Why These Teams Switched To Hive From Asana, Trello, Slack, and Google Suite

When teams and individuals start using Hive, they come from one of two camps. Camp A: They’ve never used a project management tool for their team, and are using some mix of Google Sheets, Slack, Skype, Zoom, Gmail, etc (we feel overwhelmed just typing that). Camp B: They’ve tried other project management tools before, but haven’t found the right solution or fit for their team, so they’ve switched to Hive instead. That could be for a ton of different reasons. Maybe their team has grown in size, maybe their needs have changed, or maybe they were just getting tired of using a lackluster solution. There are a ton of reasons that you might be looking to choose a new project management tool.

As you embark on your search for the best project management tool, it’s always helpful to hear from other teams and learn why they decided to switch to a different option. Ahead, we’ve rounded up information from a few different Hive users to learn a bit more about why they decided to go with Hive.

oVertone

Industry: Haircare

What They Used Before Hive: Asana, Slack, Google Slides and Sheets

Why they switched: One of the main reasons that oVertone started looking for a new project management tool was because they wanted to improve the processes for how requests were submitted between departments, improve approval processes with the Creative and Marketing teams, and add resourcing and time tracking functionalities so they could fully understand the capabilities and workloads of team members. The leadership team would need the resourcing and time tracking functionality to understand macro-level trends, and wanted to be able to generate high-level summaries. Overall, they needed to streamline process and efficiencies across the board.

Before Hive, the team was working in multiple systems including Asana, Slack, Google Slides & Sheets. Project requests for the creative team were being tracked in Asana and then detailed out in Google Slides, which was not as efficient as it could be.    

In addition to the functionalities detailed above (approvals, resourcing and time tracking), oVertone wanted a PM tool that was going to be user friendly for the teams, and easy to submit, build and track creative projects in. They also wanted a tool that had the capability to integrate with JIRA, Google Drive and Slack. Hive had all of that and more — Hive’s resourcing, time tracking and approval process made Hive a no-brainer to level-up the process management and efficiency of their team.

ABC Life Literacy Canada

Industry: Nonprofit

What They Used Before Hive: Excel, MS Word, Google Suite

Why they switched: There were a few motivating factors behind ABC Life Literacy Canada’s (ABC) search for a project management tool. Their team regularly has several projects, with competing timelines, led by different project managers. A move toward a more cohesive approach had been on their radar for some time, and their interim move to a remote office in response to the pandemic last March brought their search for a tool to the forefront. They needed a way to streamline how their team was working together in these unprecedented times.

ABC was looking for a streamlined tool that was intuitive and that their team would actually want to spend time using. They identified that they needed a system that would serve as a control panel and dashboard to help them advance into the future. It was important to ABC to be able to work toward a more unified approach to project management across their team, while still allowing for necessary customization — their projects are not one size fits all. The project management tool needed to allow for this cohesion and customization. 

They also needed a tool that had a high level of onboarding support, which Hive has. ABC is a learning organization that creates high-quality, age and level-appropriate educational content and are a team of lifelong learners — team adoption of the tool was top-of-mind. Since kicking off ABC’s on-boarding sessions with Hive, they’ve developed and shared a live Handbook with their team that outlines how their organization engages with the tool and that they plan to update regularly as they get to know the tool better. Again, learning is key here: learning how to best use Hive for their work and ensuring the important learning is shared across their team. While the pandemic prompted ABC to find Hive, they also appreciated the cohesion and customization that Hive has allowed.

CloudControl Media

Industry: Marketing agency

What They Used Before Hive: Wrike, Trello

Why They Switched: When CloudControl Media acquired another agency, “ESM,” they realized that there were major differences in the processes that ESM followed versus CloudControl. As they integrated both teams, it was important that the CloudControl team develop processes and standardizations in how they operated. This fusion of the two teams really brought the need for a unified project management solution to the forefront — before Hive, ESM was using Wrike, and CloudControl was using Trello.

When CloudControl started their search for a tool, they were looking for something that satisfied the needs of many different team members. They wanted to be able to work their own way, which is a key way Hive differentiates itself. Their creative director was coming from using Kanban view in Trello, while other teammates were accustomed to a folder layout and table view. The tool they chose, which ended up being Hive, needed to have flexible project views. Their team also wanted to be able to set up some high level views for the executives  to see what’s going on, and Hive’s summary and portfolio view delivered for high-level task management.

TWIST Creative

Industry: Advertising

What They Used Before Hive: Excel, Intranet Server

Why They Switched: Before Hive, TWIST was storing files on their server, so they were easily accessible to teammates, or passing information along via physical copies of notes, documents, and briefs. The team also used Excel spreadsheets for tracking data across the organization. These methods proved challenging for the team, as they weren’t able to update documents easily without resending them to relevant parties. They also had no way of tracking conversations or notes taken over time, which stifled communication. Overall, the TWIST team was using a variety of disparate tools and techniques, but nothing that was user friendly and that everyone on the team – from management, to account services to creative – could easily access, update and understand. The lack of centralized communication was hampering their progress as an agency — they needed a way to consolidate.

The TWIST team spent several months searching for a project management tool, but quickly fell in love with Hive. Some of the features they were looking for in a tool included easy-to-use communication, file storage, and proofing functionality, all of which Hive had. They also loved the Hive team — it was clear that the Hive team had an open line of communication to customers and would take their recommendations to heart. Once their team implemented Hive, they immediately started using it as their system of record for all campaigns, tracking progress from concept to completion. 

Fight Colorectal Cancer

Industry: Non-profit

What They Used Before Hive: Excel, Phone Calls

Why They Switched: Before Hive, Fight CRC used disparate methods of communication, which ranged from spreadsheets to phone calls. Since they were a fully remote team, this style of communication was difficult to supervise, and the team needed a tool that provided clarity and transparency for leadership and teammates across the board. They also needed a tool that could serve as a repository of information and centralized hub for all relevant past projects, campaigns and documents. Integrations was also absolutely crucial for Fight CRC, because they heavily utilized Box and Google Drive. Whichever tool they went to needed to have ample integrations to allow them to operate efficiently. Finally, they needed a tool that had a proofing functionality which would allow their creative team to design and edit documents.

When Fight CRC discovered Hive, they found a solution that centralized and streamlined all of their work with ease, thanks to Hive’s integrations and capabilities. In Hive, Fight CRC set up their projects organized by management team, which served as individual parent projects. Underneath the parent projects, the child projects correspond to individual projects and campaigns, and actions map out tasks, some of which include dependencies, to help streamline the team workflow. This system works beautifully, providing their Head of Partnerships with a macro-level view with access to all projects that fall under each management team.