Daptiv's Greenhouse: Collaboration Grows

A new open innovation strategy from the software provider asks users to share and follow up on ideas to help improve service

Daptiv Encourages Customers to Participate in Product Innovations with the First Full-Cycle Process for Customer Idea Management

An established leader in the collaborative project portfolio management arena, Daptiv is dedicated to providing its customers with the best on-demand software for project management and collaboration. In 2008, Daptiv created the Greenhouse – a place for Daptiv customers to interact, provide product feedback and suggest new features. After an initial beta testing period that garnered customer praise, the Greenhouse was opened to over 100,000 Daptiv users in June 2008. More than a suggestion box, the Greenhouse is truly the first of its kind in providing a full-cycle system for continued customer feedback. The Greenhouse reflects Daptiv's commitment to both product innovation and customer satisfaction.

The Greenhouse is an online meeting place for Daptiv customers to collectively decide which new product features and enhancements are most essential. Users can submit product ideas, vote or comment on existing ideas and gain insight into which concepts have been implemented into the product. The purpose of the Greenhouse is to create a simple, direct and full-cycle product feedback vehicle while also giving the community transparency and insight into Daptiv's product roadmap. There is also a real business benefit for Daptiv – the Greenhouse allows Daptiv engineers to prioritize the product development pipeline and align product updates with customer feedback and suggestions.

Daptiv’s objective as a SaaS technology leader has always been to offer more than collaborative business solutions – but to be a collaborative partner in innovation. The Greenhouse is the latest manifestation of Daptiv’s commitment to customer experience and collaboration and gives them a voice throughout the development process. Users have the option to track their favorite ideas via RSS or email as ideas move through the Greenhouse cycle. Additionally, the Greenhouse forum features an “in progress” tab so that customers can see which ideas have reached the “harvest,” or development, stage, even allowing them to give input on the design and the user interface as new the features are being built. To round out the full cycle of product development, Daptiv users also have the ability to rank and comment on completed ideas, giving Daptiv feedback on how well they’ve executed customers’ requests.

In building the Greenhouse, Daptiv sought to foster the input and voice of the community of users and to create a genuine two-way dialog. The Greenhouse was developed with an end-goal in mind – creating a dynamic way for customers to suggest ideas and interact along the way during the idea-gathering process to the results phase of idea implementation. A crucial element to the process is continued feedback – after gathering and implementing new product ideas, users have the ability to provide additional feedback on ideas once they have been incorporated into Daptiv to let the company know of any additional iterations that may be desired. Finally, they have also figured out how to prioritize customer input from current customers through voting to decide how that input fits into overall product development strategy. Not every idea will be implemented, but it’s important to begin this two-way dialog and continue the discussion by welcoming continued feedback.

How the Greenhouse works:

1. Plant – Daptiv users are able to suggest new product features by planting an idea in the Greenhouse. These ideas are then published in the Greenhouse for other Daptiv users to review and vote on.
2. Cultivate – Daptiv users can access existing ideas and provide feedback through voting for their favorites and commenting with additional suggestions or questions
3. Harvest – Once ideas from the Greenhouse are incorporated into Daptiv, the suggestions are harvested and moved to the “completed” tab.
4. Grade Results – Users can provide valuable feedback on how well an idea was implemented by the product development team and if additional updates are needed.

The first of its kind, the Greenhouse reveals Daptiv’s dedication to its users – with over 1,112 current Greenhouse members who are actively making suggestions and voting on proposed ideas. The Greenhouse also provides business benefits to Daptiv’s product development team. It has allowed Daptiv’s engineers to tap into their greatest resource – the end users. Engineers can now see what customers want and align those needs with current projects to better prioritize innovations for the latest seasonal product update. Since its launch, the Greenhouse has received 831 ideas that have been voted on over 7,373 times with over 928 additional comments and 25 implemented ideas. The data speaks for itself – users have great ideas and want to participate in the process, and Daptiv is eager to listen.