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Flowdock vs. Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Flowdock

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AFlowdock is a collaboration tool built around a chat and team inbox interface. Flowdock is available via app or as a browser-based solution. It was originally offered by Rally Software Development, which was acquired by CA Technologies, which was acquired by Broadcom in 2018.N/A

    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
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    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
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    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
    Features
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Flowdock and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Flowdock
    4.9
    2 Ratings
    45% below category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    8.6
    2 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Task Management6.72 Ratings8.82 Ratings
    Gantt Charts3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access7.22 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search5.72 Ratings8.42 Ratings
    Visual planning tools6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Flowdock and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Flowdock
    3.8
    2 Ratings
    71% below category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Chat8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Notifications7.72 Ratings00 Ratings
    Discussions7.72 Ratings00 Ratings
    Surveys2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Flowdock and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Flowdock
    7.8
    1 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Video files8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced security features7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.6
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    FlowdockLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Broadcom
    Flowdock is well suited for small teams and to environments that doesn't need too much reliability. I think it has some management problems that can make your life difficult if you have to manage a big amount of users. If you want just a tool communication with basic features (without using any integration or robust features) it can be suitable for you. You should try Flowdock using its free version for a small team and compare with others similar products. Flowdock delivers team chat and collaboration features, but is not necessarily the best product. Maybe some usability problems that disturb me won't be so relevant to you.
    Incentivized
    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
    Broadcom
    • Mobile app experience
    • Software integrations
    • Notifications
    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
    Broadcom
    • One thing a little bit annoying is that a lot of links to others Flowdock sections (preferences, external services, etc) will open a new window/tab. Each click may take you to a new window and you can get lost easily.
    • There isn't a quick access list to members of your organization to start a private chat. I took a while to find how to do that. The interface and usability could be better.
    • There isn't an app for Windows Phone.
    • Sometimes you try to load some conversation and it doesn't show anything. It is not frequently but happens sometimes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Mobile Friendly
    • Calendar/Gantt views
    • Complex/Custom Logic
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Broadcom
    I go with the flow because I'm a newer employee and Flowdock works as advertised. If it were my decision to choose a team communciator for the organization, I'd recommend we go with Slack for its robust features and ever-changing/evolving software integrations. Slack is the outright innovator in the space and will continue to hold that role for some time.
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    The Lightning Tools support team responds quickly, and team members are very friendly and helpful.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Broadcom
    Slack is a similar software.
    Private chat or channels are well implemented in both softwares and both are also very easy to setup.
    Besides of some usability problemas I think Flowdock is still better than Slack in this user experience and design.
    The second point is the price. Flowdock is half price of Slack ($3/month). If you are a student or a non-profit organization, you are able to get some special license.
    Incentivized
    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
    Return on Investment
    Broadcom
    • Our company uses it by default.
    • I enjoy the ability to communicate outside of text messages...keeps the conversation on in it's own bucket.
    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.