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WeBank embarks a perilous exercise of open innovation

" 6 weeks, 6 experts, one application " is the subtitle of " WePad Project" launched by the online bank in Italy WeBank past few weeks. The principle of operation is to collect six figures to ask them to imagine an application (banking) revolution for the iPad in 6 weeks. With the help of a seventh expert, represented by the "crowd" of Internet users.

To a large extent, the approach WebBank respects the "golden rules" of the kind : a clearly established (to avoid dispersion of efforts), a limited duration (to maintain the commitment of participants ), awards (as iPad offered to contributors the most "deserving"), the involvement of persons outside the core business of the bank (openness) and public participation (for wealth of viewpoints).

Yet surprise some choices, justifying the label "dangerous" that I adopt The title of this article. For example, the presence of a small team dedicated to "brainstorm " combined with an open approach to the public seems to say the least ambiguous, that might create an imbalance in the contributions, which might frustrate users.

Meanwhile, the selection of "experts" all more or less specialists in Internet risk as a "sclerotic" creativity, while radically different response profiles (eg imagine the participation of a socioloque or an astronaut!) would be more likely to produce revolutionary ideas expected.

Among the regrets, also include public opening limited to the publication of ideas, suggestions or comments (which lead to some discussion), without giving him the opportunity to invest more in the process of innovation (eg by offering them the opportunity to "vote" for the best deals). In addition, the criteria for selecting ideas of Internet users are not very explicit and may seem arbitrary (depending on the preferences of the "experts").

Finally, the bet becomes extremely WeBank bold when you consider that once the completed phase of creativity, it will achieve the result, within a reasonable time and with an application that is truly revolutionary!

Despite the doubts I express, I'm looking forward discover more: what solution will emerge from the "pot"? When will there be on the AppStore? Does she respond to the expectations of bank customers? Will it really different from existing solutions? The good news is that we can have concrete and objective answers to these questions ... Stay tuned for the Final!

Thanks to Christophe Langlois ( Visible Banking ) for introducing me to this initiative (to follow)!