Shelf

Puntos a favor

Shelf is really easy to set up and get going very quickly and is incredibly intuitive to use. Its a great tool not only for managing knowledge inputs in a wide variety of formats but also for group and task based working. The web clipper is great for capturing information on the go and actually a lot of fun to use. The file permissions system is super efficient for setting up and breaking down work/interest groups. It ensures everyone gets what they need to know and gets a chance to appropriately share and contribute. Its strongly supportive of the informational needs of the multi layered management structure of the organization as well as for disseminating information and updates to its general membership and stakeholders.

Puntos en contra

Although its already integrated with the three most important cloud storage sites and we hear more are on the way, we've already become firm Shelf fans and will continue to use so we'd like to see some fast-tracking so more become available sooner than later. We also hear email integration is on the way. Right now and until it comes, it would be useful for user email lists to be generated internally.

Puntos a favor

This software is incredibly user friendly and I have really appreciated the ability to create separate libraries for all of the different stakeholders in my organization. It makes the navigation of the resource super intuitive for my staff and allows everyone to put their hands on what they need exactly when they need it. The ability to store and share a multitude of different file types as resources has also been invaluable.

Puntos en contra

There is not much I don't like about the software but one update that I am eagerly anticipating is the ability to upload and have a master copy of a resource in my organization library and have it replicated in other libraries. This will cut down on the amount of uploads and also allow us to have stronger version control on resources that we use across the organization and across our different regions.

Puntos a favor

Having a "Google like" (search by tags) generated system of classifying and organizing online/offline content onto one cloud platform is transformational.
By allowing the end user (in our case, customers) to search via tags, then find>view>download any and all content relating to our relationship with them, the overall 'findability' and value of our resources increases expotentially. The value increases because it's not just sitting in some obscure Dropbox, it's growing and being harvested in "our walled garden" by our customers.
For genre specific content, we can upload new content, tag with appropriate genre related tags and automatically 'push out' the material. Soon as the tags are applied, then all members of that genre have access to the material AND are automatically notified. Versus the old method of copy>paste individual files into each customer's Dropbox folder.
The thumbnail display, which is truly amazing, provides a visual reference to the items searched for and shortens the final mile of the search to the speed of light.
Tagging is an art and Shelf customer onboarding walks you through the learning curve (changing from the file folder based system).

Puntos en contra

Still working on versioning, but the workaround works for us.

Puntos a favor

The top 3 features of Shelf for CMDW, Inc include Sync, Search and Sharing. Shelf syncs with Google Drive and Dropbox to help users better organize and access files. Once files are synced, users can search for files via keyword(s) - even if you don't remember the title or when it was created. It's quick and easy to drag and drop files or folders to an updated private or shared folder from there (or simply leave in the current folders, as Shelf retains the original filing properties/locations during sync). Shelf is already setup with four permission levels - along with a "groups" feature to making sharing at specific access levels a breeze.

I should also point out that Shelf works well with all types of files and media, including documents, audio, video and more - which is especially important for the creatives on our team!

There are plenty of organization and collaboration tools out there - I've tried several, but Shelf has hit the UX (user experience) nail on the head. It's visually appealing and less intimidating for my clients and team members who are less tech savvy. The onboarding process for me was actually pretty fun. The demo was informative and tailored to my unique organizational needs. Customer rep really listened to my challenges and showed me how Shelf can solve many of our current problems. I'm really excited to finally have a functional solution for file management. No more lost hours searching and starting over from scratch!

Puntos a favor

Personally, i love using Confluence but it was difficult to get our company onboard. We needed a product that was more flexible and easier to organize for our company's internal knowledgebase. After a pretty extensive vetting process we selected Shelf because it allowed our team to continue using Dropbox, Drive and Slack while giving us the ability to manage our most critical docs in a centralized place. The features that make shelf unique are it's dropbox and Drive syncing, advanced search and filtered search capabilities, the ability to add additional meta data like tags and badges and the web clipper which enables our team to also use Shelf to capture youtube videos and web articles for training purposes.

Puntos en contra

No product that tries to address knowledge management issues is going to be perfect.. Even knowledge managers at our firm have trouble keeping track of information across teams and departments so no solution is going to be a one size fits all. I prefer a wiki method of building knowledge bases and Shelf doesn't yet offer this feature but overall we're very happy with Shelf.