What users are saying about

8x8 X Series vs HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

8x8 X Series
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Top Rated
438 Ratings
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)
21 Ratings

8x8 X Series

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Top Rated
438 Ratings
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Score 8.3 out of 100

Based on 438 reviews and ratings

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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

21 Ratings
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Score 6.3 out of 100

Based on 21 reviews and ratings

Feature Set Ratings

  • 8x8 X Series ranks higher in 4 feature sets: Cloud PBX, Call Management, VoIP system collaboration, Mobile apps

Cloud PBX

8.7

8x8 X Series

87%
8.4

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

84%
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 4/5 features
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 4/5 features

Hosted PBX

8.6
86%
125 Ratings
9.0
90%
2 Ratings

Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

9.8
98%
49 Ratings
9.0
90%
2 Ratings

User templates

8.3
83%
131 Ratings
8.0
80%
2 Ratings

Call reports

8.1
81%
171 Ratings
8.0
80%
2 Ratings

Directory of employee names

8.4
84%
186 Ratings
8.1
81%
7 Ratings

Call Management

8.4

8x8 X Series

84%
8.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

80%
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 4/5 features
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 4/5 features

Answering rules

8.3
83%
224 Ratings
8.0
80%
5 Ratings

Call recording

9.2
92%
187 Ratings
8.0
80%
2 Ratings

Call park

7.9
79%
176 Ratings
8.0
80%
1 Rating

Call screening

8.0
80%
166 Ratings
8.0
80%
2 Ratings

Message alerts

8.7
87%
216 Ratings
8.0
80%
6 Ratings

VoIP system collaboration

8.3

8x8 X Series

83%
8.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

80%
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 3/4 features
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 3/4 features

Video conferencing

7.6
76%
112 Ratings
8.0
80%
6 Ratings

Audio conferencing

8.2
82%
157 Ratings
8.0
80%
5 Ratings

Video screen sharing

8.7
87%
68 Ratings
8.0
80%
1 Rating

Instant messaging

8.8
88%
90 Ratings
8.0
80%
1 Rating

Mobile apps

8.5

8x8 X Series

85%
7.9

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

79%
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 2/2 features
8x8 X Series ranks higher in 2/2 features

Mobile app for iOS

8.5
85%
177 Ratings
7.9
79%
8 Ratings

Mobile app for Android

8.5
85%
136 Ratings
7.9
79%
7 Ratings

Attribute Ratings

  • 8x8 X Series is rated higher in 3 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Usability, Performance
  • HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) is rated higher in 4 areas: Likelihood to Renew, Availability, Support Rating, Product Scalability

Likelihood to Recommend

8.3

8x8 X Series

83%
264 Ratings
7.1

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

71%
10 Ratings

Likelihood to Renew

9.5

8x8 X Series

95%
14 Ratings
10.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

100%
1 Rating

Usability

9.3

8x8 X Series

93%
39 Ratings
8.6

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

86%
2 Ratings

Availability

9.2

8x8 X Series

92%
8 Ratings
10.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

100%
2 Ratings

Performance

9.3

8x8 X Series

93%
8 Ratings
9.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

90%
2 Ratings

Support Rating

7.3

8x8 X Series

73%
173 Ratings
8.3

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

83%
8 Ratings

In-Person Training

10.0

8x8 X Series

100%
1 Rating

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

N/A
0 Ratings

Implementation Rating

8.6

8x8 X Series

86%
12 Ratings

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

N/A
0 Ratings

Contract Terms and Pricing Model

7.6

8x8 X Series

76%
8 Ratings

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

N/A
0 Ratings

Product Scalability

8.7

8x8 X Series

87%
6 Ratings
10.0

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

100%
1 Rating

Professional Services

8.9

8x8 X Series

89%
7 Ratings

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

N/A
0 Ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

8x8 X Series

The 8x8 X Series allows flexibility to use the company phone system whether you are physically in the office using a handset, or are working remotely using the app on your smartphone. We are able to deploy 8x8 X Series very quickly since there is no requirement for PBX hardware or telco lines since you just need to be connected to the internet. We can easily get new users on the 8x8 phone system immediately.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

Sametime is well suited for very quick conversations, where you know the person is an active Sametime user. It also serves as an easy way to reach out to someone you may not know when looking for an answer to a quick question, as they are likely to be a Sametime user. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to use Sametime for Audio or Video chat. The quality and reliability are horrendous.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Pros

8x8 X Series

  • We love the conference calling since many users are working from home.
  • The fact that we can reprogram it on the fly without having 8x8 do it is a big plus.
  • Being able to take the phones with us using the app on our cell phones is a bonus.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

  • Sametime's web-based interfaces are "zero load", requiring no plug-ins to be installed to join a meeting, launch a meeting, or use chat in a browser. A plugin is required only if you want to share your screen.
  • Integration with IBM Notes is very tight. Sametime's chat status can change according to your Notes calendar. You can easily see if someone who just emailed you is available to chat. Your chat History is right inside Notes as well.
  • IBM's mobile apps are top notch. We automated the apps for our users thanks to IBM's work with third party MDMs. This made it very simple for us to deploy the Sametime mobile apps -- Chat and Meetings -- and get new capabilities such as Audio & Video mobilized quickly.
  • No down time, ever. The rock solid WebSphere back-end of Sametime means the environment is always up. Period.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cons

8x8 X Series

  • App improvement - connectivity issues
  • Base level training - new employee handbook/training
  • Simplify steps on an overwhelming dashboard. Maybe the ability to set up quick links for functions we do often- to update VM is many, many steps.
  • Customer service when placing a ticket - we have had many issues with them not taking the time to understand our question/problem.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

  • Not convenient for a large group meeting.
  • Very basic tool for internal communication only not available for third party communication
  • Very basic and limited mobile app features.
  • High speed connection is needed to connect to Sametime

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Mogana Tashiani | TrustRadius Reviewer
Mogana Tashiani
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Pricing Details

8x8 X Series

General

Free Trial
—
Free/Freemium Version
—
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—
Entry-level set up fee?
No

Starting Price

$12 Per User/Per Month

8x8 X Series Editions & Modules

Edition
8x8 Express$121
X2$241
X4$441
  1. Per User/Per Month
Additional Pricing Details
—

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

General

Free Trial
—
Free/Freemium Version
—
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—
Entry-level set up fee?
No

Starting Price

—

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) Editions & Modules

—
Additional Pricing Details
—

Likelihood to Renew

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 9.5
Based on 14 answers
Everyone at the company now have the experiance needed to make phone calls, meetings, video conferencing. It's easy to use is unmatched in the industry. It's been a solid product throughout. The phone tree was easy to setup with the implementation team and they guided us throughout the process

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Steve Morin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Morin
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 10.0
Based on 1 answer
Sametime is now an embedded experience for our users. They know it, they like it, they use it, and they expect it to be wherever they are. Because it is pretty easy to use and NEVER goes down, users know they can rely on it and won't be frustrated by it. Sametime is right up with there with Microsoft Office in terms of user adoption and appreciation.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Usability

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 9.3
Based on 39 answers
Most of the easy day-to-day questions are no longer even questions due to the ease of use and simplified experience on 8x8. Changing voicemail via the desk phone or mobile app could be simplified or match the ease of using the 8x8 desktop app.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
View all 39 answers on this topic

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 8.6
Based on 2 answers
Just about everything works the way you expect it would and it's relatively easy for users to figure out. Sametime was one of those things that we started with only a few people as a "test" and before the test period was done we discovered a few hundred people had figured out how to log in and most got it working all on their own. Many of our users want to use Sametime and do so regularly; we do not have to create policies enforcing its usage. Users find it practical to use Sametime to do things like chat, transfer files, share their screen, and so forth.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Reliability and Availability

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 9.2
Based on 8 answers
In the time I have used 8x8 Virtual Office, the core system has been up and running almost flawlessly though we do have a slight performance degradation from time to time as is expected of cloud software. The one recurring issue for us is that the fax connection is not always functional for outbound messages. We usually have to retry three or four times to get the fax to connect reliably to the destination machine. Once connected, it's smooth sailing.

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Daniel Herrera | TrustRadius Reviewer
Daniel Herrera
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 10.0
Based on 2 answers
Typically if Sametime is not available, it's because Windows Updates were done on the servers and they were not rebooted. However, that's not a problem with Sametime -- in fact, if you have Linux you could probably run Sametime for years without any hiccups whatsoever. We have no internal Linux expertise.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Performance

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 9.3
Based on 8 answers
No problems with performance, Pages load as they should. I can't answer on the reports side as only a handful of our Admins ( call center ) currently use that side of the software. It does intergrate very well with Office for meetings and conferences. Sometimes there is a slight lag or static when users are talking, but we found this to be a cause of a users computer had not restarted in a while, Once the user restarts thier computer the problem is resolved, So this is not an issue with 8x8

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Steve Morin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Morin
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 9.0
Based on 2 answers
Generally very good. Occasionally AV or screen-sharing will stutter and every now and then I hear of it dropping out altogether, but in all cases it was easy to re-establish

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Support Rating

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 7.3
Based on 173 answers
I had very good interactions with the general support staff, whether it was over the phone or using the support portal. They are very responsive and do their very best to answer my questions to my satisfaction. My experience with follow-up by our sales representative has been below expectations, especially when it came to modifying our account.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 8.3
Based on 8 answers
I have not needed to use the Sametime support team. Our local support team was able to configure it for me.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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In-Person Training

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 10.0
Based on 1 answer
The person giving the training was very engaged, He also listened and answered all the questions. He created a video for our company while he was training in case we needed to reference it again in the future. The questions he could not answer were answered within 24 hours via an email to the IT support staff here so we could share the answers with the rest of the group

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Steve Morin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Morin
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic

Implementation Rating

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 8.6
Based on 12 answers
None that I can think of, Besides the call tree which can get complex, the problems we ran into were not a sticking point seeing the project as a whole was such a great success. One would expect more issues to arise when implementing a whole new phone infrastructure in a company this size

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Steve Morin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Morin
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series had competitive pricing and we absorbed another environment that was already under contract. In an attempt to have a single unified ucaas we migrated to 8x8. Cisco UCM and 3CX were more involved when setting up but gave us the ability to do anything we wanted with our calls. We had more freedom and did not have forced obsolescence with our PC or wireless clients. 8x8 on the other hand was very easy to setup once we had our call routing and flow and requires us to constantly update.

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Daniel Bonilla | TrustRadius Reviewer
Daniel Bonilla
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

We use Jabber globally in our company and Symphony (no relevant app in able list) in some of the teams as well. All these are instant messenger tools, but Sametime is the easiest one to be used and its chat history is easy to be searched. Sametime can be used to contact almost all internal staff as it’s included in default computer package. Symphony is used to chat with front end business while Jabber is used for call.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 7.6
Based on 8 answers
At this time, we’re very happy with the pricing model that we have worked out and they have provided for us. Just be sure to do your homework, and use your comparisons to work out your cost with 8x8. They will be very straightforward with you on what they can
adjust for you.

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Jondre Chandler | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jondre Chandler
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic

Scalability

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 8.7
Based on 6 answers
We've had periods where our organization has grown a considerable amount and we have had no issues in scaling our communications with 8x8. The number of possible extensions that we can use is far more than we expect to go through in a very long time. The only complaint that I have is a very minor inconvenience for me where I have to download activation codes for each phone. I would prefer to have the phones automatically activated as soon as they are plugged in.

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Daniel Herrera | TrustRadius Reviewer
Daniel Herrera
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM) 10.0
Based on 1 answer
Sametime is rock solid. It runs on WebSphere, DB2 and other related IBM technologies. This does mean the back-end is highly complex and very difficult to learn and get comfortable with, however.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Professional Services

8x8 X Series

8x8 X Series 8.9
Based on 7 answers
PS had all the users etc. set up by our go-live date. All hard phones were activated and when we received them, all we had to do was set them up and punch in the activation code to activate them.

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Steve Morin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Morin
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic

Return on Investment

8x8 X Series

  • 8x8 [X Series] has been a staple for our organization for years, while it has worked, it has become dated and requires a massive update.
  • The latest update took us offline for 72 hours. Despite adhering to the instructions given in the update email.
  • Mobile and desktop apps do not function properly. The "Helper Tool" does not work and is a nuisance.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

  • Sametime keeps many of our team members in contact throughout the day which leads to increased productivity which makes everyone happy.
  • We use the team chat room feature every day. This allows a team to stay focused on the task without any extra messages that are not on topic.
  • The split between IBM Sametime, Slack and Google Hangouts has caused some issues when team members are not checking for messages on a certain app.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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