{"id":139330,"date":"2019-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qmarkets.net\/what-is-innovation-management-your-top-7-innovation-faqs-answered\/"},"modified":"2019-03-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:00:00","slug":"what-is-innovation-management-your-top-7-innovation-faqs-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qmarkets.net\/de\/resources\/article\/what-is-innovation-management-your-top-7-innovation-faqs-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Innovation Management? – Your Top 7 Innovation FAQs Answered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEureka!\u201d We’ve all heard this famous ancient Greek term for \u201cI’ve found it\u201d. But how did it enter common parlance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story goes that in the third century BC, the king of Syracuse ordered that Archimedes – the famous Greek inventor \u2013 find a way to determine whether his crown was made entirely out of pure gold, or whether he had been cheated. After agonizing in vain to come up with a solution, Archimedes ran himself a bath. Upon entering, he noticed that the more his body sunk, the more water was displaced – making the displaced water a precise measurement of his volume. Recognizing that gold was heavier than other metals – and could thus be tested in the same way – Archimedes exclaimed \u201cEureka!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Archimedes‘ „Eureka“ moment.<\/p>\n

Enterprise businesses are constantly on the lookout for their next \u2018eureka\u2019 moment \u2013 an innovative solution to a strategic business problem. Of course, most recognize that simply happening upon these solutions is not an option, and that innovation needs to be cultivated and managed effectively in order to become sustainable and repeatable.<\/p>\n

But what is innovation management<\/a>, exactly? What does it entail, how expensive is it, and how is it any different from simply collecting ideas from employees and customers? In this, the first entry in our innovation management FAQ blog series, we provide answers to these burning questions \u2013 and much more!<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is innovation management?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

In a nutshell, innovation management is the systematic process of introducing \u2018something new\u2019 to an organization<\/strong> \u2013 be it a product, workflow, or business model. While there are various frameworks for this process, they usually \u00a0\u00a0include management of the following areas:<\/p>\n

\"\"Ideation:\u00a0<\/strong>Making sure ideas from internal or external stakeholders are collected, refined, and implemented efficiently<\/p>\n

\"\"Culture:\u00a0<\/strong>Creating a culture of innovation<\/a> where new ideas are encouraged, and stakeholders are incentivized to share and comment on insights<\/p>\n

\"\"Resources:\u00a0<\/strong>Managing the capabilities and materials an organization has at their disposal for bringing about innovative change \u2013 including funding, IP, & human capital<\/p>\n

\"\"Structures :\u00a0<\/strong>Leveraging the processes within an organization that can be geared towards optimizing innovation<\/p>\n

\"\"Strategy :\u00a0<\/strong>Defining the various \u2018plans of attack\u2019 for harnessing resources and ideas to reach innovation goals incrementally or disruptively<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no \u2018one size fits all\u2019 approach when it comes to innovation management \u2013 as the objectives of businesses will differ extensively. However, innovation management always entails establishing a process by which a company can continuously and effectively promote innovative activity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is idea management and how is it different to innovation management?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

As outlined above, innovation management is a broad systematic concept, which often incorporates idea management<\/a>. As the name suggests, idea management is the process of ensuring new ideas are organized efficiently to meet corporate goals. Typically, this involves ideas moving through these stages:<\/p>\n

\"\"Collaboration: <\/strong>Sharing the ideas that have been submitted with target audiences so they can be discussed and developed according to the comments they receive<\/p>\n

\"\"Evaluation:\u00a0<\/strong>Making sure ideas are assessed against specific criteria so that the best ones are selected for progression towards implementation<\/p>\n

\"\"Implementation: <\/strong>Designating teams to implement a fully-formed idea efficiently<\/p>\n

\"\"Monitoring: <\/strong>Tracking the ROI of ideas that have been implemented and making further refinements to ensure their ongoing viability<\/p>\n

Although idea management can be a key ingredient for achieving groundbreaking innovation, it\u2019s full effectiveness as a methodology can only be realized when it\u2019s combined with the other areas of innovation management.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is innovation management software and how does it work?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

This class of software allows businesses to manage their various innovation practices digitally \u2013 enabling all relevant data around an innovation project to be organized and promoted in a secure, centralized location.<\/p>\n

The terms \u2018innovation management software\u2019 and \u2018idea management software\u2019 are often used interchangeably. This is because most of the major innovation management software platforms facilitate idea submission, evaluation, and implementation. Other staples of this kind of software are collaboration features – i.e, giving users the means to brainstorm, comment, and vote on ideas \u2013 and gamification elements \u2013 i.e, providing rewards and recognition to users who perform actions on the platform.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Innovation management software from high-end vendors – such as that offered by Qmarkets<\/a> – offers gamification and collaboration features to engage users.<\/p>\n

Innovation management software<\/a> from high-end vendors can sometimes enable admins to configure and modify the workflow to suit specific innovation projects. Data visualization functionality \u2013 such as graphs displaying the ROI metrics a new initiative has generated \u2013 are also standard amongst enterprise-grade vendors. Some of these vendors also have features to accommodate advanced use-cases, such as open innovation crowdsourcing, tech scouting.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow much does innovation\/idea software cost and what is the pricing structure?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

In general, the price and pricing structure for idea management software will depend on how you wish to deploy<\/a> it \u2013 that is, either on-premises or as Software as a Service (SaaS).<\/p>\n

The former, available for a fixed payment, entails the software being deployed directly to your servers – ensuring full compliance with your IT department\u2019s guidelines. It\u2019s a great option if you want increased control over your platform without having to worry about connectivity or innovation management security<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most common way of implementing Idea Management is SaaS \u00a0– hosted externally on a secured cloud. It\u2019s usually available for an annual license fee, however some vendors are able to accommodate time-limited projects. The advantages of SaaS is that it can be installed rapidly, allows upgrades to be completed easily on a regular basis, and is often more affordable than on-premises deployment. However, it affords less control in terms of IT compliance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Innovation management software is typically available for deployment on-premises (available for a fixed payment) or as SaaS (available for annual license fee).<\/p>\n

A range of factors can also influence the pricing for an innovation management platform. Separate costs can be incurred for additional configuration and integration<\/a> requirements, the scale of your project, as well as any additional features or custom developments.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy should my company implement innovation management?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

You may want to take advantage of the benefits provided by innovation management software if you\u2019re looking to:<\/p>\n