|
Review Rating – 5 Stars  Although we will review HyperOffice mostly as a "online document management system", it is pretty much the most comprehensive web collaboration software out there. In addition to sophisticated document management, it covers almost the entire range of features in the collaboration (intranet/extranet publishing and customization, forums, polls, IM) & messaging domain (email posting, IMAP/POP3 mail, Outlook integration, shared contacts/calendars/tasks), and allows mobile access (HyperOffice on iPhone particularly impressed me) all rolled into one.  To start our review, HyperOffice is web based, so it does not require any hardware setup, or any software downloads. To get going you need to sign up online (the customary free trial is there, and allows full access). You have the choice of setting up a domain with a HyperOffice extension (yourcompany.hyperoffice.com) or a custom domain (yourcompany.com) for a little extra charge.  Document Management - HyperOffice has an elegant and powerful document management system, and it is intelligently integrated with the rest of the solution. Major features are as follows:-  Organization - Personal and group documents can easily be organized as folders and subfolders.  Filetypes Supported - The system is filetype agnostic.  Collaboration - Multiple employees can get togather and work on documents and files. Versioning, change notifications, automatic locking, audit trails, document commenting etc facilitate collaboration.  Desktop Integration - HyperOffice's web folder concept allows users to access and work on files directly from their local system's desktop. You simply need to download a small module called "HyperDrive", which installs a "web folder" on your desktop through which you can easily navigate to all your files and folders like you would within Windows. Any changes you make to your documents are automatically updated on your online account.  Drag and Drop - Web Folders also allow you to drag and drop multiple files and folders to your online account. Beats doing it one at a time!  Access Control - The administrator can easily manage which people can access what information and what they can do with it (read, write, delete). Access can be set at the "group" level, the folder/subfolder level, or even the document level. Through "profiling" you can even hide information from people who do not have the rights.  Browser Access/Mobile Access – HyperOffice is accessible from any web browser, either Mac or PC. What’s more, its even optimized for mobile browsers. I was especially impressed with HyperOffice on iPhone. It pretty much powers iPhone to be used as a collaboration tool.  Security - In a web based system, letting go of your information and allowing it to be hosted on a third party's system is certainly an act of faith. HyperOffice certainly keeps the faith with an excellent record. They have extensive security protocols, 128 bit encryption, and automatic backups, which can be considered as better can provide in house.  The above features can well be called a fraction of HyperOffice. It also includes integrated tools which tie well with document management. Intranet/extranet publishing and cusotmization allows dedicated pages to be set up for individuals and groups where they can get togather, organize their documents and collaborate when needed. Project management allows scheduling of activities, allocation of responsibilities, track of progress, association of project documents with different project stages etc. In addition there is contact management, calendring, Outlook integration, email, forums and much more. Pricing is very reasonable, at around $7 per user per month and a certain storage limit. Through ideal for small to mid sized businesses, the solution is highly scalable, with many 1000 user clients in its kitty.  All in all, it is a top notch tool, and goes highly recommended.
|