In our experience working with innovation management teams in many organizations, we’ve found that there are three significant benefits to maintaining an organized innovation portfolio — you can:
Keep an (organized) historical record of all past innovation projects and ideas — both successes and failures — to know what ideas you’ve already pursued.
Use insights from your portfolio to align innovation initiatives with strategic goals; this lets you improve resource allocation and decision-making, prioritize projects with the greatest potential, and balance projects across different areas of interest.
Monitor ongoing projects to see what innovation teams are currently working on; this is especially useful for global teams or innovation departments with teams in disparate offices, as everyone can work in parallel in the same system.
However, these are the most fundamental benefits of using innovation management software.
The thing to remember is that portfolio management isn’t just about cataloging past ideas and current projects — it also involves the management of the portfolio items (aka the ideas you’re working on). You need systems and solutions to actually nurture ideas through workflow stages, from collection through development and launch. Otherwise, the portfolio just stays static, which is not useful.
As a result, in our experience, effective innovation management software needs to let users:
Collect and organize innovation ideas from employees or other user groups.
Encourage collaboration during feedback and assessment so innovation teams can discover the best ideas to move forward.
Develop ideas and manage them through workflow stages — from evaluation to project planning — under one roof.
Document all innovation initiatives so you can report on outcomes of past projects and easily refer to past successes (or failures).
There are various innovation management software platforms on the market, but some are more limited in functionality beyond idea collection, lacking features to assess and develop ideas and track project progress and outcomes. So, we’ve compiled a list of the best innovation software that offers portfolio management.
We start by explaining our solution, InnovationCast. We developed our software after years of consulting with organizations on collaborative and innovative solutions. Our system is designed with the features teams require to manage each stage of their innovation workflows, monitor project outcomes, and maintain an updated innovation portfolio.
To learn more about InnovationCast, keep reading or schedule a free demo.
1. InnovationCast: Configurable, Scalable Software to Support Your Workflows & Monitor Innovation Projects
InnovationCast is a comprehensive, customizable innovation portfolio management solution to support the entire innovation process — cataloging ideas and past innovations, but also collecting ideas, iterating, managing feedback, project planning, launch, and results tracking. Our platform is highly customizable, so you can design workflows around your requirements, create different workflows for different projects, and change things as you go.
Innovation managers can monitor projects (current and past) with all of their notes and details in our dashboard. This makes it easy to look back on past projects to see how they progressed and where they fell off.
You can dig into what types of ideas have succeeded, which ones have failed, mistakes you’ve made along the way, and how you could improve workflows to launch ideas more efficiently. Then, managers can use these findings to guide new initiatives and reap the benefits we discussed above.
Our platform is flexible to adapt with you as you explore new ideas and your processes change. During onboarding, we even talk about your current challenges and areas for improvement, tailor our software to your requirements, and then show you how to update features and workflows on your own (without custom software development work or requests to our team).
Let’s briefly walk through our solution and platform features so you can see how InnovationCast works.
Features to Monitor Your Innovation Portfolio
The project dashboard displays all ongoing and past innovation projects so managers can easily see their status and look at results from previous initiatives. (We also offer custom filtering options to locate projects quickly; users can hone in on in-progress projects, search by label, or view projects from certain time periods, managers, or categories.)
Managers can see the entire project plan and details when they click on a portfolio item they’re interested in — our dashboard displays all the feedback on the project, evaluation notes, planned tasks to complete, and current progress. You can see if ideas are on track to launch or are likely to be tabled.
Then, managers can jump into projects where they see fit (we also send notifications for projects that require attention).
Perhaps you’re working on a riskier idea and want to review the results of evaluation tasks before you decide on the next steps. Or, you might see a project stalled at a certain stage of your workflow, so you can lend your guidance to keep ideas moving. All actions like these can be easily taken by having clear, transparent workflows for ideas — regardless of their stage.
Finally, we should mention that innovation processes are not “set it and forget it” workflows — you should strive to learn something from every project so that you can approach subsequent projects more strategically. Be open to adapting workflows as you go; to avoid wasted resources, work more productively, and see better ROI from innovation efforts.
Features to Support Ongoing Projects & Innovation Processes
In addition to monitoring your portfolio, another key part of managing innovation is working ideas through the incubation process to launch. We’ve noticed that doing that effectively is the difference between having a thriving innovation portfolio and one with a bunch of stale ideas (that need work but haven’t been worked on).
That’s why we designed InnovationCast to help organizations not just keep a static list of their innovation projects but actually work through them.
Beyond idea collection (which we’ll talk more about later), our platform has features to: evaluate and test ideas, vote on the best ideas to move forward, and plan implementation tasks.
One thing that really sets us apart from other innovation management software brands is the ability to design multiple workflows and edit workflows on the fly.
When developing our software, we discovered that most other systems only support one workflow, or teams would have to pay extra for custom development work if they needed to adjust processes or work on more than one project. But this isn’t practical for innovation departments that manage different types of ideas (think about it, new product innovations require a different approach than organizational innovations, and so on).
To effectively manage each of the ideas in your innovation portfolio, you need the flexibility to design different workflows for different ideas and change these workflows as you learn.
That’s why InnovationCast lets you create unique workflows for the different types of projects you anticipate. We also have workflow templates to help you hit the ground running. (For example, we offer templates for continuous improvements, so you can have tailored solutions without having to start from scratch)
Updating workflows is as simple as dragging in new stages, deleting stages, or editing stages. You can specify the users who need to weigh in at each stage; our system moves ideas down the line, tagging the right contributors as ideas progress.
Contributors can mark tasks complete, leave notes about their findings, and comment with others on project cards.
After ideas move through evaluation workflows, contributors can vote to move them forward, save them for later, or take them back to the drawing board. Remember, all ideas are saved in the project dashboard so you can revisit them down the line.
Then, innovation managers can manage the tasks to launch greenlit ideas. InnovationCast has a native project management suite so you can plan implementation tasks, assign others to tasks, set due dates, communicate on to-do’s, and monitor everyone’s progress.
After projects wrap, managers can report on outcomes and impacts, which are documented in the system and noted for others to see.
The full “idea history” — the initial feedback, evaluation tasks, notes from contributors, project plan, outcomes, etc. — is referenceable within the project overview.
Features to Engage Employees & Establish a Culture of Innovation
Filling your portfolio is another key part of managing it. We’ve seen many organizations get excited about launching their innovation program or department; but after the initial excitement, they find interest starts to fade, and the number of new employee ideas tinkers off.
So, we designed InnovationCast with two types of idea collection features, collaborative feedback options, and a rewards system to encourage long-term participation.
Idea Collection & Signals
Managers can ask employees to submit ideas in two ways:
One, they can create an Innovation Challenge about a specific pain to solve or a goal to achieve and ask employees to submit ideas on the topic. Managers can set deadlines for these challenges to spur engagement.
Two, they can use our “Always On” idea collection model and allow employees to submit ideas anytime. Managers can create customizable idea submission forms to filter out irrelevant or low-quality ideas from the get-go.
Then, all ideas are publicly displayed — on the challenge thread or in the Ideas dashboard — for others to see and provide feedback.
But users don’t need to have new ideas to get involved — our Signals feature lets users share news stories and other articles about your innovation team’s topics of interest. Users can source articles about emerging technologies, new startups, competitors, industry news, market trends, and more, to help your users stay in the know.
Managers can define these areas of interest so users know what’s important to your innovation strategy and what types of articles to share. Then, when users submit articles, they can bucket them into an area of interest and share details about why the resource is relevant.
Others can view the “SparkNotes” or read the full article; then, these resources can fuel new ideas and innovation projects.
Collaborative Feedback Features
Our feedback system is designed to facilitate thoughtful conversations (providing another way for users to get involved outside of idea submission).
Users first vote on ideas — whether the idea looks good, not so good, or the user is undecided. Then, users must provide detailed feedback about their vote — why the idea looks good, what needs improvement, or what questions the users have.
Users who submit ideas can read the feedback and use others’ insights to improve their submissions. They can mark the comments that helped shape the idea as a “Significant Contribution” so managers can see which team members improved ideas and how ideas evolved through feedback.
We also provide tools for authors to edit ideas and managers to see the version history. This way, everyone is viewing the most current versions of ideas, which makes collaboration and voting clear.
Rewards & Badges
Our platform also features a badges and rewards system so you can incentivize users to participate (and stay involved) in innovation efforts. You can design badges for different types of achievements and award them to users when they hit those milestones; badges are displayed on user profiles for others to see.
You can also dish out reward points for high-quality contributions; users can redeem points for different perks. You can choose to offer a variety of perks, like free PTO days, gift cards, company merch, concert tickets, you name it.
Pro tip: We suggest awarding quality contributions (vs. quantity of ideas, articles, or feedback submitted) to encourage more thoughtful involvement from users. Otherwise, you might have users submitting several ideas or leaving feedback just to rack up reward points, which creates unhelpful “noise” in idea threads and wastes resources.
Extra: Email Newsletters & Reminders to Get Involved
In addition to the features mentioned above, our platform also has an automated email functionality that periodically reminds users about innovation initiatives and nudges them when their accounts have been inactive.
We provide a library of email templates: onboarding emails with instructions to get started in InnovationCast, and reminders with tips to submit high-quality ideas, find relevant Signals, or leave helpful feedback.
Managers can customize these to onboard users, inform employees about the results of projects, share details about upcoming events, and send other updates.
Getting Started
This is just a quick glimpse at what InnovationCast has to offer; if you’re interested in exploring our solution further, you can schedule a free demo with our team.
We have experience working with large, global teams and growing companies; as consultants in the industry, we can discuss your current processes and help you brainstorm ways to improve your innovation workflows and find solutions to persistent challenges.
We’ll configure our solution to your processes during onboarding and show you how to customize the software as you go. We offer custom pricing per customer based on your requirements.
2. Qmarkets
Qmarkets is another highly-customizable innovation management software with user-friendly self-service features to adjust the platform as you grow.
Qmarkets offers an enterprise innovation management solution with tools to manage each stage of your innovation workflows in their system. Their team will consult with you before onboarding and guide you through setup, so the platform is tailored to your processes.
The platform includes idea collection features, allows you to create multiple workflows to evaluate different types of ideas, and has a project management suite to manage ongoing projects and refer to past initiatives.
Qmarkets innovation management software includes five core products:
Q-ideate — where innovation managers can gather ideas from employees and other stakeholders (outside subject matter experts, research groups, etc.) and review submissions. Managers can move ideas through evaluation and approval workflows, and track the progress of ideas. Qmarkets also provides rewards and gamification tools to encourage user participation.
Q-optimize — this is Qmarkets version of “Innovation Challenges,” where they can pose a question or problem to solve and gather ideas about the topic.
Q-trend — this is similar to InnovationCast’s scouting feature, where users can share resources about current topics of interest.
Q-scout — this is a network for innovation managers from around the world to connect and collaborate. This network also includes research partners, entrepreneurs, subject-matter experts, and more, so innovation managers can find the best contributors to weigh in during projects.
Q-impact — this project management dashboard lets managers see ideas through launch. They can plan implementation tasks, assign other team members to pitch in, and monitor everyone’s progress. This dashboard is also where managers can oversee the innovation portfolio and report on impacts and profitability of past projects.
Pricing
Qmarkets offers custom quotes on a per customer basis and does not disclose pricing on their website.
3. HYPE
HYPE Innovation is a massive brand with a variety of innovation management solutions — including an enterprise suite, Viima (a collaborative idea management tool), consulting services, and more.
HYPE’s consultants work with organizations across various industries. Before onboarding, the HYPE team will meet with you to discuss your requirements and tailor the software to your specifications.
The innovation management platform can be broken down into four main areas:
Strategy — where you determine the strategic objectives of your innovation program and develop processes to collect, launch, and evaluate ideas.
Ideation — where you can collect ideas from employees and other user groups.
Partnering — where you can connect with subject matter experts, research groups, and other outside resources to contribute to projects and improve their likelihood of success.
Projects — where you manage ideas through launch and monitor your innovation portfolio.
HYPE markets their consulting services separately as HYPE Innovation Consulting. In this program, you can work with HYPE’s team to improve processes, analyze portfolio items and past project performance, and determine a game plan for the future.
Pricing
HYPE doesn’t disclose pricing on their website; customers must contact them for a custom quote.
4. ITONICS
ITONICS is an end-to-end innovation management platform; the brand works primarily with enterprise organizations that already have innovation departments but need help sparking engagement or fine-turning workflows to launch ideas. The platform has a plethora of features, including advanced AI-powered tools to automate workflows and streamline projects.
The ITONICS team is available to help during setup. They can address current challenges and tailor the software to your requirements. However, users may require training to understand the platform's features, as some may find it overly complex.
The platform can be divided into three core modules:
Foresight — where users can share articles and resources about defined topics of interest. Managers can define the growth opportunities they’re interested in and create templates to guide users on what to submit. AI-powered change technology notifies managers of activity spikes in these areas of interest; then, they can access real-time data points about innovation signals and use these findings to guide projects.
Ideation — where managers can create “Campaigns” (aka Challenges) and idea submission forms to gather ideas from employees. ITONICS offers advanced tools to “recommend” the best ideas for managers to pursue (and highlight redundant ones to avoid). The platform also offers gamification features to encourage user interest.
Portfolio — this is where you can manage ongoing projects and maintain your innovation portfolio. ITONICS provides features to guide project prioritization, project management tools like Kanban boards, and reporting dashboards to track project KPIs.
Pricing
ITONICS offers three different plans: Team, Professional, and Enterprise. Each with different features (the Professional plan is the most popular; we’d also recommend this plan because it grants access to create custom workflows).
However, ITONICS does not disclose pricing for these packages on their website. To learn more, users must request a demo.
Note: Users note some dissatisfaction with ITONICS pricing, saying packages can be confusing, and you’re usually required to upgrade if you want to add a feature here or there. This solution might not be the most scalable.
5. Skipso
Skipso offers a centralized “all-in-one” innovation platform with features to support each stage of your processes. They’re popular amongst growing teams and offer a scalable solution to support enterprise organizations.
The platform includes features like:
Open Calls & Challenges — to collect ideas from employees.
Voting Tools — for employees to vote on each others’ ideas and leave comments (not required).
Rewards & Gamification System to keep employees involved.
Customizable Innovation Workflow, with support to help you set up the innovation roadmap and options to create multiple workflows.
Innovation Portfolio Management, with bulk upload features to pull project data from spreadsheets and filtering options to locate portfolio items quickly.
Innovation Community, to build an innovation ecosystem where users can view projects, collaborate, and share resources.
Note: Users mention a learning curve with this solution; they say the Skipso team is helpful during setup, but actually training users can be a challenge. This is especially true for innovation departments with users scattered in different locations or offices. Some larger teams may have trouble implementing this software if they don’t plan for training.
Pricing
Skipso does not share pricing on their website.
6. Sopheon
Sopheon is an enterprise innovation management software with various solutions to support scaling organizations. This brand offers a dedicated portfolio management software to analyze past innovation projects and investments; it includes a reporting dashboard for managers to review project metrics in a variety of ways, helping them make more data-driven decisions to invest in the right opportunities and improve cost savings.
Sopheon’s innovation management solution includes four products:
Accolade is their innovation portfolio management software, with the features to maintain an updated project portfolio and monitor investments.
Acclaim Ideas is their idea collection and management software, to gather new ideas from employees and discover the best opportunities.
Acclaim Products is Sopheon’s dedicated product innovation management solution.
Acclaim Project is the project management dashboard to bring ideas through launch.
Pricing
Sopheon offers each of its products separately; you have to contact them to discuss the packages you’re interested in and receive a custom quote.
Getting Started
InnovationCast offers all of the features to support strategic portfolio management, and we’ve been working with organizations for over a decade to improve their methodologies and help them see better success (and real growth) from innovation initiatives.
Schedule a free demo of InnovationCast to talk with a member of our customer success team.
