Abstract vs. Staffbase

• Large teams with dedicated design operations support
• UX managers that want a facilitated workflow for their teams
• Disciplined teams of individual contributors that want to adopt a process in their UI workflow
• Cross-discipline teams that want a central collaboration space for reviewing and critiquing UI artifacts
• If your files are named "FOR-REALS_FINAL_FINAL_FINAL_Super-Important-Project (copy).sketch"
• If you're managing multiple pattern libraries

Incentivized

Staffbase is well-suited for companies who want to drive and measure employee engagement through meaningful content. I wouldn't recommend it for companies that maintain a complex SharePoint environment with years of legacy content. It is not intended to be a CMS system. It is a dynamic platform that makes it's easy to share information through the mobile or desktop app and email and push notifications. You don't need a large team to manage it.

Incentivized

• Versioning for desginers
• Collaboration between team members

Incentivized

• Easy to use back-end for posting and managing content—you don't have to rely on IT for support.
• Software update releases are included in the licensing fees. No need to get outside developers involved in making changes to the platform.
• Employee segmentation is extremely easy with an API from your HRIS system.
• Translations are a breeze!
• Creating forms on the go is easy and efficient!
• Use your existing organization's SSO for ease of use and security.

Incentivized

• Asset exports are not as great as Zeplin and others.
• Filtering within files.

Incentivized

• @Mentions could be added.

Incentivized

Abstract has a difficult learning curve. If a feature-branch workflow is new to you, then it will take some getting used to. They make a lot of updates to the interface and these feature releases get ahead of their documentation. They rely heavily on an excellent customer support team and are present on various Slack channels to help design professionals with issues.

Incentivized

Abstract by nature is complex and has to respond to whatever changes in Sketch. So there are frequent issues. Support can be slow to respond and are not always helpful, but they are quick to find and patch the bugs. Overall, it's not the best support, but it hasn't been detrimental.

Incentivized

I purchased and administer Abstract. It was requested by our design department who evaluated it.

Incentivized

Since we selected Staffbase, they are one of a few companies that haven't been acquired or changed its business model. We would have invested a lot of time and money rebuilding our intranet otherwise. We selected them because of the standard features included, the free updates, and the reasonable licensing fees. They understand the value of communicating with non-desk employees and keeping them engaged.

Incentivized

• Single source of truth for the team.
• Could quickly get expensive with corporate accounts.

Incentivized

• Engagement levels increased for non-desk employees without access to a PC.
• We leverage the tool as part of our crisis management activities, without having to invest in an additional platform.
• We can issue surveys quickly without investing in additional engagement tools.

Incentivized