8 Tools to Crowdsource Business Solutions and Ideas

If they say 2 heads are better than one, I wonder what a community of heads will make.

Crowdsourcing, which means using ‘crowds’ to ‘source’ solutions to your problems, uses this simple concept to bring forth great ideas.

James Surowiecki said in his fascinating book, “The wisdom of crowds” that large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant. Together, they are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions and even predicting the future.

Companies today are crowdsourcing to develop new technologies, design advertising campaigns, analyze data and solve business problems. It represents a highly effective and cheap alternative to fulfill an almost limitless variety of business needs.

Over here, I have collected 8 tools that can help your business leverage on the wisdom of crowds.

1. InnoCentive

Solves Your Problems

InnoCentive is based on a simple idea: if a firm cannot solve a problem on its own, why not use the reach of the Internet to see if someone else can?

This resulted in the establishment of the world’s first Open Innovation Marketplace with a global network of more than 180,000 problem solvers (trust me, they are real good at what they do).

Among all, “you can find engineers, scientists, inventors, and business people with expertise in life sciences, engineering, chemistry, math, computer science, and entrepreneurship.”

Companies can post their challenges on the InnoCentive website, and offer registered Solvers significant financial awards for the best solutions. “Solvers” compete to win cash “prizes” offered by the companies.

Around 900 challenges have been posted so far by about 150 firms, including big multinationals such as Procter & Gamble.

2. Chaordix

Brings Business Innovation