Crowdsourcing: definition, tips, best practices, challenges, community

As a provider of an innovative crowdsourcing community platform, QuestionPro offers you outstanding technology for easily crowdsourcing ideas for your innovation management

Crowdsourcing: A critical success factor for innovative companies and organizations

We are currently experiencing one of the most significant transformations in our history. In 2030, 75% of the world's workforce will be digital natives, having grown up surrounded by mobile devices, mobile communications and the Internet. The “Internet of Things” has become a reality, with more than 1 billion users online on social networks every day, influencing products and brands. Their interactive behavior patterns are constantly changing, and a pre-digital world is unimaginable today.

The process of digital transformation is not a new phenomenon - it began many years ago and we understand it as a phenomenon with two major dimensions:

• Technological change (and digital data processing as part of it).
• A huge transformation process, the second part of which includes strategic, organizational and socio-cultural changes.

The combination of these processes has a huge impact on the way we work and the way we lead. The challenges of digital transformation led to new business models and management approaches. So when we talk about digital transformation, we are referring to all the changes driven by the rapid development of digital technology.

Most of the companies we speak to need to ask themselves two key questions: what do we need to be successful in the digital age and how can we change the way we work and the way we interact with our customers to ensure this that we know your needs at all times so that we can react agilely and quickly?

Every company needs a unique plan to successfully drive innovation and change. However, there are some proven measures with high impact on revenue growth, cost and time savings, and improved impact on customer satisfaction - one of them is crowdsourcing. According to Gartner's 2016 CIO survey, crowdsourcing is one of the most effective digital innovation practices, correlating with the highest digital return on investment.

Tips for your crowdsourcing: Six critical crowdsourcing and open innovation mistakes to avoid

Crowdsourcing and open innovation are great ideas. But like all great ideas, great results require intelligent implementation. Too many ideas fall into a crowdsourcing gap, so here are the problems to avoid.

Develop a basic crowdsourcing strategy

By far the biggest problem is that people have an idea and vaguely decide to crowdsource the problem. But throwing an idea at the wall to see what sticks won't work. You need a clear, detailed strategy before launching a crowdsourcing campaign. As with any other project, if you plan to expand your ideas, write a very clear outline of how you plan to proceed.

Set clear goals for your crowdsourcing campaigns

Another surprising problem that many crowdsourcing campaigns face is that they are not entirely sure how they want to use crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing becomes difficult when your audience doesn't understand why you need it. If you don't have clear goals, your campaign will stall before it even begins. Set realistic goals! Know exactly what you want, what your definition of success is for the campaign, and what you will do when the campaign is complete.

Choosing crowdsourcing instead of open innovation

Crowdsourcing and open innovation are two very different things. Crowdsourcing is a public, open idea that comes from all over the world, or at least from the part of the world where attention can be gained. Open innovation is a limited process that starts from your own company. Using the right type will contribute to the success of your campaign and also make the campaign run more smoothly in general. So take a close look at how you are going to implement them.

Choose the right target group for your crowdsourcing campaigns

Another factor that can derail your campaign is the wrong target audience. Sometimes your consumers need to get involved in a campaign. At other times, your business customers will be your primary audience. Any crowdsourcing program must target the right audience, otherwise you will see little to no results!

Don't let setbacks discourage you

Crowdsourcing campaigns need massive support not only from the crowd itself, but also from the company running the campaign. Any crowdsourcing campaign can experience initial pushback, sometimes legitimate, such as lawyers raising questions about intellectual property law and simply opposing crowdsourcing in general. Before you start a campaign, you should get your stakeholders on board. Address concerns where you can and get everyone on board.

Use turnkey technologies

Another common mistake is assuming that you have to do absolutely everything yourself, such as developing and building the crowdsourcing platform. There are already technologies that specialize in managing crowdsourcing campaigns, such as QuestionPro's innovation management software.

Crowdsourcing and the importance of speed-to-market

Rapidly changing customer requirements

The most successful organizations are those that are able to bring new ideas to the public first. Time is money, and the company that offers a new technology to the public before anyone else will often dominate the market. This is true even if their version of the product is no longer the best on the market after a year or two. The importance of speed-to-market is particularly important in an era of rapidly changing customer needs and rapid technological improvements. As technology changes, it drives innovation.

No compromises on quality

However, it's important to remember that getting to market quickly doesn't mean you have to compromise on the security, legality, quality and usefulness of your technology solution. While you may not have to be the absolute best to gain market share, you do need to avoid having your organization's name associated with fast and sloppy work. A bad reputation can have a significant impact on your brand as customers turn to social media and check websites to share their frustrations with the masses. Crowdsourcing can help you avoid these pitfalls. Crowdsourcing allows you to develop the best new ideas faster, cheaper and without sacrificing quality.

Like CITRIX, solve specific problems with crowdsourcing

Innovation management crowdsourcing platforms like QuestionPro's make it easy to set up these types of crowdsourcing campaigns. You can also use crowdsourcing to solve specific technical problems, as Citrix has done with its innovation program. Citrix was able to move from managing new ideas via email to using crowdsourcing to collect ideas from thousands of employees.

Another example is Making All Voices Count, which used crowdsourcing to engage a global community on five continents to solve specific government problems around the world. Ideas from different industries and cultures allow you to look at your technical problems from a perspective you haven't yet considered. By using this type of crowdsourcing, your organization can break out of the “how we’ve always done it” rut and develop truly new and innovative processes and technologies. Ultimately, crowdsourcing allows technology companies to implement ideas with existing high demand more quickly while keeping their R&D budgets very low to maximize profits from each new innovation.

Using crowdsourcing in open innovation

The term “Open Innovation” is no longer an exotic term that is discussed in the abstract. Open innovation means creating and innovating with external stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, partners and your broader community. It can be an important part of your organization as you incorporate new ways of thinking about business that assume that organizations can and should use both external and internal ideas. This means considering both internal and external routes to market if you want to advance your technology.

Open innovation and crowdsourcing: Compensating for competitive disadvantages

Today, open innovation and crowdsourcing level the playing field and enable smaller companies to compete technologically. You can have a modest budget and still have access to new and innovative processes and technologies. A level playing field leads to more competition. This means that you cannot rest on your past achievements. There are always new companies, both small and large, looking to innovate and deliver a product that outperforms yours. Therefore, innovation and speed to market are more important than ever.

Open innovation and crowdsourcing as a complement to traditional innovation methods

Crowdsourcing and open innovation have been delivering results for a variety of technology companies for over fifteen years. Far from being obsolete, the process is still standing and moving forward as it adapts to today's technology market. The maturation of both crowdsourcing providers has resulted in a stable and sustainable working methodology that can be applied in your company. It complements more traditional innovation methods.

This is also crowdsourcing: Google Maps

Google is famous for its Maps. While millions of people have relied on it to safely navigate new cities, others have been frustrated by mistakes in the past. Google Maps has decided to fix these mistakes by turning all of its billion-plus users into editors. A single user can report a change, and after enough users confirm a change, it goes live. Google saves countless hours and millions of dollars reviewing and processing change requests internally. This is also crowdsourcing!

Examples of companies that have already used crowdsourcing successfully

Anheuser-Busch used crowdsourcing to develop a new beer

To create a new beer branded Black Crown, Anheuser-Busch surveyed 25.000 consumers about 12 possible flavors developed at regional breweries and selected the top three varieties for limited distribution. After the trial, they chose the winner and launched Black Crown into national distribution. With the new brew, Anheuser-Busch hopes to draw attention away from fast-growing industrial breweries.

Unilever uses crowdsourcing to improve products

With an Open Innovation project, Unilever invites consumers to contribute ideas to improve or create new products. The company publishes a list of challenges that it would like the “crowd” to help solve. With these ideas, the company can use the ideas of both its direct customers and the public to improve the brand, bring new products to market and, when faced with difficult problems, rely on the intelligence of the masses, which generates many new ideas.

Starbucks launches “My Starbacks Idea”

Starbucks has “My Starbucks Idea,” a crowdsourcing community that invites customers to suggest improvements to existing services and products: from new beverage flavors to the music selection in its stores. There is no monetary reward or financial compensation, yet Starbucks was able to crowdsource over 100.000 ideas. This shows that the real fans and public don't always need to be paid to participate in crowdsourcing - sometimes their love for the brand or product is motivation enough.

Lego: New products through crowdsourcing

Lego recently announced a crowdsourcing business model that harnesses the energy, enthusiasm and limitless creativity of Lego fans well into adulthood. The crowdsourcing model is simple: any Lego fan can submit a product design, which is then voted on by an open community of Lego fans. If a product submission reaches 10.000 votes or more, it receives a formal review by the company, and if no legal concerns or other critical issues are identified, the new product goes into production. This model allows Lego to simultaneously develop products and test popularity, which is an unmatched advantage of crowdsourcing. The product is thoroughly tested and is already in demand by the time it reaches the shelves of a store.

Create your own crowdsourcing community with QuestionPro

Innovation is vital for any business, but it's even more important if you're a technology company. You need new, unique ideas and the ability to bring them to market before the competition. You likely face a variety of challenges when innovating. From mindset and culture to budget and resources, there is a barrier around every corner. These challenges contribute to technology companies being far less innovative than they need to be to remain competitive. Luckily, yours can be different – ​​simply by incorporating crowdsourcing into your innovation efforts. Not only can crowdsourcing reduce the barriers mentioned above, but it can also help you iterate quickly and perhaps speed time to market.

Conclusion on crowdsourcing

Technology innovation is no longer an inside job. Organisations need to break out of the “must be invented here” mentality and access the creativity and perspectives that abound outside the company. The best innovators use crowdsourcing combined with internal R&D to develop new ideas. These organizations often significantly improve speed to market while reducing costs. They test and generate demand for new products in advance, which allows them to avoid spending millions on a failed launch. As a technology project manager, you can't afford for your company to miss out on the benefits of crowdsourcing.

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Create your own crowdsourcing community with QuestionPro

QuestionPro as a crowdsourcing platform not only allows you to collect ideas, teams can be formed around these ideas in which the ideas for innovations are developed as part of an innovation process. In the decision-making phase of the process, experts can evaluate the potential business values, costs and limitations of the ideas using decision matrices and perform a return on investment calculation. Use the unique combination of innovation management, market research and experience management. Make an appointment now for a live online demo.

Try the community for innovation management, market research and experience management for free for 10 days now!

Do you have questions about crowdsourcing and community? Simply contact us via contact form. We look forward to a dialogue with you! You too can test QuestionPro for 10 days free of charge and without risk in depth!

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KEYWORDS OF THIS BLOG POST

Crowdsourcing | Community