At Consensus Point, we applaud the fact that GE has turned to “crowd sourcing” as in integral part of the R&D process. We have a long and successful history of working with GE business units in their “Imagination Market” to harness the market intelligence of their employees to identify new innovative services and products.

Now, GE has reached out to the market intelligence of their consumers by launching GE’s Healthymagination Challenge. Their $100 million investment in R&D and social business stands to change the ways that enterprises innovate in today’s globally connected economy. In a recent article from Forbes.com, “GE’s $1 Billion Cancer Project: Raising the Bar on Social Business“, Forbes points out that GE is choosing to forego traditional ROI metrics as they invest $100 million in an effort to promote a new culture of innovation. In many ways, they are putting their money where their mouth is and are taking a giant leap forward to support a new model for innovation.

For those companies that choose to look to the crowd as GE has done, there has to be an understanding of the tools needed to achieve success. Prediction markets and preference markets are examples of just such tools. Backed by powerful algorithms, prediction and preference markets provide structure for the innovation process. They are extremely useful for capturing ideas, sorting ideas, and for engaging a diverse audience in a social dialogue about those ideas. Without such tools, companies can quickly become overwhelmed when they open their innovation pipeline up to the crowd.

At Consensus Point, we offer not just the tools but also a consultative approach that has led our clients to success. To learn more about our work with GE or about our innovation process, we invite you to explore our site.

 License Agreement Provides Access to Successful GE Imagination Market, Comprehensive Innovation Management Process 

Nashville, TN – Consensus Point LLC, a leading provider of prediction market software and services announced the addition of Rebecca Whitehead Munn to the leadership team and a license agreement with General Electric (“GE”).   Through the GE relationship, Consensus Point customers can have access to the proven GE Imagination Market process and benefit by identifying the most promising ideas for business growth.  GE’s Imagination Markets help answer tough business questions such as “what new technology ideas should we be investing in” and “what new products should we develop”. Market participants can submit their own ideas for entry into the market, and they can buy and sell shares of any idea in the market based on how well they believe the idea will contribute to the market’s objectives. At the end of the market, the business leader has a rank-ordered list of ideas.

GE has implemented the Consensus Point solution for idea management in over 10 GE businesses since 2006. The GE Imagination Market has uncovered innovative ideas based upon a variety of business-designated criteria. By licensing and integrating the GE “Imagination Market” technology process, Consensus Point provides a proven, comprehensive design and solution leveraging the prediction market expertise of Consensus Point and the business innovation leadership of GE.  In the recent GE-wide Imagination Market, over 1,400 employees from 170 business segments representing 42 countries suggested over 220 business model innovation ideas. GE Imagination Markets provide a fun way to engage people globally in new idea generation and result in an abundance of relevant ideas that can aid in setting future strategic directions.

Rebecca Munn joined the Consensus Point team as Senior Vice President of Sales. She brings over 22 years of proven experience in strategic planning, sales and marketing leadership, business unit operations, and services delivery. At Consensus Point, Ms. Munn is leading sales, sales operations, marketing, and customer relationships. She has held leadership positions with several global service and technology companies, most recently as the Vice President of Sales Operations of Healthways.  Ms. Munn also held several leadership roles at Cisco Systems, including the former Director of the Services Division, Connected Health Vertical, and principal in the Internet Business Solutions Group. She was the co-founder of The Arbora Group, a retail and wholesale operations start-up, in 2001. Ms. Munn is a former board member of the Nashville Technology Council. She earned an executive MBA from the University of Colorado and a BBA in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.

“Our customers now have access to GE’s global experience in innovation management and proven design for the Imagination Market, commented Linda Rebrovick, CEO, Consensus Point.  “This fully integrated solution, including the Consensus Point Foresight software and GE Imagination Market process, allows organizations to rapidly launch and realize the significant benefits of an idea and innovation market. Some of our customers have cut the time to process ideas in half through using idea markets. In addition to the GE partnership, we are pleased to announce the continued growth of our company with the addition of Rebecca Munn to our leadership team.”