Agorize INNOVATION and Sideways 6 are platforms designed to facilitate innovation and idea management within organizations. Here is a comprehensive overview of each:

Agorize INNOVATION

a) Primary Functions and Target Markets

• Primary Functions: Agorize INNOVATION is a platform that enables organizations to crowdsource ideas and innovations. It facilitates open innovation challenges, hackathons, and competitions to engage employees, startups, students, and a wider community. The platform supports the entire innovation process, from idea submission to evaluation and implementation.
• Target Markets: Agorize targets a diverse range of sectors, including corporate enterprises, educational institutions, and public organizations. Its primary clients are large companies looking to foster innovation internally and externally, including industries such as technology, consumer goods, and financial services.

b) Market Share and User Base

Agorize is a well-established player in the idea management and open innovation market, with a global presence. The platform is used by Fortune 500 companies and has been involved in numerous high-profile innovation challenges. Although specific market share figures are not typically disclosed, Agorize is recognized as a leader in the field of open innovation platforms.

c) Key Differentiating Factors

• Community Engagement: Agorize emphasizes the creation of an innovation community, drawing participants from various backgrounds — not just internal employees but also external participants like students and startups.
• Comprehensive Challenge Management: The platform offers end-to-end solutions for managing innovation challenges, including features for registration, participant engagement, solution submission, and evaluation.
• Global Reach and Diverse Clients: Agorize has a global footprint and serves a wide range of industries, which positions it as a versatile option for companies seeking broad innovation input.

Sideways 6

a) Primary Functions and Target Markets

• Primary Functions: Sideways 6 is an idea management platform specifically designed to integrate with workplace platforms like Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and Slack. It captures employee ideas and feedback within the tools they are already using, simplifying the process of idea submission and engagement.
• Target Markets: Sideways 6 primarily targets large to mid-sized enterprises seeking to capitalize on employee-driven innovation. Its integration with popular communication platforms makes it particularly appealing to organizations that have a strong digital workplace culture.

b) Market Share and User Base

Sideways 6, though not as globally expansive as Agorize, has carved out a niche in the employee innovation sector, particularly among organizations using Microsoft Teams and other related tools. Its user base is largely constituted of workers within large enterprises where Teams and Yammer are prevalent.

c) Key Differentiating Factors

• Integration with Communication Tools: Unlike Agorize, Sideways 6 is deeply integrated into existing workplace tools like Teams and Yammer, allowing for seamless idea capture and collaboration directly within these platforms.
• Focus on Employee Ideas: While Agorize looks to external sources as well, Sideways 6 focuses primarily on leveraging insights and ideas from within the employee base.
• User Experience: The platform prioritizes simplifying the process of idea submission and discussion, making it easy for employees to participate without leaving their routine workflow applications.

Comparative Summary

• Scope and Engagement: Agorize offers a broader scope in sourcing innovation, involving external participants, whereas Sideways 6 focuses internally on employees.
• Integration: Sideways 6 provides strong integration with workplace communication tools, which can increase adoption and ease of use among employees.
• Market Segment: Agorize suits companies looking for comprehensive, community-driven innovation initiatives, while Sideways 6 is ideal for companies wanting to tap into internal insights through existing digital communication channels.
• Global Reach vs. Niche Focus: Agorize has a wider global reach and diverse client base, whereas Sideways 6 has a niche focus, especially in companies using platforms like Teams and Yammer.

In summary, while both platforms aim to enhance innovation within organizations, Agorize INNOVATION is more externally focused with expansive outreach capabilities, and Sideways 6 is internally focused with strong integration features. Each caters to different aspects of idea management and innovation based on organizational needs and infrastructure.

To provide a feature similarity breakdown for Agorize INNOVATION and Sideways 6, I'll focus on the typical capabilities associated with innovation management platforms. While details can change with updates to the software, as of the last available data, here is a general comparison:

a) Core Features in Common:

1. Idea Submission and Management: Both platforms allow users to submit ideas and manage them throughout their lifecycle. This includes features such as idea capturing, categorization, and prioritization.

2. Collaboration Tools: They offer collaboration functionalities, enabling users to work together, comment on, and refine ideas. This might include chat features or the ability to create groups or teams.

3. Voting and Feedback: These platforms typically include mechanisms for voting on ideas and providing feedback, allowing the community to help in identifying the most promising suggestions.

4. Innovation Campaigns: Organizations can launch innovation campaigns or challenges to focus idea generation towards specific goals or problems.

5. Analytics and Reporting: Both platforms likely provide some form of analytics or reporting tools to track the performance of ideas and measure the effectiveness of innovation efforts.

b) User Interface Comparison:

• Agorize INNOVATION:

  • Typically has a streamlined and user-friendly interface focused on facilitating participation in challenges and innovation campaigns. It often emphasizes a modern, sleek design tailored to engage users in global, regional, or local challenges.
  • May integrate gamification elements to enhance user engagement.

• Sideways 6:

  • Known for its simplicity and ease of use, with a focus on integrating with existing tools like Microsoft Teams or Yammer. The UI is often described as clean and straightforward, which helps in minimizing the learning curve for users.
  • Emphasizes seamless integration, allowing ideas to be submitted and managed without leaving the collaboration tools most users are already familiar with.

c) Unique Features:

• Agorize INNOVATION:

  • Unique selling points often include the ability to engage external ecosystems such as customers, partners, or startups, alongside internal stakeholders. This external innovation capability can bring in fresh perspectives and ideas.
  • Offers a marketplace of sorts, where companies can connect with a diverse range of talent and ideas, which can be particularly appealing for open innovation approaches.

• Sideways 6:

  • Strongly focused on employee-driven innovation, with robust integrations into enterprise social networks, making it stand out for companies looking to harness internal ideas using existing communication platforms.
  • Specializes in creating a bottom-up innovation culture by leveraging tools employees use daily, ensuring high adoption rates and continuous idea flow.

Overall, while both Agorize INNOVATION and Sideways 6 provide solid platforms for innovation management, the choice between them may hinge on whether an organization prioritizes engaging external partners and ecosystems (Agorize) or prefers to focus on internal collaboration using existing enterprise tools (Sideways 6).

Agorize INNOVATION and Sideways 6 are platforms designed to facilitate and enhance innovation and idea management within organizations, but they cater to somewhat different needs and scenarios. Here’s a breakdown of their best fit use cases and how they can be differentiated based on industry verticals or company sizes:

Agorize INNOVATION

a) Best Fit for Types of Businesses or Projects:

1. Corporate Innovation Challenges: Agorize is particularly well-suited for large enterprises looking to engage both internal and external stakeholders (like employees, startups, developers, and students) in innovation challenges. It's ideal for companies wanting to open up innovation processes and crowdsourcing ideas externally and internally.

2. Open Innovation Initiatives: Organizations aiming to leverage a wider ecosystem for innovation—such as open innovation competitions or hackathons—will find Agorize valuable. It provides a platform to host, manage, and promote these events effectively.

3. Startup and Scaleup Engagement: Businesses that seek to engage with startups for co-development or partnership opportunities can use Agorize to scout for startups that align with their strategic innovation goals.

4. Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding: By engaging potential hires in innovation challenges, companies can enhance their employer brand and identify innovative talents through real-world problem-solving activities.

d) Industry Verticals and Company Sizes:

• Industry Verticals: Agorize is versatile across industries, especially in technology, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and education sectors where innovation is crucial.
• Company Sizes: It's more suitable for medium to large enterprises that have the resources to implement and benefit from extensive innovation initiatives involving a large number of participants.

Sideways 6

b) Preferred Scenarios for Use:

1. Employee-Driven Innovation: Sideways 6 excels in empowering employees within an organization to contribute ideas. It's ideal for companies that want to harness the collective intelligence of their workforce and build a culture of continuous improvement.

2. Integrated with Existing Platforms: It’s favorable for businesses already using platforms like Microsoft Teams or Yammer, as Sideways 6 integrates seamlessly with these tools to capture, manage, and act on ideas efficiently.

3. Continuous Improvement Programs: Organizations focusing on continuous improvement and incremental innovation can leverage Sideways 6 to gather ongoing feedback and suggestions from employees at all levels.

d) Industry Verticals and Company Sizes:

• Industry Verticals: Sideways 6 is applicable across various sectors, particularly in industries such as financial services, retail, and manufacturing, where employee insights can lead to meaningful process optimizations.
• Company Sizes: It is particularly effective for mid-size to large organizations that have established digital communication platforms, though smaller businesses using these platforms can also benefit from its flexibility and ease of integration.

Conclusion

In summary, Agorize INNOVATION is best for organizations looking for a broad, external-facing innovation platform to engage diverse stakeholders in strategic challenges, while Sideways 6 is suited for those focusing on nurturing internal ideas and leveraging existing digital communication tools for employee engagement. Both cater to diverse industry needs but serve different scales and structures of innovation practices within businesses.

To provide a final verdict for Agorize INNOVATION and Sideways 6, it's crucial to evaluate both products based on their overall value, pros and cons, and considerations for users deciding between them.

a) Best Overall Value

Considering all factors such as features, pricing, scalability, user-friendliness, and customer support, the best overall value product can vary depending on specific user needs. However, if looking for a platform that offers robust features for engaging employees in innovation challenges with wide applicability, Agorize INNOVATION may often offer a better overall value due to its versatile approach to hosting various types of innovation competitions and its extensive use case flexibility. Conversely, for organizations specifically focused on harnessing and managing ideas within large companies or seeking seamless integration with their existing communication platforms, Sideways 6 might provide an edge, particularly with its specialization in working through familiar tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack.

b) Pros and Cons

Agorize INNOVATION

Pros:

• Extensive platform capabilities for organizing innovation challenges.
• Strong support for external collaboration, hackathons, and competitions.
• Global reach with a well-established network and reputation.
• Comprehensive analytics and reporting tools to track progress.

Cons:

• May require a longer onboarding process due to the platform's complex features.
• Potentially higher costs depending on the scale and scope of challenges.
• May not be as seamlessly integrated into everyday workplace tools compared to Sideways 6.

Sideways 6

Pros:

• Excellent integration with popular workplace communication tools (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Slack), providing ease of access and user engagement.
• Focus on continuous employee-driven innovation and idea management.
• Simpler interface that might be easier for everyday users to adopt.

Cons:

• Limited in handling larger, more diverse innovation challenges compared to Agorize.
• Primarily geared towards internal idea management, potentially limiting external collaboration.
• Features may be less comprehensive for large-scale events or competitions.

c) Recommendations for Users

• For those focused on internal innovation and leveraging existing communication infrastructure, Sideways 6 is a reliable choice. It's particularly beneficial for companies looking for seamless integration with tools their employees already use daily.
• For organizations aiming to foster open innovation and collaboration both internally and externally, Agorize INNOVATION is more suitable. It can manage diverse challenges and tap into a global community, offering flexibility for different innovation models.

In conclusion, the decision should be based on the specific needs of your organization. Consider factors such as the scope of innovation you want to achieve, the importance of integration with existing tools, your budget, and the complexity of the innovation challenges you wish to address.