A little over a year after implementing a new innovation management solution, participation at Fleury was nearly five times higher. This real company has generated real value through innovation. What can you learn from their experience? No single secret software and algorithm opens all doors, yet, by combining the right ingredients, you too can unlock the full potential of your innovation initiative.

If you’re implementing a programme, particularly ‘idea platform’ or open innovation solutions on a national or international scale, you can expect ups and downs. Road bumps come with the territory. Any innovation manager has felt some (or all) of these anxieties:

We’ve built it . . . but no one’s coming.
You have your programme in place, you’re filled with energy to make it happen, but no one joins you. You’ve hit the most challenging of all walls: a lack of engagement. For things to work, you need to have your people with you. How do you engage them and their enthusiasm? How do you increase the stickiness of your innovation efforts?

We’ve created a process monster.
On the other end, if you’re lucky, you’ll attract many people, creating high volumes of information – too high to be handled by any single manager or even an innovation team. All of a sudden, you find yourself trapped inside processes rather than creating value. Instead of having an engine that lets you focus on bringing the best ideas to life, you’ve become a slave to the machine – and you’re all too aware that this lack of efficiency will end up killing the engagement you’ve captured.

So, you need a model that can process all content generated in the platform – ideas, insights, comments and investments – rapidly and efficiently.

One way but down.
Finally, you’ve had your one success, but the budget is inelastic and enthusiasm begins to fade. How can you make sure your programme continues to deliver results?

Countless ‘traditional’ innovation programmes actually fail. The causes are diverse but diagnosable as:
// The programme is not inclusive – you can only participate if you have an idea.
// It lacks focus – you haven’t established the scope of relevance.
// Evaluation is inefficient – you’re wasting time and money.
// Incentives are unbalanced – you have too many or too few.
// Results are cloudy – only a few people are involved in the process of evaluating the suggestions of the ‘crowd’.
// The process requires facilitation – your software can’t stand by itself alone.

READ MORE:
The idea management challenge. How do they do it?
The first of 3 key success factors of innovation management
The 2nd key success factor of innovation management
The ultimate innovation management success factor
What we’ve learned about the idea management challenge

Pedro do Carmo Costa, Exago’s director and co-founder
pcc@exago.com