When we approach any project or initiative with a client, the first questions typically asked (if no customer information has been given) are: What are your customers saying and are you listening to what they have to say? And while it seems very marketing 101, the reality is that most companies are not.

Enter “IdeaStorming” — tools that have the ability to harness your customers’ ideas.

(For the sake of being a “lab rat” for this post, we setup our own IdeaStorm — within 5 minutes — using UserVoice at hartinc.uservoice.com. It is a free version that allow up to 100 votes per month.)

This is certainly not a new idea by any stretch. Dell found popular success with their own IdeaStorm website, which basically allowed customers to vote for features and products that they wanted. One of the results was the development and release of the Linux community-driven UBUNTO box.

Starbucks did something similar with its My Starbucks Idea website, where they asked customers to help shape the future of the company through ideas. Adobe is also in with their idea sites at http://ideas.acrobat.com and http://ideas.adobe.com powered by Brightidea.com software. Both Starbucks and Dell used the Salesforce.com platform “Ideas.”

What’s exciting about this new era of brand building are the possibilities. How much faster product and service innovation can occur, and how quickly companies can react to issues. But I think it’s important to point out: while it’s one thing for a company to be open to these possibilities (including spearheading communities of thought and voices), it’s quite another to be able to support it from an infrastructure standpoint.

It is obvious that Dell and Starbucks were ready to deliver from a service and product engineering standpoint. They put ideas into action and they show it. Starbucks shares via its Ideas In Action blog. Dell has an Ideas In Action community portal as well.

So let’s take it a step further. In a 2000 article, “IDEAS INTO ACTION; Dell, It Turns Out, Has a Better Idea Than Ford,” in the NY Times, Fred Andrews noted, “Dell made its name by selling directly to customers and allowing them to specify the features they wanted their personal computer to include.” This was an article about supply chain management and not about IdeaStorming. But it is interesting to say the least, that this was a flag raised.

It is almost a decade since that article was published. Dell continues to live its mission by embracing their customers, listening and acting — and Dell continues to move forward. Is it possible that if others had looked, listened and acted differently almost 10 years ago, the outcome would be different today?

Here are some links to players in this space.

• http://getsatisfaction.com/ – “People Powered Customer Service”
• http://ideascale.com/ – “Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Idea Management”
• http://uservoice.com/ – “Harness the ideas of your customers…”

Reference(s):
“Build your own “IdeaStorm” with UserVoice « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.” Web Strategy By Jeremiah Owyang: Web Marketing, Social Media. Web. 30 Aug. 2009. <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/02/build-your-own-ideastorm-with-uservoice/>.