Backstop vs. Dynamo Software vs. Factiva

Backstop makes planning and selecting the portfolio efficiently. There is a candid assistance in matters of resource utilization. Moreso, Backstop has a cost accounting notion, which makes the company control the expenses they make. Finally, Backstop has classical research procedures where analysis and decisions arrive after extensive assistance and evaluations.

Incentivized

Customer Service, Project Managers and our personal contact have been exceptional. Since the software is able to do so much and there are so many options the Dynamo team has been invaluable to us. Our company would not have been able to double in size over the last 4 years if it wasn't for Dynamo Software.

A large part of our work depends on the ability to source quality media content from a breadth of dependable sources globally. This is Factiva's bread and butter: it has a very comprehensive list of 'quality' media sources such as nationals, dailies, business journals and magazines from around the world that are easily mined for the content they hold. If you're thinking about anything other than these 'traditional' media sources then Factiva probably isn't your thing. It doesn't do social media.

Incentivized

• Storage of notes from calls and meetings.
• Tracking portfolio holding balances, transactions, and IRRs/MOICs.
• Allowing flexibility for client-defined uses.

Incentivized

• Tracking relationships in the CRM and the Web Add-in tool to add new information straight from emails.
• The flexibility to build out whatever view you would like to see certain data in and the ability to then export information to Excel.
• The Mail Merge Tool allows us to communicate to over 100 different subsets of our limited partners in different SPVs.

• Factiva offers excellent search builders so that I am able to narrow my search to specific companies or topics very easily.
• Factiva combines a large number of credible sources into one place and allows me to search all of these sources.
• Factiva's use of timestamps helps me understand when the news was known by the market which allows me to analyze how (if at all) that particular piece of news impacted the company's stock price.
• Provides an excellent starting place for learning about a company and/or industry.

Incentivized

• Poor communication procedures
• Lack of specific OS support
• No mobile version for Backstop

Incentivized

• Some functionality is clunky: Mailing Campaigns, Passthrough Integration, Dynamo Accounting Complex Transactions. At times it seems functionality is rolled out too soon.
• Onboarding of new clients for us seems a bit haphazard. We just added a new tenant with CRM, Dynamo Accounting and the Investor Portal and we weren't exactly sure what the state of the new tenant should be based on what was copied over from a prior tenant or how much Dynamo Software time or support we would have to customize the new tenant.
• At times it seems Dynamo Software's terminology with relationships either isn't intuitive or is repetitive creating additional time/confusion when modifying workspaces, portal set-up, etc.

• The UX leaves room to be desired
• There are often repetitive entries
• The functionality can be confusing

Incentivized

I give it this rating because I think it could be easier to use. While there are sooo many different ways to use the software, it can be very intimidating and confusing, even when you feel confident in what you know how to do. I feel like everytime I want to add something new or do something out of our norm I have to ask for help

Backstop support is fantastic. They always pick up the phone without a wait and are highly knowledgeable, I rarely need more than 5 minutes to fix an issue.

Incentivized

I have not used or evaluated any Backstop competitors. Freestone already used Backstop when I started.

Incentivized

Dynamo Software makes the most sense from a cost perspective for available offerings to our clients. The integration between the CRM, Accounting module and investor portal. We also appreciate the ability to customize the investor portal to the client's request all within the same license.

At the time, Factiva was already being used by the company I worked for - they had developed procedures specifically for using Factiva, so there wasn't really an option. I've used Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg exclusively for legal research, so there wasn't really an overlap with Factiva.

Incentivized

• Business ends up profiting
• The chances of investing in the wrong projects don't exist
• The analytical assistance from Backstop increases more investment plans

Incentivized

• creating work flows for new clients
• can cause issues with to many items in the pipeline
• Allows us to view funding quickly and efficiently