Benchling vs. SnapSurveys

Benchling is especially well suited to groups or contexts where there are many users who do not have a coding background but need a seamless and structured approach to data. Benchling is particularly useful in cases where there are data flows from instruments and other devices where the data can be deposited in an automated fashion. It is likely less appropriate or useful to users who are just looking for a general data warehouse solution.

Incentivized

I think it is very important to go through their training videos and user guides. Devote the time to learning it correctly from the beginning. In the long run you will enjoy it much more than plowing right into it and then trying to find out if you did it right. Also, while you are not required to buy the annual maintenance contract, I think if you are going to use the program, don't skimp, buy the annual maintenance contract. The free technical support is necessary, especially when you are up against deadlines.

• Excellent easy to use and beautiful UI
• Great customer support and training
• Has no code ways of retrieving and depositing data

Incentivized

• The training helped me to customize surveys for the different departments that the office of IR served.
• Surveys were easy to create and gathering information was made easy because SnapsSurveys worked well with SPSS.
• Once surveys were created I could scan them and have the results to my boss in less than an hour depending on the size of the survey group.
• Snaps customer service reps were always willing to help.

Incentivized

• Some of the integrations can be a bit spotty so it depends on what kind of data source you are integrating
• Sometimes new users are not always aware of all the various functionality that Benchling has - can do better to provide more user awareness of more complex features

Incentivized

• Though the user interface is easy to navigate, it would be nice to see is design updated to something more aesthetically pleasing.

The main reason we will renew is that it does the job, it supports our system, and we have budgeted for it so why change?

I think as an organization there is always room to grow, however, this application has really helped us with our dilemma with offline, online, and paper surveys. We are able to make our surveys fun and engaging and the interface for the person creating the survey is user-friendly. Customer service is very helpful if you need additional support.

Incentivized

Benchling was much more of a full stack solution and provide much more features that were relevant to the group. Airtable was more of a generic way to manage large amounts of data, but the complexity was still high for the types of data that would be need to be managed and there would need to be some workarounds. Overall Benchling was selected since it also had an electronic lab notebook feature which was very useful to associates in addition to its data workflows.

Incentivized

It is an in between option. The options we evaluated were Qualtrics and SurveyGizmo. It's cheaper than Qualtrics and easier to design surveys than SurveyGizmo. Nonetheless it's not the worst option out there like SurveyMonkey.

Incentivized

• It had a positive ROI in terms of reducing the amount of time spent on data movement and curation by associates
• It had a positive ROI in terms of increasing the number of insights from structured data
• It reduced the number of data entry and analysis errors by associates which led to a positive ROI in terms of efficiency and reducing time wasted by tracking down errors in data

Incentivized

• Using a professional survey package enhances my reputation as a research professional.
• I have been able to use the software's functionality to exceed my clients expectations.