Creating an innovation approach that is as effective as it is exciting should be the focus of every innovator.
As we embark on the “corporate innovation odyssey” that is 2024 (as Planbox CEO Ludwig Melik calls it), equipping ourselves with the right features in our innovation toolkit cannot be overstated. The innovation management landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, driven by technological advancements like AI-enhanced self-service and emerging frameworks like ISO 56000. In this dynamic environment, creating an innovation approach that is as effective as it is exciting should be the focus of every innovator.
But what exactly constitutes “must-have” features for innovation management in 2024? Well, let’s put it this way: they have to elevate your existing toolkit, blending elements of fun and functionality in a way that transforms traditional processes. Taking inspiration from our biggest “Innovations & Improvements” updates over the past year (here and here), let’s explore the five essential features for innovation management in 2024, from the most engaging to the most impactful.
The Most Engaging: Avatar Mode
TL;DR: Boost inclusion and engagement by empowering contributors to participate under the guise of personalized AI-generated avatars. Also, here’s a real-world use case about it featuring Bayer.
Revamp your innovation strategy with Planbox’s Avatar Mode, enabling contributors to engage and innovate using anonymous personas. This feature fosters an immersive and dynamic environment, encouraging free-flowing creativity and participation from all levels, including top executives, without compromising anonymity. Ideal for various scenarios, it enhances team competitions, brainstorming sessions, and company-wide events, bridging the gap in remote team interactions and driving peak innovation engagement.
Read this case study to learn how Bayer leveraged Avatar Mode to propel cross-disciplinary engagement and fast-track the selection of 25 world-changing projects from months to weeks.
The Most Collaborative: Collaborative Canvas (duh!)
TL;DR: Explore new business opportunities with your team by capturing the key elements of an idea or concept in an easy-to-read, one-page format.
Transform brainstorming into an effortless and engaging experience with the updated Collaborative Canvas, enhanced with a fresh design and new features that elevate the business case development process, fostering seamless collaboration among team members:
- Enhanced Connectivity: Link your canvas or cards to existing ideas or challenges, ensuring alignment and clarity across your team.
- Flexible Viewing Options: Choose between classic canvas or list views for optimal readability and navigation, regardless of your project’s complexity.
- Customizable Design: Personalize your canvas with color changes for the background, columns, headers, and cards, aiding in organization and visual appeal.
- Template Reuse: Save successful custom canvases as templates, allowing you to replicate effective strategies easily.
- Collaborative Voting: Engage your team with voting on canvas cards, highlighting the most impactful ideas for progression.
The Most Innovative: AI Stream
TL;DR: Find inspiration for ideas and challenges with AI-curated content streams spanning private and public data sources.
AI Stream offers a personalized flow of AI-curated content, empowering contributors to transform emerging trends and weak signals into ideas or challenges by tapping into an array of public and private data sources, including Salesforce, Jira, ChatGPT, RSS feeds, Twitter, the US Patent Office, and your existing pool of ideas and support tickets. AI Stream also suggests captivating titles for your ideas or challenges, tailored to the content you choose, adding an extra layer of creativity and relevance to your initiatives.
The Most Practical: Challenge Gallery
TL;DR: Launch challenges in no time with an ever-growing gallery of ready-to-use, customizable templates.
Challenge Gallery provides an extensive collection of pre-designed and configurable templates, that streamline the launch of challenges for innovation advocates. This feature allows easy duplication of information, form fields, business rules, and workflows from previous challenges, saving time and ensuring consistency and best practices. Beyond its practicality, Challenge Gallery is a rich source of inspiration, empowering innovators to embark on innovation challenges they might not have previously envisioned, expanding the scope of their creative efforts.
The Most Impactful: Idea Seeding
TL;DR: Accelerate your challenges’ momentum by infusing them with AI-generated ideas.
Idea Seeding acts as a dynamic catalyst, simultaneously jumpstarting and accelerating the momentum of your challenges. Using essential information like your organization’s industry, website, Twitter handle, and challenge specifics, it crafts a stream of ideas uniquely suited to your objectives. From this curated selection, you choose the ideas that best resonate with your goals. Launch your challenge with these pre-populated, engaging ideas to immediately spark participation and brainstorming, setting the stage for rapid, collaborative innovation.
Wrapping Up
And there you have it, the five must-have features for innovation management in 2024. If they’re not part of your current toolkit, it might be time to reevaluate and consider if you’re maximizing every opportunity to make innovation both exciting and effective. Remember, while individual features may evolve, the foundation of a robust platform remains constant, and luckily for you, when it comes to must-have innovation software, the choice is clear and singular. (Hint:👇) 😉
Lucas Potasso-Justino
Chief Editor for the Future-Fit Manifesto and Content Marketing Specialist at Planbox. I write stuff that inspires front-line innovators on their journey towards an impactful innovation program. Follow me on LinkedIn.