If you need to create a flowchart, or develop a mind-map, you’re spoiled for choice. Free and paid applications are available to help you express concepts in a matter of minutes.
One of the most popular options for mind-mapping and flowchart illustration is EdrawMax from Wondershare. Offering templates and generative AI options, you can also manually create an illustration from scratch. Wondershare EdrawMax also handles circuit diagrams, floor plans, network diagrams, and other process diagrams such as mind maps. However, if you have very specific requirements, you may be better off purchasing the software specific to your use case.
EdrawMax is browser-based, and also offers desktop applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
We evaluated EdrawMax, assessing it based on pricing, features, ease of use, support options, and how it measures against the competition.
(Image credit: EdrawMax)
EdrawMax: Plans and pricing
EdrawMax has three categories of pricing—Free, Basic, and Unlimited. Each of those has the option of Annual or Monthly billing. These cover the desktop option and the browser version.
With all options you get AI tokens, cloud storage, Visio/SVG/CAD import, and exports in PNG/JPG/PDF/Word/Excel/PPT/SVG/Visio formats. Some features are limited in the Free version, however. For example, Free subscribers get 500 AI tokens per month (about 5 diagrams) and 100MB of storage.
For the desktop option, EdrawMax’s Basic plan is $5.90 a month with annual billing ($7.90 otherwise). With this, you get 10,000 AI tokens a month (enough for 100 AI-generated diagrams), access to all functions (browser only), unlimited shapes, themes, and pages, and Visio and CAD imports. Templates and symbols, exporting and printing with no watermark, and 1GB of cloud storage are also included.
The Unlimited plan has all of the above plus unlimited AI tokens and community templates. This is $8.25 a month on annual billing ($15.90 with a recurring monthly subscription).
Both options have a 7-day trial and payment is by PayPal, credit card, Wepay, Alipay, linepay, and bank transfer.
Note that specific feature-by-feature differences between Free, Basic, and Unlimited are quite detailed. We found this lack of pricing simplicity frustrating and unnecessary. Additionally, the Free plan seemed geared towards forcing an upgrade early due to some unfair feature balancing.
(Image credit: Future)
EdrawMax: Features
EdrawMax is an all-in-one diagram-making tool that can be used for flowcharts, mind maps, fishbone, network and UML diagrams, floor plans, office layouts, Gantt charts, business cards and flyers, wireframes, infographics, and presentations.
There are thousands of templates to choose from, all designed by professionals. EdrawMax also boasts extensive file compatibility, which will allow you to import files from Visio or export your own drawings to Visio, Word, Powerpoint, HTML, PDF, and image formats like JPEG and PNG.
Each type of diagram has pre-existing libraries of industry-standard symbols. Although they strictly follow the standards, all the symbols are also easy to customize, allowing you to change color and line styles.
For those who work or learn more quickly by copying existing examples, each type of diagram comes with a large collection of real-world examples which you can use as your starting point, simply replacing the content with your own.
Selecting a template for the first time launches a brief 5-step tutorial. This highlights how the menus and toolbars can be used to create new diagrams and edit templates. Given the range and depth of the diagramming this software supports, this is useful to read through.
EdrawMax provides cloud storage for collaboration with third parties and across teams. Teams are supported in Premium only. Sharing can be sent to the Edraw community, while exported files can be shared however you want.
(Image credit: Future)
EdrawMax: Ease of use
You have two options to start using EdrawMax. We’d recommend checking out the browser version before you download and run the installer. Both versions give you a list of available template categories, ready for selection.
If you cannot find the right template, the search tool will deliver a collection based on specific keywords. For example, “network diagram” produces two results.
EdrawMax also includes generative AI tools. These cover many different purposes, such as flowchart and mindmap, drawing, tables, lists, and even timelines.
To test this, I selected the Timeline option, and entered the following prompt: “Please produce a timeline of engagements by the Durham Light Infantry in the Mediterranean Theater, 1942-1943.” The aim of this was to select something reasonably obscure, but the results were surprisingly accurate.
After you’ve chosen a template, or created an AI project, you’ll see the workspace. Here, toolbars on top and to the left and right of the canvas enable everything from pen tools to formatting and shape insertion.
People who are familiar with graphic design and desktop publishing apps will get the hang of EdrawMax relatively quickly. The interface is straightforward, and simple enough for anyone familiar with any illustration, mind mapping, or flowchart creation tool.
(Image credit: Future)
EdrawMax: Customer support
Over the past few years, Wondershare has developed a poor reputation, regularly accused of bundling unwanted software (crapware) with its desktop products. More recently, this practice appears to have been dialed back.
The Help menu in the app (the “?” icon) has buttons for a “Started Guide” (which relaunches the 5-step tutorial) and a Hotkey Reference. You’ll also find a link to the Help Center, which provides a selection of basic tutorials for EdrawMax’s key features.
If you have a technical issue, you can visit the EdrawMax Support Center and open a chat window. This is initially an AI response, but you can switch to a live agent with ease. They’re slower to respond to questions than the automated option, but you’re likely to get a more tailored response.
Wondershare provides 24/7 support for EdrawMax via email, chat, and phone.
(Image credit: EdrawMax)
EdrawMax: The competition
EdrawMax has many competitors, including Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart, SmartDraw, Cacoo, and Creately. Like these tools, EdrawMax has an online version, and like Visio, also has a desktop app.
The AI tool gives EdrawMax a fair advantage over some of these tools. It is fair to say, however, that Microsoft Visio and Lucidchart have a more mature reputation.
In terms of features, EdrawMax has an advantage over most of the tools. The confusing pricing is a disadvantage, however.
EdrawMax: Final verdict
EdrawMax is a powerful, fully-featured drawing app that has all the features, templates, and guides for you to accomplish any task in mind.
You may find the user interface to be a little untidy, however, and the browser version tends to hang at times. The AI feature is good, and the drawing tool and large collection of shapes helps you to complete most tasks efficiently.
However, due to the tool offering more than just mind mapping and flowcharts, EdrawMax can be considered overkill. Tools with a narrower focus are available. As well as being preferable, they also have simpler pricing.
To run business and office space in 2024, finding the best VOIP provider might not be the sexiest task, but it's certainly one of the most essential to have a smooth-running workplace where everyone can communicate easily.
While a cloud phone system may have seemed like science fiction in the recent past, this next-generation communications tech is becoming increasingly popular. More and more businesses are recognizing the value of managed, portable phone systems, and RingCentral is one of the best providers around.
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and the tech basically does just that: transfer calls over the internet, avoiding out-dated landlines and other potential problems. As offices move towards remote working, VoIP providers have added new features into their offerings.
As we dive into our RingCentral Phone review, we put one of the industry’s best business phone services through its paces, testing the standout features of this virtual phone system to help your business make the right call.
Of course, it's also worth checking rivals products from Zoom, 8x8, and Dialpad before making any final decisions – being prepared is the key – but our testing found RingCentral offers a complete package.
RingCentral’s plans range from basic to enterprise-level.(Image credit: RingCentral Phone)
RingCentral: Plans and Pricing
RingCentral offers three plans: Core, Advanced, and Ultra, with each then being tailored to work with anywhere between one and 100+ employees.
Starting off, the Core plan costs $20/user/month for an annual subscription, or $30/user/month for a monthly subscription, and includes business phone or toll-free numbers, up to 100 toll-free minutes, unlimited domestic calls in the US or Canada, visual voicemail, shared lines, and much more.
Advanced costs $25 or $35 per month per user and includes everything in Core, plus up to 1,000 toll-free minutes, enhanced business SMS for 100/user/month (up from 25 for Core), advanced call queues, up to eight-digit extensions, hot desking, breakout rooms, and many other features.
Finally, Ultra costs $35 or $45 per month per user and includes all of the aforementioned features alongside up to 200 video call participants, unlimited file storage, custom roles, advanced analytics, workflow customisation, and more.
It's worth checking RingCentral's detailed pricing lists to see if the feature that keeps your business running smoothly comes with Core, Advanced, or Ultra. RingCentral is also keen to encourage annual subscribers, and one-off yearly payments receive an up to 33% discount.
Adding more than 100 users gives a further discount, but that likely only equates to a few dollars saved per month. All plans also come with a 15-day free trial. We were pleased to see how easy it was to scale up too, with options to add international and toll-free numbers as needed.
RingCentral’s phone service is packed with features. In fact, there are over 50 in total, which is both pretty staggering and means your specific needs are likely to be met.
Call quality is a very important consideration, and RingCentral ensures HD audio regardless of your calling location. The provider also limits the disruption of switching to a new phone service by helping keep any existing numbers. (There are also options to set up local numbers.)
We found RingCentral’s voicemail-to-email feature particularly interesting as it enables you to receive voicemails whilst out of office – a great feature for remote teams – and it's something few others offer.
RingCentral has also put lot of consideration into incoming-call management, with call screening, call delegation, and call forwarding options available to users. In addition, the Call Flip feature helps users switch calls from a desktop to a mobile phone during a conversation.
As we alluded to above, RingCentral has not scrimped on adding features and pretty much any little thing your business might want to do will be there, from integrations into business apps to call logs to remote desktop control.
The company has also been getting involved in the recent AI craze, adding live transcriptions, closed captioning, video summaries, note taking, translation, and a whole lot more to all three plans, to make life a little easier.
Once you sign up with RingCentral you’ll need to download the desktop app. The process is quick and easy, and the RingCentral interface is user-friendly and navigable. There are also nifty iOS and Android apps, too.
Any RingCentral users should be aware that the app doesn’t just display the provider’s phone settings: From the admin dashboard, you can access video, messaging, and upcoming tasks. Clear icons on the left-hand side of the screen make accessing any core services easy.
The basic functionality of RingCentral’s business phone service is fairly easy to understand. A pop-up dial pad is there to make calls from a selection of numbers on a dropdown, and voicemails are easily accessible and displayed visually. That said, some advanced features are more difficult to locate.
For example, call screening functions need to be enabled first, and you’ll only be able to confirm that you’ve enabled them when you receive a call. RingCentral offers a great deal in terms of features, but we would have preferred to see them displayed more prominently.
RingCentral has been generous here: 24/7 support is available on all three tiers, which is an improvement on previous generations that only offered such support on more expensive plans.
RingCentral also has a dedicated support website where you can access comprehensive FAQs split up into well-defined categories, consult instructional videos, download technical information, and join its community development group.
The company has a live chat feature too, but with such a comprehensive cache of documentation, you probably won’t need it.
Reliability and security are some of RingCentral’s key concerns. As a result, the measures in place to prevent downtime and disruption to the provider’s service have led to some standout security features.
These include end-to-end network monitoring to ensure performance and real-time analysis of network stability, disaster recovery protocols involving the migration of data to alternative data centers, and cloud-based measures for service continuation even during a period of internet outage.
(Image credit: RingCentral Phone )
RingCentral: The competition
Nextiva offers a similar service to RingCentral but at a reduced cost – its Enterprise plan is just a few dollars more than RingCentral’s Core plan and includes up to 10,000 toll-free minutes.
That said, RingCentral’s multi-tool platform, with video and messaging facilities, does give it an edge, and the provider’s Essential plan is competitively priced if you don’t need the extra functionality. But small businesses that just want a simple, cheap way to integrate their phone services might prefer Nextiva.
It's also worth checking out offerings from 8x8, Zoom, GoToConnect, Vonage, Aircall, Ooma, and more of the best VoIP services, with your specific needs in mind. Each one is slightly different, and might work well.
RingCentral is one of the best cloud phone providers available. Clearly, the team behind the platform is well versed in the requirements of business phone users, and the wide range of features tick all the boxes.
However, RingCentral's long list of features might actually over complicate the product, and we would have preferred fewer features but in more accessible places. Of course, having 'too many features' is a small problem if you invest the time in working out how best to use them.
MyDraw is a diagramming and vector graphics tool developed by Nevron Software. You can use this package to create organizational maps and professional flowcharts either by downloading to your desktop or using the web app.
Nevron Software was founded in 1998, and specializes in charting, diagramming, and data visualization solutions. Its cross-platform framework for .NET applications has simplified cross-platform software development. MyDraw is available for Windows and macOS, and both the desktop apps and the web app are identical.
But MyDraw isn’t the slickest-looking piece of software package, although its features make it an ideal choice for communicating complicated concepts and plans visually.
We’ve spent some time using MyDraw, and have compared it with competing apps, looking at price, features, ease of use, and support options.
(Image credit: MyDraw)
MyDraw: Plans and pricing
The three versions of MyDraw are referred to as MyDraw for Windows, MyDraw for Mac, and MyDraw for Web.
A MyDraw license costs $36 for 12 months and gives you 3 simultaneous sessions. You can also pay $18 for a 3 month subscription.
MyDraw offers a free 30-day trial to allow you to test out the platform before signing up, but any images you create during this period are watermarked.
If you have a large enterprise and want to purchase a MyDraw license for multiple employees, you can access volume discounts for up to 40% off the cost of an individual license. Similar discounts are available for government, educational, or non-profit organizations. There’s also a recommendation program through which you can get a free MyDraw license by telling 5 friends about the software.
Meanwhile, discounts are available if you are thinking of transferring away from a competing product.
(Image credit: Future)
MyDraw: Features
MyDraw is mostly aimed at users with little or no previous experience of using a graphic diagramming toolkit before. It doesn’t take long to produce your desired visual output thanks to a large range of shapes, and a suite of advanced vector operations that let you combine objects and change their geometry.
If you need to create a complex diagram in a hurry, MyDraw has a selection of ready-to-go tree and graph layouts. Through these, you can find a way to arrange your data that highlights the flow of a process and ensures displayed information is as readable as possible. MyDraw comes with customizable automatic layouts, so you're certain to find one that suits your unique needs.
Ideally, professional diagrams should be easy to interpret at a glance but also contain plenty of information for anyone who needs it. With MyDraw, you can achieve this by hiding additional information in your images with linear, data matrix, and QR barcodes.
Barcodes can be placed anywhere you like in a MyDraw diagram, but they work best next to relevant parts of your image so that readers can learn more about a particular element if they want to. Diagram barcodes are a great way to add in product codes, tracking information or links to other relevant documents.
If you want to design complex, custom vector shapes to add to your projects, MyDraw includes useful drawing tools. You can use a library of premade shapes and draw freehand curves, circular arcs, or bezier curves. The geometry of any shape can be modified by dragging control points at its edges.
But that’s not all. To get the effect you’re looking for, you can subtract one shape or combine objects to create a new, composite object. In order to keep the design process simple, MyDraw provides drawing aids like guidelines, rulers, and scales.
(Image credit: Future)
MyDraw: Ease of use
The MyDraw interface is complex but will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used an application in the Microsoft Office suite. Nevron intentionally matched the look of MyDraw to Microsoft Office programs to create a shallow learning curve for first-time users.
Overall, the interface isn’t particularly exciting to look at, but it does a good job of making objects that you need to access frequently easy to get too. It doesn’t take long to figure out how to resize shapes, create new ones, or even modify the entire layout of a project that you’re working on.
The interface doesn’t change much between Windows and Mac versions of the software, as both are equal in terms of functionality. If you want to change things up, a small selection of different MyDraw skins is available.
However, we found some difficulty using the MyDraw for Web version. It seems that only the Chrome (and Chromium-based) browser is supported.
(Image credit: Future)
MyDraw: Customer support
Although Nevron Software has done everything it can to make things easy for new users to get to grips with MyDraw, you may want a little extra help with more advanced functions. For this, you can check out MyDraw’s selection of video tutorials. If you need additional help with the software or your MyDraw license, phone support is available on weekdays.
MyDraw: The competition
There are plenty of other great professional diagramming tools out there, but MyDraw keeps pace with the best of them thanks to its large range of design functions and the ability to import data directly from Excel files. It’s also significantly more affordable than some competitors.
However, considering that it is competing against some notable free tools (such as draw.io), MyDraw doesn’t really do anything outstanding. I was left with a lasting impression of software resembling a cut-down Microsoft Visio.
MyDraw: Final verdict
If you’re looking for a piece of diagramming software to use in your organization or professional environment, MyDraw is worth considering primarily for its low price.
It stands out thanks to its large range of drawing features, and for adding a web app, but suffers from its similarity to Microsoft Office. Design tools have moved on from Microsoft’s dated ribbon, and consequently MyDraw is closer to Visio than Lucidchart or Creately.
You can make mind maps, flowcharts, wireframes, even genealogy charts, but MyDraw seems like software from a different generation.
Business endpoint security protection needs to offer a comprehensive defense against all kinds of malicious bits floating around on the Internet. Webroot Business Endpoint Protection (WBEP) is designed to shield workstations running Windows and macOS operating systems from such known as well as new threats.
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Plans and pricing
Webroot only offers 1 year subscriptions for WBEP. The platform will cost $30 for each endpoint for upto 9 endpoints. You’ll get a discounted price for protecting 10 endpoints and more.
Protecting 10 endpoints costs $276, which comes to $27.6 per endpoint. It’ll cost the same for protecting 15 endpoints (for a total of $414), or for 20 endpoints that will cost $552, making it one of the cheapest endpoint security solutions on offer.
These prices have remained fixed since our original review in 2020, which means they're even more competitive relative to other endpoint security platforms.
Customers also now have the option to add Webroot DNS protection for the same cost per seat as for Endpoint Protection - in other words effectively doubling the price. This can be a good way to filter out harmful links but is more expensive than other secure Secure DNS offerings.
The Webroot checkout page for Business Endpoint Protections also offers the option to add 'Security Awareness Training'. In this case this is to teach workers in your organization on how to avoid phishing. Once again this is for the same cost per device as for Endpoint Protection, so if you combine this with Webroot DNS protection and the endpoint protection itself the price is effectively tripled.
WebRoot offers a free 30-day trial of their Endpoint Protection, so you can try before you buy. If you do install the trial software, you can also sign up for a trial of the 'DNS Protection' and 'Security Awareness Training' features from within the WebRoot Management Console.
(Image credit: Webroot )
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Setup
Overall, WebRoot offer a very smooth setup. If you choose to sign up for the free 30-day trial for Business Endpoint Protection, you're asked to enter your contact details. A short while later a link is sent to your e-mail address with a temporary license code and password. There's also a link to set a new, strong password.
You use this form to create a secondary 'security code'. WebRoot will ask for two different characters from this each time you log in, as well as prompt you each time to set up two factor authentication.
On first login, users are also asked to choose between the Business console (the focus of this review) or the MSP (Managed Service Provider) console. The latter is useful if you manage multiple devices on behalf of different clients.
On first login we were easily able to find a download link for the WebRoot 'SecureAnywhere' software, with the license key preloaded, then install it on our Windows 11 machine. When we did, we also noticed it installed Webroot's "Web Threat Shield" into our Edge browser.
This can easily be disabled but it's important to note, as your endpoints may use other browser extensions for safe surfing which could interfere with Web Threat Shield's functionality.
We were pleased to note that the newest version of the endpoint client doesn't need to be updated constantly for threat protection - it performs scans based on information 'in the cloud' so is always up to date.
(Image credit: Webroot)
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Features
First things first: as far as security is concerned, WBEP has all the features you’d expect from a protection platform. It can prevent viruses, malware, trojans, ransomware, spyware, phishing attacks, browser-based attacks, cryptojacking, and all the other usual threats from wreaking havoc on your endpoints.
WBEP wraps these features inside what it refers to as shields, such as real-time shield, web shield, identity shield, phishing shield and more.
The realtime shield blocks known threats that are listed in Webroot's threat definitions. A useful feature is the identity shield that includes mechanisms that help protect sensitive data that might be exposed during online transactions.
(Image credit: Webroot )
The WBEP platform also includes the behavior shield, which monitors individual user behavior to dynamically tailor malware prevention. It also includes various heuristics settings that you can use to set the level of threat analysis that WBEP performs when scanning the protected endpoints.
A new addition to the list is the evasion shield that’ll help detect, block, and quarantine evasive script attacks, including file-based, fileless, obfuscated, or encrypted threats. It’ll also prevent malicious actions in PowerShell, JavaScript, VBScript, and more. Hat tip to the WBEP developers for disabling the feature by default since many organisations use legitimate custom scripts in their environments where this shield might generate false positives.
Besides file protections, WBEP also includes other security-related features as well. For instance, you can use it to control which applications are allowed to run. The platform also includes a software firewall and several other useful features to help you take charge of your endpoints.
We've already discussed how seriously WebRoot takes security, protecting the login console with a secondary security code as well as repeatedly prompting managers to set up two-factor authentication.
The most recent version of the console also includes 30-minute rolling sessions. This simply means after 28 minutes, you'll be prompted to ask if you want to keep the session alive. If no response is received the console will automatically log out.
The latest console has also now introduced a long awaited feature whereby users can export information on all devices as a CSV file via the 'Entities' tab.
If we seem particularly well informed on the most recent updates, it's because the WebRoot Resource Center has a dedicated 'Announcements' section. You can also take 'Spotlight Tours' which walk you through the console's main features.
There are also links to WebRoot's extensive collection of user guides for all their products.
(Image credit: Webroot )
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Interface and use
WBEP offers a couple of administration interfaces, each tailored to a different environment. The Business interface is designed for managing the devices within an organisation, and is the one we’ll be using in this review. Besides this, WBEP also has an administration interface for managing devices for your customers that can handle multiple businesses.
Although the workflow of the WBEP platform is pretty similar to its peers, the layout of its administration interface leaves much to be desired.
The interface isn’t logically arranged, and instead of clearly-labelled starting points, you’ll have to head to the last Downloads tab to install the WBEP agent on your endpoints.
The platform offers both EXE and MSI installers for Windows installations and DMG for macOS for simple manual installation. For advanced automated installs, you can hook up WBEP with an existing active directory server on your network.
In terms of workflow, all endpoints must subscribe to defined policies. While this allows for greater control over the behavior of individual endpoints, WBEP has its peculiarities.
(Image credit: Webroot)
To begin with, all WBEP endpoints subscribe to the Silent Audit policy that offers limited protection. It’d be natural to switch the endpoints to the Recommended Defaults policy that provides maximum protection and remediation.
However this policy has a poll interval of 24 hours, which means scans or any other actions initiated from the administration interface can take upto a day to be communicated to the endpoint. Another unusual behavior of this policy is that it hides the platform’s resource-efficient endpoint agent.
While this might seem like a good idea once you’ve configured WBEP as per your requirements, it’ll only create confusion for first time users. Thankfully, Webroot has a good administrator’s guide and a best practices guide to help you utilize the platform to its full extent.
Besides defining policies and assigning them to the endpoints, you can also use the interface to define exceptions and do a lot more. But again you’ll need to refer to the documentation to use these functions effectively.
The overall look and feel of the interface is logical and clearly laid out. The main 'Dashboard' provides a quick summary of the number of endpoints, as well as those which are active or have become infected.
Ther dashboard also contains more detailed infographics on endpoints where the agent software has been installed, displaying information on infected endpoints and those which haven't been seen recently.
We were especially impressed that the left hand pane can both display each section with sub-options but can also be minimized to a more compact version as users become more familiar with the icons.
We have already touched on the discrete 'Announcements' section which discussed all thst was new in the world of WebRoot. This is preferable to the 'WebRoot Threat Blog' in the right hand pane of the Endpoint Protection Console. This links to articles on subjects like online romance scams which probably don't have much relevance to business users.
(Image credit: Future)
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Performance
After installing the 'SecureAnywhere' software we opened the Microsoft Edge browser and attempted to download a test computer virus, provided by the good people of EICAR.
We noted that the 'Web Threat Shield' extension didn't display any alerts and we were able to download the virus in compressed (ZIP) format without issue.
We next extracted the virus and were surprised to see once again that the client software installed on the endpoint didn't seem to react. This is despite WebRoot's "RealTime Shield", "Web Shield" and "Firewall" all showing as enabled.
It was only when we opened the 'SecureAnywhere' agent software and manually ran a full system scan that the virus was removed.
We can only assume this has something to do with the aforementioned 'Silent Audit' policy which doesn't seem to proactively block threats.
These results were troubling, so we ran our tests once again. This time when we tried to decompress the virus WebRoot's Endpoint Protection software automatically quarantined the threat and displayed an alert in the tray, prompting us to run a full scan.
After the virus was detected and removed we logged in to the WebRoot Management Console.
Upon opening the 'Reports' tab we found that 'No Threats' were found. Since the virus we used was harmless this was technically true but we were surprised to find no mention of it neither here, nor in the 'Alerts' tab, which also claimed there was no data to display.
The main 'status' page also claimed that 'No Endpoints have reported in yet'. The 'Endpoint Protection Console' likewise reported no threats were found. suggesting the client software hadn't actually dialed home to report discovery of the virus. This was true both the first and second time we ran our tests with the fake computer virus.
It's entirely possible that through careful configuration of the device policies and creating a custom installer that we could have created an agent which was more proactive in detecting, blocking and reporting a threat but can't help but feel it would be better if this was available out of the box.
(Image credit: Webroot )
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: The competition
In terms of its platform coverage, WBEP only supports Windows and macOS. There’s no support for Linux installations, nor does it offer protection features for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Only Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus restricts itself to Windows and macOS just like WBEP. However, Avast makes up for this limitation by including several privacy-enhancing features like a fully-functional VPN service, that you don’t get with WBEP.
Another feature we missed in WBEP is the lack of ability to control pluggable devices like you get with many of its peers, such as Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services Advanced. Of course the lack of tweakability is another characteristic that sets WBEP apart from many of its peers.
Despite the addition of the 'Web Threat Detection' extension in endpoint devices' browsers, we also didn't see any proactive prevention of threats, as during all our tests we were able to download our fake computer virus test file. In fairness we saw similar results in other endpoint security platforms like Trend Vision One, which nevertheless were able to immediately quarantine the file once it was detected on the hard drive.
Webroot Business Endpoint Protection: Final verdict
WBEP has a lot of protection features that you get at a very affordable price. However, the platform does a poor job of exposing its strengths. Since our previous review in 2020, the interface has been revamped and seems to have a more logical layout. This is excellent, as it was previously very counterintuitive and tricky to navigate. There are still some quirks we struggled to master.
During our tests the platform had some fairly mixed results when it came to detecting threats. Although it failed to prevent us from downloading and decompressing our computer virus, it did detect and quarantine it the second time we ran our tests.
We also had to question the use of the 'Web Threat Detection' extension if it doesn't prevent users from downloading a known virus.
What troubled us most was that there was no corresponding report of the virus being detected and/or quarantined on WebRoot Management Console. This would make it difficult for network managers to monitor user activity to see if they're involved in any risky online behaviors. Admittedly this may have to do with the policies in place but as we said, we'd like to see proactive detection and reporting out of the box for endpoint security products. During our tests we also did change the device policy for our test machine to 'Recommended Defaults' but didn't see any noticeable improvement in threat detection/reporting.
For instance, once our tests were complete and we wanted to remove the client software from our test machine we were told that this needed to be managed via the web console. We sent the 'Uninstall' Agent command several times to the software without any success forcing us to boot into Safe Mode and manually remove it ourselves via Windows Registry.
This is why despite its strong set of features, the platform will appeal to a very narrow set of users, especially due to its limited operating system support and because of its occasionally counter-intuitive interface. We strongly advise you to read through its administration guide before you take advantage of the 30-day extended free trial to explore the platform.
The draw.io platform is a free-to-use online diagram app and editor. With this software package, you can create high-quality designs, custom flowcharts, complex network diagrams, and Unified Modeling Language (UML) system layouts.
Produced by Jgraph Ltd, draw.io (also known as Diagrams.net) was first released under an Apache license in 2017. It has a repository on GitHub, although only the core is open source, and external contributions are limited.
We’ve evaluated draw.io, comparing it with other software packages to cover the full pros and cons of using it based on pricing, features, usage, and support. As you’ll find out, although draw.io is slightly let down by a lackluster selection of default design templates, it’s still an excellent option for creating professional visual aids on a tight budget.
(Image credit: draw.io)
draw.io: Plans and pricing
The fantastic thing about draw.io is that, in most use cases, it is completely free to use. All you need to do to start using this software is head over to the draw.io website, choose where to store your creations (locally, Google Drive, GitHub, GitLab, or Microsoft OneDrive), and start designing.
You should also ensure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser’s security settings.
There are numerous different ways to access the free draw.io package. For example, if you want to sync draw.io data to your Google Drive cloud storage, you can access the platform through a Google Apps domain as well as via the main draw.io website. There are also unpaid versions of draw.io that integrate with Dropbox and Google Chrome.
However, if you are already running a Confluence or Jira server in an enterprise context, then you may wish to purchase a premium draw.io integration license to give your users access to the software. These paid versions of draw.io don’t come with any additional collaboration or design features but do allow you to take complete control over your team’s data.
Unfortunately, while draw.io is presented in various ways to suit different team types and business scales, pricing is somewhat complicated.
Confluence and Jira draw.io integrations are sold for Atlassian hosting products and are priced identically, with costs varying depending on the number of users you want support for.
A cloud integration for 20 users is $34/month, scaling up to $920/month for 2,000 users. Meanwhile, Atlassian data center product integrations are priced from $6,250/year for 500 users to $13,000/year for 2,000 users.
Note that standalone cloud support is also available. This is ideal if you want to use draw.io in a Confluence or Jira environment but don’t care about having complete control over your data storage. This arrangement is free for up to 10 users, then increases based on the size of the team – from $1.70/month per user for a team of 11 to $0.07/month per user for a team of 50,000.
Although we’ve reviewed the popular draw.io web application, accessed through the browser, a downloadable desktop version is also available. This can be found in the draw.io GitHub, for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
(Image credit: Future)
draw.io: Features
draw.io offers a beginner-friendly vector graphics processing environment. The big advantage of vector graphics over traditional image processing is that you won’t lose any quality if you re-open and edit a vector file. If you’ve ever tried to re-size a heavily compressed JPG file, you’ll know exactly how what a difference using vector graphics can make.
Vector graphics are useful in all sorts of different professional settings, from creating building blueprints to designing project workflows to share with your team. The draw.io package comes with dozens of different pre-made templates that you can pick from when working on a new design. Not having to start your projects from scratch will make your design process more efficient.
However, there are some notable absences in draw.io’s layout catalog. Where you find the software wanting in this regard, third-party templates can be used. These can be found online and simply added to your draw.io project.
As long as you connect draw.io to your Google account, you’ll get access to all the same collaborative tools you can use when editing any other document in Google Drive. In other words, you can share the file with colleagues so that you can both work on the same copy of the file. But, even better, this collaboration can occur simultaneously. When you and another user are both working on the same project, you’ll see their cursor and edits live.
With draw.io, you can drag-and-drop image files directly into your projects from your computer. Supported file types include standard ones like SVG, JPEG, and PNG but draw.io also works with VSDX, Lucidchart, and Gliffy diagram objects. You can export your projects in various formats including SVG, XML, HTML, PDF. You can also create files as XML, HTML, PNG, and SVG.
(Image credit: Future)
draw.io: Ease of use
The draw.io interface is nicely laid out with helpful shortcuts that will help you quickly locate popular shapes, functions, and settings. By default, on the left-hand side of the draw.io edit screen, you’ll see a panel of useful shapes. One nice feature that speeds up the editing process is that when you put your cursor over a shape (but don’t click it), a larger version will appear on your screen, letting you decide whether the shape is suitable for your project.
Over on the right-hand side of the screen, you’ll see a panel populated by contextual menus. At first, in this space, you’ll see generic options such as changing your diagram size or adding a grid. However, when you select an object, the content changes. For example, if some text is highlighted, you’ll see font options, and selecting a shape causes a menu with color options to appear.
Right-clicking also reveals a traditional context menu of similar options.
Some elements of the draw.io design experience aren’t as well thought out, though. A good illustration of this is that when you initially decide to connect two objects with an arrow, everything is relatively straightforward.
(Image credit: Future)
draw.io: Customer support
To help with getting started, a “Quick Start” video can be viewed via the draw.io Help menu. This provides some useful pointers, but if you’ve used this type of software before, it should be straightforward.
Because draw.io is freeware, technical support is fairly limited. When starting out with the program, you can learn about its features by checking out a directory of support articles. However, should you need a more specific question answered, the only place to turn is draw.io’s user forum, hosted on Google Groups.
Note that for integrations with Atlassian products, dedicated support is available.
(Image credit: Future)
draw.io: The competition
There’s no question that draw.io lacks some important features that are available with alternative diagramming software packages. SmartDraw, for example, has a larger range of pre-made layouts and adapts its shape and tool menus based on the type of diagram you’re working on. The difference, of course, is that SmartDraw costs $297 for a license, whereas draw.io is completely free.
Overall, draw.io stacks up favorably among some strong competitors.
draw.io: Final verdict
Although draw.io isn’t the perfect diagramming tool, it’s the best you’re likely to get without having to sign up for a subscription platform or purchase a software license.
However, draw.io has an issue with branding. Multiple URLs and hosting options mean that there is some confusion over pricing and support. For software that is known to be free, this could be off-putting.
Thankfully, collaborating with this toolkit is straightforward thanks to native Google Apps integration and even users who have never worked with a vector graphics editor before will find its intuitive interface layout easy to get to grips with.
Scapple is a flexible drawing and note-taking application for Windows and Mac computers created by developer Literature & Latte. With Scapple, you can express your ideas with clarity thanks to engaging mind maps and intelligent shortcuts.
Mind map software is awesome because it lets you visualize the links between different concepts, thoughts, and information. Providing visual context to something helps us to understand it better, and Scapple stands out because it lets you pull content from other programs into your digital Scapple mind maps to showcase your ideas.
(Image credit: Future)
Scapple: Plans and pricing
Compared to other mind mapping platforms, Scapple pricing is straightforward. It costs $20.99 for the Standard License, or $16.79 for an Educational License for academics or students. Prices are basically the same whether or not you buy through a third-party, like the Apple App Store, but do vary based on your region.
If you’re not completely sure that this is the right product for you, you can simply start a 30-day free Scapple trial instead. The great thing about the trial version of Scapple is that it doesn’t simply stop working a month after the trial start date. Instead, a day only counts if you actually use Scapple on it. So, if you use Scapple twice a week, the trial will keep ticking over for 15 weeks. The trial offers full functionality, so you get a good idea of the software’s possibilities.
Scapple is available on macOS and Windows.
(Image credit: Future)
Scapple: Features
Scapple’s aim is to work as a seamless virtual piece of paper on which you can put together aesthetically pleasing mind maps. You can create text, pictures or links anywhere you want on your Scapple page, and lots of tasks can be accomplished with easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts. Changing up the style of your Scapple notes is also a breeze thanks to a convenient menu that lets you add borders or change text font.
One of Scapple’s most handy elements is its flexible nature when it comes to dealing with pieces of content that haven’t been created within the Scapple interface. To add a text file, picture or PDF to your Scapple mind map, all you need to do is drag it over the Scapple window. Once Scapple has imported your file or text, you can resize or move it around as needed.
By helping you to represent your ideas in virtual space, Scapple lets you understand them better and share concepts efficiently with others. A big part of this is using formatting options like text size, borders, and shape to show how ideas relate to one another.
So that you can create an appropriate text style, Scapple offers an easy-to-use stylization menu where you can experiment with different font sizes, add colorful borders, and change text alignment. You can also modify important document properties like the background image and decide whether or not borders should be created by default.
Another stylistic feature you’re sure to get a lot of use out of is a shape drawing tool that helps you compartmentalize related notes.
(Image credit: Future)
Scapple: Ease of use
The first thing you’ll notice about the Scapple interface is its simple elegance. By default, Scapple is free from any clutter like unnecessary menus. To create a note, all you have to do is double-click somewhere and start typing. Don’t worry, you don’t have to figure out how everything works by yourself, though. When you first open Scapple, you’ll see a series of helpful “get-started” prompts.
Using Scapple is incredibly intuitive. For example, making a line to link two connected ideas is as simple as dragging one thought bubble on top of another. And, should you want to create an arrow between the two instead, just do that while holding “Shift” and “Command” (⇑ and ⌘ on Mac).
Once you memorize a couple of other commands, you’ll find it easy to do more complicated things like create shapes to contain certain notes, images or equations. To create a boundary shape, all you need to do is select the objects you want to be included. Then, right-click and select “New” and “Background Shape.”
It’s as simple as that.
(Image credit: Future)
Scapple: Customer support
On the Scapple website, you can troubleshoot any issues that crop up via the Learn and Support hub. This provides a range of instructive video tutorials as well as user manuals and forums to answer any questions. Common questions are also covered, providing quick and easy solutions to general problems, sales and licensing questions, and platform-specific challenges.
Should you need more advanced support, Literature & Latte staff can be contacted by email.
However, you should note that this is a small developer, and non-urgent emails will not be responded to quickly during holiday periods.
(Image credit: Future)
Scapple: The competition
There are plenty of other great mind mapping tools out there, but Scapple manages to stand out from the crowd with its slick, pared-down interface and intuitive design. Obviously, this software is significantly pricier than Freemind, which is a free mind map tool, but when the two are put side-by-side, Scapple makes Freemind look clunky and unappealing.
This comparison can be extended to tools like ClickCharts and MyDraw, both of which feel very 20th century by comparison.
Scapple: Final Verdict
If you’re searching for a new way to express your ideas and interpret concepts in a digital space, Scapple is probably the right tool for you. This mind-mapping package doesn’t just work with basic text notes and drawings, it also allows you to import PDF and image files from elsewhere on your PC and integrate them into your creations with ease.
While there is no Linux, mobile or browser version, Scapple is an excellent companion to Scrivener, but also stands out as a great piece of software.
With a smart trial version Scapple is worth trying. Tools that support more expansive mind maps are available, but if you need to get ideas down without worrying about template choice, formatting, and style, Scapple is a good option.
Zendesk is a popular customer relationship management (CRM) software provider. It offers a range of products with solutions for businesses of all sizes. For us, its versatility and great selection of use cases makes Zendesk stand out above the competition.
Additionally, Zendesk comes with a powerful free trial that allows you to test its software out before committing to purchasing. And, the fact that it’s used by major businesses like Uber, Shopify, and Slack should speak for itself.
(Image credit: ZenDesk)
ZenDesk: Plans and pricing
SInce our last review in 2020 ZenDesk has simplified its pricing into 4 main tiers. This is a big improvement as previously there were no fewer than 7 base modules with specific features for each application.
Before we delve into the various plans, ZenDesk's pricing page deserves special mention. When it comes to help desk software subscriptions are usually listed on a "per agent per month" basis. ZenDesk makes it easier for you to obtain a quote by letting you input the number of agents you have, then updating the price underneath each tier to let you know the total cost. This is a very helpful and welcome feature for those who need a quote in a hurry.
The 'Suite Team' tier is the lowest price at $59 per agent per month if you're paying monthly or $49 per agent per month if you pay annually. It comes with a number of respectable features including a ticketing system which arranges all conversations into a central hub.
Even at this basic tier the platform also supports connecting with clients via email, chat voice and social messaging. The 'Suite Team' tier also incorporates 'Standard' bots which can use this media to respond to basic queries. Agents can also quickly respond to standard requests using macros.
You also can set up a help center, access analytics through prebuilt dashboards and integrate over 1,000 apps.
The 'Suite Growth' plan is priced at $99 per agent per month if paying monthly or $79 per agent per month if paying annually. The plan includes all of the above, as well as extra features like being able to create customized support forms.
This tier also supports "Light Agents" - in other words team members can have access to tickets and make private comments without taking up an official "seat", saving you the subscription cost of another full agent.
The plan also supports creating SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) ratings. Customers can also benefit from their own self-service portal, which you can set up in addition to defining your own business hours. Help centers support multiple languages.
The 'Suite Professional' plan is Zendesk's most popular subscription. It costs $125 per agent per month if paying monthly or $99 per agent per month if you pay by the year. It includes all the perks in the above plans plus a range of extras.
These include the ability to build your own metrics and reports with custom analytics and monitor your team's performance in real-time with the pre-built live dashboard.
'Suite Professional' subscribers can also link Slack and e-mail conversations to tickets, automatically send tickets to specific agents and allow you to create a community forum where customers can interact with your company and each other.
This plan may also be useful if you're storing sensitive information like healthcare data as it allows you to specify where data's stored (US, APAC or EEA) and can also help your organization to obtain HIPAA certification.
'Suite Professional' subscribers are also eligible for the 'Advanced AI add on'. This costs an extra $50 per agent per month and offers more advanced AI bots, which can assist your agents by creating custom workflows, as well as automatically suggesting solutions and macros.
ZenDesk also offer a 'Suite Enterprise' plan, which has perks above and beyond existing tiers such as a sandbox to test out new features and workflows and very high API rate limits. They encourage interested subscribers to contact their sales team for pricing information.
You can sign up for a free 14-day trial of Zendesk Suite, you'll have access to all features on the Zendesk Suite Professional plan. No credit card's required. New startups can also apply to use ZenDesk for free for the first six months.
(Image credit: ZenDesk)
ZenDesk: Features
As one of the most powerful CRM software providers available, Zendesk naturally comes with a huge range of great features. Again, it’s impossible to cover everything here, but we’ve done our best to include the most noteworthy.
Sunshine CRM
For starters, we felt it was worth looking at Zendesk’s native Sunshine CRM platform. It comes with a huge range of features and provides one of the best CRM interfaces that we’ve worked with.
For example, the Sunshine CRM allows you to manage customer data and assets, deliver personalized experiences through contextualised consumer behaviour analysis, and monitor customer interactions.
Additionally, the Sunshine CRM comes with interactive messaging tools, including AI and various chat bots. It even allows you to build custom apps and drive workplace decisions based on detailed customer data.
Internal Help Desk
We also loved Zendesk’s powerful Internal Help Desk software. It allows you to manage employee interactions and rapidly address queries and support requests. Additionally, it comes with tools to help your team become more productive by boosting morale and reducing costly downtime.
Powerful Customer Support System
Finally, we wanted to quickly touch on Zendesk’s great customer support system. It includes phone, live chat, email, and online ticket support options, along with the ability to create your own personalized knowledge base.
On top of this, Zendesk is known for its powerful security features. With these, you can rest assured that your customer interactions and data are fully protected and safe from hackers.
ZenDesk: Interface and in use
The exact user interface you have access to will depend on the plan/products you’re using, but we certainly didn’t have any problems with the variations we explored. In general, one of the things Zendesk focuses on is providing enough relevant information without creating a cluttered space.
This means it can take a little to get used to, but if you’re willing to spend an hour or two finding your way around, you should be fine. You can also customize many aspects of the Zendesk dashboard.
(Image credit: Zendesk)
Zendesk: Security
ZenDesk have a dedicated Security page where they outline how seriously they take customer privacy.
You can use this page to review the various ISO certifications ZenDesk have received as well as SOC 2 Type II, which requires regular security auditing. This is no doubt due to the fact that most of ZenDesk's service data is managed by Amazon Web Services. This means they benefit from AWS' infrastructure which includes extras like backup power and fire suppression systems.
We were also intrigued to see that the platform supports a PCI-compliant credit card field which redacts all but the last 4-digits, providing better protection from fraud. ZenDesk regularly reviews data shared with vendors and claim to conduct regular audits.
ZenDesk also claim to have 24/7 security and carry out regular network scans both within the company and with the help of third-party penetration testers to make sure security is up to scratch.
All communications with Zendesk UI and APIs are encrypted via industry standard HTTPS/TLS (TLS 1.2 or higher) over public networks. You can also set up your own hosted TLS certificate for your organization's help center.
Service Data is encrypted at rest in AWS using AES-256 key encryption.
The platform also supports 2FA (two factor authentication) for agent login either via SMS or approved authenticator apps. Admins can also restrict access to ZenDesk accounts to a specific range of IP addresses such as your office sites.
(Image credit: ZenDesk)
ZenDesk: Support
Zendesk is a leading customer support software provider, so we expected it to offer the premium support that it promises its users. And it didn’t disappoint.
For starters, you can speak directly to the Zendesk team by submitting an online ticket, using the online chat tool, calling your local office in almost 20 countries worldwide, or reaching out via one of its various social media profiles.
Additionally, Zendesk comes with a comprehensive help center that contains answers to most frequently asked questions, along with more detailed guides to optimize your experience.
There's a dedicated section on the ZenDesk suite, which contains helpful introductions to tools like 'Agent Workspace' and how to use the website or mobile app to have conversations with customers.
The 'Support and Ticketing' section contains answers to common questions like how to manage the ticket workflow or how to integrate with Slack.
The Help page also has a dedicated section on common Admin issues such as user management, account settings and billing, as well as integrating apps.
We were especially impressed by the 'Agent Guide' which contains 'how to' articles on virtually every relevant topic such as working with agents, creating macros and using the ZenDesk mobile app.
ZenDesk: The competition
Zendesk is great, but there are plenty of alternatives out there worth considering if you’re looking for something a little different.
For example, Freshdesk offers very similar features to the Zendesk Support package. However, it comes with a more beginner-friendly user interface that’s easier to get started with.
Similarly, HubSpot offers a wide range of support and sales tools that rival Zendesk’s high-end plans. It’s a good like-for-like alternative to Zendesk which we would recommend at least looking at.
ZenDesk: Final verdict
Overall, Zendesk is a powerful CRM software provider with a range of solutions for businesses of all sizes. We didn’t come across too many negatives when we were testing it out, although the pricing of its high-end plans is quite steep.
But, cheaper plans start from just $49 per month and come with great features. After all, there’s a reason why over 140,000 customers trust Zendesk as their CRM program of choice.
Cacoo by Nulab is an online tool designed for businesses that need to create a variety of diagrams such as flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps, and sitemaps. It is aimed at teams made up of engineers, developers, marketers, designers, and product and project managers.
Whether your team members are working together in the same room or are distributed virtually around the world, they’ll be able to work on the same document at the same time, all while tracking changes and adding and replying to comments.
First released in 2009, Cacoo has a good reputation, but is it still deserved?
(Image credit: Cacoo)
Cacoo: Plans and pricing
Cacoo has both paid and free plans. The free plan is limited to two users and six sheets, has no revision history, and provides only email support.
The paid plans are named Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Pro and Team have the same pricing: $6 per user per month. If you pay annually instead of monthly, the price comes down to $5/month, and there is a 14-day free trial.
The Pro plan is limited to just one user, which is less than the free plan, but it offers unlimited sheets and revision history. However, with the Team plan, you can have up to 1,000 users as well as features unavailable on the Pro plan: shared folders, user permissions, 1-on-1 online training, and priority email support.
The Enterprise plan works a bit differently in that you download software to install on your own server. Pricing goes from $1,500/year for 10 users up to $7,500/year for 50 users. This plan is more configurable and is aimed at organizations that want greater control over their data, settings, and permissions. It also comes with a 30-day free trial.
Note that this is a web app, accessed through your web browser, with projects stored in the cloud. You can run Cacoo on any computer running a suitable browser, such as Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.
(Image credit: Future)
Cacoo: Features
Because Cacoo is cloud based, it means your team members can collaborate on documents together in real time, regardless of their location.
You can start a diagram from scratch using the editor or choose from a large library of pre-existing templates. Diagram templates include flowcharts, mind maps, and wireframes. Then there are templates for customer journeys, office layouts, org and PERT charts, timelines, AWS, Azure, Fishbone, GCP, Network, SWOT, UML, Venn, and WBS.
Templates are populated with all of the assets you need to get started. Shapes are in place, ready to be repositioned and given new labels. Projects can include multiple sheets, and each can hold a different type of diagram.
When creating diagrams, you can either input data directly into Cacoo or import data from a spreadsheet to create dynamic charts. Each diagram’s revision history will show when it was last edited so changes over time can be compared.
Diagrams can be displayed as slides in presentation mode, with audience members able to leave comments on diagrams for the presenter to review later. The presenter can resolve comments while attending to each piece of feedback. Diagrams, or even entire folders, can also be shared with people outside your organization, with the option of using view-only links. Export options include SVG, PDF, PowerPoint, and Postscript, and diagrams can be embedded into web pages and wikis.
If you’re coming from other diagramming solutions, Cacoo has a healthy range of integrations including Google Drive, Google Docs, Atlassian Confluence, AWS architecture diagrams, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, Box, and Microsoft Visio.
And when changes are made, team members working on the same diagram can be notified via Slack or Nulab’s own business chat app, Typetalk.
(Image credit: Future)
Cacoo: Ease of use
After signing up for an account, your dashboard will display all your recent diagrams. From the left column, you can create new diagrams either by starting from scratch or by choosing a template, of which there are 156.
The editor will be familiar to anyone who has used a graphics or desktop publishing application before, with a toolbar on the left for inserting shapes, text, lines, tables, or charts. You can draw with the Pencil tool or import files from your computer or Dropbox, Box, Adobe Creative Cloud, Visio, or AWS Architecture.
Clicking on elements in the diagram will present another menu for each one. You can then change the element’s fill, line style, shadow, text style, and stacking order.
Elements can be grouped and ungrouped, and clicked and dragged around the editor window. As an element is dragged, any lines that have been drawn connecting it to other elements will automatically reposition themselves.
(Image credit: Future)
Cacoo: Customer support
Cacoo has plenty of options for support. If you want to talk to its team, you can send an email message via the contact page or ask a question via live chat.
However, if you prefer to search out answers yourself, the Support Center has a range of articles covering popular topics. In the Resources section, there are also guides to creating certain types of diagrams and video tutorials.
Pricing-wise, Cacoo is closest to SmartDraw, which charges $5.95/month for multiple users, although SmartDraw’s single-user price is a bit more at $9.95/month. Lucidchart’s basic plan is also $5.95/month, but Lucidchart’s prices increase as you move up through the plans.
Cacoo’s interface may not be as intuitive and user-friendly as that of LucidChart, but it has more features and integrations with external services than Microsoft Visio. And unlike Microsoft’s enterprise-and-organization-only diagramming tool, Cacoo is open for anyone to use.
Cacoo: Final verdict
Cacoo may not offer as many templates as some competing tools but it is incredibly easy to use. Its team collaboration tools, large range of integrations with other cloud services, and competitive pricing make it one of the best services available for creating charts and diagrams.
RingCentral Contact Center is a powerful program designed to streamline customer service and aid rapid resolutions for any issues—and it’s certainly up there with the best helpdesk software available. It can integrate with a range of popular third-party programs such as Salesforce and Zendesk, and it has a range of powerful features to help your service team.
In our RingCentral Contact Center review, we’ve analyzed every aspect of this program, including its plans and pricing, main features, ease of use, and customer support.
(Image credit: RingCentral)
RingCentral Contact Center: Plans and pricing
There are three RingCentral Contact Center plans available for businesses with various needs.
The 'Core' price tier starts at $20 per user per month if you pay annually or $30 if you pay monthly. It's touted as 'a reliable system to get your business up and running.' This seems like a fair assessment, given the core plan includes both unlimited domestic calls as well as SMS/MMS.
Other features of the core plan include IVR (Interactive Voice Response), which can be integrated with RingCentral Office. Other features include SSO (Single Sign On) as well as analytics for IT Administrators such as call logs and interactive Qos Reports.
The 'Advanced' plan is RingCentral's most popular tier. Prices start at $25 per user per month if paid annually or £35 per user if you pay monthly. 'Advanced' includes all the benefits of Core as well as more advanced features.
These included optional automatic recording of both outbound and inbound calls. There are also superior call handling and monitoring features. These allow Managers to discreetly listen in on calls and even take over if necessary.
The 'Advanced Plan' is also more useful for companies with multiple sites, as it can provide features like individualized outbound caller ID per name per site. This tier is also best for CRM Integration as it provides access to over 300 popular apps including Salesforce and ZenDesk. If your business is still kicking it old school there's even support for Internet Fax.
RingCentral cite their highest priced "Ultra" plan as being best value. Subscriptions start at £35 per user per month if paid annually or £45 per user if paid monthly. The plan includes everything in the 'Advanced' Tier but probably the biggest perk of 'Ultra' is unlimited, enterprise-grade videoconferencing, whiteboards, messaging and file sharing. Those who can afford 'Ultra' also benefit from unlimited storage for files and recordings, as well as enhanced business analytics.
There are also a number of optional bolt-ons, such as vanity numbers which you can set up for a $30 one-off fee. There are also special pricing plans for Educational institutions, though you'll need to contact RingCentral directly for more information on these pricing packages.
There's a 14-day free trial available to new customers for all plans, during which time you'll receive support for up to 20 phone lines. You can use up to two RingCentral Desktop Phones or just install the app. (Available for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS). SMS doesn't form part of the free trial.
RingCentral Contact Center: Features
As one of the most powerful helpdesk programs available, RingCentral Contact Center is naturally backed by advanced features. For starters, it includes everything that you need to receive incoming calls, use various support channels, and streamline the entire customer service process.
Additionally, it has a range of integrations with powerful CRM platforms and other software. You can also create custom integrations with the platform’s advanced APIs.
On the usability front, RingCentral includes management features to help you control your team and their performance. For example, silent monitoring and whisper coaching will help you train new staff, and the in-depth analytics tools can aid performance monitoring.
There are also numerous intelligent routing features designed to help customers find relevant information as fast as possible. For instance, it's easy to route customers with friendly IVR and easily manageable call queues. This is also facilitated by 'Virtual PBX', which provides advanced features like virtual extensions without the space and expense of physical hardware like routing switches.
If you go for the 'Advanced' or 'Ultra' subscription you can also manage multiple sites, making it easier to tailor your services to callers' needs. The use of Cloud VoIP also makes it extremely simple for customers to reach your fellow workers, given that calls can be managed by a single unified app which can be used anywhere there's a connection.
This ease of use extends to employees as well, as it's extremely simple for managers to add, change and move employees between sites on the go. RingCentral are also trialling a "Push to Talk" feature for the app which will allow real-time communication between workers.
Depending on your subscription plan, you can see more in-depth IT business analytics too. Dashboards can be customized to generate detailed QoS reports as well as provide information useful for maintenance.
Overall, the features on offer here are extremely impressive.
There are numerous powerful features.(Image credit: RingCentral )
RingCentral Contact Center: Interface and in use
The RingCentral Contact Center user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. It has a menu on the left of the screen for quick navigation, as well as advanced tools to help you get the most out of your customer interactions.
On top of this, the program is available on both desktop and mobile devices. Although the desktop version is slightly more advanced, the mobile apps still boast a selection of powerful tools.
All service staff have to be added to the system through the Central web dashboard before they can begin working.
The RingCentral Contact Center user interface has a range of customer service tools.(Image credit: RingCentralct Center)
RingCentral Contact Center: Support
RingCentral Contact Center is backed by self-help and live support streams. Solutions to common problems can be found in the RingCentral knowledge base, which includes tutorials, guides, video resources, and full documentation outlining how the program works.
There is also a selection of live support options for those with more complex issues. Live chat, email, and phone support are available, and there’s even an active community forum where users discuss their problems.
There are numerous support streams available.(Image credit: RingCentral )
RingCentral Contact Center: Security
RingCentral Contact Center is backed by security features designed to keep sensitive data safe and to keep your service staff working efficiently in all situations.
For starters, certain parts of your Contact Center can be controlled with permission-base access restriction. With this, you can give users access to the tools that they need to do their job. The platform is built on the cloud, and RingCentral guarantees at least 99.99% uptime.
RingCentral boasts full compliance with numerous security standards, including HIPAA, CPNI, SOX, and PCI. The platform uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) encryption for transmitting data, similar to Microsoft Teams. Their data centers also have a number of onsite engineers and security guards.
In case you don't want to take RingCentral's word for all of this, the company claim to submit to regular independent audits to make sure they're compliant with all security standards. For instance, RingCentral MVP has earned the Skyhigh’s CloudTrust rating of 'Enterprise-Ready' - their highest rating.
The rating system measures 66 types of risk then awards top marks only to those providers with the very best data protection, identity verification, service security, business practices, and legal protection methods.
There are various security features protecting the program.(Image credit: RingCentral )
RingCentral Contact Center: The competition
Although RingCentral Contact Center is a great choice, there are other options on the market worth considering. Freshcaller is a popular program that is tailored specifically for small businesses. You don’t need to have any special hardware to use it, and the cheapest plan only requires that you pay for call charges.
RingCentral Contact Center: Final verdict
Ultimately, RingCentral Contact Center is one of the most powerful helpdesk programs in the world. It has a range of advanced features, an intuitive user interface, and the tools to help you manage large teams of customer service specialists.
On top of this, RingCentral Contact Center is backed by leading safety features, as it's compliant with all relevant industry standards and uses advanced encryption for data transmission.
There's also a wide range of pre-coded third-party integrations, including popular apps like Salesforce and Microsoft Teams. We were also impressed to see that RingCentral aren't resting on their laurels but are also testing new features like "Push to Talk".
Customer Support is also impressive: there's an extensive knowledge base with an overhauled UI, not to mention a dedicated live chat for customers.
We were also very pleased to see since our last review in October 2022 that RingCentral is now much more transparent about subscriptions: pricing plans are available to view on their website without users needing to enquire first.
Kaspersky is a big name in cybersecurity. Since 1997 the UK-based Russian company has been producing respectable security software. Although perhaps best known for itsincredbily powerful antivirus software, the company is currently the fifth largest vendor of Endpoint Protection.
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Plans and pricing
Unlike many other endpoint security platforms we've reviewed, Kaspersky's product page has a clearly laid out pricing model.
The lowest priced tier is for Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud - prices start from $215 per year for up to five devices. This includes file, web, mail and threat protection as well as ransomware prevention with 'rollback' features. There's also a 'Cloud Discovery' tool to monitor unauthorized use of cloud services and time wasted on social networks/messaging apps.
As we'd expect, the basic tier also includes a vulnerability scan to automatically patch applications.
The next pricing plan is 'Endpoint Security Cloud Plus', which starts at $342.50 per year for up to five devices.
This includes all of the above 'plus' root cause analysis with a visual kill chain, allowing managers to analyze attacks in more detail. Subscribers also benefit from web/device control, which allows greater control of endpoint user resources, as well as which USB devices can be connected.
The 'Plus' tier also includes better cloud management services, including limiting inappropriate use of cloud apps, as well as managing Microsoft 365 services. Vulnerability patching is automatic and this pricing plan also supports OS encryption.
Endpoint Security Cloud Pro is the highest-priced tier and is the one on which this review is based. Prices start at $550 per year for up to 5 devices.
All tiers also support up to mobile devices (Android or iOS) per user.
All the above plans are available as a free 30-day trial, with no payment information required upfront. All interested parties need to do is create a free account with Kaspersky Business Solutions.
(Image credit: Kaspersky)
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Features
Kaspersky Security Cloud Pro contains all the features listed in the lower two pricing tiers such as basic file, web, mail and threat protection. The agent software also has firewall features.
This tier provides EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), including automated responses to known threats. We were also impressed to see 'Pro' subscriptions also include cybersecurity training for IT administrators.
The developers have produced a detailed datasheet on everything else the platform has to offer. Chief advantages include the fact that its very flexible, supporting Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Endpoints can also be managed from a single cloud console, saving organizations the time and resources of self-hosting.
Although we'll delve into the interface in more detail, while we're talking about the cloud we were impressed to see that the dashboard and other aspects of the UI can be customized through various web widgets. This makes it much easier for network managers only to see the information they see as vital.
(Image credit: Kaspersky)
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Setup
As we mentioned, the best way to try out Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud is through creating a free account with the Kaspersky Business Hub. You're then offered a chance to try out Endpoint Security Cloud or Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365.
Simply enter your company information and agree to the terms and conditions to have the platform create a dedicated workspace.
On first login, we were delighted to see a welcome wizard which provided some useful tips on managing devices through creating security profiles.
The setup wizard also suggests using various Endpoint Security Cloud features including EDR mode, as well as 'Cloud Discovery Mode'. The second of these can monitor and block unwanted cloud services.
By default the platform will scan for vulnerabilities once a week, though we were able to amend this to daily scans.
When the console first appeared, we were shown a helpful 'Information Panel' of other tasks to perform to get the best endpoint protection. These include reviewing which features are enabled, as well as links to 'add users' and 'add devices'.
We accessed 'Distribution Packages' and began downloading Kaspersky Security Endpoint for Windows to our test machine. The installer was a hefty size (over 300MB) but we later saw this was justified, given its features and graphical interface.
The install wizard took around 2 minutes to complete, and was immediately able to run an update to download new threat definitions.
(Image credit: Kaspersky)
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Interface
When reviewing endpoint security platforms, we often gloss over the agent program as it's usually little more than an icon sitting in the system tray.
In the case of Kaspersky Security Endpoint for Windows however, clients are treated to a visual feast. The main 'Monitoring' section displays a quick summary of threats found (if any), plus there's an excellent rundown of all threat detection technologies.
While the agent was updating itself, we took the opportunity to log in to the Kaspersky Cloud Console. We skipped past the 'Information Panel' to the 'Devices' section using the handy bar along the left hand pane.
Our test device was listed here, along with key information like the device name and owner. Clicking into the device displays more key information such as the status, security profile and event log.
Our only minor criticism of the UI is that users cannot download the agent software for devices from here but instead need to go to 'Distribution Packages'. Otherwise the interface is extremely intuitive and easy to navigate.
(Image credit: Kaspersky)
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Performance
Having updated Kaspersky Security Endpoint for Windows, we were keen to put the platform through its paces.
When reviewing endpoint security platforms, our first test is to try to download a fake computer virus, provided by the good people of EICAR.
We opened the Edge browser on our test machine and downloaded the file in compressed (ZIP) format. When we tried to extract the file, we found the fake virus vanished from the folder. The agent software didn't display a notification but when we visited the comprehensive 'Reports' section of the Kaspersky cloud console we saw the file had, in fact, been quarantined.
For our next test, we tried to copy a new, real computer virus to our test machine's "Downloads" folder. We do this to check if an endpoint security platform can detect threats based on a file's behavior, not just by comparing it to a known database of suspicious signatures.
Sadly, Kaspersky didn't fare so well in this test. When we copied the file, the agent didn't react. We next right-clicked the file and had Kaspersky Security Endpoint scan it, only for it to report that no threats were found. Finally we ran the file - at this point Microsoft Defender stepped in to quarantine it but there was no report of this on the Kaspersky Cloud Console.
This is troubling, especially given that virtually every other endpoint security platform we've reviewed has detected this trojan virus immediately or at the very least when we tried to run it.
We decided to give Kaspersky the benefit of the doubt and tried to download another new trojan virus. This time the agent software immediately detected and quarantined it as soon as we opened the folder it contained.
(Image credit: Kaspersky )
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud: Final Verdict
We've said previously that Kaspersky are a big name in cybersecurity and their endpoint security software has won multiple awards. Given how simple it is for organizations to register a business account and try out the cloud console, we can see why.
The helpful wizards which display on first login make device deployment a breeze and as we've learned the platform is available for both Windows, macOS and mobile devices. We were disappointed not to see Linux support but that's par for the course with most endpoint security solutions these days.
The array of security features is also spectacular : file scanning is combined with e-mail analysis and a firewall. The cloud security features also make it much easier to prevent unauthorized apps from hogging system resources.
While we're talking security, we can't ignore that Kaspersky Security Endpoint failed to detect a virus in one of our tests. However it did detect and quarantine our 'fake' virus immediately and then did the same for another real trojan we introduced to the test machine. In fairness, no endpoint security platform claims to detect and prevent every type of threat.
In the case of those the agent did spot though, we'd have appreciated a pop up notification to tell us the threat had been contained. As it was, we simply saw the files vanished and had to log in to the cloud console for verification.
This said, the interface itself is very well laid out and easy to navigate. We also greatly appreciate the transparent pricing structure and how easy it is to set up a free trial, meaning you have nothing to lose by testing out this platform for yourself.
