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about brainstorm exchange

stumped? need new ideas? lacking innovation?

Let's say that you own or manage a smaller company. You're looking for ideas about how to improve your products or services. Your customers could probably point you in the right direction. How do you tap into all the ideas that they could come up with? Now shift gears and imagine the last great idea that came to you while you were shopping, or using some product. Probably it was how to make that product or service better - at least for you. What did you do with that idea? Did you contact the company and let them know about your breakthrough? Probably not. This is not your fault - there is just no good way to suggest improvements to products or services, and no incentive for you.

Innovation is not just new products. New products and features are easily copied, and any gains from their introduction can quickly evaporate. Innovation is more solidly how a company does the things that count. Are there costs to be wrung from innovations in shipping, packaging, ordering, materials handling, and other back office activities? Most definitely. Who is in a position to identify where those savings might occur? Customers, employees, and suppliers. Customers can identify what, when, where and how they would like to purchase, employees can identify savings in steps, recycling options, and missed or forgotten opportunities, and suppliers can identify how a company can most efficiently and cost effectively acquire their own offerings. What company wouldn't want to tap this vast pool of knowledge?

Brainstorm exchange gives you, companies of all sizes and even non-profits, an easy to use, very affordable solution to solicit and collect ideas from customers, suppliers, employees, and other companies. It also gives you an outlet for those great ideas for improving products and services, with the incentive that you may be rewarded for your contribution.

Brainstorm exchange works by linking people with ideas. Brainstorms can be started on any topic by anyone. Those who start brainstorms set out how they will reward contributors of ideas with cash, discounts, merchandise, contracts, etc. Contributors then suggest innovations and build on ideas already contributed, using the tools built into brainstorm exchange to stimulate their thought processes. Contributors may also assign a rating to ideas to give the sponsor of the brainstorm custom feedback linked to each idea. Joining brainstorm exchange to contribute ideas is free.

open brainstorms

If you are interested in attracting the widest possible audience and generating the broadest diversity of ideas, then you should start an open brainstorm. Open brainstorms are open to all members of the brainstorm exchange community for comment and contribution.

invitational brainstorms

If you are interested in limiting the contributors to your brainstorm to those that you have specifically invited, then you should start an invitational brainstorm. You won't attract the broadest diversity of ideas, but will retain control over who is contributing. These contributors, who must register as members of brainstorm exchange, can be your clients, customers, suppliers, employees, or other who are at least initally familiar what you are trying to accomplish or have some relevant experience that you deem valuable. Other members of the brainstorm exchange community can request invitations to participate, which you may extend, at your discretion.

brainstorm accounts

• Basic open brainstorms are free.
• Access to tools to stimulate thought.
• Collect ratings on submitted ideas.
• Tap latent employee knowledge.
• Get input from suppliers.
• Capture customer and user feedback.
• Contributors can submit pictures, graphics and images (up to 2MB).
• Present challenges to contributors.
• Generate support for back-office innovations.
• Get employee buy-in on initiatives.
• Communicate critical issues on strategies and vision.
• Generate awareness of world of ideas.
• Solicit a diversity of ideas.
• Build on submitted ideas.
• Initiate brainstorming campaigns.
• Allows submission of ideas at any time.
• Contributing to a brainstorm is free.

If you would like to start an invitational brainstorm or would like to remove the banner ads from your open brainstorm, there is a license of $14.95 per brainstorm per month.