Most businesses understand that, in order to remain relevant, they must innovate and change and stay ahead of the competition. It is now possible to purchase crowdsourcing software tools, which are designed to make this entire process a lot easier and more manageable, while also being more transparent.One of the reasons why many businesses still don’t use these opportunities, however, is due to fear of the unknown. They simply don’t know what to expect from this type of software or what kind of ideas they can receive.
Ideas Likely to Be Generated through Crowdsourcing Software Tools
Some examples of ideas that have been generated by using this type of tool include:
- A partnership between two companies that allow the creation of a cooperative data centre. The two companies hold their resources into a singular data centre, thereby increasing both companies’ storage capacities while reducing costs at the same time.
- Recycling trays on the desks of employees with one side pieces of paper. This means that, before a piece of paper is shredded, it can be used again by using the blank side. This may seem like a very small idea, but it is huge in the fight towards creating paperless offices.
- Small electric heaters for truck drivers. Truckers will tell you that, if they have to drive in the winter, they will often keep their engines running to remain warm if they are at a stop. This increases fuel costs and also has a huge ecological impact and is a main reason as to why the carbon footprint of trucking companies is so high. While the initial investment in small electric heaters was high, the company quickly saw a return on investment because of the reduction in fuel costs. Meanwhile, the whole planet is grateful as well.
- Bubble wrapping items instead of using cardboard boxes. Bubble wrap is lighter than cardboard, which means that companies could save significant amount of money on there shipping costs while at the same time ensuring there packages are safely wrapped.
- Cell phone pools instead of offering every employee their own cell phone. This meant that people simply took a cell phone when they required one, instead of the business having to pay for contracts for each employee even if they weren’t used. In this example, the cell phone count was reduced by 70%, which is a tremendous saving of overall costs.
- Fitting webcams on computers in government agencies. Often, governmental department have to work together but cannot be in the same building. This means a lot of time is lost when employees have to travel between buildings and this has also been shown to have a negative impact on overall morale. Instead, computers are now fitted with webcams, thereby reducing the need for as many dedicated phone lines as well.
- Reducing working weeks to 35 hours and reducing salaries accordingly. While the idea of reducing salaries is one that employers will believe is never welcomed, the reality is that most employees will gladly accept it if it also means working fewer hours.
