Benefits of a Virtual Idea Board for any Business
Two heads are better than one is a fairly common expression. It’s one of those phrases that walks a fine line between cliché and adage; it’s played out and kind of cheesy, but it’s also usually true — it’s generally easier to find a solution when you collaborate, rather than when you attempt it by yourself.
Well, what if you took that concept and applied it to your entire team? And what if you eliminated the constraints of time and space so that you could work a problem from anywhere and at any time — with as many people as you wanted?
Virtual idea boards are taking that concept and delivering a “two heads are better than” enablement tool to businesses across all industries. Regardless of product or service, department or workflow, idea boards are affording businesses new opportunities to harness the power of team collaboration to improve their organization.
In an era where business is changing both from an internal perspective, and from a consumer perspective, companies need to be focused on how to generate better ideas, deliver the highest quality product/service, and keep employees engaged and satisfied.
By providing a safe, innovative, and responsive environment, such as a virtual idea board, businesses are able to put their employees in an environment that fosters creativity, problem-solving, and enjoyment – while also building out key parts of a digital transformation strategy
Brainstorming may have its roots in the physical world, often seen as a pen-and-paper and/or whiteboard-based activity done inside a conference room, many organizations are missing out on a variety of benefits by sticking with this antiquated model of idea generation.
The Power of Collaboration
Speaking of clichés, words like collaboration and synergy often feel overused, but in reality, they do have a critical role in modern business strategies and efforts.
Team collaboration needs to be authentic and regular to be effective — which is undoubtedly one of the reasons why agile methodologies have taken the world by storm.
A vast majority of the modern workforce recognizes the power of collaboration. In fact, 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.
33% of HR professionals report poor team collaboration decreases employee morale.
The impact of collaboration doesn’t just stop at morale or the perception of effectiveness either.
Data shows that the effectiveness of a team’s collaboration can have a direct impact on business function, culture, and even bottom line:
• Effective communication generates 4.5 times higher talent retention.
• Recognizing quality work and achievements of workgroups increases profits by 29%.
While these numbers are quick to demonstrate how ineffective collaboration can have a severely negative effect on an organization, the same data sources also show that simply adding the right online collaboration software can scale productivity by 30%.
All these stats point to the fact that collaboration has become a lynchpin to success, innovation, and employee engagement in the modern workplace.
With an absence of collaboration and/or efforts to improve it, businesses risk falling behind the competition, losing good employee talent, and leaving great ideas on the floor.
The Payoff From a Virtual Idea Board
If it isn’t clear already, effective collaboration presents tremendous upside to basically any business — this can be especially true for those businesses still trying to find the right workplace model, be it in-office, fully remote, or hybrid.
When everyone in the room has a voice and the chance to share their ideas, good things happen.
Where the virtual idea board comes into the equation is up to you. Some industries and teams are more susceptible to complacency or sticking to the old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” methodology, but regardless how you currently handle your collaboration, virtual idea boards deliver a dynamic interface to an age-old process.
It doesn’t need to be a complex transition either — an idea board is essentially just a visual collection of thoughts and ideas (think about your old-school office whiteboard). With a virtual idea board like Stormboard, businesses can take a familiar-feeling process and transition it online, working in one shared digital space with countless co-contributors from anywhere in the world.
Even though it can be straight-forward, it doesn’t have to be. High performing teams on the cutting edge can take advantage of anything from Agile Integrations to a dynamic idea types including a variety of notes, videos, photos, and file formats that can easily be contributed to the workspace.
In the spirit of collaboration, the most truly powerful idea boards open up the floor like a meeting in a boardroom would, enabling chat and dialogue amongst teammates.
Regardless of your process, teams are able to effectively take ideas, organize them, and then turn them into tasks for next steps in a project by leveraging built-in tools and hundreds of templates designed to get things moving quickly and smoothly.
Some of the direct benefits to expect with a virtual idea board like Stormboard include:
Boosted employee engagement.
More productive team meetings and brainstorming sessions.
Enhanced visibility and transparency into collected ideas.
Holistic problem-solving approaches.
Better end-product/service development for consumers.
The Best Virtual Idea Board
Sometimes all your team needs to get going is a whiteboarding tool that allows some drawing, annotation, or minor edits to ideas, figures, or images.
Stormboard can obviously help with that too, but if your team needs more than a pretty picture — if your team needs a true collaboration platform that effectively maximizes time and effort, and promotes creation and ideation, Stormboard is your best choice.
At the end of the day, however your team uses it, employees want this type of software implemented at their place of business.
Over three-quarters of employees claim to depend on technology to collaborate and 81% of employees rate such planforms collaboratively. -Source
Stormboard is used by over one million people in 180+ countries all around the world for a reason.
It’s never too late to get your team or your organization’s collaboration and ideation efforts into a virtual space, sign up for a free trial of Stormboard today or get in touch with one of our experts to learn how your organization can take advantage of virtual idea boards.
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