As a software produced by LSSP Corporation, Pinpoint has been on the document management market for roughly 10 years, selling web-based solutions. On the other hand, eFileCabinet has been in business for 15 years, selling a range of document management and office automation technologies. Keep reading to find out which 2017 document management software is best for your business objectives.
Where Pinpoint Loses
Although it’s a decent system, Pinpoint loses to eFileCabinet on a couple crucial document management levels.
Although the features add up on paper as scalable, intuitive, and usable, taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture of Pinpoint can reveal several important problems—problems which 2017 businesses do not have the time for.
Nonnative Software Dependence
For the purposes of this point, it’s important to differentiate between strong, bi-directional software integration and nonnative software dependence, for the two can very easily be confused.
Strong, bi-directional software integration means a document management system has an open API to make it tailorable to an array of business purposes, including built-in integration capacity with software many businesses already use, such as Salesforce and Microsoft Office.
Although Pinpoint’s array of integrations may seem like a benefit, it can be argued the number of integrations is a method of covering up a particular drawback—that Pinpoint’s own functionality hinges too much upon integration with other software rather than its own functionality, which can pose two problems:
- Pinpoint’s support team will be limited in the amount of help it can give you
- Pinpoint’s software development initiatives will be tailored less toward serving their own customers and more toward serving the maintenance of their existing integrations. Essentially, this imposes a lack of control from Pinpoint’s end.
Although integrations are to be valued, they should not subsume a document management vendor’s scope, purpose, and functionality. For instance, a document management system undercuts itself by integrating with Google Drive and Dropbox as Pinpoint does.
Security Administration and Permissions Difficulties
In sifting through softwareadvice.com reviews, a recurring theme with Pinpoint is difficulty in administering the system’s security settings. One user reported only being able to have one administrator log in and add drawers and folders to the system.
While this may be less of an issue with security administration than it is with usability of the permissions, security and permissions appear to be difficult-to-use within Pinpoint.
Similarities
QuickBooks Integration
Both document management vendors integrate with QuickBooks, a popular accounting software. However, it’s worth noting that eFileCabinet has carved out a much stronger foothold in the accounting market than PinPoint—particularly because of the number of eFileCabinet features that help accounting professionals.
Although eFileCabinet has a highly-targeted accounting audience, its user base is comprised by many different industries: property management, human resources, real estate, legal departments, financial services, insurance, and healthcare, to name a few. eFileCabinet also provides a document management solution for single-room office workers such as psychologists, consultants, or freelancers.
SSAE 16 Data Center Backup
The gold standard for data center backup safety and security, both eFileCabinet and Pinpoint document management systems have data centers certified under this standard.
Batch Processing and Document Management Automation
Both eFileCabinet and Pinpoint are capable of automating redundant document processes, but the eFileCabinet SideKick bridges the gap between eFileCabinet software and the operating system of a Mac or Windows computer—eliminating the need to toggle back and forth between programs.
Framework Structure and Its Implications
While eFileCabinet offers SaaS (Software as a Service), Pinpoint offers its cloud solution in the form of a CDaaS (Cloud Database as a Service), but the similarities between these two structures are greater in number than the differences.
This means Pinpoint operates from a relational database management system (RDBMS) made by Microsoft. This means data inside the SQL server will be stored in a relational database, with structured query language (SQL) used to manage the database server.
Although eFileCabinet offers the Microsoft SQL server as an add-on to boost speed and ease of use, Pinpoint provides it with the stock version of its software.
Platform Options
Both Pinpoint and eFileCabinet offer on premises and cloud-based deployment platforms for the businesses they serve. Both on premises and cloud-based versions of each vendor’s products are Mac and Windows compatible.
Differences
Cloud Hosting Disparities
Pinpoint offers a self-hosted server option, which works as part of a toolchain or operating system to produce new versions of the same program, whereas eFileCabinet hosts from a VPC (virtual private cloud). The less tech-savvy you are, the more you’ll want to rely on a virtual private cloud to maintain the performance of your document processes.
Where Pinpoint Wins
Free Trial Opportunity, But Read Between the Lines
Although Pinpoint has a free trial, eFileCabinet offers a free demo option, which has several benefits over the free trial option: 1) The free demo provides a guided test drive, supporting the user experience of the prospect, whereas a free trial simply lets the prospective user work with the software—giving little incentive for Pinpoint’s demo and support teams to provide guidance on using the products.
Additionally, when seeking content on Pinpoint’s site to learn more about the software, you have to request a 60-minute presentation. eFileCabinet is usable enough that most demos only last 15 minutes.
AutoCAD Integration
For civil engineers and construction workers, Pinpoint’s AutoCAD integration may be a benefit worth opting in for. However, eFileCabinet’s open API has set been engineered to let developers program AutoCAD integration into the eFileCabinet framework. It would just take a bit more time and finessing to make it work on the eFileCabinet platform.
File Accessibility and Retrieval
Given the fact Pinpoint runs on an SQL database with a web interface, users of the software can access the solution and its contents from any web browser, computer, or mobile device.
However, eFileCabinet’s free mobile apps (which are Android and iOS compatible), provide greater degrees of collaborative bandwidth and functionality.
Long story short, although there are more ways to access information with PinPoint, eFileCabinet provides a greater number of tools to leverage and harness information once it’s accessed.
For more information on what a document management system is and how eFileCabinet’s differs from competitors, you can visit efilecabinet.com today or enter your information on the form fill to receive a free eFileCabinet demo.