IdeaStorm
Vida Killian
Microsoft Office O utlook .lnk
Manager, IdeaStorm Community
Dell Inc.
www.ideastorm.com

“A company this size
is not going to be
about a couple of
people coming up
with ideas.
It’s going to be about
millions of people
and harnessing the
power of those
ideas.”
-Michael Dell
2

IDEASTORM – HOW IT WORKS
 People POST ideas for
Dell products and
services
 The community VOTES
on ideas (+10 points for
each promote and -10
points for each demote)
 The popular ideas float to
the top via the wisdom of
the crowds
 Dell responds with Ideas
in Action
3

IDEASTORM
Launched Feb. 2007
OBJECTIVE:
Encourage ideas,
feedback, input
and dialogue from
customers
RESULTS:
– 11,500 ideas generated by the community
– 660,000 promotions of ideas
– 84,000 comments
– 325 ideas Implemented by Dell
www.ideastorm.com

EMPLOYEESTORM
Launched June 2007
OBJECTIVE:
Encourage ideas,
feedback, input
and dialogue from
employees
RESULTS:
– 4,800 ideas generated by employees
– 250,000 promotions of ideas
– 22,000 comments
– 150 ideas Implemented by Dell

IDEASTORM IDEAS
A ROUGH BREAKDOWN
~12% UNUSABLE
No action needed.
~4% INNOVATIVE
Possible game changing
ideas.
~80% IMPROVEMENTS
• Includes both incremental
ideas for next generation
products as well as
improvements to existing
products and services.
• Use existing Ideas
Management process to
work.
6

IDEAS IMPLEMENTED
7

CASE STUDY – LATITUDE (AUGUST 2008)
COLOR OPTIONS
A LITTLE ZING TO BUSINESS
LAPTOPS
13.3-INCH DISPLAY
COMPACT, BUT BIG ENOUGH
TO FIT A FULL-SIZED
KEYBOARD UNDERNEATH
BETTER BATTERY LIFE
UP TO 19 HOURS ON A
SINGLE CHARGE
FINGERPRINT READER
EXTRA SECURITY
APPEASES JITTERY
MANAGERS
eSATA PORT
LETS USERS CONNECT
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES AT
BACKLIT KEYBOARD
FAST SPEEDS
FOR WORKING IN THE DARK
DELL CONFIDENTIAL

KEY LESSONS LEARNED
WITH IDEAS

BE PREPARED FOR THE INITIAL
SPIKE OF IDEAS
 Dell received 2,000 ideas in first 2 weeks
 Community expects immediate response/engagement
10
Source: http://blogs.salesforce.com/ideas/2008/07/what-should-we.html

PROVIDE REGULAR UPDATES
 Beginning - Updates were sporadic
 Today - A dedicated blog with updates every 2 weeks
DELL CONFIDENTIAL 11

UNDERSTAND EXPECTATIONS AND
HOW TO ADDRESS EACH
Customers Business Partners
Expectations - Expectations-
 Positive experience  Positive experience
 Action taken on ideas  Executive support
 Recognition  Defined process
How to address – How to address –
 Timely feedback  Timely/accurate reporting
 Clear status updates  Alignment with strategy
 Thank you mechanisms  Communication support
12

TWO MODELS FOR IDEA
MANAGEMENT
 PULL
– Engaged Business Partners
– Regularly on site reviewing ideas and comments
– Have Dell Login to the site to engage in conversations
– Provide access to Reporting and Idea Management tool
– They update Central Team on idea status changes
 PUSH
– Areas that only want to review top ideas relevant to them.
– Won’t ask – need to be told.
– Provide regular reporting at appropriate time (i.e. – Product
Planning cycles)
– Involve with urgent or highly voted ideas that need official
response
13

IDEA MANAGEMENT
 Can create fields within the tool to turn qualitative info into quantitative
data for easier reporting
 Utilize the backend of salesforce.com to identify, report on, workflow and
manage information
14

NEXT STEPS
FOR IDEAS
15

IDEASTORM EVOLUTION – 2009
EXTEND THE REACH OF THE COMMUNITY BY
INTEGRATING WITH SOCIAL NETWORKS
• Interact with people where they already are spending time
• Encourage friends to participate on ideas
16

IDEASTORM EXPANSION – 2009
USE THE TECHNOLOGY TO ADDRESS SPECIFIC BUSINESS
NEEDS AND INTEREST GROUPS
• Topic Specific IdeaStorms
• Dell Social Innovation Competition
• Partnership with University of Texas for ideas to
change the world. $50k prize
• IdeaStorm for Premier Customers
• Solicit input and feedback on the Premier Experience
• IdeaStorm for Healthcare and Life Sciences
• Solicit ideas specific to the Healthcare Industry
• Private IdeaStorms
• Private and secure collaboration opportunity with
Key Corporate Accounts
17

KEY COORDINATES
 www.dell.com/community
 www.ideastorm.com
 vida_killian@dell.com