Zoho Projects

Full Review

Zoho Project might be the best app in Zoho's 20+ app productivity suite - which is saying a lot. It's been around for a few years now, and has come a long way since its inception. Since I never used it in the early days I can't speak to that now, but it is an exceptional product and near the top of the list when it comes to project management tools.

Signing up for Zoho project actually did take seconds, but that's because I already had a Zoho account and Zoho now has a one account system. But even for non Zoho users it's not that bad. There's a good variety of screenshot slideshows and videos explaining the product, and I'd check out at least a couple so you have an idea of what to expect. Zoho Project is advertised as being able to do all the typical project managing tasks, but brags that it brings "social" into the mix. I've heard that before, haven't really seen it executed well.

Let's start with project management capabilities. Zoho Project can do just as much as anything else out there. You can create milestones, which can have multiple task lists, which can have multiple tasks underneath them. Tasks can be assigned to people, and everything shows up on the built in calendar. Plus, there's the option to view all tasks and milestones, or view relevant items by user. To top it all off, Zoho Project syncs almost automatically with Zoho Calendar (you just have to click a button).

Beyond tasks, Zoho supports file sharing, meeting scheduling, project wiki's, online forums, time tracking, and more. All are fast becoming staples of any great project management tool, and the way Zoho incorporates the features is really nice. Overall the interface in Zoho is clean and simple, and does a good job masking its powerful capabilities.

So the social aspect, the part where I thought Zoho was destined to fail. Long story short, it didn't. I already touched on the wiki and forums, but that's pretty common. Zoho Project does so much more than that. For one, almost everything can have comments. Recent activities, employee statuses, meetings, files, milestones - everything.

The employees statuses is another thing, and might remind you of facebook. In fact the dashboard of Zoho Project does look like a facebook profile. but rather than give a feed of wall posts, the dashboard has a comprehensive work stream of everything that's been going on (of course you can comment on everything). A box for updating your status is at the top of the dashboard, and you can view everyones statuses at any time. Finally, there's a gorgeously integrated live chat feature - which works the same way facebook chat does. You can still navigate through the software, chats just live on a floating bar at the bottom of the screen. All the social features make Zoho Project one of the best examples of project management and collaboration working in harmony.

Pricing for Zoho Projects is usually based on monthly subscription rates. Each version has more features than the next, and here are the options: Standard ($12/month), Express ($20/month), Premium ($35/month), and Enterprise ($80/month). Project chats and wikis have additional costs, and there are other paid features as well. But there are periods where Zoho gives value packs (like July 2010), and these are priced at significantly lower prices.

The Bottom Line

'm very impressed with Zoho Project. It's one of the few examples of an app that combines project management and collaboration - and does it well. It does everything a robust project management tool does, but pays attention to the important social features that make an app conducive for working together online. The price is competitive at any rate, but the value packs are great deals. All in all, a very well done product.

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