Sharepoint Vs. Teamwork- Reviews & Comparisons
Microsoft SharePoint
Launched in 2001, SharePoint is offered through Microsoft, and is sold as a “Software as a Service” (SaaS). Since it is offered as a software package, a user either has the option of paying monthly for the service or paying it in larger increments, such as quarterly, bi-annually, and annually, or simply purchasing the rights to host the software on your own server, should enough IT resources be available to do so.
Sharepoint’s interface is very reminiscent of a typical Microsoft product – in the top left corner is a company’s logo, with settings/management information on the dashboard directly below that, and then the main project options being housed in the center of the interface. Individual portals can be managed, allowing for different portals for different users to be created – as an example, a customer attempting to get help for their product can have their own portal, the administration can have their own portal, the system admins would have a portal, and then the customer service team would have their portal.
SharePoint, due to Microsoft’s creation, integrates with existing business management solutions, like Dynamics CRM/ERP and even Microsoft Office. Due to Microsoft’s support, SharePoint is also constantly updated and maintained – the most recent version to launch was 2015, but since its launch in 2001, a version of SharePoint has come out roughly every three or four years. SharePoint also includes a search feature, allowing for users with the proper access to find anything they might need. SharePoint has native applications for Android, iOS and Windows phone – it cannot be accessed through a mobile website.
Due to the necessary integration of a Microsoft system, SharePoint might not be for everybody. However, for firms and businesses that are trying to receive the best support with the most accessible product, SharePoint may be the better choice over Teamwork. SharePoint integrates using the .NET framework, which requires Windows Azure, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your IT’s expertise. By allowing a firm to install the software on their own servers, SharePoint is highly customizable and editable and a very broad, acceptable solution to project management and collaboration. Most firms around use
Teamwork Project Manager
Launched in 2007, Teamwork is fairly reminiscent of Basecamp – the user interface is largely the same, with some additional features tacked on. The idea is the same – projects are laid out in a list format, with additional tasks able to be added on and creating a tree of tasks to be accomplished. TeamWork’s price is based off the amount of users required; a free trial exists which allows for 2 projects and 10 MB of storage, which lasts indefinitely – upgrades are available on Personal, Business 1 and Business 2, Corporate, and Enterprise tiers, all of which increase the amount of users allowed, the amount of projects able to be created, and the total amount of file storage on the server. However, Google Drive integration is also included in Teamwork, which can potentially allow a user to not pay for the service yet still use it, albeit at the cost of a more complicated file management scenario.
One of the cornerstones for Teamwork is the central file management system – files can be uploaded to a Teamwork project and managed remotely, allowing for alternatives such as Google Drive and Dropbox to replaced with a completely centralized-program. These files can be downloaded using FTP, the file manager built into Teamwork’s website, and managed using the application (Teamwork has a native application built for Windows Phone OS, Android and iOS, as well as having a mobile site that should work on most any smaller touch-based screens.) In addition to a central file management system, email integration, and expanded collaboration features. Teamwork allows for additional collaboration and project planning features, such as time tracking, cost tracking, risk management, Gantt charts, and some additional options such as hierarchical tasks and recurring tasks.
Some of Teamwork’s interface is somewhat tedious – a user can only edit one task at a time, and cannot blanket edit tasks to say, set a due date for all tasks of a certain nature. Importing is also disallowed; all tasks to be posted on Teamwork must be created on Teamwork, instead of allowing a calendar or a .xml file containing information relevant to tasks to be uploaded.
