Enterprise Social Network (ESN) for employee-driven innovation

Far from being static, participative innovation systems have been evolving ever since they first appeared in organizations. From simple contributions via an idea box, employees are now called upon to share their ideas, comment on and enrich those of others, in order to bring about new innovations.

This trend towards collaboration has clearly accelerated with the emergence of Web 2.0, with its new ways of working and its new tools, which has led to the arrival in organizations of a new type of device dedicated to developing cross-functional communication and improving collaborative working: corporate social networks (CSNs).

Driven by a genuine human dynamic, and supported by software platforms that are as easy to implement as they are to use, CSRs open up new perspectives in participative innovation for organizations of all sizes, structures and business sectors. Indeed, by systematically highlighting contributors and making the process of collecting, evaluating and selecting ideas transparent, CSRs offer new levers for getting a large number of employees involved, by breaking down certain barriers to contribution. The aim of this article is to show how the deployment of a CSR can contribute to developing, or improving, the participative innovation approach within an organization. It will also look at how to choose the right software platform to implement such a system.