Item: Square 9 Softworks
Rating: 7
Author: Janine Garber

Overall Satisfaction with Square 9 Softworks

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We primarily use Square-9's Global Search solution as a document management solution. This has allowed us to have a central location where documents are stored. Before this, we were storing paper files, and no one was able to find anything. There is some automation built into some processes that we need to leverage.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Customer Service is very responsive.
They offer product improvements to solve problems.
Training is available on demand.

Cons

Record retention rules could be improved to allow us to automate procedures.
We use it for HR, and the indexing isn't as user-friendly as it should be.
I should be able to Query more, and I cannot.

Most Important Features

Document storage.
Searchability
Customer service.

Return on Investment

Able to provide central storage of documents.
Flexible to allow for upgrades.

Support Rating

Support is very responsive and helpful in troubleshooting an issue or suggesting an improvement in the way we use the software. They offer many webinars that are also beneficial. I do wish that they had a community of users that could leverage best practices. I would also like to see more in depth trainings that are live rather than recordings.

Innovative Features

I wish that we used more automation and AI, but I think our current set up is hindering this. All of the administration is centralized with a particular group which makes it difficult for my department in HR to leverage the true power of the solution. We need assistance with best practice, but we are continuing to use the solution as it was implemented about 15+ years ago.

Alternatives Considered

DynaFile and PeopleDoc / UKG HR Service Delivery (discontinued)

From an HR standpoint, it seems like other solutions stack up better than Square 9, but it may just be because we don't have it set up right. For example, with filing a document for an employee...I have to manually type (and get correct) ALL of the information related to that document. Each document then has its own retention schedule. The other solutions that are geared towards HR departments have the employee roster (that integrates with our HRIS) which allows the employee meta data to drive the retention (such as termination date). Unfortunately, we are really disappointed in the solution for our HR documents.

Key Insights

Do you think Square 9 Softworks delivers good value for the price?

Are you happy with Square 9 Softworks's feature set?

Did Square 9 Softworks live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Square 9 Softworks go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Square 9 Softworks again?

Other Software Used

Organimi, Trakstar Perform, Workable

Likelihood to Recommend

Square-9 is very customizable, so it is a good fit all around. Building workflows has been restricted to our IT group only because it was determined not to be low code for the general user. As a result, it would be less appropriate in a situation that lacked IT teams to handle the complexity.

Square 9 Softworks Feature Ratings

Using Square 9 Softworks

Users and Roles

100 - Engineering, Sales, Accounting, Purchasing, HR, Operations

Support Headcount Required

5 - Currently, it is solely within our IT department. I would like to be able to do it within our HR department.

Business Processes Supported

sales
accounting
HR

Innovative Uses

I can't think of any.

Future Planned Uses

I really wish it could house our employee personnel files.
Help automating forms

Likelihood to Renew

If it were up to me, I would pursue something a little more supportive from an HR standpoint, or at least a solution that we (in HR) could admin our portion. We can't even make a change without involving IT.

Evaluating Square 9 Softworks and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - Fortis

Key Differentiators

Other

I honestly think the driving factor was cost. Although you offer a cloud based solution, we have been slow to implement. I am unaware of any integration that can be done.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

oh yes

Square 9 Softworks Implementation

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Don't know

Change Management Lessons

Change management was minimal - Change management should have been, but wasn't. All we did was use Square-9 to be the receptacle of the paper.

Implementation Issues

not sure.

Square 9 Softworks Support

Square 9 Softworks Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success	Difficult to get immediate help

Premium Support

I don't think so, but not sure.

Exceptional Examples of Square 9 Softworks Support

A few years back, they spent a great deal of time sharing "the art of the possible" with their solution and it gave me hope that it could work. It reinforced that the original implementation done by my predecessor was not done correctly. Unfortunately, I am at the mercy of IT to help me fix it, so I have remained not a fan of the product.

Using Square 9 Softworks

Usability

Not sure if 10 is favorable or not, but this is supposed to be an unfavorable rating. I find that the solution lacks intuitiveness that should be inherent. I liken it to a large stack of papers and you have to be creative in finding what you want.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
None	Do not like to use Unnecessarily complex Difficult to use Requires technical support Not well integrated Slow to learn Cumbersome Feel nervous using Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

None?

Difficult Tasks

Indexing
Retreival
Automation

Comments

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Nick Fugaro
(Vendor Representative) commented 2 years ago
Hi Janine, thanks for your review. We are glad to hear our solutions have improved your management of documents. Thanks for your feedback.