Apple iCloud is a document management software offering from Apple. It includes features such as access to music, photos, calendars, contacts, and documents, and it is built into every new iOS device.
$0.99
per month
PairSoft
Score 5.7 out of 10
N/A
PairSoft, the company formed from the March 2021 merger of PaperSave and Paramount Workplace, offers their eponymous procure-to-pay platform for the mid-market and enterprise, with close integration to Microsoft Dynamics, Blackbaud, Oracle, SAP, Acumatica, and Sage ERPs.
iCloud is also great to keep access to photos synced across devices. Ex: I can snap a photo at a job site and have access to that photo on my desktop when I return to my office. I can then drop the photo into a document that is stored in iCloud and have instant access to that document on my iPad at a client's office later in the day. Seamless transitions make life much easier.
PaperSave is ideal for any fundraising company. Its ability to import spreadsheets from queries and import documents into constituent records is an invaluable tool for a fundraiser. Though the program sometimes has its hiccups, overall it serves its intended functions quite well.
Syncing files, appointments, Notes and contacts. If I'm away from home, and set an appointment using my phone, that appointment automatically updates real time to my home laptop and vice-versa.
Customization - iCloud is great at the stuff it does well. But it lacks features that some competitors (in Google Drive or Dropbox) do really well. API support for third-party apps is really great for some other people.
Remote use - Managing or accessing information from iCloud while not on one of your logged-in apple devices can sometimes be an issue. From a work computer for example. It doable, but the experience is much less user-friendly.
Ability to edit documents on the cloud similar to google docs or some other competitors
It's so seamless that I can't imagine another product doing a better job synchronizing all of my devices. I simply do not think about it at all. Everything happens behind the scenes and I'm confident that Apple keeps my data safe and secure. I'm a happy customer as far as this is concerned. I have not had a bad experience with this service.
While it may be great to use with other Apple products, I find it's an absolutist-style workflow to be debilitating and to lead to many problems. When you sign into the cloud, it completely takes over your device in many ways that you don't notice at first until there is a problem.
PaperSave is extremely easy to use and integrate into any fundraising office. If your company is using Blackbaud products, PaperSave will integrate seamlessly with Raiser's Edge and Raiser's Edge NXT. The ability to save documents to records seems like such a simple concept, but because Raiser's Edge doesn't offer this function in its own program, PaperSave is a life saver.
Occasionally, large files that haven't yet been synced require a few minutes to pull down but I've rarely noticed delays. It does a good job of keeping data cached on my local machines while updating them with changes from other machines transparently.
Similar to what I mentioned earlier in this review, the main pro of PaperSave for my company is its Raiser's Edge integration. The program loads immediately as soon as Raiser's Edge is launched so there's no need to open separate programs. The documents and queries loaded from PaperSave into Raiser's Edge were simple to upload and read.
Apple customer service is fantastic. iCloud is built with Apple in mind and its design is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. Additionally, whenever our team has encountered issues, the speed of Apple support has been more than timely in addressing our issues and solving our request. We have encountered relatively few issues in my time with the platform and this only improves our overall score for those who keep the platform stable.
Apple does offer an alternative to Office & the Google Docs family but trusting to use it with both internal and external parties is tough. Google is more universal and easier for 3rd parties to collaborate with. Apple works well for a closed internal group that is native to Apple's ecosystem. Google offers more storage space than Apple
PaperSave works well in part due to its database integration functionality. It allows our team to use Raiser's Edge (our main tool as it's our constituent database) without having to constantly switch back and forth between programs. It's simple enough for new staff members to learn as part of their on-boarding process and hasn't caused any major issues for our team.
If I lose track of my credentials or my continuing education documentation, I could end up not being able to renew my certification. This would lead to a major loss in revenue.
Time is money and having all of my required documents easily accessible in iCloud saves me time and allows me to work more efficiently.
My Apple devices were certainly not cheap purchases. iCloud has allowed me to maximize my productivity through synchronizing my work no matter which device I'm working on.
