So, you’re worried about using crowdsourcing because what you want to Crowdsource about is “sensitive”.   Perhaps you really want to use open innovation to get new ideas for products, but CEO is worried about competitors joining your site, and getting almost all of the benefit of your investment in crowdsourcing.    Good news, you and your CEO are not alone, and there are ways to keep you both happy.

First of all, your CEO is right to be concerned.  If you are investing in building your crowd and leading them in a process to build value for your company, you certainly don’t want your competitors to be “listening in.”

But, fear not:  we’ve got some experience here!

One very pleasing and interesting observation is there really isn’t any “idea stealing”  on crowdsourcing sites.   In our original Cambrian House community, the crowd was genuinely supportive and effective in helping people with ideas make them better, and was not out to steal them.  Take a look at Mob4Hire as a great example of an idea made better by the crowd.

That said, it still makes sense to protect the valuable information you get from your crowd.  Some of the ways we work to protect our client’s important information include:

• Creative use of private, invitation only calls, private areas within a site,

• Using roles, privileges, and reputation management within a crowd community to allow involvement

• Using “hybrid” crowdsourcing models which utilize a blend of a “contest” and “collaboration” model attributes to enable the positive benefits of collective wisdom without giving out the store secrets.

So, bottom line?  Don’t let the fear of someone else stealing your crowdsourced ideas keep you from using crowdsourcing.   There are many ways to keep your CEO happy, while delivering the benefits of open innovation to your organization.