A recent Forrester Research claims that more than 50% of online consumers are willing to participate in online communities, where they can contribute opinions and insights for product development.
Similarly, the employee community can, and will be able to contribute much more to their organization’s development through a common social medium. Social networking through community tools was introduced to take this idea forward and to create that ‘social climate’ for employees to share their views and concerns in a common podium.
In today’s tough global economy, it has become imperative to be innovative in order to remain competitive. Creating community tools that can be effectively used to encourage employee participation and eventually aim to fulfill the needs of innovation management is a great initiative that companies can take.
Employee participation and involvement in the organizational innovation drive can create new opportunities for employee ideas to be implemented, thereby increasing the overall employee satisfaction index within the organization. So it becomes imperative to plan out strategies that can foster this kind of employee involvement and participation in the organizational decision making process.
Community tools aid this process of employee participation and, can be effectively utilized to encourage and enhance value add to the
innovation management process. These tools can help assimilate, assess and choose ideas that can make a difference to the ongoing organizational developmental process.
Community tools have a dedicated platform that helps to add new ideas and assess those of peers. They enable the user (i.e. the employee) to see the progress of ideas through the company's innovation pipeline. They are best utilized for employees to connect with likeminded colleagues and discuss ideas and concerns. They aid in leveraging employee energy and ingenuity in the right manner for organizational development.
An employee is like a treasure and if utilized well can be a great asset to the organization. Community tools help realize this vision and aid in increasing overall innovation, efficiency and eventually, revenue for the organization.
