Sideways 6 product updates: H1 2025

From smart dashboards to anonymous idea submissions and smoother workflows, here’s the highlights of what we shipped in the first half of 2025 to make idea management even more seamless for our customers.

👇 Watch the full walk-through video below to see it all in action:

Anonymous submissions for sensitive campaigns

Support sensitive campaigns with anonymous submissions in the Microsoft Teams app

While we believe that ownership, transparency and recognition are core to building a strong idea-sharing culture, we also recognise that not every campaign (or company culture) makes it easy for people to speak up.

In some cases, campaign topics may be sensitive, or local cultural norms might discourage users from sharing ideas openly. To support these specific scenarios, we’ve introduced optional anonymous submissions in the Microsoft Teams Ideas App.

“This is designed as a flexible add-on—not a default approach—giving customers the ability to support openness where it’s truly needed.” – Product Lead, Sideways 6

Campaign managers can now enable anonymity at the campaign level, giving users the option to submit ideas confidentially. Submissions appear under a dedicated “Anonymous user”, and users will still receive updates on their ideas via notifications.

A moderation setting is also available, allowing admins to review anonymous ideas before they’re published to others—helping to keep submissions thoughtful and constructive.

Interact integration updates for reaching your frontline

Not everyone in the workforce has access to Microsoft Teams. That’s why we built Interact Ideas, our web platform that makes it a breeze to gather ideas from frontline teams and external partners.

And now, it’s packed with new features, which mirrors the experience users have on Teams. 

New in Interact Ideas:

Run campaigns for specific groups by using Interact groups, allowing you to engage only the people the campaign is meant for.

Group campaigns under different departments, regions, or business units with their own branding, so users only see what’s relevant to them.

With Similar Ideas AI, users see similar ideas at the point of submission—helping reduce duplicates and spark collaboration. And with Improve with AI, idea submitters get suggestions to strengthen their submission before they hit send improving their idea quality.

Whether you’re running campaigns for retail teams in the field or onboarding partners into your innovation process, Interact Ideas now gives you more control, context, and intelligence than ever before.

“This makes it easier to involve frontline teams with personalised, intelligent experiences—even if they’re not using Teams.” – Product Lead, Sideways 6

Regional hosting is here

One of our biggest technical leaps yet: we’ve introduced regional clustering.

Our first region to go live is Australia, with more on the way. This means faster performance and better data control for customers in different regions.

And we are just getting started. Future roll outs will be based on customer demand, so stay tuned.

“We can now deploy Sideways 6 regionally—and we’re just getting started.” – Product Lead, Sideways 6

Tracking engagement with the new campaign dashboard

We know successful idea programmes are powered by strong engagement. That’s why we launched a brand-new campaign dashboard—bringing all your most important metrics into one place.

Now you can:

• Track submissions, likes, comments and audience involvement
• Monitor weekly and monthly trends
• Spot drop-offs and momentum
• Use filters to focus on key areas or audiences

“One intuitive view to help you see how your campaign is really performing—and where to go next.” – Product Lead, Sideways 6

More flexibility, less friction

We also released smaller features that make everyday work smoother:

• Customise platform emails with your campaign logo and branding
• Reorder custom fields to set a master view for teams working together on ideas
• Edit notes directly on ideas without switching views

“Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference in how teams collaborate.” – Product Lead, Sideways 6

What's next?

Q2 is already in full swing—and we’ve got even more exciting updates on the way. If you’d like a preview of what’s coming or want to see these features in your own setup, just reach out.

Always improving

Whether you're running your programme with Sideways 6 or exploring what’s possible, know that we’re constantly evolving—shaped by your feedback and focused on helping you turn more ideas into impact.

Coming soon, our new business impact dashboard will help you connect the dots between ideas and real outcomes - making it even easier to show the value of your programme. 

Got feedback?

We’d love to hear it. Drop a message to your Customer Success Manager or reach out via in-app chat. And if you're not yet on our product update mailing list, just ask to be added.