Basecamp is the flagship of the American same-name company’s product line, designed for convenient and efficient project management.
Initially, the developer company was called 37Signals and was engaged in web design. Later, it switched to the business sector. The list of softwares has almost all the most important tools: CRM system Highrise, a to-do list service Ta-Da List, personal organizer Backpack, messenger Campfire, online team text editor with the possibility Writeboard, and of course, the Basecamp project management tool itself. This company became most famous for developing the original Ruby on Rails framework. The team has been working since 1999, but the Basecamp was only introduced to the market in 2004.
But as other American products, their core customers are based in the US and all the product features revolve around it. So what software might replace the Basecamp project management system on the Middle-Eastern market?
Basecamp Features
Key technical features of the service:
- Reliable cloud to work in. Millions of devoted customers worldwide. Impressive server infrastructure.
- Simple one-page control panel to quickly navigate through entities and display the latest events.
- Built-in chat for discussing tasks and projects. Filtering responses by users or by the comment urgency, automatic reactions, etc.
- Simple single-level To-Do lists. Option to add nested lists when creating groups.
- Built-in storage for files and documents.
- Project calendar schedule.
- Managing any number of projects in one interface.
- Free access for guests and observers.
- Automatic registration to meetings.
- Kanban board, Gantt chart, calendar and list display options.
- Wide range of integrations for external services like cloud storage, GIT, chats, CRM, etc.
- Mobile applications and desktop versions for Windows and macOS.
- Any subscription gives you access to all the technical varieties of the platform. Option to rent infrastructure with no bound to the number of jobs.
The disadvantages of Basecamp include:
- The functionality of the system in reality is very simple. And the developers did not create more opportunities for corporate clients. This is a kind of Basecamp feature.
- All task lists are only single-level. Delegation capabilities are weak.
- Not the friendliest prices when paying for the number of seats, even for Western customers.
- All integrations are designed for foreign markets.
- Mobile applications’ functionality is limited compared to a full-fledged web interface.
The best alternative to Basecamp on the Middle-Eastern market
Basecamps’ target audience includes small businesses and small project teams. The main focus here is on the IT sector with its programmers, designers, marketers. So it’s extremely difficult to adapt the service to the enterprise segment. It basically operates «as is». Can’t add anything new to it, and integrations are not helping either.
If your work standards don’t fit the Basecamp framework, you can easily pass by and get another product.
The best cloud-based BPM project management tool instead of Basecamp might be Projecto.
Here is what you get with a free Projecto subscription:
- Stable operation, maximum uptime and guaranteed availability.
- Complying with United Arab Emirates legislation.
- The Projecto system is equally convenient for both small and large businesses. The service is suitable for project and IT teams.
- Unlimited number of serviced projects. No storage limits either.
- Lots of tools for specific needs: HR, department heads responsible for document management, executives, etc.
- Organizational structure builder.
- Task delegation with a branched structure.
- Built-in document management system.
- Technical support that you can contact by mail or a chat.
- Full-fledged smartphone applications with the same functionality as in the web version.
- The usage is free, apart from that, you can explore the demo version of the service.
Compare Basecamp and Projecto
Prices for the Basecamp’s functionality offered are clearly high, although each product has its own audience. And Basecamp has one too.
But no matter how convenient this software is for beginners or experienced teams, it does not matter much. The most convenient and free alternative to Basecamp in the Middle East for companies of any size is Projecto.
