Dell Employees Electing Favorite Stormers - To Dell's Benefit
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points posted to IdeaStorm by googideas
02/17/07
an article and result I'd like to see:
May 13th, 2007
After a few months of Michael Dell and other senior management members accessing the highly popular ideastorm site, it became clear that some members of the forum really were heads and shoulders above others. Not only were the ideas they submitted strong ones, but they also appeared to support other posts which the Dell team liked (determined by reviewing what votes these thinkers had handed out).
A decision was made to encourage these better thinkers by providing them the iSquared powers. The term comes from "Ideas Squared" and the exponentiality is expressed in part by providing the iSquared members ten times the voting power. When an iSquared member votes on another post, that post receives 100 points instead of 10. By doing this the Dell team helped themselves by enabling the best thinkers to high-light the best posts.
iSquared has spawned other benefits to the community, both for Dell and for the users. iSquares, as they are known, are rewarded with a conference once a year and other privileges designed to maximize their input. To date, iSquares have sold 4 ideas to Dell and seven have even been hired.
Some iSquares are involved in the Ideastorm Improvement Team. Dell says that "It's not enough to put up a site and let the action begin - we have to know how to cultivate the responses and improve the quality. We need to mine the results for improvement and profit."
The iSquared status isn't permanent by any means. It can be revoked if the individual stops participating or his or her performance and/or accuracy drops. Of the fourteen iSqaured promotions, two were rescinded recently. Maintaining your iSquared status for one year earns you a free notebook and an invitation to the iSquared Conference.
Not bad for contributing some time says Fiona Parker. Ms. Parker is a retail clerk in a shoe store in Boise Idaho by day, and an iSquared member by night. "I guess they think I can think." she says with pleasure in her voice. "I like making things better. And I have lots of interesting friends thinking with me. I think this might be one of the ways companies think in the future."
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Would this be an improvement you'd like to see?
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