Idea management tools, NPD platforms, PPM systems, and SPM systems each solve one slice of the innovation lifecycle. Each comes with capability gaps that only show up after you've bought in. A true enterprise IM solution is the only category built to manage everything from concept to post-launch without those gaps.

Most vendors sell configurability as a checkbox, but it actually runs on a spectrum — from systems that merely fit your IT infrastructure to hyper-configurable platforms that mirror your organization's exact methodology. Get compatibility and visibility right, and everything else (automated insight, precise forecasting, radical visibility into the whole portfolio) follows.