Announcing the Idea Place blog category. This new category was created to provide a channel to receive updates on Idea Place, discussion about ideation and, most importantly, to help you promote your ideas, thereby increasing the chances they’ll be implemented in a SAP products or solution. If you are new to Idea Place and wondering what it is, then please check out this introductory Now Open: Idea Place (beta) - Influence SAP Products & Servicesfrom Mark Yolton. Idea Place Status Updates The Idea Place pilot kicked off in April of this year and has steadily gained momentum. That said, there’s much more that needs to come. With additional product/solution Idea Sessions being added or closing, enhancements and experience upgrades and other improvements, the Idea Place blog category will be the place to keep up to date on the latest and greatest activities.
Ideation Discussions Interested in sharing your latest thoughts about ideation or the ideation process? Want to get feedback from others in the SAP Community Network on how they innovate? Looking to improve your own knowledge on ideation? Blogs tagged with the ‘Idea Place’ category are what you need. Promoting your Ideas You have a great idea that would significantly improve your favorite SAP product or solution. You happily find that an Idea Session has been created for your product/solution on Idea Place, so you submit an idea, include some text and sit back and wait for your request to be implemented… Unfortunately, this is not exactly how it works. For any successful innovation two conditions need to be met, 1) create a good idea and 2) execution on that idea. In an ideal world the SAP product/solution manager can read, respond and implement all ideas submitted, but this is not the case. Just as you prioritize the tasks to work on next, the product/solution manager needs to take many inputs for a product/solution and prioritize the requests before making a final decision on which requests make it into a product/solution. With products/solutions having so many users and subsequently requests, it can been impossible for an individual to get an idea considered for inclusion into the next product release. Until now... A significant benefit of idea crowdsourcing over traditional idea request channels, is that where there was once only one voice for an idea there can now be millions. These voices can significantly increase the visibility of requests to product/solution managers. So, how does an idea gather the voice of the crowd supporting it. This is where the very critical step of promotion comes in. Promotion of ideas – On Idea Place product/solution managers will look at the ideas with the top votes. Once an idea is submitted, your goal should be to maximize the number of votes for it. Bring attention to your idea is through social engagement. And one way to achieve that is by submitting a blog to promote discussion and raise awareness. Some things to think about:
Who is your audience? Who would likely vote for your idea? Is the idea written for them? Is it clear and concise?
Where are they? If you answered SCN, then you are in the right place. If not then a combination approach may be necessary.
You will want to drive conversation and visibility. Create a blog post and tag with the respective product/solution category (ie. 'CRM', 'EPM', etc…) and include the 'Idea Place' category as well. Make sure you stay engaged with your idea. If you haven't already, sign up on Idea Place to receive notifications related to your idea (by default if you've submitted). This will keep you abreast of status updates. comments and dialogue. And remember, if someone has already submitted the same idea, then vote it up and adopt it as your own. This is the beauty of crowdsourcing: with enough visibility and adoption the idea becomes owned by the crowd, and with the crowd’s voices, the ideas chances of implementation become the strongest. The Idea Place blog category has been created to keep you up-to-date on the latest Idea Place activities, engage on ideation discussions and provide one of many channels available to promote ideas you are interested in getting implemented in the product. So please subscribe to this category and remember to include the ‘Idea Place’ blog category on your ideation-related posts.
