37signals Debuts Highrise

If you’ve been a staunch loyalist to the 37signals gang, you probably tossed my piece about GoPlan - a similar product to Basecamp written up and released by a firm called WeBreakStuff - aside as poppycock, rubbish, nonsense. Not that it was any of those things, but just to keep true to your favorite Ruby-based suite of collaboration and organization software. That’s understandable. I’ve got my faves, too. No one’s going to pull me away from Google’s apps. Nobody.

Even if they tacked on costs to some of the products, like Google Docs & Spreadsheets, I wouldn’t stray. Well, maybe I would. You never know. But I get how that “one love” thing works. Sometimes it’s just simple as pie. So if you’re a fan of 37signals and all they offer you, your group, your business, you’ll be glad to know they’ve unleashed another web app to help you, your team, and your clients “keep in touch.” It’s called Highrise.

We spoke of Highrise when it was just a name, an idea that had yet to become a publicly accessible product. Today – or, well, March 19th to be more exact – it gets to play outdoors. Or something to that effect.

Highrise follows the same aesthetic line as 37signals’ other offerings. No fancy colors. Nothing schmantzy. Like the others, it’s just there to help get things done. Of course, it doesn’t look bad. On the contrary, it is quite a beautiful piece of work.

A contact list at heart, Highrise lets you maintain a history of talks between team members and dealings with outside people (clients, potential clients; that sort of thing). It’s meant to help everybody involved with a project keep track of who said what, what when on and at what time - and a myriad of other things.

As a relationship is cultivated, Highrise will help you maintain a history of correspondence, task lists, and miscellaneous info that can either be structured or free form. Think of it as a rolodex on steroids, where the contact info is only the tip of the iceberg. Attach PDFs, emails, even images to a contact log to make sure everyone’s on top of things and up to date, whether they’re in an office next door or on another continent altogether.

Permissions allow project managers to create select user groups to make sure the company’s Highrise account, an organizer/power tool, doesn’t become a mass of interloping confusion. Small organizations may have no need to place restrictions on users, but if you’re paying $149 every month to maintain anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 contacts, as the overlord of your Highrise account, you won’t wish to open all users to all clients.

Highrise is offered in tiered month-by-month payment plans. Paid accounts ($12-149 per month) receive a free 30-day trial. View the details of what offered at each stage on the product’s signup page. If you’d like a more extensive tour of the software, 37signals have created a page with a complete rundown.