Slack vs. VMware Socialcast (discontinued)

We tried a different team communication software (Discord), but it didn't work as consistently well as Slack. We really like Slack for our internal team communication, and even for communication with outside organizations we work with. It's pretty easy to set up a Slack channel and invite others to it for easy back and forth. Huddles, even with video and sharing work pretty well now, though there are still a few hiccups every now and again.

Incentivized

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.

• Real-time discussions between team members like a chat application
• Direct integrations with calendar and video call applications
• Intuitive shorthand for emoji inputs and Markdown styling
• Smart copy-paste UX for media files and external links that detects the type of assets being pasted

• 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.

• I'd like to see further ways to organize my chats. Right now, it's very linear. Maybe folders inside folders.
• Being able to transfer any videos recorded in Slack between slack conversations without downloading and uploading. Aka, a Slack link for the video (like loom).
• A cheat sheet of available commands (like starting a zoom chat) --I'd love to know what all my company has enabled.

Incentivized

• 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

Incentivized

As useful as Slack has become within our company, I feel fairly confident we will continue to use Slack as a communication tool. They continue to improve their software and add value to its use within our office. Customer service delivers, which is an absolute must. Looking forward to how they improve.

Incentivized

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

As long as you use the basic chat features and nothing more, it really is super easy to understand and use. Once you want to take advantage of some of the more advanced features and capabilities, that's when things get complicated. Anyone who has use SMS or a chat program before will be able to figure out the basics though, so rolling this out should be relatively straightforward and not required exhaustive training. Teaching chat etiquette is something else though.

The UX is its best feature

I've never had to contact support for Slack which is a great testament to its ease and use. Adding people outside of the organization takes a little getting used to, but ultimately allows for greater collaboration between FTE and contractors. There is no clear alternative to this software, so it's the best we can do for now.

Excellent support; of course not perfect. :-)

It always helps if you communicate to everyone in the organization how important it is to drop whatever other chat tools they are using and jump quickly to Slack. They will all fall in love with it.

Incentivized

Not applicable, as it is a SaaS platform with minimal implementation

It depends on the company size, if the company is small its better to use other messengers which are more lean and simple, slack in my opinion is very useful once you can use all of it's benefits as an integration with the other services which are very strong, we have integration with Google, Automation, our internal services as Okta

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

• It has saved us a lot of time that would have been spent sending emails back and forth.
• Search option adds accountability to our team conversations.
• Integrations with Google Drive and Gmail are another great time saver.
• Sharing files allows us to collaborate faster and better.

Incentivized

• Definitely more organized project management and team collaboration.
• Efficiency in carrying out tasks.
• Creates a spirit of collaboration and friendliness among colleagues.

Incentivized