HP Autonomy Intelligent Universal Search (discontinued) vs. Yext

It does a decent job at its core functions (that other free software does just as well or better).

We have multiple branch locations throughout our market area. It's very challenging to manage the web listings for each location, with a large volume of listings across numerous platforms for each of those locations. Yext significantly reduces the workload by allowing me to make a single update and Yext automatically pushes the notifications across the other platforms

Incentivized

• It adheres to traditional Microsoft standards such as: fact-dump documentation with no coherent story or 'best practices' information, inability to automate common tasks, intentional obfuscation of its basic operations.
• It provides OK search results. Not great, but OK.

• Yext is very, very user-friendly and easy to use.
• Yext provides information within the portal on how you can enhance your listings as well as how you can fix any issues with your listings that may exist.
• Yext's dedicated account managers can help you with any issues that may arise. For example our location pin on Apple Maps was wrong on one of our clinic listings and our Yext account manager reached out directly to Apple support and fixed the issue.

Incentivized

• There are about a dozen different config files to maintain, and the most important one is dynamically modified by Autonomy itself while it runs. Which means that it is impossible to automate the configuration or keep the configs in versioned source control. Even `cp *.cfg ~/cfgbak/` won't help you roll back a change, because it is never safe to restore a previous config. You'll be using `diff new.cfg old.cfg` a lot.
• The Linux port is poorly thought out. The binaries are named *.exe. The StartService.sh scripts contain both `echo 'Are you sure you want to start the service? Hit ctrl-C to cancel''; read dummy` and, I kid you not, a `chmod a+x /path/to/my/binary.exe`.
• Many features are poorly documented, leading to lots of back and forth with the support department just to answer basic questions like "what does this error code in my logs signify?"
• It seems to reinvent the wheel, poorly, everywhere. E.g. the scheduled backup feature rolls through a user-defined finite list of directories in which to store backups. On day 0 it uses directory 0, on day 1 it uses directory 1, and after day N it rolls back and overwrites directory 0. Why would this be preferable to using a single directory and naming zip files based on the current timestamp?

• Cost. This platform offers a lot of powerful features, but it has an expensive barrier to entry.
• Annual contracts limit flexibility for smaller companies
• The biggest drawback is that you need to keep your subscription active or listings/citation data will revert back to what it was pre-Yext implementation

Incentivized

Management wants to see ROI on the (hefty) cost of purchasing this software, and has mandated that we continue using it. We would prefer to switch immediately.

Yext is pretty easy and straightforward to utilize out of the box. While I work for a digital marketing agency, and this is second nature to me at this point, I do believe the average SMB owner with zero digital marketing experience could be a proficient Yext user within 1 hour or so of usage. It's easy

Incentivized

Have been very impressed with the support we receive from Yext. I always feel I am listened to and if I have any problems or concerns they are quickly addressed. I have multiple ways to obtain support, either technical or strategic support, and they are responsive. I couldn't ask for more.

Incentivized

We initially chose Yext because it provided the greatest control for our multiple listings. Plus, it had access to the most publishers. However, when evaluating Synup we were very impressed. You would not go wrong to choose either!

Incentivized

• I have learned to tack a zero onto the end of any estimate I make for how long an Autonomy change will take in both planning and implementation.

• Consistency in business listing management - without Yext, we would surely have more inconsistencies with our business address across the web. This can lead to poor communication to our customers, and potentially lost business if we lose trust as a reputable business.
• Yext saves me hours of legwork to manage numerous web listing platforms individually.

Incentivized