What Is Idea Management?

What Is Idea Management?

Idea Management is the process of receiving ideas from people to be able to improve business. The thoughts usually come either from customers or from employees.
But I.M. is not only receiving the ideas. It is the whole process of receiving, prioritizing and implementing ideas.
Some companies use a letter box to receive ideas from their employees. Sometimes they take the papers they receive and sort them in order of priority and sometimes they put them into an Idea Management Software to make sure they have everything stored. Some companies use the Idea Management Software for collecting ideas from the employees and let them follow the progress of the idea through the system. When using the idea management software towards the customers some companies use the voting functionality, having customers adding ideas and then let everyone vote for the ideas to see which ideas are most popular to implement.


The main issue that organizations get into are however that they have not thought through the strategy around what to do with the ideas before starting to collect them. Most companies have a great intention, but managing ideas and rejecting ideas in the right way is not always easy since you have to consider the psychology around keeping people inspired even though their ideas are not chosen. It is also common for companies to collect ideas and then not have time to do anything at all about them. This is usually one good way to make employees dissatisfied at work.
If you have decided to receive ideas from your personnel it is a great idea to create a small project of it. You will have to define what scope the ideas should be within. As always it is good to clarify the scope by defining the boundaries.
Since ideas can be anything from where to celebrate Christmas to creating new products to market there will of course involve different amount of complexity around the process after receiving the idea. An example of how you can do for a bit larger idea projects is described in this article.


The ideas should be handed in by a specific date and an idea management group should be assigned to go through the ideas and recommend the best ideas to the decision makers. The best thing is to bring all ideas into an Idea Management Software to make sure that all ideas are stored for future opportunities. I would hesitate to bring in budget too much in the idea management process if the scope isn't something like a restaurant visit, a trip or so. Most people have less knowledge of all costs involved so bringing in the money aspect into larger ideas tend to destroy the inspiration.
When the best ideas should be presented they should be done so by the employees who came up with the ideas. They should, before presenting the ideas, create a professional presentation and bring in issues around implementing the ideas, such as risks, some ideas around costs, etc.
Having the originator of the idea presenting the idea and what it can do to the company is a great way of encouraging the personnel to do even better work in the company.
When the idea is about to be implemented it should first be tested to make sure it is possible to implement. Ideas can sometimes look good on the drawing board but very hard to implement and costly to market.
Of course the person who came up with the idea should be part of the implementation in some way. Not necessarily in an active position but at least in a passive supportive position.
After having verified that the idea is possible to market and be a part of the organization it is time to start launching. A launch can be for the organisation as well as for customers since an idea can be for internal as well as external use.


I always encourage recognition for ideas that are implemented. Having a person involved in the whole process of realising the idea is one type of recognition but sometimes it can be really nice with a diploma for "Best Idea of the month" and a dinner for two or something similar. This kind of recognition is a cost-effective way of having people more involved in the business and make work a challenging part of their overall life instead of a must.
I also believe to encourage people to come up with ideas even though they might be totally crazy and hard to realise. This is why I usually don't remove thoughts from the Management Software but rather set a lower priority or set the in a state as "thoughts for the future." This is an important part of not making people discouraged because their idea might not be chosen.

Mattias Lind is CEO at Buissy.com Ltd, The B2B Market Place for Business Software that includes business software for numerous categories and offers the possibility for purchasers to find software and also compare software that suits their company the best.

All the Good Features of the Dell 1235 Printer

All the Good Features of the Dell 1235 Printer

Have you ever faced a scenario when you are in dire need of printing something important and the printer just gave up on you? This scenario is common even in the most reliable and well known printer brands. Because of this, Dell has continually made their printers user friendly so that it does not take an expert to solve minor problems. With common Dell printers, solutions have been posted online to guide consumers though those minor problems. It is also important to choose the Dell printer that is most suited to your needs to avoid encountering problems.


Laser printers are very much in demand nowadays. If you are a person using a printer for the office, the Dell 1235 printer will most likely suit your office needs. The Dell 1235 is known for its multi tasking multi function features. No wonder when the Dell 1235 came out on the market, it generated a loud buzz amongst consumers about its rich features.
The Dell 1235 printer is one of the most attractive printers on the market today. Designed in sleek black, graceful curves and polished look. It is small and compact and has a footprint of seventy three millimeters by fourteen millimeters. This Dell printer is multi functional because it can do a wide range of tasks. In addition to printing it can copy, scan, as well as send and receiving faxes.

The right toner will determine the crisp and clear printing quality output. Printing takes 17 ppm for monochrome, 4 ppm for color with a resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi. The machine comes with a 360 MHz processor to ensure that a task is completed quickly. It utilizes 2 MB for fax memory so images are stored immediately unless deleted after use. Dell 1235 can also handle various types of print medium. The 1235 comes with a document feeder and can accommodate 150 sheets in its printer tray and 80 sheets on its output tray.

Gone are the days of monochrome faxing. Dell 1235 allows users to receive color fax at the speed of 33.6 kbps. This machine can also be connected through Ethernet and a high speed USB port is on hand to accommodate flash drives and PictBridge connections. With these standalone features, you do not need to turn on the computer to print your pictures or documents. Just insert your flash drive and you can print immediately. Enjoy the SmarThruOffice scan application which assists you when you print, scan, help organize, convert to text and file your document. SmarThru simply gives you a default folder to save your documents. It works with Windows Explorer when moving your scans to your chosen folder.
The LCD display is easy to understand showing status messages as to the number of copies, size, reduced, or enlarged. On the right, there are also the special function keys for printing, scanning, copying, and sending or receiving a fax. You can also find the number pad for fax dialing and the button to push to start or stop a task like print, copy, and fax.
If you need a versatile yet affordable printer for your office or home to meet your various printing needs, Dell 1235 printer is very likely the best machine for you.

QToner
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Why Did My Hard Drive Crash?

Why Did My Hard Drive Crash?

As a Field Service Tech I'm often asked "what caused my hard drive to fail?" To add to the confusion, when we think of the word "hard drive" we think: durable consumer items like our cars and washing machines that can last a very long time. So naturally something called a hard drive should, in our minds also last a very long time and you should never experience a hard drive crash! What's really unreasonable is replacing a fairly new unit that has failed. But the number one question from customers often sadly is: "what about all my photos and my information?" And when I ask whether they've backed up their hard drive, too often I get a blank, ghastly stare down. Everything gone and it could have been prevented with a back up plan.


What causes failure? Can it be prevented?
It's the old saying: there are two kinds of hard drives, those that haven't failed and those that have.
It nearly goes without saying that viruses and malware can attack and ultimately doom your hard drive so be sure you have a good anti-virus, anti-malware software on your computer to recognize threats in advance and work toward keeping you safe on the net. Look for products that can advise you of when upgrades/updates are available so you can always have the latest threat deterrents.
In the process of handling literally billions of bits of information electronically every second it's turned on, it's easy for a hard drive to become disrupted by even the smallest outside electrical influences such as your cell phone, some loud speakers, magnets and also fluctuations in the power supply from your utility but of course sudden power spikes and complete outages. USB's, computer jargon for Un-interruptable Power Supplies provide a continuous and "clean" power supply for your computer. Even the very smallest can begin shut down procedures for your computer in a power failure to help prevent hard drive and other power outage issues that computers can have.

Finally one of the many ways your hard drive can be damaged is simply old fashioned wear and tear, fatigue and accidents! Liquids introduced into the drive, dropping a computer accidentally and so on can damage your hard drive. The fix for this is simple, be careful with your machine when moving it and setting it up, and make yourself a rule about drinks near it - try not to! At least have a lid on your drink and when using a laptop keep the drink as far away as possible to avoid oopsies!
Most of these are really common sense easy maintenance for these tiny metal discs spinning upwards of seven thousand five hundred times every second! And storing virtually all the knowledge of mankind in the palm of your hand! However sometimes they fail for no particular reason at all so be sure you have some sort of a Hard Disc Drive Back Up Preparation sooner.

George Ferris is an A+ Certified Computer Technician with over 20 years experience in the field