Opal vs. Socialcast (discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Opal
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Opal is a platform for brands, used to plan, create, and calendar their content - across teams and channels. Opal aims to enable tight alignment and high levels of efficiency. Marketing teams from companies such as Starbucks, Microsoft, and Target use Opal to collaborate, plan, and visualize, while ensuring an always-unified brand voice. Plan every facet of the brand experience, to ensure consistency throughout every moment and across every channel. Create…
$10,000
per year
Socialcast (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Socialcast was an enterprise social networking and collaboration platform acquired by VMware in 2011. The platform allowed an organization's employees to share information and documents with co-workers in real time through a Facebook- or Twitter-like news feed. VMware announced its end of availability (EOA) effective May 2018.
$250
per month
Pricing
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Opal
-
Ratings
Socialcast (discontinued)
6.3
4 Ratings
22% below category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.74 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings3.83 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings3.43 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Opal
-
Ratings
Socialcast (discontinued)
7.5
4 Ratings
7% below category average
Chat00 Ratings8.74 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings8.14 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.73 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings6.14 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings7.92 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Opal
-
Ratings
Socialcast (discontinued)
5.7
4 Ratings
35% below category average
Versioning00 Ratings2.12 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings7.23 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings7.23 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings6.74 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings7.23 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings5.83 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings4.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Small Businesses
Airtable
Airtable
Score 8.5 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LeanData
LeanData
Score 9.7 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Marketing Cloud
Adobe Marketing Cloud
Score 8.9 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(5 ratings)
7.7
(6 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
OpalSocialcast (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
Opal
I honestly cannot recommend this tool enough. Opal is such a valuable tool for brand content creators and there is nothing like it available. If you're serious about content marketing and have a need to find ways to collaborate, plan and provide more visibility among teams, then Opal really is the only way to go. One more thing that's not being mentioned: The tool is simply amazing but it's only as amazing is the team behind the tool. Their customer support and willingness to quickly be in touch when needed is a key feature within itself. Seriously, such a good team of people.
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Discontinued Products
Socialcast has been a great tool for FactSet. I would recommend it to any firm looking for an easy-to-use tool to centralize communication and collaborate on a global scale.
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Pros
Opal
  • Content planning: you can look at one asset and see how it is being used across multiple channels by multiple teams.
  • Content collaboration: it is really easy to see what other people and teams are contributing to an asset, or how they are using it. We can also duplicate content that was created by another team to use as a starting point in our own content collaboration.
  • High level/big picture overview: Opal allows us to see content that is being created, planned and scheduled very easily; it goes beyond social content (which we can also see in Sprinklr) to show us content created across multiple channels.
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Discontinued Products
  • Socialcast has an exceptional user experience. With very few idiosyncrasies, it works well on every platform I've tried.
  • The platform has such a high level of ease of use, it becomes somewhat addicting.
  • Social analytics are superb.
  • The platform is highly intuitive and requires zero training or coaching in order for network members to become productive with it.
  • It's extremely reliable. Only once in 4 years, was the product not available, and that was only for about a half-hour. In that half-hour, we realized how dependent we were on it. (Very.)
  • The multi-device and deployment options are excellent. On-premise, Private Cloud, and Multi-tenant SaaS all available.
  • The mobile apps for iPhone, tablets, and Android render well with a beautiful UI/UX. The desktop AIR app is equally highly usable.
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Cons
Opal
  • No publishing capabilities, for the most part.
  • No analytics tie-ins.
  • Rather pricey.
  • Requires someone to really manage the structure in order to keep the tool organized and use it effectively. When this is done right, though, it's worthwhile.
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Discontinued Products
  • The software is a little bit pricey because it is charged by user/month and depending on the deployment method.
  • For companies with a lot of workers the price can increase significantly.
  • The mobile app usability and notifications are poor. Need to be improved.
  • If there were more administrative features available the product would be improved
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Likelihood to Renew
Opal
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Beyond the value FactSet derives from using the platform, Socialcast (the firm) has been a good partner to FactSet. We've experienced very little downtime with the service and they have been responsive and fair with enhancement requests and questions
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Usability
Opal
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
The UX is its best feature
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Support Rating
Opal
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Excellent support; of course not perfect. :-)
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Implementation Rating
Opal
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Not applicable, as it is a SaaS platform with minimal implementation
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Alternatives Considered
Opal
You get for what you paid for. Opal has more features
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Discontinued Products
Socialcast is great for collaboration & light project management, but anything complex doesn't work well.

Using it as an email notification curator works nice for us.
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Return on Investment
Opal
  • Opal allows for more discipline in marketing as teams are better aligned on messaging and big moments.
  • Opal cuts down on communication breakdowns and mistakes, which in the end leads to more happy customers.
  • I think Opal provides the team with more confidence as everyone is on the same page. With everything in one place rather than communications being lost in emails, etc., everyone is more efficient and can work knowing that there is one source of truth.
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Discontinued Products
  • Definitely more organized project management and team collaboration.
  • Efficiency in carrying out tasks.
  • Creates a spirit of collaboration and friendliness among colleagues.
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ScreenShots

Opal Screenshots

Screenshot of Preview content exactly as it will appear in market to the audience. Collaborate with teammates and track changes in the  Chat & Activity window.Screenshot of View scheduled Moments across all campaigns on the Calendar -- by day, week, or month.Screenshot of Plan marketing content and campaigns using Boards, a free-form space for brainstorming, briefing, and scenario planning.