Mass High Tech: Imaginatik puts software under new management
08/23/2004
By Christina Torode
Imaginatik is not pitching knowledge management technology of old, but idea management.
Unlike traditional knowledge management solutions, which are typically static databases of knowledge housed in repositories and portals, Boston-based Imaginatik’s Idea Central software captures ideas from employees across an organization, typically during a specific event.
The suggestions are gathered by an employee team and sifted through, often leading to ideas for new product development or measures to improve customer service, for example.
Grace Performance Chemicals, a Cambridge-based unit of W.R. Grace & Co., has conducted at least 20 events using Idea Central. The project started out in R&D but soon went corporate-wide, said Paul Westgate, director of innovation for Grace Performance Chemicals.
“The idea was to grow and develop ideas quickly across the organization to improve business processes and find new opportunities,” he said.
One campaign event centered on new product ideas for Grace Performance Chemicals’ Darex product division. The division makes coatings and sealants for rigid packaging such as bottles and cans.
Once the event ended, five ideas were chosen, and three made it through the evaluation process, resulting in a new coating product. “We’re already seeing sales from the new product, and employees love being able to be part of the process — to see everyone’s ideas and share views using the software,” Westgate said.
Another event, called “Customers Do the Darndest Things,” called together customer-facing employees to give feedback on how customers were using some of their products in ways not originally meant for the products.
“A lot of innovation came out of that event, but we’re still looking at the ideas and can’t share that information right now,” Westgate said. “So we not only benefit by coming out with new products, but we are able to get our employees focused, companywide, on a particular subject like how to cut discretionary spending, for example.”
Imaginatik moved from the United Kingdom to Boston three years ago and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The company started out as a knowledge management services company but soon saw an opportunity to evolve into a new space.
“Rather than capturing information and not really getting any results from it, we wanted to develop a process of systematically capturing, sharing and eliciting ideas to achieve continuous improvements,” said Boris Pluskowski, director of marketing for Imaginatik.
The process is very much event-driven, typically allowing 30 days or less for information to be entered into the system by employees. This pushes employees to get ideas in on time rather than allow long-term campaigns where ideas get lost and employees lose interest with no immediate feedback, Pluskowski said.
The ideas are placed in a portal that can be viewed by all employees. Employees may also submit suggestions anonymously and are asked for their identity only if their idea is chosen.
The self-funded company is “very” profitable, according to Pluskowski, and has 60 customers
The latest version of Idea Central, available this month, adds such features as screening of sensitive information to assure only the appropriate people view ideas, additional password security to lock users out, and customizable home pages for employees.