Idea management software: Manage innovation and ideas
Table of contents
Idea management software streamlines how businesses collect, review, and implement new ideas from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Acting as a smart, digital suggestion box, it ensures consistency, transparency, and accountability in the innovation process. This boosts morale, speeds up decision-making, and helps organizations turn good ideas into real products, processes, and policies. With tools like Nutrient Workflow Automation, companies can centralize idea tracking, encourage collaboration, and fuel long-term innovation.
Idea management software, sometimes called innovation management software, is used to vet new product ideas, develop new internal procedures and policies, respond to customer and employee suggestions, and much more. In short, the best software for managing ideas is a digital, automated suggestion box with a built-in idea review and approval workflow. Depending on the organization’s needs, these idea development workflows can be straightforward or highly complex, managing ideas and projects over several years — for instance, in the pharmaceutical or bioscience industries.
Innovation is critical for businesses because it helps them stay competitive, adapt to changing customer needs, improve efficiency, and increase profitability. Without innovation, businesses risk falling behind their competitors and becoming irrelevant in their industry.
Types of ideas to manage
Ideas can come from anywhere: employees, customers, partners, the market, etc., and can be in a variety of categories. Some examples include:
- New products for a product manager to consider
- Product improvements for engineers
- Process improvements
- Strategic initiatives for leadership
- Morale improvements
- Goodwill efforts
Centralizing the process for getting these innovative ideas increases the volume of ideas received, ensures consistency and quality, and makes them more actionable by the appropriate staff. Cloud-based idea management software provides one point of truth for the entire system, a key part of the innovation management process.
How does an idea management system work?
Idea management systems are also sometimes referred to as “innovation management software.” Systems like Nutrient Workflow allow leadership to collect and track ideas through rigorous evaluation. After idea generation or following brainstorming sessions, when employees submit ideas, others within the organization can offer feedback or point to existing solutions of which the submitter is unaware. Each step of the idea review process is a task within a visually displayed process.
A task might consist of a simple approval; for instance, a “gatekeeper” administrative employee might review every idea submitted, sign off, reject, ask for more information, refer to another employee, etc. Or, leadership may want to evaluate ideas or prioritize ideas in real time based on the potential benefits.
Another task might involve assigning research to an individual, who would then attach their research and move the process forward. A task related to the idea can be anything that needs to be confirmed as having been done. In this way, it can be similar to project management.
Different departments may have different tasks during the evaluation process; for instance, a product marketing team may meet (in person or within the collaboration area of the software) to discuss a product idea’s potential, providing documentation and research supporting its viability. If it’s determined that a market exists for such a product, the idea moves on to the next phase.
Tools for tracking and visibility
Nutrient Workflow facilitates tracking the idea process from conception until it becomes an actual project. This becomes critical when employees, customers, and partners create numerous new ideas every month. The software helps everyone involved track where each idea is, how far along it has moved, and the current status. In addition, reports and KPI dashboards can show the rate and success levels of idea flow within the organization, helping measure innovation.
Transparency is key! A large percentage of employees feel disengaged in the workplace, with some surveys reporting this number to be as high as 87 percent. Providing transparency in your process for evaluating employee ideas can greatly impact engagement.
Additionally, Nutrient Workflow provides a way of “memorializing” ideas and collating documentation regarding past decisions so teams can assess an idea’s novelty and track which ideas were not pursued, and why those decisions were made. This resource saves significant time in retreading well-worn paths.
Idea management software helps build morale
Without idea management software to track this process, developing new ideas is “ad hoc,” with no standardized method for keeping all stakeholders abreast of the most recent developments. Lacking proper management tools, ideas can languish and go nowhere, with promising suggestions doomed to forever live as water cooler banter between your knowledgeable, talented employees.
With the right idea platform, leadership can ensure that your employees, partners, and customers feel their ideas are heard. They can see their idea move from something nebulous to concrete and tangible, improving morale.
Another benefit is that employees and customers will put more new ideas forward with better visibility and communication in the idea process. This happens because:
- People weren’t previously clear on how to "officially" make a suggestion.
- More people will see their ideas come to fruition with a smoother, smarter process.
- People will trust the process since they can track the progress of their ideas and see the status.
- The process is democratic, and every idea is given the same attention.
Are you ready to boost organizational innovation?
Your company may have a lot of great ideas floating around peoples’ heads. Still, until you have a repeatable way to collect, evaluate, and assign them, they’ll continue to float and rob the company of the most innovative ideas.
No business can survive or grow without innovative ideas, and you can’t grow your business if all you do is what others have done before you. When using cloud idea management software, you can nurture the best ideas from your team members, customers, and partners and move them forward into actionable decisions, products, services, and more.
Proper idea management tools will make your employees feel heard and valued and increase their stake in the company’s success — because it’s the success of their ideas, too. So when you have a defined idea and innovation management process, you A) get great ideas for how your business can grow and continue delighting your customers, B) keep up with your competitors, and C) increase team morale with satisfied employees.
If you’re interested in learning more, you can schedule a 30-minute live, guided demonstration(opens in a new tab) or try Workflow Automation free for 14 days.
FAQ
What is idea management software?
Idea management software is a digital platform that helps organizations collect, evaluate, and implement ideas from employees, customers, and stakeholders. It standardizes innovation workflows and boosts engagement by giving visibility into the idea submission and review process.
Why is idea management important for innovation?
Idea management is crucial because it ensures good ideas are captured, reviewed, and acted on, rather than being lost. It promotes a culture of continuous improvement and helps companies stay competitive by turning employee and customer input into innovation.
How does idea management software work?
Idea management tools like Nutrient Workflow provide structured workflows to submit, review, collaborate on, and track ideas. Each idea moves through defined steps such as approvals, research tasks, prioritization, and implementation, similar to project management.
What types of ideas can be submitted using innovation software?
The software can handle a wide range of idea types, including product suggestions, process improvements, cost-saving initiatives, morale boosters, and customer experience enhancements — submitted by anyone across or outside the organization.
What are the benefits of using idea management software?
Key benefits include increased transparency, higher employee engagement, better decision-making, streamlined collaboration, and a higher rate of idea implementation. It helps surface the best ideas and prevents promising suggestions from getting lost.
How does idea management software improve employee morale?
It boosts morale by making employees feel heard, valued, and part of the innovation process. With visibility into the status of their ideas, employees gain trust in leadership and are more likely to keep contributing valuable suggestions.
Can idea management software be used across departments?
Yes. Departments like R&D, product marketing, HR, and operations can all use the software to evaluate ideas based on their unique criteria and workflows, promoting cross-functional collaboration.
Is idea management software only for large companies?
No. Businesses of all sizes can benefit. Small companies gain a structured way to grow innovative ideas, while large enterprises manage the complexity and volume of suggestions more effectively.
What features should you look for in idea management software?
Look for features like customizable workflows, collaboration tools, task tracking, dashboards for KPIs, real-time status updates, cloud access, and integrations with your existing tools.
