Socialcast (discontinued) vs. Zoho Cliq

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.

It is very well suited as a messaging tool, where one needs to communicate quickly to a colleague the status of a particular task or an update to the work. This is especially useful for field work where the field team can report the work done and any additional resources required. We have faced issues when virtual meetings are held for a team of 10+ members with a lot of drop-offs and poor quality of reception (audio & video). While some may be attributed to poor internet connection, we do not face the same issue when using Zoom meetings. This area requires strengthening.

Incentivized

• 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.

• External channels allow in-office staff a private channel to directly relay messages to customers.
• Automated notifications through Zoho CRM can be easily triggered.
• Audio/screen share components offer zoom-quality calling without extraneous setups.

• 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

• Initial set up can be a little daunting if you aren't a tech-savvy person. For large organizations, this might not matter since you would have a dedicated IT team that will handle it (as we did) but if you are a small business owner looking to set this up yourself, I imagine it would take some trial and error to get working.

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

Zoho Cliq has become an integral part of our daily business. Every single member of our team who has a job involving a computer has an active Zoho Cliq license and uses the tool continuously throughout the day. It cuts down on meetings and allows the team to feel very connected to one-another even though we are distributed geographically.

Incentivized

The UX is its best feature

Easy to use Larger File sharing like videos, audios, even zip files Make internal group calls Multiple channel creation sharing development scripts is also easy

Incentivized

It's available 24X7. We have never faced any serious issues with the connectivity. Whenever we faced issues, it has been traced to a browser issue or Windows app issue or a mobile issue.

Incentivized

No issues

Incentivized

Excellent support; of course not perfect. :-)

Any time that I have had an issue, and there haven't been many user support jumps right on and helps me right away.

Incentivized

Excellent support. Online training and supporting videos, and resources are more than sufficient to get started. Moreover, their support channel, especially the chat window, is very helpful and provides an instant solution to all our queries. For any complicated issue, they always get back by email with the solution and on occasions even call back.

Incentivized

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

Implementation is very simple and easy. Create a Zoho account (free or paid), send/ receive an invite, log in, verify your credentials and get started. Admin would have created the channels for you, and you start contributing. The entire process is smooth, and you can get started within minutes. The Admin has to work at the backend, initially, and decide on the permissions for the individual and the team and set up permissions for access to other applications too. This needs to be planned out, tested and implemented.

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

Functionality wise Zoho Chat fairs pretty well against the other options. I still use all the other options as I need to be flexible in how I communicate with clients. It is the integration into the ZohoCRM & Cliq that puts Zoho Chat above the others and is why I try to encourage clients to move across to the app

Incentivized

Bulk discounts can be considered. Slab-wise user discounts would attract more users.

Incentivized

The system works perfectly well. At times, we have faced issues with the desktop application - it doesn't start, or takes time to start, or even logs off on its own. However, the browser as well as the mobile application work perfectly well, and we have never faced issues with them

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

• our business save time and improve communication. We noticed a 20% faster response time to customer issues because team members can communicate instantly.
• reduced our internal email clutter, saving about 10 hours a week for staff who used to spend time sorting through emails.

Incentivized