TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Podium

    Score7 out of 10
    N/APodium, formerly Repdrive, is a ratings and review management platform from the company of the same name in Provo, Utah.N/A

    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/ASkype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.N/A
    Pricing
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Considered Both Products
    Podium
    No answer on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    Chose Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Hangouts have the worst user interface I've ever seen on a web application. Skype is a separate purchase, while Office 365 includes Skype as part of the subscription. When it comes to competing with Skype, Hangouts needs an overhaul of the UI. We've made the switch to Microsoft …
    Incentivized
    Chose Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    All are variations on the same theme. They each have things they do better and things they do worse. In the case of Skype, I think the mobile integration is great, the browser support is so-so, and the security as a whole is weak. Others have things like individualized URLs …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    58%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    80%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    58%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    80 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    64%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    98 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    52%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    59%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    56 Answers
    Features
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
    Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    8.0
    195 Ratings
    1% above category average
    High quality audio00 Ratings9.1191 Ratings
    High quality video00 Ratings9.0185 Ratings
    Low bandwidth requirements00 Ratings5.0181 Ratings
    Mobile support00 Ratings9.0146 Ratings
    Screen Sharing
    Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.0
    191 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Desktop sharing00 Ratings9.0191 Ratings
    Whiteboards00 Ratings5.0120 Ratings
    Online Meetings / Events
    Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    9.3
    188 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Calendar integration00 Ratings10.0174 Ratings
    Meeting initiation00 Ratings9.5182 Ratings
    Integrates with social media00 Ratings8.182 Ratings
    Record meetings / events00 Ratings9.0143 Ratings
    Slideshows00 Ratings10.0115 Ratings
    Online Events Collaboration
    Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.5
    173 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Live chat00 Ratings8.5171 Ratings
    Audience polling00 Ratings7.094 Ratings
    Q&A00 Ratings7.094 Ratings
    Online Events Security
    Comparison of Online Events Security features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    6.8
    156 Ratings
    17% below category average
    User authentication00 Ratings9.0142 Ratings
    Participant roles & permissions00 Ratings8.5148 Ratings
    Confidential attendee list00 Ratings3.0109 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Podium and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.8
    1 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Video conferencing00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Audio conferencing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Video screen sharing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Instant messaging00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    Affinity CRM
    Score9.2 out of 10
    ClickMeeting
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Hunter
    Score7.8 out of 10
    JioMeet
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Webex Meetings
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.9
    (43 ratings)
    8.4
    (198 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (13 ratings)
    8.5
    (40 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PodiumSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Podium
    Podium is well suited for several types of businesses. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, Podium would be a great way for you to ask that customers leave you a review online sharing their awesome experience. For medium to large businesses, Podium review invites can be automated through the company's customer management system, allowing the use of Podium to be simple and not timely, even with a large customer base. It may not be appropriate for a large company to manually send out individual review invites
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams is a remote/virtual team collaboration tool must have...especially if you already use Microsoft tools. Of course, since it now part of an MS 365 subscription, it really doesn't make sense to use anything else. It is easy to use and just works. I'm not sure how anyone who works with digital files/documents and needs to work with other people doing similar work can be effective without such a tool. Of course, there are a number of alternatives like Zoom or Webex, but why pay or use another separate tool if you don't need to. :-)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Podium
    • Maintains conversations indefinitely, so we are able to go back to confirm details from conversations.
    • Provides the ability for our company to have a 'team' messaging platform where we can communicate with one another via single person to a single person, groups where we can add/subtract members of the group... this is invaluable to our organization.
    • Until today(!), we could 'share' or forward a message to one another; oddly, that feature disappeared just today, so I'm hoping it's a glitch!
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Instant messaging to anyone who we know only by name/email. Even if they're offline, they get the message in missed convos and a notification automatically goes to them via Outlook mail. All conversations are saved and accessible via Outlook.
    • Video and voice calls are a norm in the WFH scenario, and an average employee has around 4-5 calls a day. Skype gives notifications for upcoming meetings, allows easy scheduling via outlook calendar, and its audio/video quality [is] reasonably good compared to the amount of data it consumes.
    • Status availabilities - in the WFH scenario, you could be off for lunch, out of office, busy, sharing screens - and might not want to be disturbed. Skype allows you to do that, and in case you're off, ensures that you know that you have missed messages.
    • Screen sharing - we have to share screens at least once or twice a day with a coworker when working on some issues/features, and Skype easily lets us do that. One of the best things about Skype is that the screen can be shared without being on a video/voice call - which is of immense advantage because oftentimes, you could prefer sharing the screen, while it [is] too noisy to talk.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Podium
    • Account manager communications: I had been asking my Podium account manager for integration with our CRM tool for over 8 months before my account manager fell silent. After another 6 months, I proactively reached out only to find out that the integration had been in Beta for months and 8 other companies had already integrated. It was frustrating that my account manager did not remember a key request and make the Beta available to me the minute that it was open.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Connection issues can be hard to diagnose when they come up(as some knowledge of server information may be needed to reestablish as the connection troubleshooting options on the sky are not as user-friendly as the rest of the platform.
    • Some issues setting up camera/sound could use more info on troubleshooting options with playback sound, video, etc.
    • Statuses sometimes are unreliable and do not display correctly .
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Podium
    Again, Podium has been so wonderful in the year and a half we have been using it, we are able to integrate it with our CRM and use alot of the available features. The most helpful has been getting TONS of reviews on MULTIPLE sites through Podium!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    The software is simple to install and configure. It is rather simple to explain for correct use. It is possible to profile users for the different functions offered. It is integrated quite completely with Outlook and with Active Directory security. It performs all communication functions well with one or more interlocutors and the possibility of granting control of your computer is convenient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Podium
    While giving our clients the ability to leave a review was there, we had much worse results and got fewer reviews through the Podium portal than we did by sending our clients simple email requests, or simply having our service staff ask for a review while still on the clients' job sites.
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Very easy to use. Even though Microsoft Teams has a lot of features and integrations, as a user I feel completely comfortable on finding what I need, getting information about the app extensions and using them. It's a very comprehensive tool, intuitive design and does not make me feel tired to be using it. I am glad with the current experience.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Podium
    We haven't had any outages or issues whenever we need it over the last few years of use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Podium
    It moves quickly and has no issues with delays. Performance is good as it is a web-based tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Podium
    I have to send an email to get information. They have a chat system but I end up having to go through my rep for account questions. It was a little frustrating to not have a direct phone number to call with questions. I would like to see a helpline added.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    I have only had to reach out to the Support team at Skype for Business once with an issue, and I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the quickness and thoroughness of their response. The wait time was short and my question was dealt with politely and clearly, so I would say the support team has it together.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Podium
    We only had a hard time getting our technicians to remember to send the review invites.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Skpe for business is utilized company wide in regards to my company. Everyone not only uses it, but uses it often. It is an effective way of communicating. It also integrates very nicely with outlook and all conversation history is pushed to a folder within the outlook system. We also have it so that if someone misses a message, they are sent an email reminder saying that there is a message that went unread.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Podium
    We use Digital Air Strike at our two GM dealerships because it is one of a small list of reputation management companies authorized by GM as part of their SFE program. Digital Air Strike surveys our customers and invites them to write a review about our dealership. It is not as effective or flexible as Podium so we have been using Podium at those dealerships alongside Digital Air Strike. We also recently started a trial use of ReplyPro which is a service that monitors review sites and writes customized responses to positive reviews and suggested responses to negative reviews. I'd like to see Podium add this as part of their service so we can consolidate 3rd party vendors and manage every aspect of online reputation management from one place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    For the below reason I will always choose this app over its competitors: Better audio and video quality, Little to no disconnections or freezing when on a call/video conference Integrates well with mailbox/ calendar/ one drive, and SharePoint is easy to use
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Podium
    Its easy to scale to different departments as needed. We initially began using it to solve one problem and as new features became available it was easy to scale this and include other departments who could benefit from its tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Podium
    • I am glad there are card readers now, sales team members too often try to just send a request instead of taking payment onsite.
    • It's made capturing messaging leads much easier.
    • It's worth the cost but if it did a few more things it would be worth a lot more to us. Document signatures, surveying after jobs, even geotagging of photos/reviews for SEO
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Skype for Business has enabled a migration in part away from fixed line telephony and introduced the user to mobile working with a headset which cannot be overstated as being a game changer.
    • Being able to schedule Skype for Business meetings through Outlook has meant meetings with colleagues without a meeting room has been a great enabler.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots