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Dropbox Business vs. Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Dropbox Business

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ADropbox Business expands on the company's cloud storage service by providing additional features, such as lost file recovery for an extended period, integration with popular office suites (e.g. Office 365), the Dropbox Paper collaboration extension, two-factor authentication (2FA) and single sign-on (SSO), tiered administrator controls and granular permission sharing, remote device wipe, API, and other features of use to larger groups and businesses.

    $15

    per month

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

    Score9 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The Lightning Conductor is a content aggregation tool for Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Users can build rich, modern content reports based upon SharePoint lists, SharePoint Search, Microsoft Graph or Microsoft 365 Groups. Content can be aggregated from lists and libraries, and other applications such as Planner, To Do, OneDrive, and Teams.

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Pricing
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $15
    per user/per month
    Advanced
    $25
    per user/per month
    Enterprise
    Contact sales team
    Lightning Conductor WSP
    From 1950
    per year One WFE
    Lightning Conductor Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year Four or more WFE
    Lightning Conductor Online
    From 2200
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Plus (Includes Data Viewer)
    From 2500
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Online Enterprise Edition (>10,000 users)
    POA
    per year per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user/year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Considered Both Products
    Dropbox
    No answer on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    52 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    41 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    44 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Dropbox Business and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Dropbox Business
    9.0
    123 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning9.096 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files9.0107 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files9.1100 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration9.0113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control9.1120 Ratings00 Ratings
    File search8.9119 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync8.6117 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud Storage Security & Administration
    Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Dropbox Business and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Dropbox Business
    9.0
    122 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    User and role management9.0109 Ratings00 Ratings
    File organization9.1119 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device management9.0102 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud Storage Platform
    Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Dropbox Business and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Dropbox Business
    9.1
    120 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Performance9.1120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reliability9.1120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Storage Reports9.188 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Dropbox Business and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Dropbox Business
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    8.6
    2 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Task Management00 Ratings8.82 Ratings
    Search00 Ratings8.42 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Small Businesses
    IDrive Online Backup and Object Storage e2
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Apple iCloud
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ownCloud
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (123 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    5.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (19 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.0
    (15 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.4
    (27 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Dropbox BusinessLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Dropbox
    Everywhere as aforementioned it is well suited ... The largest and most appropriate... A business can never ever have too many locations of its data stored. This option allows my company to have our data stored in one location and everyone works it in real time whereas the updates go in "Real time" no matter who is working that file. This is the most awesome trick of the entire program not to mention that I can see everything that Bobbiesue is working on out west at the same time pull another activity report to see if indeed Peggy logged in for work from home at 2p yesterday as she stated she did. Its a check and balance for small businesses such as ours that runs on the honor system for telework employees. At this time, there just is not any less appropriate!
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Having experience of SharePoint On Premise and also SharePoint Online, there isn't an out of the box app/webpart that enables you to 'roll up content' from a variety of source's (in my case SP Lists, but there are many other data sources it works with) across site collections with an easy to use and intuitive interface which is what Lightning tools excels at.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Dropbox
    • It enables us to share documents and workflow to all employees for whom access is allowed regardless of where in the world they may be located.
    • Dropbox Business provides a means to safely store our documents without having to have physical copies.
    • Dropbox also allows for easy organization of our documents in folders and such in the system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Aggregate documents across SharePoint site & libraries
    • Filtering for owner/person responsible & due dates
    • Ease of end-user filtering on columns
    • Color-coding & other formatting
    Read full review
    Cons
    Dropbox
    • I deeply dislike the navigation. I find it very clunky and hard and not intuitive. A few years ago Dropbox redesigned its navigation and I'm frequently at a loss to figure out where to access the option I need.
    • It should be quicker and easier to figure out how to send a file. I wish I could do that from the drop-down menu in my taskbar under the Dropbox logo.
    • I wish I had the option under the same drop-down menu in my taskbar under the Dropbox logo to go to where the files are on my laptop, which I find much easier to navigate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Mobile Friendly
    • Calendar/Gantt views
    • Complex/Custom Logic
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Dropbox
    Dropbox is very expensive and its price is not as competitive as it was. We are looking for an alternative that will enable as to subscribe more users at a more affordable cost. Also, we did not like Dropbox customer service, and felt that they should have found a way to compensate us for some of the damage they were responsible for when restoring our data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Dropbox
    Well-designed, smart, packed with functionality without being overwhelming—Dropbox knows what they are doing and they do it well. They know what users want from the service and they make sure that all the normal use cases are intuitive and at your fingertips. I have never had a hard time finding things with Dropbox and I think their usability is excellent.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Dropbox
    At least once a week the app crashes on my computer and causes files to stop syncing. It is an easy fix to re-open the app, however I have to notice the app stopped working to realize it needs to be reopened.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Dropbox
    The Dropbox site and tools load in a reasonable amount of time. I don't feel like their site and app performance is any better or worse than any other paid product that I've seen offered by any other large company. Compared to a competing product like Google Drive, the performance is probably about the same.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Dropbox
    I give it a nine because I haven't ever had to use the support or help. I would give it a ten but since I've never had to use them, I can't really give a full review of how their support works. I've talked to market research teams from Dropbox about new features, but have not had to get any assistance with a problem yet.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    The Lightning Tools support team responds quickly, and team members are very friendly and helpful.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Dropbox
    The implementation was actually very simple. Again, as stated previously, the most intriguing part of the entire exercise was the implementation of the directory structure for each account. Once you design and implement it for one, it becomes quite simple to replicate for each account you implement thereafter. You just really need to take time to ensure you implement the first perfectly and those that follow on will be likewise work efficiently and easily.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Dropbox
    Dropbox Business is dependable, adaptable, and cost-effective for our businesses. On the inside, it’s comparable to other file-sharing and storage. Also, file access and navigation are much faster. We use it to share documents and store data and files for our business purposes. And I’ve never been convinced of other tools’ integrity or dependability. Dropbox Business has good connectivity and is smooth to use.
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    I haven't found another product to compare this one to. Only in SharePoint Online which has a similar App 'Highlight Webpart' ... it's far too complicated to set up and requires learning yet another language and exporting and importing via PowerShell to get any real results that would be useful.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Dropbox
    We've used this when we were 2 users and when we were 20. It did not make any difference. Even when we've had to scale down and fire 10 employees, it was still easy to salvage all the material and keep it organized within Dropbox.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Dropbox
    • Improved risk mitigation - know our files are encrypted.
    • Expiring Shared Links are a must have.
    • Positive impact from Happy Customers. No more trying to send cumbersome encrypted emails that customers struggle with. Dropbox makes it easy for them to retrieve their files.
    • Collaboration makes it faster for us to complete plan documents with our customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Policies easier to portray
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor Screenshots

    Screenshot of MODERN SHAREPOINT LIST ROLLUP
The Lightning Conductor is a SharePoint Content Aggregator that can be configured quickly by business users. The Lightning Conductor can be used to aggregate content from SharePoint Lists such as Tasks, Document Libraries, Contact Lists, and Custom Lists making it easy to view content in one place even if it is distributed across many sites and site collections. Key data can be highlighted using conditional formatting and data-bars as shown. Content from Search and Microsoft Graph can also be aggregated with the Lightning Conductor.Screenshot of CONTENT AGGREGATION WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Lightning Conductor Web Part can be used within Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft Teams. Even if content is stored within SharePoint sites, it is useful to have aggregated Documents, Tasks, Announcements, Calendars or Custom Lists from multiple sites displayed in a single handy view in Microsoft Teams. The Lightning Conductor can be added as a Teams Tab in any Microsoft Teams Channel.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT GRAPH
The Lightning Conductor can be used (without code) to aggregate content from Microsoft Graph as well as Search and SharePoint Lists. This example displays Microsoft Planner Plans and Microsoft Planner Tasks where users can Add new Tasks, Assign Users to Planner Tasks, Delete Tasks, and Complete Tasks. The same can be performed on Microsoft To Do items and displayed within Modern SharePoint pages or Microsoft Teams Tabs. The Lighting Conductor can also contain multiple views of content, making it ideal to display all of your tasks from SharePoint Task lists, Microsoft To Do and Microsoft Planner in a single web part or Teams Tab.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT 365 GROUPS
Powered by Microsoft Graph, the Microsoft 365 Group Rollup Provider enables users to aggregate content by browsing and selecting Microsoft 365 Groups. Within Microsoft 365 Groups, you’ll be able to select entities such as Drive Items, Owners, Members, Planner Plans, Planner Tasks, Events, Posts,  Sites, Lists, and Calendars.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of AGGREGATING USING SEARCH
When performance is critical, search can be used for rollups. The Lightning Conductor offers three data source configurations to get to content. Object Model (Real Time Aggregation from SharePoint Lists), Microsoft Graph (Aggregation from Graph Entities such as Planner, OneDrive, Outlook), and Search. The Search Data Source enables the aggregation of content from large SharePoint lists and libraries when performance is critical. Thousands of documents can be displayed in under a second using Search.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHTING KEY BUSINESS DATA WITHIN VIEWS
End users and Site Owners can highlight the data that is important to them, the data that they need to prioritize. Using conditional formatting, data bars, and icons, conditions can be configured to highlight the data that is most important. Icons and Data Bars can be any color or size desired. Examples include highlighting High Priority tasks, Showing data bars for the completion progress of Tasks, or indicating which tasks are assigned to any particular user.