IQNavigator Tells Benefits Of PoPin Crowdsourcing Leadership Tool

IQNavigator, which makes software to help businesses manage their contingent workforces, recently deployed PoPin crowdsourcing software.

“Public consumer awareness of crowdsourcing has grown lately based on popular crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo,” says Hayes Drumwright, the founder of PoP and Executive Chairman of Trace3. PoPin was first developed internally by Trace3, an IT reseller and provider of digital business transformation solutions and consulting services.   

Drumwright explains that well-known crowdsourcing sites allow users to solicit small donations from large groups of people to fund new companies and other personal projects. An example of a famous crowdfunding campaign started out as a joke when a man in Ohio asked for $10 to make a batch of potato salad. He was pleasantly shocked when more than $55,000 poured in from potato salad lovers.

“PoPin is somewhat different because it is a crowdsourcing software platform that helps business leaders solicit ideas from their own employees and partners. The general concept remains the same — to survey groups of people for new ideas or support — but PoPin is more of an internal crowdsourcing platform rather than a vehicle for external funders,” he says.

Crowdsourcing enables leaders to make new ideas actionable through social media, based on feedback gathered from the collective group. Individuals are free to offer their best ideas, which then get voted up or down by the group.

Drumwright says virtually any type or size of company can benefit from crowdsourcing tools to improve organizational health and staff alignment, with the possible exception of extremely small mom-and-pop businesses. Trace3’s clients span multiple industries including high-tech, automotive, entertainment, manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods. 

Sherri Hammons, CTO of IQNavigator, says, “We had technical depth in the product and lots of customization for our customers, but we were missing a strategic vision for the product. I deployed PoPin to better engage with my team, ensure that everyone understood our strategic direction and had a straightforward process to contribute new ideas. We were overwhelmed and highly impressed with the results.”

With PoPin, IQNavigator engaged with 100 employees and received more than 200 responses within two days, which resulted in 14 viable new ideas that were then voted to the top using the social platform. The senior leadership team then identified the top six ideas, which included additional training sessions and other programs, and put them into action. IQNavigator plans to run additional PoPin sessions to engage development and products teams, as well as select clients to help further refine its offering.

Drumwright says PoPin was originally built as a standalone solution, but it can be integrated with other business software systems for email, messaging, collaboration, or even ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems.