Implementing an idea management strategy is vital for businesses that seek success in highly competitive markets. An idea management strategy defines the goals and steps of the idea management process.

However, an idea management strategy can fail due to the tools in use. The use of manual innovation management processes derails success rates. For better success rates, businesses should implement modern innovation software solutions.

Innovation software tools offer businesses an integrated platform for managing all the processes encompassed in the idea management strategy. Innovation management software helps to solve several problems for businesses, including the obstacles associated with the manual idea management processes. In this article, we discuss some of the issues that innovation management software solves for organizations.

1. Communication and Collaboration

Manual idea management systems employ suggestion boxes for employees to submit innovative ideas. In many organizations, the idea submission method yields poor results.

The most common factor affecting the success rate of this idea submission method is theft. In many organizations, corporates give tokens of appreciation to employees who come up with excellent ideas. With this in mind, many employees detest this submission method because they fear that a fellow employee can steal their idea and submit it as their own.

Another drawback of this idea submission method is that employees feel intimidated. Once an employee submits an idea and management feels the idea is viable, the employee will get called in to explain further. Many low-ranking employees feel intimidated to speak in front of senior management personnel. This affects the efficiency of idea delivery.

With idea management software, employees can submit their ideas via the system using individual accounts protected by their credentials. Hence, the tool assures employees that their ideas will not get stolen.

Innovation management software also offers collaborative spaces for senior management to hold meetings and deliberate on the submitted ideas. The incorporation of all these features into one system increases the efficiency of the idea management strategy in a business.

2. Idea Accountability

Manual idea management methods have a crucial drawback. The manual methods lack the means to uphold idea accountability, especially for senior management. With innovation management software, employees can log into their accounts on the idea management system to check their idea’s progress, in terms of the required approvals. When using manual methods, once employees submit the proposal via the suggestion box, they are in the dark till a senior management official calls them.

The manual methods also cause a lot of delays in the innovation approval processes. This is because printed documentation of the ideas has to be circulated to all senior employees for them to analyze and offer their inputs. In organizations with sequential approval processes, the process is even slower because the management personnel wait on each other to either approve or decline the idea.

Innovation management software allows all organization employees to access and study the submitted ideas. This offers employees and the organization better accountability for the idea management process.

3. Innovation Implementation Time

As stated above, manual idea management processes take a lot of time to make it through the approvals. Idea management software significantly reduces the intervals needed to analyze and approve an idea, therefore, implementation is faster.

And this speed of the idea implementation does not reduce the integrity of the analyses in any way. Idea management tools offer ample resources for pre-implementation analysis.

With idea management software, all employees can study an idea before implementation and give their take on the proposal. They can give suggestions and even offer different perspectives that show an impending error in the idea that would cost the business. With this, idea management software ensures that quality ideas are implemented faster than when using manual idea management processes.

4. Remote Idea Submission and Management

Using suggestion boxes imposes a limitation on employees who cannot access the physical business offices. With organizations moving towards remote working and international talent recruitment, it is vital to ensure that all employees can submit their ideas. Because the collection of ideas from all employees in an organization is necessary for the success of idea management processes.

With an idea management system, employees can log in and submit their ideas without accessing the offices. Employees can also follow up on their ideas and engage in collaboration sessions via the system to discuss their submitted ideas.

The ability of remote employees to submit their ideas improves the organization’s overall innovation culture. It boosts the innovation culture because remote employees feel their voices are heard, and their opinions matter.

5. Client involvement in Innovation Process

Many business owners fall prey to the intuition that they know what is best for their customers just because they own the business. As a business owner, you ought not to fall prey to this intuition. Instead, you should give your clients a platform to offer their ideas for the business. This helps in delivering results that are not just statistically good but also satisfy the requirements of the clients who use them.

With Idea management systems clients can now submit reviews and ideas that they think will better the business. When businesses consider their client’s ideas and implement them, the clients feel more involved in the business. This improves customer satisfaction.

Improved customer satisfaction offers tremendous benefits to the business. A common advantage of good customer satisfaction rates is organic marketing.

Conclusion

When choosing an innovation management software for your business, you must choose the right system. To ensure you purchase the right software, come up with a list of all the features you require from the system.

Use the list to analyze the available software options in the market and list all software that offer your required features and functions. From this, you can use factors such as pricing to eliminate some of the tools till you end up with the right tool for your business.

It is also vital to remember that some tools are designed for use in specific markets and industries. When looking for innovation management software, have a glance at the tools designed for use in your industry.