Item: Basecamp
Rating: 9
Author: Shiva Krishna

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Basecamp is a flexible, cost effective collaboration tool for large teams. In our project we are used it as a knowledge repository. The tool slowly gained traction and now being used across the whole organization. We could upload documents on Basecamp and ask for reviews and enhancements, comments from the team. We could track each team members tasks and ask for updates.

Pros and Cons

It is a great tool for large teams. There is no limit on the number of people one can add.
It comes with a good user interface. For people who were used to old tools, this is a god send.
It is a cloud application and does not need a big team to maintain it.

For a person working on multiple projects, it is difficult to flip between different portals.
Reports can be run out of basecamp. They are very basic, there is scope for improvement there.
There is no way to track time or record time in basecamp as of now.

Return on Investment

It is very easy to set up the tool and get the ground running.
It is the most cost effective collaboration tool, we found in the market.
No need to depend on the IT department, most things can be done by the end users.

Alternatives Considered

MS SharePoint

We liked Basecamp as it was initially free to use for 30 days. Further, there were some interns in our project who used the product at their university.There were videos available on how to set up and use the product. For us, it was the convenience of setting it up and hit the ground running fast so that we can focus on the project. We had internal and external users in the project and with basecamp it was easy and cost effective to onboard team members on to basecamp.

Support Rating

There was documentation and videos available online on how to set up Basecamp and hit the ground running. Further interns in our team have already used the product at their universities, so it was very easy for us to setup basecamp and get value from it from day one. Further the tool is economical when compared to other products.

Key Insights

Do you think Basecamp delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Basecamp's feature set?

Yes

Did Basecamp live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Basecamp go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Basecamp again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Smartsheet, Slack, JIRA Software

Likelihood to Recommend

We were a large team, so basecamp came in handy in collaborating and tracking tasks. We needed some training documentation to be made available for both internal and external users. Without Basecamp we would need to work with IT department, take several approvals, get a URL and give the training material to IT department, so that they can upload it. With Basecamp, there is no dependency on IT department. We created a portal and uploaded the training material and made it available to the audience within an hour.

Cost effective collaboration tool for large teams

Overall Satisfaction with Basecamp