Cosential vs Viewpoint Spectrum

Likelihood to Recommend

Great for medium and large construction companies that have a specific salesforce.

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

Viewpoint Spectrum is well suited for accounting, job costing, project management, service department. It is less appropriate for estimating, payroll on-boarding, time collection in the field for construction jobs and document imaging for the entire company. The scenarios where Viewpoint Spectrum is not appropriate for what we are trying to accomplish, we outsource and import into our Viewpoint Spectrum software

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Paula (Queenbee)

CFO

PIEPER HOUSTON ELECTRICConstruction, 201-500 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Customer data management / contact management

Workflow management

Territory management

Opportunity management

Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)

Interaction tracking

Channel / partner relationship management

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Lead management

Email marketing

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Task management

Reporting

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Forecasting

Pipeline visualization

Customizable reports

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Custom fields

Custom objects

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Single sign-on capability

Role-based user permissions

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Social data

Social engagement

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Marketing automation

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Mobile access

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Plan distribution & viewing

Plan markups & sharing

Issue tracking & punchlists

Photo documentation

Jobsite reports

Document sharing

RFI tools

Collaboration & approvals

As-built drawings

Mobile app

Submittal design and management

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Takeoff tools

Job costing

Cost databases

Cost calculator

Bid creation

Pros

Inputting of companies and leads who may become prospects.
Creating specific opportunities for construction projects.
Tracking opportunities through the entire sales cycle.
Inputting detailed notes and activity by the Sales team.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Great software for analyzing data and trends while still being pretty easy to use.
The ability to create a custom info link reports enable you to create virtually any report using the data you have in Spectrum that will auto-refresh with just one click of a button.
They have a fantastic support network and I the few times I have had to contact support, I was directed to someone very knowledgeable that was able to find a solution.

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Marjie Maguire

Sr. Payroll Accountant

Walsh Mechanical ContractorsConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Cons

The open software is somewhat difficult to master as an administrator.
Report writing could be more intuitive.
The company seems to cater to larger users.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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It's sometimes hard to control the document imaging window. It doesn't stop when you release the cursor. Have to go to top of screen and click in one of the bars to lock it in place.
In AP invoice entry, you have to slow down when entering job and phase number. Doesn't keep up with the speed of the person entering.

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Verified User

Manager in Finance and Accounting

Construction Company, 51-200 employees

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Usability

Cosential 8.0

Based on 1 answer

Cosential is very intuitive for the AEC industry and has the ability to be customized for your specific needs. The reports are especially helpful, with good visual dashboards.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cosential 8.0

Based on 1 answer

My original trainer / implementation specialist was fantastic. That relationship has continued, even though I have been officially handed off to the customer service side. The customer service side seems to have higher turnover than normal, but in general they are also very supportive, although not as responsive as I might like.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Viewpoint Spectrum 6.3

Based on 30 answers

Support has not been great since merging with Viewpoint. I've sent several letters up the chain about this. It has made me want to leave the software altogether on more than one occasion. I spend a lot of time on hold, and on numerous occasions now we've sat around for days waiting for a response only to be told the person on the phone never actually made a ticket for that, or that the online system didn't alert them of our case. We used to be able to call and get someone immediately and have the problem solved by a knowledgeable person. Now it's hit or miss and you could be on hold forever. The online training academy is nice but it's still not in-depth enough for me to not have to sit and babysit someone through a training period.

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Margaret Reams

Owner

Hazzard Electrical LLCConstruction, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Cosential is specific to the A/E industry and is the most intuitive software we found for construction.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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I have previously used Sage Masterbuilder, another construction industry software. This has been a number of years ago. The company I am working for already had Spectrum and have been using it for as long as it has been around when it was known as Forefront. Based on conversations I've had with the personnel that were here at the time of purchase, Spectrum clicked off all the boxes they were looking for.

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Verified User

Manager in Corporate

Construction Company, 201-500 employees

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Return on Investment

Allowed for common tracking by business developers in different regions.
Helped us quantify effort.
Provides great reports for management.

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Kevin Shaw

Vice-President - Marketing

WIELANDConstruction, 51-200 employees

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We do not use Viewpoint Spectrum for estimating or project tracking. There has not been any incentive to do so. The results achieved using the methods already in place are at a level that it was deemed unnecessary to invest the time and money required to change.
We do not use the Human Resources module. It is not necessary for only around 45 permanent employees. The functionality of just the payroll module covers the data we want to capture electronically. The other 400 - 500 employees we have each year are non-permanent union workers that come and go and are also sufficiently recorded and tracked with the payroll module.

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Verified User

Administrator in Finance and Accounting

Construction Company, 11-50 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Likelihood to Recommend

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Feature Rating Comparison

Customer data management / contact management

Workflow management

Territory management

Opportunity management

Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)

Interaction tracking

Channel / partner relationship management

Lead management

Email marketing

Task management

Reporting

Forecasting

Pipeline visualization

Customizable reports

Custom fields

Custom objects

Single sign-on capability

Role-based user permissions

Social data

Social engagement

Marketing automation

Mobile access

Plan distribution & viewing

Plan markups & sharing

Issue tracking & punchlists

Photo documentation

Jobsite reports

Document sharing

RFI tools

Collaboration & approvals

As-built drawings

Mobile app

Submittal design and management

Takeoff tools

Job costing

Cost databases

Cost calculator

Bid creation

Pros

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Cons

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Usability

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Support Rating

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Alternatives Considered

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Return on Investment

Cosential

Viewpoint Spectrum

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Rating Summary

Add comparison