Idea Drop is an idea management platform for enterprises, so we get asked this question a lot. We know that purchasing B2B software can feel like a significant outlay, particularly if you have your own theoretical vision of a ‘perfect’ platform in mind. Plus, embedding any new technology into your team’s workflow can be met with resistance if you don’t get it right first time. If you have developers on hand, it can be tempting to start from scratch, especially if you’ve had negative experiences with software providers in the past.
However, in our experience, there are still plenty of reasons to consider buying a software off-the-shelf.
Benefits to buying a B2B software:
A software designed by specialists
Dedicated software providers have a full-time team of specialist engineers, designers and product managers that are entirely focused on refining and iterating on their product. They’re highly motivated towards excellent service by their need to turn a profit, rather than simply meeting internal goals.
Save time for your team
Every company should focus on what they do best, while building software from scratch can result in a significant time investment from your team. Think about what this six months/year (and maybe more) will cost you.
Using our idea management software, one of our client realised an annual saving exceeding £1.2 million from just one idea in 2017. Take a look at our recent white paper to find out how you could save millions of pounds by using Idea Drop.
Split the cost of a large investment
Excellent platforms that are built for purpose can be extremely expensive to build, so buying rather than building a software yourself ultimately splits the cost between multiple companies for the same service.
We are investing in the Idea Drop platform every day, which is continuously updated and improved based on global research and our client feedback.
Dedicated and fast support
No SaaS software comes without running into difficulties, particularly under heavy use. Remember that if you’re going to keep your internal software running smoothly, you’ll need dedicated engineers who can be deployed to problem solve as soon as there are issues, or risk upsetting your team.
Web and mobile integrations
Your existing IT team may not have expertise in quickly and easily building native mobile apps that are able to connect and integrate with a web interface. Before you ask your team to use anything new, it’s important to know it will work perfectly across web and mobile, out-of-the-box, from day one.
Access to experts
When you invest in a new software, you typically gain access to area of expertise that goes far beyond technology. For example, when you first use Idea Drop to implement an innovation programme, you’re invited to pair our world-class technology with our best-in-class consultancy service. We can help you design unique workflows, run cost/benefit analysis of ideas as they flow through, and execute a compelling internal comms plan, so you can feel confident in your business case.
Best-practice processes
Because SaaS software providers have experience dealing with the needs and challenges of a broad range of customers, rather than just one single business, they are able to incorporate best-practice learnings into every new product development.
At Idea Drop, we solicit extensive feedback from our global enterprise clients across a wide variety of industries, so we can learn from the best.
Rapid implementation
Once you’ve identified a need for idea management software (or any other SaaS platform), it can take anywhere from six months to a year to scope, build and implement your own newly built tool. Instead, you can immediately test a pre-built package for a fraction of the investment. You might find it serves your needs perfectly, or that it’s completely wrong for your team, leaving you to move on to another solution quickly and with confidence.
For most businesses, it usually makes commercial and strategic sense to buy out-of-the-box SaaS software, particularly when it comes to innovation management. They find that a faster purchase represents longer term value, and allows them to begin executing brilliant ideas even faster.
If you’re interested in deploying idea management software for your company, why not find out if Idea Drop might work for you? You can see what our happy customers say about us here.
