Today, companies are turning to an approach based oncollective intelligence and collaboration to bring out innovation. In this context, the digital suggestion box appears to be relevant because it solicits the support of employees and involves them in the company's evolution.

As the inventor Thomas Edison said, "the value of an idea depends on its use". Moreover, many companies have fully integrated this into their operations. This is the case of Google which allows its employees to dedicate 20% of their working time to the research of ideas, as we can read in this article of Journet Du Net.

But how do you go about setting up a digital suggestion box? Don't panic, we'll walk you through 7 steps. 

1- Lead by example

Launching such a system requires 100% management support. The opposite would be counterproductive. 

In order to foster employee contribution, management must fully embrace the initiative and understand its objectives. How will employees get involved if they are not supported by the top of the company? 

The implementation of a digital suggestion box requires a transformation of the working methods, a commitment and an involvement of the employees. It is not enough to engage them at the implementation stage but to stimulate their motivation over the long term. 

You can, for example, organize a launch event. This will allow you to clearly explain the expectations and objectives of the implementation of the digital suggestion box. The employees will be able to ask the questions they want to ask in order to be in the best conditions and to be fully involved in the process. 

2- Give time to your digital idea box

A digital idea box must live throughout the year. Be sure that, in order to materialize a new idea, you must have eliminated dozens of them. Take into account that the best ideas can have a long maturation period. 

When you decide that an idea is worth pursuing, give your collaborators time to add value. They will enrich it, exchange with each other and find the best solutions. 

All this takes time and patience. But, in the end, you bring out solid and well-built innovation projects that have a positive impact on the company's sustainability.

You then setparticipatory innovation in motion by removing all the obstacles that might exist and by collecting a maximum of proposals. 

3- Communicate with employees 

Communication is essential if you want to take advantage of your digital idea box. Each employee can be the bearer of new projects. You must not neglect anyone and keep them motivated. 

If you don't put in place a communication strategy around your digital suggestion box, your approach will quickly run out of steam. Employees need to know how they are involved and what impact their involvement is having. In which case, they won't see any point in taking time to come up with new ideas if they don't get any feedback from you. 

So remember to communicate regularly with your employees. Every week, every month, it's up to you to judge the degree of maturity of your employees. 

Highlight the results of your digital idea box: number of ideas proposed, number of projects selected. Your employees will be more involved if they know the impact of their investment.

4 - Animate your digital idea box to engage 

As we have just seen, a digital idea box lives on the long term. And it takes several years to measure the ROI of the innovations developed through it. 

This is why it is essential to ensure that the digital idea box does not run out of steam. It is therefore necessary to set up an animation strategy, in order to stimulateparticipative innovation and to re-launch the exchanges regularly. Indeed, your collaborators may not always be proactive. It is therefore up to you to maintain the exchanges around your digital idea box and to show the example. 

You can, for example, organize pollsor surveys to gather feedback. Or, set up monthly workshops to spend time coming up with ideas.

You maintain a dynamic around the digital idea box and encourage the emergence of innovative projects in the long term. 

5- Propose an effective tool

To establish the credibility of the approach, you must ensure that you provide your employees with effective means. This is why, arming yourself with a platform is essential. Saving time, efficiency and better organization ... You provide your employees with a means to be effective. 

The digital idea box becomes a common space where everyone proposes and exchanges around innovation projects. Everything is gathered in one place, allowing a global vision on the proposed ideas. 

A platform offers several features that are essential to the success of your approach. Employees exchange ideas, support the best projects, vote, share and follow the progress of projects in real time.

And so that your digital idea box is not overwhelmed by a multitude of proposals, you have the possibility to moderate each idea before publishing it. Ask the author of the idea for modifications or refuse a project that seems irrelevant. Categorize, evaluate, set support goals. You manage your digital idea box to make it as clear and efficient as possible. 

6- Manage your digital toolbox

Of course, you cannot implement such an approach without analyzing the feedback. Not only do you ensure its credibility, but you also improve the performance of your system by providing areas for improvement. 

If you have followed our previous advice and you have a platform, you will find all the statistics directly in your space. 

You can then analyze in real time the benefits of your approach: rate of commitment, number of ideas proposed, employees who have proposed the most projects... 

Use this information to readjust your approach, implement new actions if necessary and communicate with your employees. 

7- Value the best proposals 

We were talking about maintaining commitment and motivation. Well, your employees need to feel recognized and encouraged in their involvement. Thanks to your platform, you know the top contributors of your digital idea box. So use them! 

Put in place rewards to value the proposal of ideas : the innovation prize, a gift voucher, speaking time at a conference ... Show your employees that their commitment is bearing fruit and that they contribute greatly to making the company more efficient and innovative. They are the ones who will live your digital idea box, so don't neglect them.