Box vs. ContractZen vs. Paperless

I think Box is great for research teams or anyone that has a large number of files that need to be securely stored. Particularly in the case of social science research, where it is important to protect identifying data, Box is a great option. In cases where teams need a more reliable means for real-time collaboration, I would probably consider a different alternative

ContractZen is perfect for small and medium business where the use case is to manage contracts, get alerts, and track details about contract. ContractZen has other features such as meeting management, eSignatures etc. We focus primarily on contract management and are pleased with it. ContractZen has a lot of competition and many competitors have a full contract lifecycle, which is desirable in large companies. ContractZen does not have a full contract lifecycle process. Full contract lifecycle will have request for comments/proposals, NDA, quotes, implementation proposals etc. go through multiple people, multiple layers of approval etc. and different triggers in the contract would generate different tasks for staff to manage the contract till the contract expires. Large and complex companies have needs that ContractZen may not be suitable for

Incentivized

Paperless is good for formalising the authorisation process. In my opinion, where it falls short is that the software is slow and has limitations. Some limitations are known to the company but not told at point of selling, leaving the user with add-ons that are useless. e.g. the Company Inbox module, which is used to automatically upload invoices to Paperless, is not fit for (our) purpose due to the fact not all emails can be uploaded to the system automatically. Apparently companies who send invoices using software packages such as Xerox / Quickbooks etc. have rules which do not allow onward forwarding. Therefore you need to cross check what has been uploaded and what hasn't. This is time consuming and we found manual upload was far easier. We wasted time and money implementing this add-on which was useless to us.

Incentivized

• The main feature that I like the most in Box is that it makes collaboration seamless, workers can easily check the documents any time and make changes according to the needs.
• Box manages and backs up all of your files on its cloud servers, and provides a very nice interface for creating, viewing, editing, and collaborating on the most commonly used file types (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.).
• Over the past few years, Box has built on top of its basic cloud storage management with a host of other tools, such as workflows, AI, monitoring, and analytics.
• It is helping us to make good connections with clients and our workers themselves as to its syncing and viewing feature to all is very much helpful and easy to go.

Incentivized

• The easy storage of contracts is important. Easier than a shared hard drive folder or a jointly administered Excel sheet, both of which we tried to use in the past.
• The alerts of key contract dates is crucial. Knowing what needs to be terminated or at least considered has saved us money.
• Simple signing of contracts electronically has saved us money in getting from an agreed to contract to a signed one in minutes.

• Formal authorisation process
• Easy to search invoice archive

Incentivized

• The graphic design of the dashboard should be simpler and more tangible that can be changed to the liking of the Admin.
• Sometimes there are some syncing issues in the background.
• The product has very limited functionality in some areas which could be a bit frustrating at times.

Incentivized

• I would like one view of entire client history.
• It would be nice to put the client information in once and then simply add on contract extensions in the same folder.

Incentivized

• Slow software
• Mailbox management not fit for purpose
• Hidden costs

Incentivized

I like the security features and I like the website. It's easy to use and create and move things around as needed. The main reason for a lower rating is because the Box Sync app is just not a good program. It's a memory hog, it's slow, transfer speeds are slow, and it's not the most efficient route. If you have a large Box account and you need to get a computer up to speed on a large amount of data within Box, you are in for the long haul. Last time I had to do this, it took 3 days to sync all of the files and we are talking around 100 GB worth of data

The inexpensive ContractZen saves time and money and is a joy to use

Everything with Box is seamless. It can be integrated into virtually any other software or application. You can even get the app for your phone or tablet to work on the go. File syncing is so quick. The only reason I gave it a 9 is the issue I discussed earlier about the local file application rebooting and not continuing to sync files. Other than that, it's great!

Incentivized

Very user friendly

Incentivized

Yeah, it's always worked, I've never had any kind of connection issues, the only issues I've had it I've been on our end when the Internet hasn't worked.

Incentivized

The general operation and management of Box is very efficient, both when accessing the account, and when adding files, downloading or modifying any document directly. The web platform, mobile and desktop versions work really well and quickly, making all the work and process flow smoothly and without setbacks. So far I have not been able to observe any inconvenience

Incentivized

I found their support community lacking in clarity when I experienced a login issue. The error messaging was poor on my Box Sync application. I did not reach out to support staff for help, instead, I reasoned that I should try downloading the Box Sync application again and reinstall it. That fixed my issue, thankfully. I think a less computer-savvy user would've been much more frustrated.

Incentivized

The best part about ContractZen is that I needed no support. I had a couple questions in the last 2 years which were answered accurately within hours. Everything has worked as expected.

Incentivized

The in person training was done in house and I helped with the training, people seem to respond well.

Incentivized

The documentation is good. Since Box is a popular service, there were also a number of YouTube videos and other sources that were helpful as we were considering the product and planning for deployment. Also, the ability to try the free version helped to prepare us.

Be careful with settings. It is easy to get overwhelmed with updates. For example, you don’t want to be updated when doing historical data uploads. I recommend taking off notifications initially and then turn on post you have done your historical data upload.

The capture of the new contracts is more important than the old contracts, somewhat counterintuitively. Once you start saving time using the electronic signing and retrieval, adding old material is easier. Old material additions fit our annual schedule as we've done them during periods of less administrative work.

They are kind of the same. And both of them do their job as promised. But for company and project wise I think that Box slightly wins for some points. Which [makes him] win over Google Drive (don't forget that Google Drive is very easy to use and has a lot [of] nice features too).

ContractZen is true value for the money and far more simpler than more advanced systems

It's great, as we put more files on there it's done very well.

Incentivized

• Box has been an only positive experience. It provides a seamless way for me and my team to collaborate on documents in such a way where we're not sending the document back/forth via email. It's a huge timesaver.
• Box reduces the risk of sharing a sensitive document to the wrong person via email.
• Box has provided a platform where my team can share notes in meetings - this has helped streamline and organize our meetings. Our meetings are more productive and actionable.

Incentivized

• Easier to manage contracts.
• More contracts are being renewed on a timely basis.

Incentivized

• We feel the product over promised and under delivered

Incentivized