Necessity was the mother of HiveManager. After a number of years trying to find a simple, cost efficient way of collecting and using beekeeping data to make better decisions to improve his results, Dan was out of good options.
He was discussing the problem with Jim and they conceived the idea of developing an application for Dan and his staff to easily collect data in the field, use it to help determine priorities, plan activities, help plan daily logistics and communicate effectively with property owners.
With the addition of Corne and Scott to the application development team, we started building out the solution that is available today.
Dan, his beekeeping team and a number of other beekeepers have been integrally involved in the design & testing of the solution over the last 2 years, using it in their daily activities and providing feedback on changes and improvements needed.
Now Dan can quickly see all of his apiaries on a map, updated hive & nuc counts, move them between apiaries and filter them based on criteria to determine priorities and map out activities for his team for the week. He can quickly analyze which apiaries are most productive at which times of the year, which apiaries are strongest or need work or where disease risk is higher so he can quickly prioritize checks.
His team members can quickly map out their travel most efficiently, lookup property entry, access and hazard details and capture & communicate Apiary updates to the rest of the team.
After the application was fully tested, we started looking for industry partners with deep experience and a great reputation among beekeepers to market and support the application.
To this end, in June 2019, we formalized our relationship with Beequip NZ to be our exclusive New Zealand sales and support agent.
Contact Beequip to discuss how to improve your results with HiveManager and sign up for a free trial.
We look forward to you joining us on our journey.
Dan Shand
The Beekeeper
Dan leads requirements & testing. He farms Island Hills Station in North Canterbury and runs a (size) beekeeping operation. He is a Nuffield Scholar and sits on a number of agri-committees & advisory groups.
Jim McCormick
The Analyst
Jim leads application design along with business planning. He has 25 years of experience in Technology & consulting management. Jim holds a Masters in Systems Strategy & Management from Northwestern.
Corné Alant
The Tech
Corné leads our technology team. He has experience building software in various industries and companies ranging from startups to global Saas companies. Corné enjoys creating intuitive and appealing products that delight customers.
Scott McKenzie
The Tech
With over 20 years of software development experience and a degree in Mathematics from the University Portsmouth, Scott looks for real world problems to solve and products to build to make the world a better place.