IdeaStorming – Embracing Users, Turning Ideas Into Action
You may have noticed that with the release of this post, I’ve added a little “Feedback” tab on the left side of my website so I can, more or less, be my own lab rat for purposes of this discussion. If for some reason it doesn’t exist, this is simply a widget to access my own version of “IdeaStorming” located at bradz.uservoice.com. Sure no one will probably vote, submit an idea or comment. But there it is. The whole setup and integration took about 15 minutes and if I did in fact get multiple responses centered around a specific idea, I would act on it quickly. It also goes without sayng that I will not act on every idea that is voted for. However, I will read every comment that is submitted, positive or negative. And every idea counts as even the smallest inspires much greater ones.
This is certainly not a new idea by any stretch. Dell found popular success with their own “Idea Storm” website which basically allowed customers to vote for features and products that they wanted. One of the results was the development and release of the linux community driven UBUNTO box.
Starbucks is another with their My Starbucks Idea website. They ask customers to help shape the future of their company through ideas. Both Starbucks and Dell used the Salesforce.com platform “Ideas”.
What is exciting about this new era of brand building is the possibilities. And how much faster product and service innovation can occur as well as allowing companies to react quicker to issues. But I think it is important to point out that it is one thing for a company to be open to these possibilities, including the spearheading the communities of thought and voices. It is another to be able to support it from an infrastructure standpoint.
It is obvious in the case of both of these companies, they were ready to deliver from a service and product engineering standpoint. They put their ideas into action and they show it. Starbucks shares through their Ideas In Action blog. Dell has an Ideas In Action community portal as well.
So let’s take it a step further. In a 2000 article titled “IDEAS INTO ACTION; Dell, It Turns Out, Has a Better Idea Than Ford” published by the NY Times, Fred Andrews noted “Dell made its name by selling directly to customers and allowing them to specify the features they wanted their personal computer to include.” This was an article about supply chain management and not about “IdeaStorming”. But it is interesting to say the least, that this was a flag raised.
It is almost a decade since this article was published. Dell continues to live their mission by embracing their customers, listening and acting – they continue to move forward. Is it possible that if others had looked, listened and acted differently almost 10 years ago, the outcome would have been different today?
Here are some links to idea storming / crowd sourcing / idea management players in this space.
- http://getsatisfaction.com/ – “People Powered Customer Service”
- http://ideascale.com/ – “Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Idea Management”
- http://uservoice.com/ – “Harness the Ideas of Your Customers…”
- http://www.fevote.com/ – “Suggestion Boards for Social Suggestions”
- http://www.brightidea.com/webstorm.bix – “WebStorm by Brightidea, Inc. is an Idea Collection and Ranking Portal”
- http://www.feedback20.com/ – “Engage With Your Community”
- http://www.ideatorrent.org/ – Open Source, “Open Invitation Software”
Reference:
“Build your own “IdeaStorm” with UserVoice « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.” Web Strategy By Jeremiah Owyang: Web Marketing, Social Media. Web. 30 Aug. 2009. <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/02/build-your-own-ideastorm-with-uservoice/>.
A good example of the Brightidea.com software is in use by Adobe:
http://ideas.acrobat.com
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http://ideas.adobe.com
Hi Vincent,
Great link. I would think that for software companies, idea portals are a must have especially for a powerhouse like Adobe. What I also found intriguing about this site was interactive ideas visualizer. A powerful way to interact with the ideas in a different way.
Thanks for sharing.