Harnessing Employee Innovation in Idea Management Platforms: Lessons from Allianz UK

Abstract

Idea management platforms enable firms to generate pools of ideas and connect employees to large number of colleagues. Although these platforms hold the potential to support employee innovation, managers face considerable difficulties when it comes to deploying them in a way that generates business value. This article describes Allianz UK’s ten-year initiative to tap into its employees’ ideas and develop a distributed-innovation capability. We identify challenges the firm faced and describe how leaders addressed them. Based on insights gained from Allianz UK, we provide recommendations for deriving value from idea management platforms at other organizations.

Keywords: Internal Crowdsourcing, Employee Innovation, Idea Management

JEL Classification: M15, M14