Having noticed my passionate blogging about innovation in customer service, Kogan Page offered me to ship A Guide to open innovation and crowdsourcing. And yes, I promised to write my thoughts and impressions.
Open innovation and crowd sourcing are amongst the hottest topics in strategy and management in the last 5 years.
The concepts of collaboration and outsourcing are fundamental to the success of open innovation and crowd sourcing.
Having a background in system development, I believe that the the concept of capturing innovative ideas for innovation in a hub of collaboration, together with the outsourcing of tasks to a large group of people or community is a logical evolution. Quality management, system development and process management are examples of business practices that heavily depend on capturing ideas from internal or external staff members.
Does this make "A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing" less relevant for me?
Some claim that Open Innovation is just a hype. Stefan Lindegaard recently wrote why the open innovation hype is good thing. As a citizen and a customer service professional I favor anything that can convince authorities management, leadership and employees to improve and innovate. And be sure, editor Paul Sloane and the advice from leading experts like Braden Kelley, Hutch Carpenter and Andrea Meyer do deliver tips, advices and examples in a - for me - convincing way.
As stated before, Jim Collins once wrote very well: "Whether you prevail or fall, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you". Neglecting open innovation and crowd sourcing as fundamental concepts (and not limited to innovation) or acting: it is up to you.
The guide offers you to explore the field and gives examples, what challenges companies met and how they were overcome. And those who are familiar with change management of personal effectiveness approaches, may find similar approaches in some of the chapters. With the valuable extension of how these concepts can be applied more effective in a networked environment or crowd sourcing approach.
One minor flaw for me is that - being a service professional - I missed the application of crowd sourcing and innovation in the service economy, customer services or professional services.
The core
"A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing" explains how to use the power of the internet to build and innovate in order to introduce a consumer democracy that has never existed before. If a business fails to embrace it, it is at risk of being left behind. Written by an international team of eminent thinkers, writers and practitioners in the field, "A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing" covers the definition of open innovation, how to manage virtual teams and co-create with customers, how to overcome legal and IP issues and common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid. With corporate case studies and best practice advice, "A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowd Sourcing" is a vital read for anyone who wants to find innovative products and services from outside their organizations, make them work and overcome the practical difficulties that lie in the way.
My rating
4,0 stars on a scale 0-5.
This book is an accessible description of open innovation and crowd sourcings and offers instructive lessons for every business leader and professional.
Lots of cases that inspires one, presented simply. Based on the chosen approach, as a reader I enjoyed the many perspectives as outlined by all contributing experts.
This book is recommended reading for anyone who is interested in connecting to the changing context in our business world. It is then up to you how that knowledge and information will be applied by you to achieve business or professional.
