Idea Management Software for Enterprise Teams

Used by Progress Makers at

Tell us if this looks familiar.

You asked for ideas, and people delivered. Then the ideas went into a spreadsheet called Ideas_FINAL_v3, and the review meeting got pushed twice before it stopped appearing in the calendar at all. Not because people ran out of ideas. Because nobody could see what happened to them.

Ideas_FINAL_v3 (1).xlsx· Read-only · Saved to SharePoint

File in use. Ideas_FINAL_v3 (1).xlsx is locked for editing by Erik Sandberg.Notify me

C4fxask Erik?? (or Mia, see email 12/3)

	A	B	C	D
1	Idea	From	Owner	Status
2	Shared calendar for meeting rooms	Karin L	?	Waiting
3	One booking system for both offices	###		Waiting
4	QR menu in the canteen	anon	ask Erik?? (or Mia, s	Discussed
5	Welcome checklist for new starters	see Forms
6	Fewer printed reports	Ahmed	see email	#REF!
7	Reply templates for customer emails			Waiting
8

IdeasIdeas (2)OLD do not useSheet3+

Last edited 14 months ago

If people can’t get their ideas in, nothing else matters.

So we made taking part the easy bit: a phone and two minutes. You get the input. They get an answer.

Only your people get in.They sign in with the Microsoft or Google account they already have. Running an outside challenge? Open it to anyone.
Short by default.A title, a few lines and a photo if they have one. You decide if anything else is asked.
An answer, every time.They hear when their idea moves on, so they share the next one too. You watch the numbers grow.

Six jobs that eat your week. Hives takes them off it.

What innovation, improvement and R&D leads tell us costs them the most, and what changes with Hives.

1 · Set up
Open your first challenge today.
Start from a template and change any step yourself, no consultant needed. The steps, questions and scores are already in place, so you can open it as soon as the question is right.
2 · Collect
Every idea in one inbox.
You see how many wait in each step, before anyone asks. Ideas from Teams, email, a QR code or the app all land in the same place.
3 · Read
Ida, the AI assistant, reads them all for you.
You get one summary with the themes and the best ideas, ready to forward. Ida only reads what you are allowed to see, and runs in the EU.
Summary by Ida · 54 ideas
Where do we waste time or money today?

Nora Lindahl · 6 Oct 2026

Overview
People shared 54 ideas, and most point to the same causes: work done twice, information in too many places and waiting for approvals. The quickest wins need no new system, only one owner.
Key themes

Work done twice10 ideasQuotes checked three times, orders typed in twice and reports nobody reads.

Information in too many places8 ideasSupplier emails, shared drives and spreadsheets that disagree with each other.

Waiting for approvals6 ideasSmall purchases that still need three signatures, and contracts stuck in someone's inbox.

Waste we pay for4 ideasPackaging we throw away, licences nobody uses and half-empty deliveries.

Notable contributions

One supplier portal: orders, invoices and delivery dates in one place, suggested by purchasing and finance.

Quotes in three days: one check instead of three, with a shared template for the common cases.

Self-service returns: customers start a return online, which frees up support calls.

Crate return loop: send crates back to the five biggest suppliers instead of paying to get rid of them.
4 · Decide
Your panel scores on your criteria.
Hives adds up the totals, so the meeting starts with a ranking. Everyone scores on their own, and you can see who gave each score.

Waiting for you
Validate
You're on the panel for Validate. Managers and the other panel members see your answers.
Validation
Money saved5 / 10
Problem/Solution fit9 / 10
Easy to implement5 / 10
How well defined user needs7 / 10
In line with company strategy7 / 10
Your total score: 33 of 50

Who gave each score
5 · Be open
People see what happened to their idea.
Every step is visible, so they keep sharing. They get a notification when their idea moves, and owners get a reminder when one waits too long.
Where your idea is
Managers moved it to Expand on 9 Oct. You'll get a notification if it moves to another step.
Inbox2 Oct
Qualify3 Oct
ExpandNow9 Oct
We look at who it helps and how it could grow. A small team adds detail before it is tested.
Validate
Decision
Go
Archive

Send remindersEmail the Collection's managers and the idea's assignees when an idea has waited in Expand for the number of days you choose
6 · Report
Your report is one click away.
Export an idea as a PDF, or the whole challenge to Excel. The overview shows where every idea stands and who took part.
Exported 12 Oct 2026 by Nora Lindahl

Where do we waste time or money today?

Take back crates with our top suppliers

Theo Marsh · 2 Oct 2025 · Expand

1 like · 2 comments · 57 views

We pay twice for every crate: once when it arrives and once to get rid of it. Our five biggest suppliers have said they would take them back. A return loop with a pick-up on each delivery would cut waste and save money from the first month.

Add a sketch or photo

crate-return-plan.pdf · 840 KB, linked

Where the idea has been

Inbox2 Oct
Qualify3 Oct
Expand9 Oct · Now

Qualify

How promising is it?
Impact8 / 10
Feasibility7 / 10
Desirability9 / 10
Total score: 24 of 30
Iris Okafor · 5 Oct 2025

Expand

For whom are we solving the problem?
Warehouse and purchasing, who pay for the crates twice and store them in between.
Nora Lindahl · 9 Oct 2025

Comments

Olivia Pike · 4 Oct 2025
Our Lund warehouse already sends crates back to two suppliers. Worth asking them how it works.

Theo Marsh · 4 Oct 2025
Good idea, I'll add Lund to the plan.

Take back crates with our top suppliersPage 1 of 1

Ida, the AI assistant

Ask once. Ida does the reading.

Four hundred ideas is a good problem until someone has to read them. Ida reads, sorts and drafts the next step. You decide what changes. Nothing moves without your yes.

Summary by Ida · 212 ideas
How can we make it easier to do business with us?

Nora Lindahl · 6 Oct 2026

Overview
People shared 212 ideas from sales, service and finance. Most ask for the same thing: fewer emails to get a simple answer. Order status, contracts and invoices come up in every department.
Key themes

Orders and delivery64 ideasOrder status online, delivery dates that hold and one confirmation instead of three.

Quotes and contracts48 ideasQuotes in 48 hours, standard terms and signing contracts online.

Invoices and payment37 ideasPlain-language invoices, one invoice a month and card payments.

Contact and support29 ideasOne named contact per key account and call-backs instead of queues.

Notable contributions

Order status online: customers see where their order is without emailing us, raised by 14 people.

Digital contracts: send, sign and store contracts online, suggested by sales and legal.

Invoices anyone can read: finance and service both say most invoice calls are about wording.

One contact per key account: a named person who answers within a day.
01 / Summary · 212 ideas
Read all 212 ideas and wrote the summary.
Order status, contracts and invoices came up in every department. The themes and the strongest ideas, ready for the steering group.
02 / Set-up · from one sentence
Set up the late-deliveries collection from one sentence.
Four steps and three questions, saved as a private draft. It lists what is left: a panel to choose and a link to share.
Ida

Get the ideas in Qualify moving
Here's what I'd do:
Ida's proposal · 3 changes
Assign 3 ideas in Qualify to Theo MarshOrder status online, Digital contracts with e-signing, Invoices anyone can read
Remind the Pilot panel to score4 of 6 have not scored yet
Comment on Invoices anyone can read"Can we try this with one region first?"
Nothing has changed yet. Take out anything you don't want, or tell me what to change.

03 / Workflow · 3 changes
Found the ideas stuck in Qualify and lined up the fix.
Assign three ideas, remind the panel that has not scored, add a comment. Nothing changes until you say yes.
04 / Clean-up · 54 ideas
Ready to move last year’s 54 ideas to Archive.
Answers and scores are kept, and you can move them back. One click from you, not an afternoon.

Meet Ida

One platform. Four ways to use it.

Start where your programme sits today. Inside the company or with partners outside it, the people who answer get the same simple form.

Innovation

For innovation teams and programme owners

A portfolio leadership can follow, from first idea to value.

See how it works

ChallengeWhich new service could we offer small fleet customers next year?Everyone in the company · 6 steps

Continuous improvement

For CI, Lean and operational excellence

Small fixes in days, bigger ones through a full review.

See how it works

ChallengeWhat slows you down on your line?Production, all sites · 4 steps

R&D

Ideas and insight for research and development

Insight from the field, grouped by Ida and ranked against your own criteria.

See how it works

ChallengeWhat problems do our service engineers keep seeing?Service and R&D · 5 steps

Open innovation

For calls to startups, suppliers, universities and partners

Outside answers in a challenge of their own, screened and scored by your experts, with Findest search to find who else is out there.

See how it works

ChallengeWhich startups can help us cut packaging weight by 20%?Invited partners and startups · 5 steps

In all fourIda, the AI assistant Microsoft Teams Google Workspace

Not to be braggadocious, but...

“Hives.co stood out to us from day one thanks to their easy-to-use interface. We are very happy to work with Hives.co to collect and realise the ideas from our colleagues throughout the Halfords Group.”
Dillon PudgeHalfords
“Hives.co has exceeded expectations and is visually appealing and accessible as a tool. For us, it has become more than just a technical solution; rather, it's a process and development support in how we improve.”
Helena CarlevaldLinköpings kommun
“We like how simple Hives keeps it, rather than having thousands of settings and features. Instead, everything was well thought out which made it easy and quick to get started.”
Love DagerHack for Earth
“Hives.co not only makes it easy to collect and sort ideas, but also fun. I don't think there's any tool on the market that's simpler than this.”
Jeffrey CastoExecution Consultants

Here’s what it costs.

No “contact sales to unlock pricing.” No per-user maths that changes the day you invite another department. The number is on the page, and it is the number.

Billed annually, starts at

CoreBest for teams under 500 employees.
€695/month
ProBest for mid-sized to large organisations.
€1,495/month
EnterpriseIncludes dedicated account management.
€1,995/month

See the plans and prices

Guides and articles

The ones we’d send you if you emailed and asked.

Practical tips on idea management, and real examples of how others have succeeded.

Browse all guides & articles

Article · 18 min read

What Is Idea Management? The Complete Guide (2026)

What idea management is, why it matters in 2026, and how Halfords collected 515 employee ideas worth £759K in 6 months. Pricing from €695/mo.

Idea management that ends in a decision.

Tell us if this looks familiar.

If people can’t get their ideas in, nothing else matters.

Six jobs that eat your week. Hives takes them off it.

Open your first challenge today.

Every idea in one inbox.

Ida, the AI assistant, reads them all for you.

Your panel scores on your criteria.

People see what happened to their idea.

Your report is one click away.

Ask once. Ida does the reading.

Read all 212 ideas and wrote the summary.

Set up the late-deliveries collection from one sentence.

Found the ideas stuck in Qualify and lined up the fix.

Ready to move last year’s 54 ideas to Archive.

One platform. Four ways to use it.

Innovation

Continuous improvement

R&D

Open innovation

Not to be braggadocious, but...

Here’s what it costs.

The ones we’d send you if you emailed and asked.

What Is Idea Management? The Complete Guide (2026)