Yes, you can run idea management in Microsoft 365. For one question to one team, Microsoft Forms or a SharePoint list is enough. Once ideas need a review route, a decision the contributor can see and people who never open Teams, you need an idea management tool that runs inside Teams, signs people in with their Microsoft work account and reaches everyone else through a link, a QR code or a phone.
Most organisations on Microsoft 365 start the same way: a Form, a list, a channel called Ideas. It works for a few weeks. Then the answers sit in an Excel file nobody owns, the person who sent the best idea asks what happened to it, and a second site wants to join.
Is Microsoft Forms or a SharePoint list enough for employee ideas?
It is enough when you ask one question, of one group, once, and one person can read every answer. A one-off call for ideas before a team day or a short survey after a process change: Forms does that well.
A SharePoint list goes further. You can add a status column, give reviewers views and build approvals with Power Automate. Take it far enough and you are maintaining your own idea management system, whose future depends on the person who built it staying in the job.
Ideas outgrow Forms and lists at a recognisable moment:
- Answers pile up without an owner. A few hundred responses with no agreed route from “received” to “decided” stall.
- Ideas need more than one step. Screening, an expert’s view, scoring, a decision and implementation are five steps. A form has one.
- Contributors ask what happened. Forms confirms that a response arrived. After that the contributor sees nothing, and next time fewer people answer.
- A second site, country or language joins. A form per site splits the data. One shared list blurs who decides what.
- Leadership asks what it delivered. Counting rows is easy. Showing what was implemented and what it was worth is not.
- Some of your people have no Microsoft account. Store staff, operators and drivers often have no work email.
When two or three of these are true, you have outgrown the form. That is the moment teams start looking for a dedicated tool.
What must an idea management tool in Microsoft Teams do?
It must let people submit and follow ideas without leaving Teams, sign them in with the Microsoft account they already have, and keep review and decisions in one place that also takes ideas from people who are not in Teams. Use this checklist with any vendor.
| What to check | Why it matters | How Hives does it |
|---|---|---|
| Submitting and following ideas inside Teams | Taking part should not mean going somewhere else | The Hives.co app sits in the Teams sidebar |
| Sign-in with the Microsoft work account | Only your people get in, and access ends with the account | Microsoft single sign-on on every plan; SAML on Enterprise |
| A way in for people outside Teams | The frontline often has no Teams licence | A QR code, a link, the mobile app or a browser |
| One workflow for every way in | Ideas from Teams and the shop floor need the same decision route | Custom workflows on every plan, decided in Hives |
| Feedback to the contributor | People send a second idea only if they saw what happened to the first | Contributors see which step their idea is in |
| Data location and agreements | Procurement and the DPO will ask | EU hosting, on Google Cloud in Germany by default; a DPA in the contract |
| Price that does not grow per user | The next department should not need a new budget | From €695 a month, billed annually, no per-user fees |
What does the Hives app for Microsoft Teams do?
It puts Hives in the Teams app sidebar, where people submit ideas and feedback, look through what colleagues have sent in and follow any idea through the workflow, their own included. Hives is idea management software for organisations from about 100 employees to multinational groups. Teams start with one challenge and grow the same setup to more sites, countries and business units.
- The sidebar. Open Hives.co, submit an idea, go back to the chat you were in.
- A link in a channel. Post a collection’s link in a Teams channel and everyone in it can submit, at a desk or on a phone.
- Decisions in Hives. Reviewing, prioritising and deciding happen in one Hives workflow, whichever way an idea came in. Teams is the way in, not the place where decisions get lost in a thread.
Adding the app takes four steps in Teams: open Apps, search for Hives.co, select it and click Add. It works on every paid Microsoft Teams plan; the free version of Teams does not support apps. The Microsoft Teams page shows the app, and the help article has the install steps.
Core is €695 a month with 2 managers and 500 contributors, Pro €1,495 with 10 managers and up to 10,000 contributors, Enterprise €1,995 with 10+ managers, multiple hives and SAML. See pricing.
How does sign-in with Microsoft work accounts work?
People sign in with the Microsoft work account they already have, the one your IT team manages in Microsoft Entra ID, so there is no new password and access ends when the account is closed. An admin turns on Sign in with Microsoft in the hive settings, and the same switch covers sign-in inside Teams.
- Hives matches people by their Microsoft sign-in name. If your hive only admits certain email domains, it checks the domain of that name.
- Microsoft guest accounts, such as partners added to your Teams, cannot sign in with Microsoft. They can use another method if your hive offers one and lets them join.
- A Microsoft account does not get anyone past your join rule, which is a separate setting.
- Enterprise adds SAML for organisations that want single sign-on through their own identity set-up.
How do frontline workers without a Teams licence take part?
Through a QR code, a link, the Hives mobile app or a browser, signing in with their Microsoft account if they have one and their own email if they don’t. Their ideas land in the same collection as the ones from Teams and go through the same workflow.
This matters more than any Teams feature. Some organisations give frontline staff a Microsoft 365 licence with Teams; many give them no Microsoft account at all. A tool that only works inside Teams leaves out the people closest to the waste, the queues and the customers.
The retailer Halfords plugged Hives into the internal communications tools its stores already used, because many colleagues there have no corporate email. More than 1,000 engaged colleagues across 400 stores sent in 515 ideas, and the programme produced £759,000 in business value in 6 months. In the public sector, Linköping Municipality collected 200 ideas in 3 months and cut admin time by 66%.
No-login access is only an option for challenges open to outsiders, such as suppliers or residents. For your own staff, access starts with sign-in. The frontline guide covers posters, shift patterns and getting store managers on board.
What will IT and the Microsoft 365 admin ask?
Usually four things: whether the app is allowed in your tenant, what data it reads, where that data is stored and what there is to deploy.
- App approval. Your Teams administrator may need to allow the Hives.co app first. It is listed in the Microsoft Teams store and on AppSource, app ID WA200006670.
- Consent for sign-in. If employees cannot approve new apps themselves, they see a Microsoft message asking for admin approval, and your Microsoft 365 administrator grants consent once for the organisation. Hives asks Microsoft only for name, email address, sign-in name and profile photo.
- Data from the Teams app. In its App Compliance answers to Microsoft (August 2024), Hives states that the Teams app processes name and email address, stores them in Germany and keeps them for less than 60 days after an account is terminated.
- Hosting. Google Cloud in Germany by default, so the data stays in the EU. Ask if you need on-premise delivery. A DPA is part of the contract.
- Security standard. Hives.co’s security is set up in line with the ISO 27001 standard.
- Deployment. Nothing to install. Hives is a web app, so IT reviews access and identity rather than running a rollout.
The security page has hosting, sign-in and GDPR in one place.
When is another kind of tool a better fit?
When everyone works in Teams or Viva Engage every day and you want ideas collected inside those conversations, a tool built around them fits better. Sideways 6, a London company founded in 2017, is built around Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage and does not publish its prices. If nobody in your organisation is outside Microsoft 365 and capture inside the conversation matters most, put it on your shortlist. The Hives.co vs Sideways 6 comparison sets out the differences.
Stay with Forms if one question to one team, once, is the whole need. Pay for software when ideas need a route, a decision and someone who answers the contributor.
If part of your organisation runs on Google Workspace, Hives works there too, with Google sign-in, Google Chat and an add-on for Docs, Drive, Gmail and Sheets. See the Google Workspace page.
Common questions
Can we run idea management in Microsoft Teams without another tool?
For a small, one-off collection, yes: put a Form or a SharePoint list in a channel tab. You will not get a review workflow, feedback to contributors or a way in for people without Teams.
Does the Hives app need a paid Microsoft Teams plan?
Yes. The free version of Teams does not support apps, so people on it take part through a link, a QR code, the mobile app or a browser.
Does Hives integrate with SharePoint or Viva Engage?
Not as a published integration. You can post a collection’s link anywhere your people read, including a SharePoint page or a Viva Engage community, and they sign in with their Microsoft account when they open it.
Can we use both Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace?
Yes. The same hive can be connected to Microsoft Teams channels and Google Chat spaces at the same time. Ideas, workflows and reports are shared; only the way in differs.
Does Hives meet ISO 27001?
Hives.co’s security is set up in line with the ISO 27001 standard. You also get EU hosting on Google Cloud in Germany, a DPA in the contract, a public sub-processor list and direct answers to your security questionnaire.