Brainstorming sessions will never be out of vogue. But the way we conduct them is evolving rapidly – making the process more efficient and productive. Moreover, with the new normal of people working remotely across the globe, old-fashioned methods are falling short. This is why innovation managers need novel brainstorming tools!
The biggest advantage of using these tools is the ease of access they provide. The moment a brilliant idea strikes you, you can just open the website or mobile app and share it with your colleagues. You don’t have to wait till the next scheduled brainstorming session to start a discussion. Besides, it promotes engagement among your team and provides the owner of the idea their due credit instantly.
Now that you know why you should utilize brainstorming tools, let’s check out the 3 top online tools that we think would boost successful innovation management!
3 Brainstorming Tools for Innovation Managers
1. Miro
Pricing: Starts from USD 8 per month, a free version is also available
Feature Highlights:
- In-built templates
- Embedded media
- Importing data from spreadsheets
If you are a fan of neural networks, Miro is THE brainstorming app for you. Not only that, it has 120+ pre-built templates covering various types of formats including mind maps, kanban boards, roadmaps, user story maps, and customer journey maps. You can also gather references and import data from spreadsheets and visualize the same with sticky notes, drawings, diagrams, images, docs, and gifs. This makes brainstorming fun and interactive. Additionally, Miro has an anonymous voting feature to decide on the best ideas. Isn’t that cool?
2. Lucid
Pricing: Starts from USD 7,95 per month, a free version is also available
Feature Highlights:
- Intelligent diagrams
- Digital canvas
- Third-party integration
Cannot map things properly until you draw a rough diagram on the board? Lucid digitizes your process into a visual collaboration suite consisting of three products — Lucidchart, Lucidspark, and Lucidscale. While the last one advances cloud visualization, the first two streamline brainstorming. Lucidchart is an intelligent diagramming application that allows your team to map out and simplify complex ideas through effective collaboration. Whereas, Lucidspark is a virtual whiteboard that allows capturing and sharing ideas on a digital canvas. Your team members can toss ideas around, build off each other’s thoughts, and share feedback. Moreover, all the solutions seamlessly integrate with common third-party applications such as Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and G Suite, among many others, to make brainstorming even smoother.
3. Visual Thesaurus
Pricing: Starts from USD 2,95 per month
Feature Highlights:
- Interactive dictionary & thesaurus
- Word maps
- Brief definitions of unfamiliar words
The human mind works in mysterious ways — sometimes it might be overloaded with thoughts and ideas, but other times tabula rasa. The previous two tools are useful when you have a lot in your head. But when faced with the latter — have nothing constructive in mind, Visual Thesaurus can help you out. It is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branches to related words. So, it will make something out of anything you type in.
It’s time to hear from you — which brainstorming tools do you find most useful for your company’s innovation management? Get in touch & share your list with us!
