How an Idea Management System Can Help You Gain Competitive Advantage

Competition is very hard in every market nowadays.

Companies are under pressure from many directions, so it’s important to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. While there are many ways to do it, one of the best ways is through an idea management system.

Wondering what it is?

What’s an Idea Management System?

An idea management system is a collaborative tool that lets your employees submit and evaluate ideas. Idea management systems make managing ideas much simpler – by providingan easy way for employees to share and submit ideas while making it easier for the organization to effectively evaluate ideas.

So how can an idea management system help you gain a competitive advantage?

How You Can Gain a Competitive Advantage

With the fast pace of improvements happening daily, your organization needs to stay on top of its game.

Idea management systems help your organization advance quickly by gathering and evaluating ideas efficiently. This can give your organization a sustainable competitive advantage.

An idea management system encourages continuous improvement and can create a more engaged and productive workplace. Engaged employees will begin to think of new ideas to improve processes and will share them with you through your idea management system.

With lots of  ideas to choose from, you will be able to identify and implement the ideas with the greatest potential. You can capitalize on these ideas quickly and increase speed to market. A great example of this is Toyota, widely considered the most successful automobile manufacturer.

How Toyota Did It

1 million. That is approximately the number of ideas Toyota receives in a year from their employees through their idea management system.

Toyota is one of the most successful automakers and admired companies in the world.  Their idea management system is central to their philosophy and is how Toyota stays competitive.

To stay competitive, the automaker developed a culture of continuous improvement and has stuck with it. Toyota’s top management is actively engaged and committed to listening and implementing employee ideas that come from their idea management system.

Their employee ideas help them quickly respond to constantly changing factors (technology, competition, customers, economy, etc.) to stay ahead of the competition.

The faster your organization can spot and implement good ideas, the quicker the speed to market and the greater competitive advantage you get.

Ready to gain an advantage over your competitors? Take a look at our list of 8 idea management software tools to start building an idea management system at your organization.

Suggested Next Steps:

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• Companies of all sizes (from Fortune-500s to growing startups) use IdeaGlow software to build their own idea management system. IdeaGlow is affordably priced & relatively easy to implement. If you’re interested, you can apply for a FREE 30-day trial of IdeaGlow software.