Corporate innovation has been developing very well, not in the least thanks to improved crowdsourcing software made for businesses applications. Indeed, managers and leaders are finally starting to understand the value of implementing these software solutions in the workplace. Innovation is about change and it seems that innovation itself is now finally changing for the better.
How Crowdsourcing Software Made for Business Is Changing Innovation
Traditionally, only a select few people would be welcome to take part in idea development sessions. Thanks to crowdsourcing software, however, this has changed. Suddenly, everybody is able to participate and to contribute not just their own ideas, but comment on others’ ideas as well.
What this has done is effectively drive a cultural change in many organizations. A lot of value is now attached to individual efforts, which have been proven to change behavior overall as well. No longer do people talk about innovation culture, they actually live and breathe it.
The concept of entrepreneurs ruling the world has changed as well. Today, it is all about intrapreneurs instead. They are the people within organizations who help create new meaning and innovation, who drive new programs and make sure they are accepted. It is no longer about taking an idea elsewhere, it is about using an idea to improve on the existing.
One of the key elements of importance is that both HR and learning and development departments have come on board with this. Suddenly, money is being made available for training and development. No longer is it just up to managers to determine which training courses someone can go on and why, but people are encouraged to think outside of the box and to learn about things that may fall outside of their traditional role remit. This is because it is clear that those who know the most about every element of the organization, are also those with the greatest value. It is about investing in people, in other words.
However, the concept of “open innovation” is now not as interesting anymore. This is because simply enabling people to come up with any idea they like is not productive anymore. Rather, through crowdsourcing software, ideas may start as a random thought, but they are then worked through and developed until they become something that can actually be implemented across the board. One of the ways in which this has been achieved is through better encouragement of disruptive thinking. While that concept is nothing new, it seems that it is now finally possible for managers to actually support disruptive ideas and benefit from them in the way that many have been looking for.
Last but not least, thanks to crowdsourcing software, innovation has finally become about communication. It has given people the necessary tools to talk about their ideas and to talk about ways to implement those ideas. They have given people a space to brainstorm across all levels of the organization and that is perhaps the greatest positive development of all.
