Home Smart 100 2011 Brain Wave (SMART 100)

Brain Wave (SMART 100)

16

Show your support for this innovation. Tweet it. Like it on Facebook. Leave a comment.

The following SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity. More about the SMART 100.

Brain Wave

This innovation initially came to life when…

As three marketers, we have been working with our client’s brands on ways to crowdsource ideas and tap into the wisdom of their ‘consumer’ crowds for the years.

Previous to fivefootfour, we had all worked in some really brilliant organisations as well as some terribly uninspiring organisations and the one thing we knew was that workplaces that make an effort to understand and love their people are the places we have all loved to work in.

Our question was how could we bring this culture of participation and crowdsourcing to life within workplaces.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

Be an ideation portal to harness the thinking and ideas from an organisation’s talent pool and link these back to solving their people challenges.

It does this by…

Firstly, empowering the workforce to be actively involved in solving their business and organisational challenges.

Secondly, capitalising on the intellectual capacity that exists within an organisation.

Thirdly, getting the people to vote on the ideas they see as the most effective solutions.

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

Brain Wave is designed to be a simple and coordinated process to capture people’s ideas and solutions as opposed to just their complaints.

It is a participatory process (not dictatorial).

The voting mechanic in Brain Wave ensures it isn’t just about individual ideas submitted but about getting an overall sense of ‘energy’ for what the workplace wants to see implemented.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

Enables participation and gives employees a voice. (Research has shown that asking people to participate increases engagement.)

Fosters conversations, not just one-way dialogue.

Encourages people to think of things outside of their day-to-day job.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

Engagement surveys typically capture concerns and gripes and the occasional idea.

Internal champions coordinate input from the workplace which is time-consuming and administrative.

Suggestion boxes that become like a black hole for ideas.

Intranets that ask people to contribute ideas and conversation but don’t typically ask for them to vote and put their money where their mouth is.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

  • Engagement surveys
  • HR or Managers
  • Intranets
  • Suggestion boxes

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

Medium-to-large organisations with 100+ people.

This could be an individual team within a workplace or an entire workplace.

It could also be teams that are working across states or regions and require a simple coordination effort in a single repository.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

fivefootfour. Soon to be via a channel partner.

Our marketing strategy is to…

  1. Growth through educating the marketplace via a series of webinars, events and keynote presentations around this new approach to workplace problem solving.
  2. Growth through our channel partner.
  3. Alignment and growth via strategic alliances, for example recruitment agency partners and corporate training partners.

SUPPORTING IMAGES

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT…

Voting for the Readers’ Choice Index has concluded, but you can still show your support!

  1. Tweet it: Top left of each page
  2. Trigger a Reaction: Facebook ‘Like’, etc.
  3. Leave a Comment: Anonymous comments excluded*

More about the READERS’ CHOICE INDEX.