Is Crowd Sourcing For Ideas The Latest Trend In Innovating?
In the past, the companies that have achieved great success are companies that have been able to come up with great ideas, keep them secret, then release those ideas into the market with a bang, changing the way we solve problems. A great example of this is Apple launching the first phone that not only had a touch screen, but was a phone, an iPod and could access the internet. I however feel we are approaching a new era where functionally most bases are covered, and the companies that win will be the companies that will effectively tap into the world’s collective genius, made possible by interconnectivity the internet has brought about.
We are all familiar with crowd funding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo which have enabled countless entrepreneurs raise funding for their enterprises, and has also connected thousands of people to each other.
Crowd sourcing ideas is the next trend, where a business seeks out enthusiasts to contribute ideas. There are various platforms for this such as Crowdspring. Some charge the entrepreneur to post and then reward contributors who give winning ideas, while others are free. Big companies are outsourcing ideas too. Dell is a leader in this with its Social Innovation Challenge that is hosted at the University of Texas at Austin which has not only resulted to great ideas, but has helped Dell spot great talent. Design Crowd has brought together hundreds of thousands of graphic designers from around the world to provide great design solutions to entrepreneurs at a fraction of the cost one would pay a design house.
Crowd sourcing ideas can be useful when seeking new solutions to work on, for testing customer feedback when you have a prototype that you would like to improve on, and even when seeking to hire great people. You can also outsource for creative solutions for your business. Imagine if you needed a logo for your new small business, what are your options?
1. Approach a small design firm since you cannot afford a huge design house on an entrepreneur’s budget and have their one designer create a logo for you; or
2. Tap into the creative genius of almost 0.5 million designers from around the world on Design Crowd, which will give you a world-class design, at a fraction of the cost and in as short as 24 hours!
The obvious thing to do is to go with the crowd right?
As the information revolution evolves, the chances of coming up with an entirely new (and great) idea all by yourself are getting slimmer and slimmer, but opportunities are opening up to have the world help you come up with an entirely new and great ideas to change the world.
This post is sponsored by Design Crowd
