One of the reasons some of the most well-known companies (like Apple and Google) have been able to grow as big as they are is because of their continued focus on innovation. It is their ability to come up with some of the most amazing ideas ever that ultimately place them miles ahead of their competitors.
So, if your goal is to become a huge contender in your field as well and you'd like to use innovative ideas to do it, it helps to know where your potential struggles may be in this area. With that thought in mind, Qmarkets-an idea management system -shares that, when it comes to idea management, there are a few common challenges that technology can help overcome.
Low Levels of Creativity
Does your company create an environment in which employees, shareholders, and customers feel not only comfortable but actually encouraged to submit their ideas? If not, you may be missing out on the next best innovation.
By implementing an idea management system and promoting its use, you can overcome this challenge. There are other advantages to doing this as well.
For instance, the Houston Chronicle reports that active participation provides benefits such as a higher level of commitment by the idea submitter, more and better ideas, and even increased productivity.
Lack of Participation
You can have the most creative employees in the world, but if they're not willing to share their ideas, you're not going to get any further ahead. That's why Qmarkets suggests using idea management campaigns designed to incentivize users to participate in the process.
Do incentives work? According to research, the answer is yes. In fact, one study reported that only eight percent of employees surveyed felt that they would have reached their workplace if they hadn't been incentivized to do so.
By default, this means that the other 92 percent of workers didn't think they'd achieve whatever they set out to do if they hadn't received incentives to do it. Imagine what a difference this would make in whether a business is able to survive, let alone thrive.
Trouble Filtering the Best Ideas
If you put up a suggestion box outside your business's door and, at the end of the day, you retrieved it to find thousands of ideas, how hard would it be to figure out which ideas have merit and which ones are better left in the box?
Certainly, with enough time and effort, you'd eventually sort them out. However, when you use an idea management system, the technology does this for you, making the process less burdensome.
Proper Implementation of the Ideas
Qmarkets shares that an additional all-too-common idea management issue involves properly "implementing, monitoring, and measuring" the new ideas submitted. Since this is the key part of the process, getting this right is absolutely critical to success.
Technology can help with this challenge as well, making it easier to tell which new ideas are working and which ones aren't. For the ones that are, keep on doing them and enjoy the benefits. For the ideas that don't, either modify them or let them go. There are always other ideas you can try instead.
