Many companies today have started utilizing their employees’ and customers’ ideas. They have recognized that the best innovation ideas come from such people because they can offer a different point of view. Employees and customers are able to offer an unbiased view of your business and any changes they think can or should be made, which is why they are so important to the innovation process.

The process of generating ideas from these sources, analyzing them and providing feedback on them is known as collaborative idea management. With idea management, the main goal is to explore and make the best out of every individual playing a role in your brand, from the inside out.

The business scenario today is continually changing and evolving to keep up with the pace, which means companies are regularly searching out new ideas to be explored. With the continual change comes changes in customer demands. One of the best places for companies to look for innovative ideas then is outward to customers as well as inward to companies’ internal teams, which helps to empower and recognize innovative people.

Because continual innovation is more important today than ever, collaborative idea management is a necessary path for companies to travel in order to bring about new ideas, analyze them and improve them to ensure they are considering all ideas from the right people. One of the most successful avenues for gathering necessary information for your collaborative innovation processes is a collaborative ideation platform.

Collaborative Ideation Platforms

Ideation platforms go further than traditional suggestion boxes as they are not only used to collect, analyze and process ideas but also give businesses more options, including making decisions, managing actions and communicating with staff. Ideation platforms are online platforms that can be provided to internal team members as well as customers for the purpose of collecting ideas that are then assessed and managed as part of idea campaigns.

Good collaborative ideation platforms should offer functions that support business collaborative processes, including these key processes:

  • Collecting ideas: each employee (and customer) should be able to contribute ideas, whether by way of suggesting ideas, voting on ideas or contributing knowledge to improve an already submitted idea.

 

  • Processing and assessing ideas: ideas are then sent to the person in charge of approving them and providing solutions necessary for decision-making.
  • Coordinating idea implementation: tracking the progress of projects in real time, checking performance and collaborating on actions that need to be undertaken.
  • Measuring effects of the implementation of ideas
  • Motivating employees and customers by means of recognition systems and publicizing more outstanding practices and initiatives.
  • Archiving ideas for retrieval that could be developed at a later date.

 

Keep in mind that although ideation platforms offer practical solutions for businesses, it is still imperative that companies follow properly organized innovation policy with clearly defined governance. A company’s ability to transform and instill innovative culture with its staff and clients is the true secret to being an innovative business. These tools merely help the innovative process to propel businesses forward with smooth sailing.