The Idea Management System And How It Can Help Your Company

An idea management system {, or IMS is a structured approach to dealing with different inputs which you or your group receive with regards to the task on hand. Simply put, managing ideas is an effective way to structure them and separate the good, the bad, and the ugly. Once this structure is in place, these inputs and thoughts can be more easily used for improvement and gradual change. Having this system also opens up a wide range of opportunities for leveraging the greater public for their input. This method of gaining ideas is more commonly known as crowd sourcing. This is commonly used for small-scale personal projects, but when done correctly, may prove to be a powerful driving force for your company. A big advantage of this is the fact that it is also a feedback mechanism from your target niche, allowing them to say what they really want. It makes your company more responsive and will reinforce a feeling of inclusiveness for the customer. The idea management system can also be used within the company, allowing you to have an input method similar to Toyota's kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese word which means "change for the better" and is used to describe a practice where continuous and incremental improvements are made which derive from the employees' own experience and thoughts. Their suggestions may be a simple method to save on soldering lead, or even to make tightening a bolt faster, but when done by all members of the company, will contribute greatly to efficiency. Managing these ideas will get tough for large companies, but having a methodical way to handle these will make their contributions more important. Another application of using these systems to manage inputs is to place them in an idea bank. This means that while one or another idea is not applicable today, that doesn't mean that it won't be applicable in the future. Having these ideas on hand may well be a well of creativity for the company. No pun intended. You can think of ideas as an investment, so when they are placed in the bank, they generate interest. Again, no pun intended. Thus, using an idea management system for your company will be a worthwhile investment. Since knowledge is a gift that keeps on giving, it will help make your company more dynamic and adept in adapting to the constantly changing environment of the market. Having an IMS, whether digital or manual, will certainly help build up your knowledge tree and allow your company to constantly improve.