Crowdsourcing & Open Innovation: It’s Not Magic – It’s Process, Strategy & Execution

This just in, Crowdsourcing is NOT magic. We know, this may run contrary to the reports and blogs you may have read over the last few years, but anyone honestly assessing Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing will come to a very logical conclusion. It can be wildly successful, hugely impactful and help an enterprise innovate faster & produce more while taking on less risk… but magic, it is not.

Enterprise Success in Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

It takes a plan, it takes a different kind of “work”, it takes thoughtful placement of internal players and more. The enterprises engaging an Open Innovation community properly are succeeding and doing so in big ways. Why does this matter to you? If you are contemplating shepherding Open Innovation practices or an Enterprise Open Innovation (EOI) platform like TopCoder into your enterprise, you need to understand how it actually works and what works best. It is imperative to look into the details of how managers interface and manage projects through an Open Innovation platform. It is crucial to understand that successful Crowdsourcing and Open Innovation can be highly subject matter intensive ensuring the free flow of knowledge from internal experts outward to a community of contributors. If you are either looking into Open Innovation on your own accord or you have been delivered a mandate to investigate how it can work for your enterprise, our simple advice would be: Go deep and ask the tough questions. 

Here is an easy way to start. Below is a concise recording of the latest educational webinar from the TopCoder Webinar Series that showcases the varied internal (and some external) players who would likely need to be involved to instrument a successful Open Innovation strategy. Enjoy the video.

Crowdsourcing and Open Innovation can indeed breed magical results for your enterprise, but “it” by itself is not magic. It is a newer way to achieve more and do so faster, with less risk assumed. To achieve true success, first understand what it takes by asking the tough questions that matter for your enterprise.

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