Brainstorming is a popular method for generating ideas, but managing those ideas can be a challenge. Idea management software helps streamline and automate the process. It saves time, encourages employee contributions, gathers and evaluates ideas, and provides a better outlook on ideas. When choosing idea management software, look for user-friendliness, customization options, and AI-based automation features. The article compares the top 10 idea management software platforms, including Ideanote, Brightidea, Miro, Ideawake, Planbox, IdeaScale, and Viima. Ideanote stands out for its comprehensive approach to idea management and positive customer reviews.
Brainstorming has been the go-to method for coming up with groundbreaking ideas for decades. The main premise of brainstorming is to come up with as many ideas as possible without discarding those that may initially seem bad or far-fetched. The more ideas you gather, the higher the chances of finding the one revolutionary idea.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, the challenge here rarely is coming up with a large number of ideas. Instead, it’s managing those ideas from birth to implementation. To effectively manage all ideas, turn to an idea management platform that can help you streamline and automate the process.
In this guide, we’ve compiled a list of the best idea management software and reviewed each one, with its pros, cons, and customer ratings.
There’s nothing more disappointing than seeing a great idea getting lost in the void due to a lack of a proper idea management process. But staying on top of all these ideas with manual processes becomes impossible when there are so many ideas to handle.
That’s where idea management software comes into play. Idea management platforms provide a structured way to collect, evaluate, and manage ideas, eliminating the chaos of manual methods. They streamline the entire idea lifecycle, from submission to implementation, ensuring no idea gets lost or ignored.
The benefits of using an idea management app span from saving you tons of time on manual processes to helping you make more informed decisions when selecting the best ideas.
Using an idea management platform demonstrates that you value your employees’ time and that all of their ideas matter to you. It signals to your employees that you’re committed to guiding the idea management process in a transparent way, where everyone’s ideas are treated equally.
Plus, when you create a space for gathering ideas, every team member will feel encouraged to share their ideas, fostering a collaborative process for problem-solving.
Even great companies like Ford use an idea management platform to collect and grow ideas. This results in hundreds and hundreds of patents and novel solutions they wouldn't have been able to come up with otherwise.
Using an idea management app saves you time by eliminating manual work, streamlining your idea management processes, and making communication between team members much smoother. With idea management software, everything is in one place.
Your employees and colleagues can easily share their thoughts, provide feedback, and collaborate without the hassle of searching through piles of messages or files, even across departments or overseas.
This streamlined process not only boosts efficiency but also ensures that you can involve more people in the idea management process, keeping everyone on the same page.
An organized, easy-to-follow process for idea management encourages your employees and colleagues to contribute their ideas. With traditional methods, like the idea suggestion box, employees often feel like submitting their ideas is pointless.
But with a clear process and a dedicated platform for idea management - especially one that allows for a collaborative process like Ideanote - employees feel like their ideas are listened to and carefully evaluated.
Also, some people may be reluctant to share their ideas in a group due to social anxiety. With an idea management platform, you can skip time-consuming brainstorming meetings and make everyone feel comfortable and safe to share their ideas.
Without a streamlined process for idea management, many great ideas get lost in the chaos or discarded without second thought. With an idea management platform, you can ensure that every idea falls into the idea pipeline, is properly evaluated, and given a chance to grow.
Plus, many people get their best ideas while walking or showering. Without a way to write down these ideas immediately, they’ll slip into oblivion. Idea management software provides you with a tool that you can access anywhere, at any time, to share ideas that come to you spontaneously.
Also read:
Take Your Ideation Sessions to the Next Level
Keys for Enabling Blue Sky Thinking in Your Business
How Idea Crowdsourcing Really Works
The 10 Best Crowdsourcing Tools on The Market
Idea Validation: How To Test Your Business and Product Ideas
Idea Meritocracy: The Way to Collective Decision-Making
Imagine jotting down an idea on a post-it note. It might end up in the trash sooner than later. However, sharing that idea on an idea management platform preserves it indefinitely, keeping it accessible for future use.
An idea management platform allows you to structure ideas. It lets you group together different ideas into clusters and keep them organized. This makes it easier to see patterns, prioritize certain ideas, and leave others for later.
When searching for the right idea management software, you should consider several important factors. To begin with, user-friendliness is key. The software should be easy for everyone on your team to use, regardless of their technical skills. It should also be quick and straightforward to implement, as you don't want to spend ages setting everything up.
You also want your idea management platform to have customization options and integrations, so you can set it up in a way that aligns with your unique needs. You want the software to adapt to your workflow, not the other way around.
Another thing to look for in an idea management platform is AI-based automation features. These can significantly reduce manual work and save you a lot of time.
Selecting the right idea management app can make or break your idea management process. In this section, we explore several idea management platforms, analyzing their pros, cons, customer reviews, and how they compare to Ideanote.
Ideanote is the world’s #1 innovation-led growth platform. It's an idea management platform designed to take ideas through every stage of their lifecycle - from collection to implementation.
Unlike other tools, Ideanote offers more than just idea collection – it provides a complete suite to select, evaluate, and implement ideas in an organized way. It's easy to use and implement for anyone, regardless of their tech skills.
With Ideanote's all-in-one platform, you can create your own optimized innovation flow that continuously collects ideas from your people and makes sure the best ideas move forward. Backed by over 500 five-star reviews, Ideanote's support goes beyond software – it's your partner for innovation.
Ideanote stands out due to its holistic approach to idea management. Unlike other platforms, it offers a comprehensive suite that covers the entire idea lifecycle – from collection to implementation. It's easy to use, quick to implement, and flexible.
For companies looking to streamline their idea management processes, Ideanote is an excellent choice. It offers customization that lets you adapt the platform to your specific needs and AI-based automation features that can help you automate manual tasks and save time.
G2: 4.7/5
Capterra: 4.9/5
Brightidea allows you to manage innovation initiatives better. The platform lets users discover new ideas through crowdsourcing, prioritize and evaluate ideas, analyze their financial impact, and manage their implementation across multiple departments.
G2: 4.3/5
Capterra: 4.4/5
Miro is a digital collaboration tool and an idea management platform. It’s a real-time digital whiteboard that allows remote teams to collaborate seamlessly. With Miro, teams can brainstorm, collect ideas, outline processes, and visually represent their projects. It’s also an excellent tool for planning out how to implement the selected ideas.
G2: 4.8/5
Capterra: 4.7/5
Ideawake is a user-friendly idea and innovation management software designed to gather, assess, and implement new ideas. With Ideawake, team members can vote on ideas to reach a group agreement. Its two standout features are customizable submission forms that streamline idea submission and custom scorecards that facilitate evaluating ideas.
G2: 4.6/5
Capterra: 4.8/5
Planbox is a cloud-based, agile innovation management platform that helps companies manage innovation initiatives by implementing a repeatable and scalable process for idea generation, collaboration, evaluation, and proof of concept. Planbox was created to assist in handling innovation and agile product development processes.
G2: 4.8/5
Capterra: 4.9/5
IdeaScale is a powerful innovation management platform that connects organizations to people with ideas. It’s a US-based platform that works mainly with enterprises, governments, and non-profits, and it focuses on large public idea collections like government campaigns.
G2: 4.6/5
Capterra: 4.6/5
Viima is one of the most widely used and highly rated idea management platforms. It offers a simple way to capture, manage, and develop ideas through the entire process, from idea generation to product or service development. Viima is flexible and can be customized to fit different processes.
G2: 4.8/5
Capterra: 4.9/5
Planview IdeaPlace is an innovation management tool that streamlines crowdsourcing to improve idea prioritization and development. With features like engagement gamification and social activity fees, Planview IdeaPlace creates a playful and engaging way to collect and evaluate ideas.
G2: 4.0/5
Capterra: 4.4/5
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management platform that streamlines tasks, documents, goals, and communication. It offers a comprehensive range of features, like task management, goal tracking, time tracking, and document sharing. ClickUp is flexible and adapts to various workflows, boosting team collaboration and productivity.
G2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7
Canny is an AI-based customer feedback management platform that allows businesses to collect and prioritize customer feedback to inform product decisions and improvements. It's commonly used by companies to gather input from users, track feature requests, and engage with their customer base.
G2: 4.4/5
Capterra: 4.7/5
In this section, we've compiled a list of other idea management tools that you might want to explore aside from the ones we’ve analyzed above.
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If you're looking for an all-in-one solution for your innovation, look no further than Ideanote! With our flexible platform you can do everything from collecting ideas, engaging your crowd and analyzing your innovation performance.