Basecamp vs. Zoho Tables

Basecamp is a wonderful tool for teams of varying degrees of technical knowledge, teams managing lots of different types of "agifall" and waterfall projects, and teams that are remotely distributed. It's probably less useful for more strictly agile-focused development teams, compared to other more flexible software applications like Jira and Asana.

Incentivized

Zoho Tables has been great! I have outlined many of my descriptions in my previous answers. It works great for many things, and could do with just a bit more refinement in the ability to customize what it can turn into. However, the best part of Zoho Tables is the simplicity of its original "blank" state. With the right pre-made User-defined automations for primary zoho apps such as projects and CRM, this would become our commonly used tool as a central hub for all our operations.

• Task management - It is very easy to add, organize and discuss tasks within Basecamp's interface.
• The "Campfire" function is great for communicating when you just have a quick question for someone on the team.
• Notifications - Basecamp lets you decide how often and about what you'd like to be notified. The ability to respond to messages in Basecamp directly via email saves a lot of time.

Incentivized

• Seamless integration across Zoho platforms
• Highly configurable
• Easy integration with other data sources

Incentivized

• High Learning Curve. It's true that it can be easy to use, but to use well and effectively takes some time to learn. It's recommended to have an agreed-upon system in your team of what tools to use and when.
• Notification Overload. If people aren't careful they could send a notification to everyone when only a couple people were meant to be prompted. And since emails are sent by default, you could have your mailbox overloaded with unnecessary updates. This is where it takes a bit of training in your team to have an agreed-upon system.
• Lack of organization with Archived Projects. I will often need to reference an archived project to make a new one, but there is only a list of archived projects in alphabetical order, with no way to organize by archive date, or even search.

Incentivized

• Ability to create subgroups in a simple fashion in the Zoho Tables. That allows for drop downs. Does not change the formatting of any cells unless specifically addressed by user. But a light column is added at the start of the table with a button to dropdown each row.
• Ability to fill a cell with color without reason or specific selection of field options, add an option for a simple color bucket fill.
• It would be great to have an efficient way of updating tasks, projects, etc all on one table easily set up by the user! (Ie. When column "Next Action" equals "Add Task to Project 1" without using deluge)
• The best pre-made automations for Zoho Tables would be with all {} being user defined selections:
• - Update {Selected Task Field} on {Task} when {Column}...
• - When {Row} on table is created or edited: Add {Column} as a Task on {Project} in {Task List} then map {Related Table Columns} to {Project Columns}

When I bring new people onto a project, it's immediately obvious how to use Basecamp. I don't have to worry about teaching them the features or walking them through it, it's just incredibly user-friendly. For this reason, I'll continue to renew my subscription even as new people are brought onto production jobs or the client changes.

It is easy to use, even for clients who have no experience with the platform. It can only get a little cumbersome to ensure that a client can't see certain documents you might want to keep in the Docs & Files folders. And sometimes, getting a client to actually use an unfamiliar platform can be a challenge.

Incentivized

Simple to use and as a Zoho user, for over a year, I had no issues whatsoever implementing tables almost within minutes to replace Airtable and other databases that were being used as intermediaries, without the automation. Highly recommend (note: in very early stages of testing)

Incentivized

I've never experienced downtime while using Basecamp, or been unable to access it when I needed it. That's not to say they've never had downtime, but I've been lucky enough not to encounter any, and I work odd hours, including late nights when maintenance is often undertaken.

Incentivized

For the many reasons I've given, Basecamp is a very strong program. There are a few features I can imagine that might make it even better, but I don't have a basis for comparison to be able to say that there is definitely a better one out there. I've noticed that Basecamp has evolved a bit from the time I started using it until now, so that makes me think that the producer of this program values it and believes in continuous improvement. If you could use the features offered by Basecamp, I would think you could use it with confidence.

Incentivized

Decide the process before implementation - i.e. when it's due 8/9 does that mean 8am, noon, 5pm, 11:59pm? Check your to-do list frequently Set-up templates - just not with the dates (they can be funky)

Pretty good, but [Basecamp] has its drawbacks. Honestly I find the interface non-intuitive and sometimes have trouble figuring out how to change the status of a task. Perhaps it has something to do with the way it was originally set up by the admin, but I'm not sure. I liked Jira's drag and drop obvious functionality, but the project management side of the software was lacking. Smartsheet has excellent project management functionality, but the task management isn't as good.

Incentivized

Zoho Projects is great for it's intended use to track and manage projects, and the CRM is also great for it's intended use. However, when you are managing operations, everything essentially "ties" together when you are needing to make next decisions. This really comes into play for meetings, and to do lists, etc. Sometimes, all of the detail does not matter when you are trying to operate efficiently. For example, during a meeting, many times we will review KPIs (comes from CRM but in Analytics), then projects, and then general topics. At all points throughout the meeting, tasks are coming up which need to be added, etc. All range vastly resulting in a lot of different places. With Zoho Tables, I am basically working on a blank canvas of cells that can pull data from where I need it too and the more user friendly the ability to set up automations and workflows to be a central hub/home base type tool, the better it would be!

• It has saved me time when having to get the same message out to multiple restaurants
• It has helped us make smarter operational decisions because we can all collaborate on an answer in a shorter amount of time (instead of calling a meeting!!!)
• The calendar function allows us to plot out our marketing agenda for the month and add/change it together as needed. The chef will post his recipe, the managers will cost it out, the social media manager will post pictures on it, and ultimately we will get that information out on an info sheet to the staff by printing the page.

Incentivized

• I have not had much ROI on this specific tool just yet. But I do foresee the ability to streamline a lot of our operations as we are beginning to scale.