Earlier this month, we mentioned our experience with trying to find the best solution for online spreadsheet collaboration tools. Our top contenders were Zoho Sheet and eXpresso, and after performing numerous projects on both, we’ve decided to move forward with only one of them exclusively for future tasks.
Both products have similar offerings, but when it comes down to functionality, eXpresso takes the lead. We realize that Zoho Sheet is still in “beta,” but it has been out for about two years, and still remains quite buggy and unstable.
One thing we really like about eXpresso is that after logging in there is a landing page that makes different action choices available – as opposed to Zoho Sheet that starts loading the 1st spreadsheet in your list automatically, which can take a while depending on the size. The eXpresso Spreadsheets landing page provides:
- Links to personal and shared spreadsheets
- Ability to create and modify sharing settings, chats, emails, notes, and alerts
- A contacts tab where you can manually enter or import contacts
- History Reports on either whole sheets or particular cells you pre-determine
eXpresso also impressed us with their customer service. When I encountered a problem with their Excel add-in and emailed their support team, I received a prompt and friendly response. They knew right away what my problem was (there were different plug-in directions for Windows Vista users, although their updated plug-in has since made that a non-issue) and provided a quick solution.
Once we decided to subscribe to eXpresso and responded to an email promotion we received, we were able to have everything settled in a couple hours. The agreement they initially sent over was for an amount greater than the advertised promotion, but once we mentioned that to them, they were quick to fix and resend the agreement with the appropriate amount.
As we mentioned in our previous post, Zoho offers a couple conveniences that eXpresso doesn’t. But in the end, eXpresso wooed us with their user friendly Excel add-in, convenient landing page, friendly customer service, an enticing promotional offer, and most importantly a more reliable and stable product.
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If you think these products are great are spreadsheet collaboration, just look at boardwalktech.com, The Boardwalk Collaboration Platform. Unlike other enterprise solutions that collaborate at the “single document” level and use check-in/check-out concurrency control, the Boardwalk Collaboration Platform enables concurrent, multi-user collaboration down to the cell level from within the same spreadsheets you use today on your desktop. Try it.
Hi JB,
Thank you for the recommendation. I checked out the website and the Boardwalk Collaboration Platform does look like a sophisticated product with a wide range of features. Is there anywhere on your website where cost is mentioned, or does a representative need to be contacted for that information? I would be interested to see how the price of the product compares to eXpresso and Zoho for small to mid-sized companies.