Tyler decided that innovation management software was the way forward. When he stumbled across Microsoft-based edison365, he realized that this software would make setting up a process for gathering and triaging ideas far simpler.
Tyler said: “I did a lot of research into several different systems that are available, and edison365 provided the biggest bang for our buck. It was a big deal that they were able to work with us as a smaller company.
“The software also integrated with our existing single sign-on because we use Office 365. So that was a plus as well.”
Pipelines and Prototypes
As edison365 is designed to help people collaborate on ideas and share knowledge, Tyler has been able to create new connections between people across different departments.
“The edison ideation platform offers a way to help bridge the tile and carpet divide that can so often exist within a manufacturing facility,” said Tyler.
“Putting prototype ideas on the edison365 platform allows other people across the company to know, ‘hey, this is what these guys are working on’. They can provide feedback or even connect people together.”
Someone working on an R&D project recently posted about it on edison365, Tyler saw it, and was able to put them in touch with someone else in the business whose background work matched it perfectly. Unless they’d bumped into each other in the corridor, and happened to mention the work, this connection would never have been made. How awesome is that?
Instead of running challenges to gather ideas, Tyler and his team opted to rename them “pipelines” and run them without an end date. There are four pipelines: employee culture, process improvement, R&D, and prototype development (Tyler’s division).
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Friday Games
The innovation process has been a learning curve for Tyler and his brand-new division.
“As we’re maturing in this division, we’re learning a lot about how to better interact. People may be able to submit ideas to us, but they may not immediately get traction just because we’re only a limited team. You can’t focus on everything at once, so we’re still trying to figure out how to best keep engagement up and keep people submitting ideas.”
Every Friday, the whole company takes part in Friday Games. In the past this would have been anything from a survey to a bit of trivia, but now they use it to get people voting on ideas! Every person receives three votes – using edison365’s gamification feature – and they can spend it on ideas in the culture pipeline, with prizes like gift cards up for grabs.
Some exciting ideas that have come out of this pipeline include a food truck rodeo, and lunch and learn opportunities.
Over a space of 2 months, Inorganic Ventures has seen over 270 interactions on ideas from Friday Games alone.
Tyler and his team plan to continue using edison365ideas to gather exciting new suggestions from around the business and create fresh new connections between teams. And not a speck of cardboard in sight!
To make the innovation platform even more accessible, Tyler and his team printed out QR codes and posted them on walls and doors across the business. So, people can scan and submit ideas on edison365 whenever inspiration strikes them! (Now, isn’t that more exciting than an ideas box?)
