MangoApps

Pros

I really like the ability to create different groups and departments. This being a business specific application, it is very important to be able to break out content that is specific for each group or department. This allows users to not be overwhelmed with content that does not pertain to them. I have been using this software for a few years now and I can honestly say that it has evolved over the years they have spent a significant amount of time making changes to better suit the end user.

Cons

I feel that updates are pushed out to the web and client with hardly any warning. This makes it diffficult if we have instructions created on how to navigate to a specific area in Mango and then they make changes to the location.

Pros

While there are a host of similar SaaS offerings in this space, they all seem to fall short in one area or the next. Some capabilities are missing, the feature set is not complete, it has reduced/limited functionality, etc. MangoApps is one of the few that has a refreshingly wide breadth of features and capabilities, combined with admin options for customizing and branding to your needs. When considering a collaborative tool like this, it can only be helpful to you if it has the ability to support all of your needs. MangoApps has that. Projects, Departments, Teams and Groups allow you to tailor the site to your organizational structure. Within each of those, there are tools for managing documents, group sharing/collaborating, managing tasks, calendaring, creating informational and blog pages, social interactions (feeds of discussions, etc), as well as a wide variety of pseudo database-like "trackers" for action items, defect tracking, managing resources, ideas, and so on. And if the stock trackers aren't enough, you can create your own and reuse them. The admin features are powerful and granular, meaning you can control almost every aspect of your site, including visibility, access, branding, configuration and more. User membership is also granular, and includes guest accounts which don't count against per-user limits. Our main reason for choosing MangoApps was because it was capable of satisfying every box we had on our list. The others fell short. Highly recommended!

Cons

Along with awesome features, can come some confusion. MangoApps has evolved and improved on a very regular schedule, which means new features and capabilities are added all the time. Unless you stay on top of the changes, you may get lost in the many admin pages provided. The good aspect of that is that they are constantly improving (unlike some others that haven't changed in years) and growing the product, but it does mean you need to pay attention. And browsing through all of the admin configuration settings can take a fair amount of time; there are many settings. In some respects, it would be nice if they offered a quick "Wizard" setup tool for new customers to get a basic site up and running. Our site is fairly well set after several years, but new users might feel daunted by the options facing them at the start.

The per-user pricing can get expensive, depending on how you use it. There is a trade off between the power of the tool versus what it would cost you to develop your own site/portal/intranet yourself. In that regard, the ROI analysis is probably something you'll need to perform for your organization, but it's worth the time to do so, and unless your needs are very basic, you'd be hard pressed to match what they offer . If you can work with the guest users concept (somewhat limiting, depending on needs), then costs come down. If you ARE looking only for a basic portal, then this may not be the cheapest tool for you. Their sweet spot is in terms of productivity.

Pros

Easy collaboration in the feeds. Teams, groups, and projects make it nice to only see what the things you're involved in and not everything going on in the company. I like the Intranet, we use it to share company information, employee accomplishments, and even the menu for the cafe downstairs.

Cons

When you want to view a task from the feeds it opens in a pop up view and it not useful because you don't see the comments, I always have to "copy link" then paste that into the browser.
Trackers, the line number is static, so it you sort the numbers stay the same, so if someone reference a line you may not be looking at the same thing if you sorted, there needs to be an actual unique Id.

Pros

Ability to create individual projects within which you can have message feeds, tasks, wikis, file storage etc.
Wikis (external to projects) are used by us as knowledge repositories as are file folders within the system.
Everything is very easily searchable.
Using the desktop app you have live chat functionality.
E-mails - from external systems such as Outlook - can be sent directly to projects and appear in the feed.

Cons

Managing tasks within an individual project is easy but there's no easy way to track tasks across all projects. Tasks can be sorted by unassigned, not started, started, etc. but no overall "not yet finished" type sorting to capture all live tasks and a report can't be created from this view (only within projects). This just creates a bit more work.
No Gantt chart capability.

Pros

We like the different features for collaboration and user engagement. Setting up new groups and projects is easy and staff are finding it very useful to collaborate on projects and assignments. Staff also use these features to interact with other employees on non-work related events (e.g. soccer clubs). Staff really enjoy the Recognition feature, allowing them to thank or congratulate fellow co-workers. The system is easy to use and fairly intuitive and more robust than other systems used in the past. We think Mango is great!

Cons

There are some limitations to certain functionalities, or other functions that are currently not available. However, the Support team is very open to hearing any and all suggestions. They help to try to find a work-around and if there isn't one, they put in request for possible inclusion in future updates. Mango Support is fabulous!