We use Cobot at our space, Busy Coworking in Iowa City, IA. We're brand new and only have about ten members, so YMMV.
Overall we've been happy with Cobot and, as Jan notes, their support team is very responsive. One of its most useful features is its RADIUS authentication, which lets you A) control wifi access with a captive portal (one of those things that pops up in their web browser when someone first connects to your wifi, like at many hotels and airports), which has some other neat features (read on), and B) Track members' usage (e.g. number of days they logged on, not what sites they visited or anything creepy). Concerning "A," RADIUS, I love this feature. One of our offerings is a "10-punch pass," giving the member 10 days' use of the space within 60 days. When the member connects to our wifi, since they've logged in to the captive portal before it knows who they are (it remembers their devices' MAC addresses and, if enabled, they only have to enter their username and password once per device) and automatically deducts one "punch" from their pass. Since we don't have physical "passes," nor full-time staff to monitor who comes and goes, the only alternative would be for us to use the honor system (which works great until it doesn't). The big caveat is that this feature requires a certain can't-get-it-at-Best-Buy type of router/firewall, which sells for just south of US$200. Since we anticipated needing some kind of "bigger" firewall solution, though, we went ahead and bought it. I'm quite happy with it, but I'm also the de facto "IT guy" for the space and am not afraid to fuss with the equipment. If you don't have an "IT person" then that's a consideration for this particular feature. The rest of the features work as advertised, basically, and are good. Once you get the hang of it adding members and invoicing is straightforward. It was somewhat tricky getting our membership types set up, but Cristina from Cobot patiently walked us through it. Getting new members "into the system" still feels a little clunky, though. Our space's "onboarding" process is hands-on by design but at the same time I feel like Cobot could do more to get "out of the way." It may also be a victim of its own success in one regard: Once in the system a membership basically runs itself, so on the occasion that I do need to go in and change something with a membership or invoice I often take a couple wrong turns on the way to the setting I'm looking for. This is a small usability issue that I hope the company is working on. In conclusion if you're looking for this kind of software I highly recommend trying the free trial and talking with Cobot's staff as much as possible. I think it's probably not for everyone but for our needs it's worked quite well. Jordan Running Busy Coworking http://busycoworking.com/ On Sunday, June 10, 2012 9:36:51 PM UTC-5, Noel Schaefer wrote: > > Hi, > > I have recently opened a new coworking space called Facility in > Albuquerque and I was considering using Cobot for assistance with my > billing. If you are not familiar with them, their website is www.cobot.meand > they provide online management software and services, including billing > and accounting services, for coworking spaces. Has anyone used their > services before and can give feedback or potential alternatives? Please > help. Thanks. > > Noel John Schaefer > Manager > Facility, a local coworking space > 215 Gold Ave SW, Suite 102 > Albuquerque, NM 87102 > 505-504-1405 > [email protected] > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/32IiZ06hmusJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
