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Socialcast - a sleek dark horse in a competitive field of ESNs.
Updated April 16, 2014

Socialcast - a sleek dark horse in a competitive field of ESNs.

Susan Scrupski | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction

  • 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.
  • There is limited functionality with some of the mobile device apps. I'm only familiar with iPhone, but I've heard this from other users. Photos sometimes do not render; you can sometimes not see links that were posted from the web view.
  • Socialcast does not offer presence which we'd find useful.
  • Ha. We could not run our business without Socialcast. It is our primary channel of communication.
Unless something happens to demonstrate Socialcast, as a function of its ownership with VMWare, will not be investing in future releases of the product or the leadership changes direction with the product, we see no reason to move off the platform.
For some reason, Socialcast does not get mentioned in a list of enterprise social networks often. Yammer, Jive, and Chatter draw headlines, but Socialcast is a very strong competitor in this field. Of course, the differences between full-featured platforms like Jive and so-called micro-blogging platforms is another discussion altogether. Suffice to say, if you're considering a Chatter, Yammer, or even Tibbr, you should look carefully at Socialcast.

Product Usage

  • The platform serves as the backbone of our company which is structured as a network. It creates a seamless channel for communications and knowledge-sharing.
  • It serves as a unifying medium to connect network members in multiple time zones with self-service usability.

Evaluation and Selection

Implementation

Not applicable, as it is a SaaS platform with minimal implementation.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Don't know
As a SaaS product, this has very simple deployment.

Training

Support

Excellent support; of course not perfect. :-)
No - We have not needed it.

Usability

The UX is its best feature.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • The user interface is exceptional. Writing updates, editing updates is simple and very comfortable for all users.
  • Admin features are intuitive.
  • Inviting people to the network is simple, and on-boarding doesn't require any extra training or support.
  • The recognition feature is done well (thanks).
  • Notifications are excellent on mobile and desktop devices.
  • I'd prefer to have fuller user profiles.
  • Tagging isn't exactly intuitive.
  • The projects feature could probably be improved.
Yes - It's a little tricky when you have long threads. Not intuitively obvious how to expand the threads.