Idea Management Platforms
= "Moving on from the suggestion box, many organizations now use platforms that allow internal or external communities to contribute ideas, which are then debated, developed, and voted on. Idea management platforms are commonly used to source suggestions from employees, as well as to engage with customer communities."
Definition
Ross Dawson:
"Idea Management (sometimes “ideation”) is used to describe the process, systems, and supporting software to generate, assess, filter, and take action on ideas. The platforms were originally primarily used to support idea generation from internal staff. However these platforms, and now some others designed explicitly for the purpose, are often being used to enable external groups such as customers or the general public to contribute ideas."
Description
"The emphasis in idea management is far more on collaboration in filtering and developing ideas. In addition financial incentives are usually far less important, or sometimes non-existent."
The process:
1) brand site; 2) define community; 3) provide guidance; 4) submit ideas; 5) community voting and feedback; 6) idea development; 7) organization feedback; 8) selection; 9) reward and recognition; 10) analysis
Directory
- IdeaNet
Innovation Factory's IdeaNet idea management software is a social media based software suite to support collaborative ideation and knowledge management. The software is delivered in a software as a service model and is used by large multinationals having tens of thousands of users.
- IdeaScale
IdeaScale is a cloud-based solution used by companies to interact with customer communities who are commenting on product developments. It has also been used as a forum for U.S. government initiatives. Features include leaderboards for the most active contributors and a Facebook app. IdeaScale claim they are fully scalable across differing organizational sizes and also offer a freemium model.
- Imaginatik
Imaginatik markets itself as “Innovation as a Service”, with its platform designed around the typical life cycle of an innovation program. Mainly intended for internal use in larger enterprises, the company also provides a range of consulting services. Imaginatik has been providing idea management platforms for over 15 years.
- Spigit
Founded in 2007, Spigit’s platform is aimed at larger enterprises. It has a series of branded products that can be applied to a range of scenarios, both internally and externally-focused. Features include an algorithm called RepUrank which assesses employee’s contributions and allocates them a score. Participants can also use a variety of voting techniques to show support for ideas, for example by using a virtual currency to trade ideas and allocate budgets to projects.
- Qmarkets
Qmarkets bills itself as providing “collective wisdom solutions”. In addition to standard idea management functionality it also includes a prediction market platform. It offers incentive programs and the ability to view individuals’ forecasting success.
Examples
"Some corporations, such as Cisco with its I-Prize, have attracted significant attention by running ad-hoc contests with attractive financial rewards. Other companies have established platforms for ongoing public idea submission. Two of the best known examples are My Starbucks Idea and Dell’s IdeaStorm."
Best Buy Idea X
"Best Buy Idea X is consumer products retailer Best Buy’s internally built idea management forum for Best Buy customers to post, debate, and vote on ideas about how to improve the consumer experience. Idea submissions are solicited in areas including ways to lower Best Buy’s impact on the environment, new products, and suggestions for locations of new stores. Best Buy then offer their feedback.
Within three months of the platform’s launch in June 2009, 1,000 ideas had already been submitted. In the first year this had reached over 7,000 with over 2,000 active users. Successful ideas which the platform has helped bring to fruition are a pilot to establish free WiFi in stores, trialling electronic receipts, and a packaging improvement that stemmed from an idea originally submitted as “get rid of those stupid plastic boxes.” (source: Getting Results from Crowds)
Swedish Avanza Bank
URL = https://labs.avanzabank.se/home
"Swedish Avanza Bank, which has developed a system that lets consumers suggest and vote on each other’s ideas for potential implementation.
Avanza Bank’s Labs is a dedicated part of its site where customers can suggest ideas large and small for improving the bank. Each idea gets listed on the Labs page, where it is available for voting by others who visit. Those discussed most frequently and/or receiving the most votes are then taken into serious consideration by the bank for possible translation into a real solution. The bank also uses its Labs site to solicit customer suggestions on new products and ideas of its own, such as on a forthcoming Android application." (http://www.springwise.com/financial_services/avanzabank/)
Source
The material is sourced from Ross Dawson's Getting Results from Crowds.