Idea Management

"Demand and supply are growing for technologies in all facets of innovation. Idea management and new product development lead this emerging market space" - Gartner Group, Survey of Innovation Management Technology

Idea Management is the discipline that enables the systematic capture, sharing, and exploiting of ideas across the organization to achieve break-through innovation and continuous improvement. A discipline that is quickly gaining support as being of top importance in today's business environment, Idea Management was pioneered by Imaginatik as a specialized application of Knowledge Management principles to harness the collective innovation potential of companies. Imaginatik's leading-edge software solutions support all critical activities in the process of managing ideas from different sources.

Ideas = Unlimited Competitive Advantage

"Well managed ideas not only improve a company's ability to innovate, they enable the company to realize and maintain a steady flow of innovation" - Baroudi Group, Idea Management Briefing

Ideas in an organization represent the potential to innovate and improve that enables a company to stay ahead of the competition. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 6 percent of the work force is engaged in creative occupations, implying that there is a great opportunity to leverage the innovation potential of the remaining 94%. Every person in the organization can contribute valuable ideas in different areas of the business. Yet, frequently this potential remains untapped due to a lack of appropriate methods and channels.

A survey of 350 organizations found that less than 15% of companies have any IT systems in place to manage innovation, and only 40% have established any formal procedures
- CBI and 3M Innovation Survey

Idea Management provides the means to systematically collect, share and evaluate ideas across the enterprise, to ensure that the best ones are applied where required. A successful Idea Management system becomes an unlimited source of competitive advantage that provides new revenue sources through more innovative products and strategies, continuously improved processes, reduced costs, and increased employee motivation.

Imaginatik's Approach

With the aim of making accessible the frequently untapped wealth of ideas that exist in companies, Imaginatik provides a proven approach to Idea Management. Our solutions incorporate our expertise in Knowledge Management, and our specialized understanding of the critical business and people issues involved. In essence, we have revolutionized the concept of the traditional suggestion system to provide an effective engine for consistent corporate innovation. The main pillars of our approach are:

Focus: Our experience shows that successful innovation requires to focus the creative capacity of the company to the most relevant business needs. Our applications allow business leaders to launch idea gathering initiatives that directly address emerging business issues, thus ensuring that valuable input is captured and exploited when there is a well defined need for it.

Process: A structured Idea Management process is critical to ensure that ideas are captured from a wide audience and that the best ones are implemented rapidly. Our solutions cover a comprehensive process to capture ideas, share them, build on them, and evaluate them efficiently in order to support ongoing innovation in the company.

Collaboration & KM principles: A key difference compared to traditional suggestion systems lies in the concept of sharing ideas and facilitating interaction among participants. Our applications provide an environment where participants can browse through ideas of their interest and provide valuable insight through comments and peer reviews.

People-centric features: Our approach recognizes the importance of human and cultural issues to foster participation. Our solutions provide a user-friendly environment, including features that help overcome human inhibitions to contribute, and foster a sense of involvement and recognition.

"Idea management could rescue knowledge management from oblivion" - Jonathan Spira, Basex, in InformationWeek