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One of the longest standing features of what might be considered as a “Web 2.0” initiative are idea management or ideation programmes. These support the submission, discussion, rating, approval, analysis and ultimately the “putting into action” of ideas from a large group of people. Often introduced as part of an innovation programme, they can be regarded as an example of crowdsourcing.

Not a new idea

Of course suggestion box schemes have been around for years. These have always tended to be targeted at two distinct groups – one external (customers, suppliers and other external partners) and internal (employees.) In recent years the developments on the web and the intranet have allowed specialist software to develop which facilitates the submission and discussion of ideas to these initiatives. In fact the market is relatively mature, with some providers like Imaginatik being around for over 15 years. Some corporates were also early adopters. For example BT introduced an ideas scheme in the mid-nineties and by 2001 they claimed it had already helped save the company around £100m in total.

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This is a guest post by Steve Bynghall. Steve was the content producer for IBF 24 2011 and helped research Paul Miller’s forthcoming book on the “Digital Workplace.” Steve is the founder of Two Hives Ltd, a consultancy specialising in KM, collaboration and web-based projects. Steve previously worked at accountancy firm BDO in a variety of knowledge roles, including managing their global extranet programme. He is currently co-writing a book on crowdsourcing with Ross Dawson, and writing two research briefings for IBF.