Every day there seems to be more buzz about Crowdsourcing, co-creation and every other flavor of open innovation. More platforms seem to be popping up to join including, Crowdspring, Innocentive and Zoopas and at the same time more companies from Best Buy to Starbucks are jumping on the bandwagon by letting their customers in to help them create new products and marketing.
Where is it all going?
Come join Edward Boches and me at the in a conversation about crowdsourcing and co-creation at the Ad Club of Boston, August 5th. We'd also love to have you participate in the formation of the discussion guide. Edward has posted some great thoughts on his blog. Here are three things he suggested we talk about:
1. To what degree will companies change their entire models
if they are to take full advantage of the crowd as their source of
ideas? Will they cut employees and spend more money sourcing the
crowd? Will they attempt to become more competitive by paying less for
content and products? Will they be forced to work this way if their
competitors do?
2. Will all workers have to become entrepreneurs?
What if you’re a designer and all of a sudden all design work is
solicited this way? Will you compete non-stop for opportunities? Will
you be able to get use to the unpredictability of work and income?
Will you resist even participating and urge others to do the same?
3. How will we manage collaboration? It’s common
to write software this way. But what about projects or campaigns that
call for everyone on the team to have a well-oiled working
relationship, understanding and respecting each other’s roles, knowing
how to seamlessly tap into institutional knowledge? Will crowdsourcing
require organizations to learn new ways of encouraging collaboration in
an era when everything – idea, design, technology, production – is more
connected than ever?
I'm sure you have some questions to add. Thanks for your help.