2.

Entrepreneurship – An Innovation: Innovation and entrepreneurship, Challenges of Innovation, Steps of

Innovation Management, Idea Management System, Divergent v/s Convergent Thinking, [2L]

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TOPIC: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Innovation and entrepreneurship are two closely related words used in the business world. Some may think they mean
the same, but using them interchangeably would be making a big mistake. While they revolve around the same idea,
it is crucial to understand the difference. The modern world has created an ideal space for innovation and
entrepreneurship. This has seen the creation of diverse products, services, and even careers. While there exists a
relationship between the two, the two do not represent the same thing or ideology.

1. Innovation
What is the key concept of entrepreneurship? The entrepreneurs contribute to the economy in terms of variation and
innovation and the extent of these ensure success. They implement innovative ideas on the available opportunities and
bring out something new. The new idea can be a product, technology, service, manufacturing technique, marketing
strategies etc. Thus innovation is the answer to the question.
Innovators

Innovators are persons who introduce something new in terms of a product, service, process, model or an idea into the
markets. It’s not just coming up with an idea but also implementing it to disrupt what already exists in the marketplace.
It could also be improving existing products or services incrementally. Innovation is an essential component in all
sectors as it adds value and creates change in an existing service or product, while also leading to the creation of new
products. Some of the skills required for innovators include creative thinking and the need for carrying out
experiments. Innovation is applying your creativity to come up with a unique idea or solution. You have an engine,
wheels and axles and you put them together to invent a car. Progress depends on innovation and great innovators can
get rich.

Who are Entrepreneurs?

These are persons who convert great ideas into business opportunities. It involves a lot of risk-taking hence most
entrepreneurs are risk-averse persons. Most entrepreneurs are innovative or take advantage of an innovation that is
currently in the market. Entrepreneurship, by contrast, is applying the innovation to bring the ideas to life.
Entrepreneurs grasp the opportunity to cash in on the innovation. They build businesses and propel the innovation
forward. Progress depends on entrepreneurship and great entrepreneurs get even richer than great innovators.
Both innovators and entrepreneurs are important in all aspects as they are interdependent and neither of them can
thrive without the other.

Therefore entrepreneurs are those who start-up companies with new ideas of their own and also of others.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INNOVATOR AND ENTREPRENEURS

KEY FEATURES INNOVATORS ENTREPRENUERS

DEFINITION Are people who introduce Are persons who convert great
something new in terms of ideas into business
product, service, process, opportunities.
model or an idea into the
market.
Skillsets Require creative thinking and Require leadership,
experimental skill-sets. commitment, hard work, risk
Innovators have a passion for averse, managerial and
 inquiry, experiment with planning abilities.
creative thinking. Entrepreneurs need skills like
• Creativity planning, leading, managing,
• Risk-taking and decision making.
• Problem-solving Entrepreneurs take risks, work
hard and are committed to
achieving success in their
business.
• Risk-taking
• Hard work
• Self-confidence
• Self-motivation
Risk Taking Most innovators are not risk Are risk takers. In converting
takers an idea into a business
opportunity, risk-taking cannot
be avoided. Risk taking is a key
factor in entrepreneurship.
Interest Once innovation passes the Enterprenuers put all their
market introduction stage, efforts into the business
innovators lose interest in the venture to see it becomes
idea and move on to successful. Entrepreneurs fail,
developing the idea more or rethink and work hard to make
some other. the venture more successful
Cause Making something out of new Make something out of new
thought innovation
Durability: Innovation can have a short Entrepreneurship has a long
durability. durability which adds and
improves the value of the
opportunity created.
Riches Most innovators become rich Most entrepreneurs get richer
but not to the extent of than innovators
entrepreneurs
Great examples of entrepreneurs who built sustainable businesses and wealth without innovative skills include Ray
Kroc who built McDonald’s and Sam Walton who built Walmart.

Difference Between Inventor And Entrepreneurs

Generally both inventors and entrepreneurs are able to come up with new ideas, and share some common
characteristics, however, the key difference is that inventors are usually focused on the tangible invention,
while entrepreneurs are more focused on the business opportunity.

What are the differences between inventor, entrepreneur, and innovator?

Inventors: An inventor is likely the most creative individual of the three. An inventor is someone who is focused
almost solely on creating and building a product, process, or service that can solve the problems that someone might
have. They create a new product that has never before been made. Becoming an inventor means trying to turn your
ideas into actual products. Invention is the "creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time."
Thomas Edison was an inventor.

In most cases, an inventor doesn’t try to place this invention on the market. Though the product or service is meant
to solve an issue and should conceivably be able to fit onto the market, inventors don't usually focus their attention on
assessing the market viability of the product or service that they've invented. An inventor strives to perform cutting
edge research that's essentially never been done before. When creating a product or service, an inventor will establish
a proof of concept for the product, which means that they will conduct numerous tests to determine if their idea can
be transformed into a feasible product or service. If your main goal is to create a product or service that's never been
done before, you would likely classify as an inventor. In most cases, an inventor will have a high amount of technical
expertise and will spend much of their time solving problems. An inventor cannot be successful if they don't have
patience. While many inventors are considered to be visionaries, they can also be singularly focused and tunnel-
visioned. They don't spend their time thinking about what comes after the invention has been created. In order for an
inventor to be successful, they will need to be passionate and courageous, the latter of which is necessary because of
the failure-rate that comes with turning ideas into inventions. It's also absolutely imperative that you don't fall in love
with any of your ideas if you want to be successful as an inventor. Most ideas can't be properly turned into products,
which is something that you should prepare for.

Who Are Popular Inventors?

Thomas Alva Edison Among the most notable inventors is Thomas Edison Who invented incandescent light bulb,
the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improved the telegraph and telephone. A couple of
other inventors you've likely heard of include the Wright Brothers and Nikola Tesla. While Nikola Tesla was
responsible for the creation of the AC motor in the late 19th century, the Wright Brothers are credited for inventing
the airplane at the turn of the 20th century.

Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur is someone who focuses almost exclusively on trying to take a product and fit it into a
market wherein it can sell to customers or clients. Entrepreneurs usually create companies surrounding the product
that they want to place on the market, which is why most individuals who create startups are considered to be
entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are individuals who are focused primarily on creating a business and increasing
shareholder value. While the business may be centered around a specific product or service, entrepreneurs want to be
able to take the startup that they've created and form it into a successful business that can stand beside the leaders of
the industry. As such, entrepreneurs will usually know more about marketing a product to investors and prospective
customers than they do about cr eating and developing a product. An entrepreneur will also work to identify and
develop customer networks that can be effectively monetized. Since entrepreneurs are the ones who typically create
startups, it's important to understand that the very first stages of a startup are centered around determining what market
can be reached with the product or service in question. Successful entrepreneurs are able to reach a wide market
through the establishment of various market channels and teams to carry out delivery of the product or service. In
order for an entrepreneur to be successful, the main characteristics that they will need to have include being passionate,
hard-working, flexible, and forward-thinking. Entrepreneurs will need to be able to adapt to changes in the market.
While inventors and innovators usually like to be in an autonomous environment, entrepreneurs actually love
collaboration and will typically look for advice and input from more successful entrepreneurs. In almost all cases,
entrepreneurs are leaders.

Who Are Popular Entrepreneurs?

Some of the most popular entrepreneurs in recent history include Jeff Bezo for Amazon, Bill Gates with Microsoft,
and Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook. Each of these entrepreneurs created businesses that filled a gap in the market
and effectively answered the needs of customers even before the customers knew what they wanted. Bezos was able
to create an online store in the early days of the internet. Through an effective business plan and fantastic marketing
techniques, Amazon became the largest online store on the internet. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you should
look into creating a business that you are passionate about, which also means that you'll need to eventually develop a
business plan.

Innovators: As for innovators, these are individuals who want to create new ideas and new ways of doing things. An
innovator will attempt to improve on a product that may already be in the market. For instance, every iteration of the
iPhone is considered to be an innovation over the previous iPhone model. Innovation happens when someone
"improves on or makes a significant contribution" to something that has already been invented. Steve Jobs was an
innovator. Innovators Create New Ideas or Ways of Doing Things. An innovator is a person who can create new ideas,
methods, or products. These individuals might also develop new iterations on products that have already been created.
While the product or service will have already been invented, an innovator will be able to improve or make some kind
of significant contribution to the invention.

Challenges to Innovation

5 Challenges of Innovation in Business

The process of innovation is not always smooth. It often requires a specific environment to be in place so the people
involved are encouraged, as well as enabled, to generate ideas freely – ideas that can truly propel projects forward.
The right tools must also be in place for the innovative process to offer as much value as possible.

Innovation is a major factor in terms of organizational growth and success. Generating a culture of innovation in your
company is a critical initiative today but despite this, many businesses combat internal challenges that slow the
innovative process. Below are 5 common challenges of innovation in business today.

Missed Innovation Strategy

One of the most important elements of taking your organization from an emerging newcomer to an established brand,
is your company’s innovation strategy. Constant innovation enables your business to remain constantly proactive
rather than reactive. An innovation strategy helps to define the direction of innovation and the implementation of
operations. Without an innovation strategy in place, your organization may be missing the mark, and a misalignment
of your innovation efforts is a risk you are taking.

Employees are Not Motivated or Empowered

A number of managers erroneously believe that innovation will prove to be more of a hindrance than a help in the
company when it comes to employees focus, fearing that innovation will distract them from their daily duties. As a
result, employees are not empowered to innovate. Employees need the freedom to take risks and/or try new ideas but
this internal innovation cannot be accomplished without the support of managers and other leadership.

When employees do feel empowered, they also need motivation. Employee motivation for the sake of innovation can
come in many forms, including contests, incentive programs for inventors or simply time set aside for unstructured
employee innovation.
Innovation Takes Place in One Group Alone

Many organizations delegate the role of innovation to one functional group, such as product development or research
& development. Some fall into the myth that the most innovative ability lies in one functional group which is a
hindrance to organizational innovation. Each department within an organization offers unique perspectives on
problems. By failing to adequately use all of the resources in an organization, leaders who opt for tasking only one
functional group with the role of innovation are at risk of losing out on truly successful organizational innovation.

Lack of Collaboration

The key to innovation is collaboration – both internally and externally. Customers, industry partners and competitors
can all be put to use to drive a company’s innovation forward in the industry.

Missed Customer Connections

Customer feedback is incredibly important when it comes to innovative success. Customer empathy is a must-have
for all businesses in order to truly understand changes in demand, while reaching for the goal to meet future trends.
Stay on top of listening for customer feedback and you will find an organizational roadmap for problems that need to
be solved next.

WHAT MOTIVATES INNOVATION

Imagine you're a part of a design team that just spent thousands of dollars developing a smartphone application that
was met with a resounding, ''No thanks.'' No one is buying or using your app. In essence, you have just wasted a lot
of time and money to be told, ''Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the
designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business
success.'' –Tim Brown, President and CEO of IDEO

People Desirability
People desirability asks the question, ''Is there a place for this product or service in the market?'' Navigating
whether or not your customers desire a product or whether there is a market for it is the first innovation challenge
that design teams must contend with. Understanding the desirability of your product or service is knowing whether it
solves a customer need or not. If it does not, it may be nice to have, but it won't be desirable.
When Toyota launched its Prius worldwide in 2000, it was desirable to consumers for several reasons. First, its gas
efficiency meant filling up at the pump less, making it cheaper for its owners to operate. Second, it is kinder to the
environment, reducing pollutants released into the air. Those two traits alone (and there are others) made the hybrid
a desirable vehicle for many.

Business Viability
When we're talking about business viability, we're asking, ''Should we do this? Is it sustainable?'' Yes, design
thinking is about focusing on solving customers' needs, but if it costs too much or takes too long to create, is it a
smart business decision? Business viability is concerned with making sure that an innovative idea fits with a
company's business goals and can be accomplished both in terms of the money it costs to create and the time it takes
to produce.
For example, if a company is creating a new way for consumers to receive their prescriptions, but the cost for the
new system is prohibitive to the consumers themselves, is the solution viable? Or, will the company have a lot of
money and time in designing a new prescription program that only a handful of consumers will be able to afford?

Technical Feasibility
Technical feasibility simply asks, ''Will this idea work?'' Does your team or your company have the processes,
resources, skills and tools to make this product or service feasible for your organization? For example, an
automobile manufacturer probably isn't going to undertake creating a meal kit system delivered to consumers' homes
every week. Why? Because they don't have the processes or resources available to make that a worthwhile
investment. A company that deals solely in automotive parts does not have the expertise to take on a project better
suited for the food industry.

HOW INNOVATION HELPS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Innovation is basically the replacement or improvement of something. Innovation is the particular instrument of
entrepreneurs with the help of which an individual exploits the changes as a chance for a different business. An Innovative
Entrepreneur is one who has the ability to tackle to produce innovative products to meet the market's demands and trends.
Innovation in Entrepreneur plays a role in many ways like in:

1. Creative Development
Innovation enhances the nature, creativity, and design thinking process of a brand. A new business can attain the height
of success by learning the steps of creativeness. Innovation in Entrepreneurship can open the doors of various opportunities
by helping the business to keep up with the current trends.

2. Persistent Improvement
Innovation gives organizational durability when you are making continual improvements. A good entrepreneur will realize
the importance of innovation, which will help in increasing the creativity of business.

3. Reinforcing Your Brand

The process of development branding discloses the details, which helps the HR innovation leaders to learn different ways
of being more innovative. This thing is highly crucial because it is among the main drivers for triumph.

4. Making the best of your existing products

We know that for an entrepreneur, it is important to introduce new products but more than that, to maintain the innovation
culture making the best of old products is more important.
Improvement of existing products can help a company in increasing their efficiency, profits, etc. With the help of
enhancing the design thinking process and with continuous innovative improvements, a company can attract better staff,
improving a business's health.

5. Responding to Trends and Competition

HR innovation responds to the current success and current needs and focuses on predicting future trends. With the help of
innovation in entrepreneurship, responding to future trends can help an entrepreneur's business to come with solutions to
make their business grow more.

6. Having a Unique Selling Point

Consumers generally consider innovation culture as something that adds some interesting values to its products.
Innovation in entrepreneurship can add advantages that can help the company in getting positive exposure.

7. The Use of Social Media

With social media's help in an organization's innovation campaign, one can attract a wide range of ideas using social
media. Social can be proved great for motivating, managing, and getting focused on your business.
Social media can help a business to know what are the basic needs of customers, and we can improve our products to
fulfill their demands to make our business grow progressively.

STEPS OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Innovation Management: “Innovation management” thus refers to handling of all the activities needed to “introduce
something new”, which in practice means things like coming up with ideas, developing, prioritizing and implementing
them, as well as putting them into practice, for example by launching new products, or by introducing new internal
processes.

By simply looking at the definition, it’s easy to demystify the term. Innovation management is simply the process of
coming up with and introducing new things and developing the business, one way or the other. A systematic approach
for generating, prioritizing, evaluating and validating new ideas, as well as putting them into practice.

Types of innovation:
PRODUCT INNOVATION: APPLE, FACEBOOK
PROCESS INNOVATION: AMAZON
MARKETING INNOVATION: BURGER KING
ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION: GOOGLE

Steps of Innovation Management:

Innovation management is the process of implementing a strategy around innovation. It involves creating conditions
for growth and gives businesses the power to influence their innovation outcomes.

Steps

The innovation management process has become an important part of the operations of many businesses, as the
recognition of the importance of initiatives towards innovation has become much more common.
That said, while many companies do attempt to have a solid approach to creativity and innovation, too few actually
focus on it as a single function. Instead, they seem to hold many separate activities in isolation, such as brainstorming
sessions, pilot projects and campaigns, and vague communication with the market, and simply keep fingers crossed
that it will come together in the end. While this has worked for some in the past, it is far from the ideal way of
performing this important task. Instead, the best way to accomplish this is to have a set innovation activities which
integrates the activity into the regular cycle of your business. The list below shows the phases in innovation
management process, which will help your organization to put it all together as one process.

Setting the goals for the process

Innovation always begins with a goal in mind. It is many times based on finding the solution to a problem. Once you
have this goal, it should be discussed among everyone in the problem solving team. This team may consist of you and
another person, a group of people, or may even be all of your organization’s employees. It may involve others such as
your customers (who can provide suggestions and feedback based on their own experience with your product or
service) or other stakeholders in the business. When you establish the team for this process, make sure that you have
someone representing all the parts of the process from start to the end.
Cooperation
The innovation team should work together so that instead of trying to come up with an idea separately, they can bounce
ideas off one another and create a collaborative solution. This can include the use of online tools, attendance of events
such as trade shows that can be inspiring and informative, or simply consist of brainstorming sessions. You
might consider having a trained business coach facilitating the discussions. There are many online tools available for
real-time document sharing that might help teams that are geographically separated to still have intense cooperation.
Combination of ideas
Once the ideas are in, choose the best ones and then consider whether they can be combined to create an even greater
idea. Often, strong ideas will be complementary to one another and will join well to create an even better result. As
you know, the whole result can be bigger than its individual parts. And for this combination to work well, you need
representatives of all parties involved in the process, because they for sure have ideas that people from other
departments could not come up with. Business coaches may be useful here for making sure that all the angles of
innovative aspect are covered.
Evaluation of innovation
This is an important and yet all too frequently overlooked aspect of the innovation management process. When the
best ideas have been combined, fine-tuned, and polished, it is time to subject them to evaluation based on peer reviews.
This helps to ensure that any ideas that have a promising veneer but that are poorly thought out will be identified
before resources, funding and time have been poured into them. It also helps to select the ideas with the greatest
potential from among several that appear equally capable of being successful. It is cheap to change your innovation at
this stage compared to later stages. Each step you take forward will cost you more…
Testing the ideas
Once the ideas with the greatest potential have been identified, they can be tested so that they can be better developed.
One of the most common means of testing a product or service idea is to create a prototype or test group. This allows
the team, as well as customers and investors to have a better look at how the product will function and what changes
can be made to it so that it will be even further improved. Make sure that the product or service not only raises interest
but is able to generate orders also. If people say that they are interested in it, then ask them if they give you the order
right away.
Execution of innovation implementation
The ideas that survive the testing process can be further developed and altered until they are ready to be executed as a
part of the business offerings. The execution of implementation is a step that is unique to your business and, unless
your new product causes you to have to drastically alter the typical way that your go-to-market strategy functions,
then this part of the innovation management process should be relatively commonplace in your organization. It should
be easier for you to move from testing to execution if you were able to generate orders already in testing phase.
Assessment of innovation life-cycle
After the execution of an idea, its implementation needs to be carefully monitored and assessed in terms of a number
of milestones that should be set. Should a milestone not be reached, then changes will need to be made or the idea will
need to be shut down. Remember to keep always customer in your mind also in execution phase and design your
measuring systems so that they measure added value for the customer (you get what you measure and customers
weight you based on that!).

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IDEA MANAGEMENT

1. Definition and concept: Idea management is the systematic and structured process of generating, capturing,
organising, discussing, developing, evaluating, and implementing ideas to push them to their fullest potential,
generally using an idea management software. To keep it simple – idea management is an organized procedure of
gathering great ideas, identifying the best of them, sorting valuable insights and implementing them within the
organization. Ideas can be about implementing new products, ways to improve business processes, cost savings,
maximize efficiencies and more. Gathering ideas can be done via multiple processes. Idea management is a core part
of building a culture of innovation within a business. Not only can idea management contribute significantly to
productivity and profitability, but it also leads to higher levels of staff engagement. Idea management technology helps
organizations to gather ideas from all employees, evaluate them and bring them to market faster than ever before.

3. Types of Idea Management models

Centralized Model: Centralization in any business organization is the spotlight of pre-eminence and control which
lies in the hands of very few people. Typically, this model is utilized by organizations with less than 200 employees.
In this model, employees bring up new ideas against the business challenges posed and place them into a transparent
system. Top core team of organization will then be notified of the idea posted. After basic evaluation of the idea, core
team and respective employee work collectively to advance it further. If an idea I sn’t appropriate, then the no-go
decision is announced to employee automatically using the idea management system by changing the status against it.
Once an idea is accepted by panel members, the idea may be developed as an ongoing/existing project. The project
lead will be made responsible for updating the status of the idea to the respective employee. If the idea development
involves gateways where additional choices need approval from the core committee of the organization, there will be
trigger back in an idea management tool to them. The core committee people, as well as project supervisor, are
responsible for the project implementation, monitoring the outcomes and making decisions about how to additionally
improve it.

Decentralized Model: This is similar to the centralized model and used by companies with 200-500 employees, but
the only real difference is that there is no core committee making decisions about the ideas. Decision making
responsibility is moved over to the head of operations/management team. The managers/lead of idea management
team is provided with all the necessary resources, aiding faster decision making and taking a calculated leap. Generally,
these managers/leads don’t take the final action all alone, they seek domain experts advice. Hence they formulate their
own expert panel board or quickly ask for an expert opinion to undergo development process. Key responsibilities of
the executives are mainly to monitor the flow of ideas, measure the outcomes and convey the information to the
managers about potential challenges and opportunities for improvement.

Advantages:

• Relieves the top management from day to day problem-solving.

• Lower level executives are exposed to local conditions and stand a better chance of making effective decisions.

• More sense of ownership as decentralization involves the delegation of responsibility and the associated
decision-making powers across various levels in the organization.

• Operational independence.

• Make fewer mistakes with more transparency.

Hybrid Model: The hybrid model is the combination of centralized and decentralized models. It is used by companies
larger than 500 employees and also by smaller companies that have a large portfolio of projects. In such organizations,
ideas usually originate at 2 different levels i.e., organisational level and product level. These ideas need handling in a
different way. One panel or committee for decision processing simply doesn’t cut it for all the different ideation needs.
There will be a need for different decision-making panels to decide on new product ideas and general idea management
to process organizational development ideas. When the organization has separate ideation tracks, there will be
dedicated processing members or core group to look after different tracks. Different tracks get executed in different
processes like their ideation meetings and the development procedures. They should be defined in a way to match their
respective local conditions. A true hybrid model allows organizations to effectively combine the merits of individual
and team approaches.
What Is Idea Management Software?

Idea management software is a tool which helps companies to gather ideas from their employees, evaluate those ideas
and deploy them to the market faster and increase productivity. They promote a decentralized innovation culture within
the organization. Idea management software is a web-based platform to gather ideas. Because it is web-based, it can
enable the organizations to collect, share and evaluate ideas at a speed never before with flexibility. Employees need
to be involved in idea management processes and this software offer a strategic procedure and workflow to ensure
only the best ideas are captured and implemented quickly. These new Web-based applications enable companies to
solicit targeted ideas from all employees — regardless of their geographic location — and gather them into a
centralized online database. Idea management systems also provide structured processes for evaluating and sharing
ideas, so managers can quickly zero in on those with the greatest potential. As innovation grows in importance as a
competitive advantage, idea management systems are poised to become the catalyst that can help companies to
compete at levels never before possible.

Using idea management software, you can

• Gather all thoughts and ideas from your employees.

• Analyze and evaluate each idea.
• Shortlist the best ideas along with top level representatives.
• Track how different ideas are progressing.

Examples: Infinity, Canny, Confluence, Miro, Crowdicity, Aha, Codigital, IdeaBox, Rever, IdeaNote, HypeInnovation

Evolution of Idea Management System

Historically, many large companies have relied upon suggestion box systems to gather ideas from their employees.
But these systems often suffered from a number of common shortcomings, such as these:

• Because they weren’t usually focused on specific business goals, suggestion box systems tend to attract a small
volume of low-quality ideas

• Once an employee submitted an idea, he or she usually never learned what became of it. As a result, employees
often became cynical, and would no longer contribute their ideas to the program.

• Paper-based suggestion box systems made it hard to ensure that all ideas were evaluated on a timely basis and
a consistent manner.

In contrast, idea management software tools are designed to help organizations focus their employees on specific
business issues. This tends to result in a larger quantity of very high quality ideas. Also, because today’s idea
management systems are powered by databases, setting up and managing a closed-loop evaluation process — which
automatically reminds evaluators of upcoming deadlines and unevaluated ideas — is much easier to set up and
administer. Idea management systems also share some common roots with knowledge management systems — Web-
based technologies that help organizations to capture, share and leverage their collective knowledge, expertise and
wisdom. But many companies that have implemented knowledge management systems are finding it hard to measure
their bottom-line impact. Because they track ideas from inception to implementation, idea management systems make
it much easier to track key metrics, including the percentage of ideas submitted vs. those that have been implemented,
and the estimated cost savings or new revenues generated by ideas that the company has implemented.
BENEFITS of IDEA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Gather ideas from employees: They encourage accumulating ideas from employees in all divisions with idea
management software. Encouraging everyone to share their thoughts in an organization can frequently increase the
count of ideas and give more potential ideas to gain organizational development. They focus on employees’ creative
efforts around specific organizational goals and objectives. Research shows that when employees are asked to generate
ideas or suggestions around a specific business problem or objective, the quantity and quality of ideas tends to increase
significantly. Employees can quickly jot down the germ of an idea, and then return to the system later to add details
to their new creation. Interestingly Idea management systems collect ideas from all areas of the organization, not just
specialized departments like R&D and marketing.

Faster and more efficient ideation & evaluation: Idea management software can speed up the ideation process by
identifying blockages and bottlenecks in the thinking process. In fast-paced businesses, ideation often takes a backseat
to more pressing daily demands - especially for managers and executive leadership. By automating and standardizing
the ideation process, an idea management software makes it less likely for projects to stagnate. This software isn’t just
helpful for the early stages of idea generation, either: it also makes idea evaluation faster and more efficient. This
makes it easier for decision-makers to prioritize their best ideas, saving time, money, and effort. Idea management
software is also a lifesaver for project management, as it sets strict deadlines for input, sends automated reminders
when these deadlines are approaching, and makes sure key tasks (such as problem definition) are completed on time.

More diverse and divergent thinking: Even in businesses with a true depth of creativity and practical know-
how, groupthink can still be a real risk. If employees or members of an organization get a little too comfortable with
the status quo, they can lose their ability to contribute true aha moments. By guiding and prompting new and different
ideas, idea management software can help businesses of all kinds to break out of this rut and drive innovation forward.
It might sound counter-intuitive, but having a more structured approach to ideation can encourage a more diverse and
divergent range of thinking.

Collboration and idea sharing: Idea management software helps employees share their imaginative thoughts with
the people in an organization as well as comment on other ideas or add on or even acquire knowledge by viewing
others ideas. Idea management software is an open tool, where employees can work cooperatively to enhance each
other’s thoughts. Enabling your employees to work collaboratively on ideas can help shape ideas using peer review
processes into more complete, compelling solutions. Many of these Web-based idea management tools allow
employees at multiple locations to share best practices quickly, around the country or around the world! Other idea
management tools employ online discussion areas and other forms of collaboration to help employees “build” existing
ideas into more powerful solutions. For companies that have multiple offices or locations, idea management systems
enable them to quickly and cost-effectively share ideas and best practices that have been used successfully at one
location with other locations. This allows them to multiply the bottom-line benefit of a single cost-saving idea many
times over. Usually, corporate locations or divisions operate like silos, rarely sharing information, ideas and best
practices. Web-based idea management systems can be accessed via any computer with an Internet connection, from
anywhere in the world, vastly simplifying the transfer of valuable ideas and best practices across geographical and
organizational barriers.

Greater transparency: By placing ideas in a shared repository, idea management systems promote greater
transparency. Employees can see the outcome of all of the ideas they have submitted, which increases their enthusiasm
for and participation in idea campaigns. Also, these database-driven tools make it easier to measure how much each
implemented idea has contributed to the firm’s bottom line. This makes it easier, in turn, to reward employees who
have contributed winning ideas. With transparency of the idea, employees get encouraged and can improve thoughts
through feedback. It also helps increase employees engagement and empowers them to proactively work together on
enhancing ideas in an open system.

They help companies to increase their speed to market. Idea management systems help companies to capitalize on
their best ideas faster. They do so by providing a structured process for evaluating ideas and selecting the best for
implementation, and by providing a set of checks and balances to make sure the all ideas are promptly reviewed and
evaluated.

They can be used in many types of common corporate applications. Idea management systems not only provide a
valuable tool set for developing new product and service ideas, but can also catalyze greater results from corporate
cost-reduction initiatives. You can also invite outside partners, such as suppliers, dealers and joint venture partners, to
contribute ideas on a secure extranet site.

Gain A Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Idea management software enables the organization to progress
quickly by accumulating and evaluating ideas productively and enable the organization to gain a sustainable
competitive edge. With more ideas, idea management software helps the organization recognize, develop the idea with
more potential and capitalize ideas quickly to increase business productivity.

2. Is idea management the same as innovation management?

Idea management and innovation management are distinct but related processes. They might sound similar, but they’re
separate concepts. Every innovation starts from an idea, so without them, there won’t be innovation. An idea
management process is vital for turning potential ideas into successful innovations.

• Innovation management refers to the ways in which companies develop new concepts and suggestions that
may benefit them.

• Idea management can include things beyond innovation. For example, businesses need a way to manage
existing ideas, and to test whether they’re still fit-for-purpose.

For example, let’s say you’re working on developing a product roadmap. With innovation management software,
you could seek input from a pool of innovators on this roadmap and could channel the best new concepts to improve
the working draft. But With idea management software, you could capture all of your existing thinking as it relates
to the roadmap, and could examine and test this thinking to determine which ideas you should retain, and which may
be outdated.

Innovation Management is the process of managing a company’s innovation procedure, all the way from the initial
stage of formation of ideas to the final stage of implementation. It comprises of activities, decisions, and practices of
coming up with and carrying out an innovation strategy. The different types of innovation that enhance business
results, can also change the business model of the company. Finding and investing in them repeatedly and nurturing
them is the key objective of innovation management. Social innovation, disruptive innovation, and technological
innovation are the most direct methods of business innovation.

“Innovation management” thus refers to handling of all the activities needed to “introduce something new”, which in
practice means things like coming up with ideas, developing, prioritizing and implementing them, as well as putting
them into practice, for example by launching new products, or by introducing new internal processes.

Innovation management refers to the systematic management of introducing anything new for the organization. As
such, it’s a vast field encompassing a wide variety of activities.

Idea management is simply one of those activities. If we look at a map of innovation management activities in the
image below (which is illustrative, but not necessarily complete), we can see that idea management is one of the core
activities there.

Idea Management is the ability to get feedback from external and internal stakeholders, for the intention of adding the
obtained feedback into product releases and future products. Practicing ideation which is the creative method of
generating, developing, and curating new ideas, is the optimal solution. It ensures that the information is complete and
ideas are prioritized.

What are the benefits of Innovation Management?

For a business to be sustainable, innovation management is pivotal.Why is it that significant?

• Continual gain in returns for shareholders

• Employees commitment and ambition is increased
• Customer satisfaction is enhanced
• Competitive edge is augmented and lasts longer
• The timing of introducing products in the market is improved
• Market share rises
• Business margins can be maintained or improved
• New markets and customers can be reached
What are the benefits of Idea Management?

Without managing and implementing good ideas, any business will go downhill. Take a look at the benefits to
understand why that can happen.

• Costs get reduced by the improvement of existing processes

• Strategic goals can be reached
• Revenue increases because new products and services
• Existing products can find new markets
• Employee engagement is improved. Employees morale increases significantly
• Faster response to customers
• Employees enhance their work process proactively
• Waste gets phased out

Conclusion

It’s hard to say which type of management is better. Innovation management and idea management add value to the
organization in both different and similar ways. In fact, both types of management tend to go hand in hand. Think
about it. You can’t innovate without ideas and vice-versa. Ideas are the foundation of innovation. With idea
management, the organization gathers ideas from everyone, structures it and selects the best. With innovation
management, generation of newer models of business, products, technologies, and services becomes streamlined.

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DIVERGENT THINKING AND CONERGENT THINKING

When it comes to problem solving and idea generation, two ways are commonly cited, namely divergent and
convergent thinking strategies. Convergent and Divergent thinking are the two opposite ends of spectrum for cognitive
approaches to solve a problem.

DIVERGENT THINKING: Divergent thinking talks about considering several solutions to a certain problem. The
term “divergent thinking” refers to that strategy of solving problems that proposes multiple possible solutions, in an
attempt to determine the one that works. It usually happens in a free-flowing, spontaneous manner, where multiple
creative ideas are engendered and evaluated. Divergence is typically signified by the capacity to produce many, or a
greater number of complicated or complex ideas from a single idea or simple triggers or ideas.

In divergent thinking, a single question returns multiple answers, and though the answers vary considerably depending
on the person, all answers are of equal value. DT is a creative process. It helps you to generate multiple possibilities.
It generally resists the accepted ways of doing things and seeks for alternatives. Therefore the possibilities are that you
generate original and unique ideas. Divergent means to diverge or to go to different directions. It is thinking outwards
instead of inwards. It starts from a common point and move outwards in diverging directions to involve a variety of
aspects or perspectives. It opens your mind to various possibilities in all directions. It has you looking for options as
opposed to choosing from a set of predetermined ones. However with divergent thinking you need to assess and
evaluate those possibilities before you make a conclusion and bring closure to a problem.

EXAMPLE: You want to travel from Kolkata to Mumbai. You are looking for options of how to get there. You may
generate several ideas like place, train, bus, car, scooter etc. that’s divergent.

Example Of Divergent Thinking

One of the best ways to teach divergent thinking to the upcoming generations is by indulging them in some creativity
that will help them nurture their divergent skills. As a class teacher, one can draw a semi-abstract drawing, and give
your students some time to find out all the different answers they can develop for what the picture might represent.
Also, for company HRs, they can make a team of 4 people and give them 3-4 different materials, and the teams have
to come up with a list of things that can be made using those items. You can be a music composer or an arranger, or
you can be the next big thing in the copywriting world. There are so many career options with divergent thinking, that
you might not need the other two thinking skills to be at their best. Divergent thinkers are the complete opposite of
convergent thinkers.

Described below are eight elements of divergent thinking:

• Complexity – The capacity to conceptualize difficult, multifaceted, many layered or intricate products or ideas;

• Curiosity – The personality characteristic of displaying probing behaviors, searching, asking questions,
learning to get more knowledge/information about something, and of being able to go deeper into ideas;

• Elaboration – The skill of adding to, building off of or embellishing a product or an idea;

• Flexibility – The capability of creating varied perceptions or categories wherefrom come a range of different
ideas pertaining to the same thing or problem;

• Fluency – The skill of engendering many ideas so as to have an increase in the number of potential solutions
or associated products;

• Imagination – The capability of dreaming up, inventing, or to think, to see, to conceptualize novel products or
ideas, to be original;

• Originality – The skill of coming up with fresh, unusual, unique, extremely different or completely new
products or ideas;
• Risk–taking – The readiness to be courageous, daring, adventuresome – take risks or experiment with new
things so as to stand apart.

The characteristics of divergent thinking involve the following:

• Instinctual: Ideas are generated in a highly spontaneous manner.

• Free-flowing: Although an answer has been found, the possibility of finding other answers is still considered.

• Complex: Concepts are multilayered and involve numerous standpoints.

CONVERGENT THINKING: Convergent thinking is said to be the problem-solving technique that helps in bringing
back together different ideas from different people who are from different fields, in an attempt to provide the single
best solution to the given problem. Convergent thinking is a problem solving technique involving the bringing together
different ideas from different participants or fields to determine a single best solution to a lucidly defined problem. In
other words, this is a kind of thinking that concentrates on finding out the single best or frequently, correct solution to
a problem or answer to a question. A vital facet of convergent thinking is that it culminates in one best answer, meaning
there is no chance for ambiguity. You either have a right answer or a wrong one. This type of thinking is also associated
with knowledge (one of the key facets of creativity) as it entails using existing knowledge by way of standard
procedures. CT stems from the word converge which means to come together. It involves putting a number of different
pieces of a topic together to find a single answer.

For example: the deductive reasoning of sherlock holmes used in solving mystery is a good example. By gathering
bits of information, he was able to put the pieces of puzzle together and come up with a logical solution of who has
done it.

Practical example of CT is when you engage in answering MCQ which has only one correct answer. This type of
thinking assumes that there is only one way of doing a particular thing. Therefore in CT you begin by focusing on a
limited number of choices as possible solutions. You choose only the correct answer. Because you are finding a single
answer. This type of thinking helps you to make a decision and bring closure to a problem.
EXAMPLE: You want to travel from kolkata to mumbai. You are looking for the fastest route to go there. You consider
several options such as a plane, bus, car, train and choose one of them as the fastest way

Standard IQ tests measure convergent thinking. Logic thought flow, pattern recognition, the capacity to solve problems
and testing knowledge can all be evaluated and graded in these tests. Standardized multiple choice questions are also
an example of testing convergent thinking. One example of such a question would be:

Who proposed the Theory of Relativity?

a. Rutherford c. Kepling
 b. Einstein d. Max Planck

The majority of school tasks also call for convergent thinking.

This type of thinking is more of analytical skill. Convergent thinking is what you engage in when you try to answer
multiple-choice questions or fill up a blank question in your exam. In this type of thinking, the main goal is to find a
single correct answer meaning, there can’t be multiple answers to the same question. It helps in better decision-making
and allows you to go deep into the problem to find its solution.
Convergent Thinking Example
Convergent and divergent are complete opposites of each other. A convergent person will only be thinking in two
ways: it could be done, or it could not be done. For example, a convergent person will only think of being healthy and
sick. There is nothing in between these two answers which he might want to choose. Just like a medical student could
only be a doctor, or he could waste his degree and be nothing. In convergent thinking, there are no second options. A
convergent mindset is what students require to crack standardized tests. As for the convergence, there are only two
colors present globally, and that is black and white.
The people who have convergent thinking skills are good at analytics, and they sort out the solutions which came from
divergent thinking.

The characteristics of convergent thinking comprise the following:

• Fast: As compared to divergent thinking, convergent thinking focuses more on speed as it aims to verify the most

direct and efficient answer in a shorter period of time.

• Precise: An accurate answer is derived after the process. This means that a certain concept may either be right or

wrong.

• Logical; A linear method is used and rational steps are taken to figure out the correct solution.

HOW ARE THEY RELATED

In theory, convergent and divergent thinking are two completely different aspects of thinking. However, they hold
more in common than one might realize. Although they are completely different in terms of the basic meaning of the
terms and how they work, the major purpose is the same. Both these thinking processes are implemented in order to
explore creativity and find solutions to different problems.

These processes tend to work best when applied in conjunction. DT seeks to generate multiple possible answers to
problems from multiple perspective, whereas CT involves finding one right answer to the problem that has a single
solution. Divergent thinking takes place in a free-flowing, spontaneous manner and creates varieties of possible
resolutions to another problem. If convergent thinking is applied then after, the very best answer can be picked out
from the multiple solutions resulted due to divergent thinking. In this manner, they are correlated.

In simple words, When faced with a problem, we need to explore differing options (divergence). Afterwards,
we narrow down our choices and decide on the “best” solution (convergence).

Once the divergent thinking stage gets completed, the information and the data of the project get structured and
organized using convergent thinking. The main ingredients of divergent thinking are freewriting and brainstorming.
Divergence ability is measured typically by producing many, or a significant number of complicated and complex
ideas. Basically CT has limited number of options while DT has multiple options.
TABLE OF COMPARISON

Convergent Thinking Divergent Thinking

The process of figuring out a concrete solution to Divergent thinking is the process of thinking
any problem is called Convergent Thinking. that explores multiple possible solutions in
order to generate creative ideas.
It’s a straight forward process that focuses on In contrast, divergent thinking refers to
figuring out the most effective answer to a opening the mind in various directions and
problem. trying out multiple solutions for a problem.
Its characteristics include Its characteristics include
▪ Speed ▪ Spontaneous
▪ Accuracy ▪ Free-flowing
▪ Logic ▪ Non-linear
Methods involved in convergent thinking also Divergent thinking relates to figuring out new
involve recognizing the previously tried out procedures to solve a problem despite existing
techniques and reapplying them along with the solutions.
readily stored information.
In mathematics, convergent refers to approaching a Divergent thinking generates its name from
definite limit in a series. the idea that there are limitless number of
solutions for any given problem, however
unrelated they might be, which are then spread
on the table to pick out the best one.
Examples: Examples:
1. Variety of tests, such as multiple choice 1. Divergent thinking wouldn’t be
tests, standardized tests, quizzes, spelling applicable in multiple choice tests or
tests and similar other tests require standardized tests, which require a
convergent thinking, because only one single absolute answer.
answer can be 100% correct. 2. A person can be both sick and healthy.
2. A convergent thinker would only regard a For instance, a man can be under great
person be either sick or healthy. stress mentally but perfectly fit
3. A medical student can be either a doctor or physically.
nothing. 3. A medical student doesn’t always have
to be either a doctor or nothing. She
could very well make a career switch in
the future and be a writer, or a painter,
and varieties of other possibilities.
Convergent thinking helps to find out the best
possible answer to any problem, which are accurate
most of the time, and no room for ambiguity is left.
The answer procured by such type of thinking is
either completely right or 100% wrong, which
might not always be the best possible way to go
about. Convergent thinking only considers the
world as Black and/or White, with no other
possibilities.
A convergent thinker is exactly what the
circumstances demand in various situations, such
as standardized tests.
Although Divergent thinking keeps the
options open, a completely accurate answer
isn’t identified.
The world isn’t always Black and/or
White, and a divergent thinker keeps the
options open.
Divergent thinker isn’t always able to pin-
point the right answer. For instance, in a
standardized aptitude test, a convergent
thinker might be able to decide the right
answer, but the contemplating mind of a
divergent thinker might work against him in
the situation.

Convergent thinking is quite linear and inwardly Divergent thinking explores various outward
centers on the strongest solution. directions that can possibly lead to a solution

Convergence considers the utilization of previous Divergence focuses on unique ideas or

techniques. original products

Convergent thinking seeks to find out the definite Divergent thinking views possible answers as
answer. limitless.

Convergent thinking sees fixed sides; something is Divergent thinking views concepts less
either black or white. rigidly; it considers the gray areas and less
certain perspectives of the solutions.

Divergent thinking is needed in figuring out

Convergent thinking is most effective in decision probable options.
making tasks

Convergent thinking dictates that there must be a In divergent thinking, the multiple answers are
certain answer with the highest value. of equal value

Convergent thinking encourages strong and clear- Divergent thinking favors intricate ideas
cut concepts.

Divergent thinkers take more risks with their

Convergent thinkers tend to be on the safer adventuresome ideas as they often like to
side by mainly considering tried and tested options. experiment and go against the flow.

Divergent thinking leans towards inductive

Deductive reasoning is followed in reasoning as ideas stem out from a main
convergent thinking as a logical answer is derived proposition.
by eliminating the other less reliable data.