service providers, said Fabio Rosati, chief executive of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. Fully 95 percent of buyers were small businesses.

"We call it hiring on demand," Rosati said. "Small businesses don't have a big budget to fill these functions like marketing and IT. They would much prefer hiring the talent they need when they need it."

The service is designed to help clients build a virtual team on demand by posting their job requirements and what they are willing to pay. Service providers bid on the jobs, and Elance provides a rating system to help buyers evaluate providers. Buyers also can browse freelancers' profiles on Elance.

But managing freelancers is often a bigger challenge than finding them, experts said, particularly when they are based abroad, as are 45 percent of the providers using Elance.

Start-up nMove.com was founded in Evanston about eight months ago to match clients with freelance Web developers and IT professionals, including many overseas.

But nMove also helps users manage projects on the site by sharing files, assigning tasks, posting messages and creating a shared calendar, said Geoff Domoracki, founder and chief architect who is working on another IT project in Panchkula, India, while seeking feedback on nMove and scouting for designers and developers. "NMove helps you better define your project," he said.

Foreign freelancers

Getting the job done right can take longer when you work with a freelancer based in a foreign country, said Beverly Street, a Bensenville owner of two online businesses, MrMarriageSaver.com and OutpostBravo.com. She has used Elance providers for Web development and IT work about a dozen times in the past seven months, including several in India.

"You have to be very specific about what you want done or it might not be exactly what you want," Street said.

Still, the savings can be substantial. A basic Web site design might cost $250 to $1,000, she said. For a marketing campaign to draw traffic to her sites, Street chose a local Chicago provider, and communication has been easier, she said.

Outsourcing is the backbone of Monsoon Co., a software development firm based in Berkeley, Calif., that routinely works with programmers in India, said CEO Sandeep Sood.

When screening virtual professionals for marketing and research projects, he relies on ratings and comments posted on Elance, then interviews potential providers.

"Look for what they will say `no' to," he said. "If they say, 'No, I don't do that type of work,' that's great because it means they are limiting themselves and focusing on an area of expertise."

To make work flow smoothly, the company has six project managers on staff in Berkeley and has developed systems for managing workers at a distance, said Sood, who also writes the comic strip "Doubtsourcing."

But problems remain, he said. "We were excited about video conferencing and Skype, but what we found is those tools don't work well," he said. Text messaging is more reliable because if the provider in India isn't sure about a phrase he can look it up or ask someone for help, Sood said.

Sood has personally tried using a virtual assistant three different times but now uses a local assistant. "I found it challenging," he said. "I needed someone with a mix of skills who understands our business culture."

Forming relationships with key partners can move an organization forward, said Sloane, who has hired small-business assistant Ann Boss Maycock, owner of Agile Assistance in Evanston.

"Some people think strictly from an hourly point of view, and others want to align with you," Sloane said.

Maycock, who provides services from hardware and software support to accounting, research and public relations, thinks about producing value for the client, Sloane said. Once when a problem arose, she explained exactly how she would handle it. "She was very honest about the problem," Sloane said. "It gives people confidence."

While Sloane found Maycock from a personal referral, she nabbed graphic designer Tom Kozak out of a Chicago-area phone book 15 years ago and continues to work with him even though he now lives in Pittsburgh.

"With Tom, you know you're going to be taken care of," she said. "He thinks through the business problem from the client's point of view."

One time when a client of Sloane's failed to produce a promised logo that she needed to create marketing materials in time for a trade show, Sloane turned to Kozak in desperation.

Within 24 hours he had researched the company and industry trends and created five different logos to choose from.

"That's why you work with someone for 15 years," she said. "A person like that becomes more like a friend than just a colleague."

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