Employees at Google are encouraged to place bets on Google's prediction market — an exchange that tries to forecast events based on the money wagered on a particular outcome. Employees have made wagers with play money (Goobles, as in rubles) on questions like: will Google open a Russia office? will Apple release an Intel-based Mac? how many users will Gmail have at the end of the quarter? One tangible benefit to the company is that the market allows Google to track how information disseminates in the company.

You think you would be the first to embed Social Business Intelligence in your business? Don’t worry, the principle of tapping into the collective intelligence has already been applied by various companies around the world and is rapidly become best practice.

“Nothing is more valuable than consumer input as long as you are talking to the right consumers,” says Robert Gordman, president of The Gordman Group. “Your best customers understand your business and products and can provide valuable feedback.”

“We are increasingly embedding the consumer in the ordering and inventory process of distribution through the web; embedding them in innovation makes sense,” says Liz Crawford, president of Crawford Consulting.

“It's a lot less expensive than a failed marketing campaign or a failed product launch. Like any other market research, it doesn't have to be precise; it just has to provide a reasonable direction”, says Mark Lilien, consultant with Retail Technology Group.

Organizations using Crowdcast’s Social Business Intelligence platform

From CPG and Retail, to Banking and Pharma, customers across a variety of industries are achieving remarkable results with Crowdcast’s Social Business Intelligence platform. Below are just a few examples of organizations using Crowdcast:

Crowdsourcing is particularly appealing, according to its supporters, because a new generation of internet users expects that kind of input and interaction. "They were born digital," Frank Cooper, vice president at Pepsi-Cola North America, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "They get the process. It is not technology to them. It is another great experience to engage." This summer, consumers were given the opportunity to vote at DEWmocracy.com to decide new flavors for Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand. "Hundreds of thousands of people have given us feedback" on the flavors, Mr. Cooper said. "There is a wealth of information we can leverage. This is unprecedented."

Threadless takes the risk out of selling t-shirts to a notoriously fickle youth crowd by having them say what they’d buy, producing just those, and selling them all. Threadless is non-stop interactive with its crowd in voting conversations, by blog, forum, Twitter and of course in social networks Facebook, MySpace and Flickr.

EA

One of the world’s top gaming companies, EA uses Crowdcast Social BI solutions to improve product quality, optimize their marketing spending, and align their complex, performance-driven organization.

Hallmark

The leader in the greeting card industry, Hallmark uses Crowdcast solutions to bring new products to market faster and more cost-effectively. Crowdcast is also helping them to create more efficient communication channels between their product and marketing staff, customers and retail partners.

World’s largest retailer

Crowdcast Social BI helps this global leader connect the home office to the front line — their store managers can now collaboratively forecast the efficacy of seasonal marketing campaigns.

A Fortune 100 financial services and holding company

This top firm uses Crowdcast solutions to improve their IT project success. Their stakeholders operate according to risk-adjusted project plans that incorporate insights of internal IT staff, vendors, and implementation partners.