Adobe Connect vs. HCL Notes

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Connect
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Connect is a web conferencing platform that enables users to create presentations, online training materials, and learning modules. The product is entirely Adobe Flash-based and has several add-ons for customizing its software to suit each users’ unique needs.
$50
per host/per month
HCL Notes
Score 3.5 out of 10
N/A
Notes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.N/A
Pricing
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Editions & Modules
Meetings
$50
per host/per month
Webinars & Learning
$130
per host/per month
Small Meetings
Free
Forever free for up to 3 participants
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Features
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
7.7
66 Ratings
3% below category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
High quality audio8.065 Ratings00 Ratings
High quality video7.065 Ratings00 Ratings
Low bandwidth requirements6.855 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Screen Sharing
Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
7.5
65 Ratings
5% below category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
Desktop sharing7.065 Ratings00 Ratings
Whiteboards8.055 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Meetings / Events
Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
5.6
66 Ratings
37% below category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
Calendar integration6.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Meeting initiation5.057 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with social media4.029 Ratings00 Ratings
Record meetings / events6.061 Ratings00 Ratings
Slideshows7.052 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Collaboration
Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
6.7
65 Ratings
19% below category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
Live chat7.063 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience polling7.056 Ratings00 Ratings
Q&A6.053 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Security
Comparison of Online Events Security features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
8.4
61 Ratings
5% above category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
User authentication7.953 Ratings00 Ratings
Participant roles & permissions8.061 Ratings00 Ratings
Confidential attendee list9.348 Ratings00 Ratings
VoIP system collaboration
Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
6.5
1 Ratings
14% below category average
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
Video conferencing8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio conferencing7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Video screen sharing8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant messaging3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
-
Ratings
HCL Notes
6.9
10 Ratings
12% below category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.09 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings5.06 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Search00 Ratings6.09 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
-
Ratings
HCL Notes
9.2
10 Ratings
14% above category average
Chat00 Ratings6.010 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings9.57 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings9.14 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
-
Ratings
HCL Notes
7.6
9 Ratings
6% below category average
Versioning00 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings6.08 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Small Businesses
Whereby
Whereby
Score 9.9 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
JioMeet
JioMeet
Score 9.8 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Webex Meetings
Webex Meetings
Score 8.6 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Likelihood to Recommend
5.5
(94 ratings)
7.0
(16 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(27 ratings)
1.7
(5 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(38 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
5.5
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.5
(31 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
7.5
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.9
(4 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ConnectHCL Notes
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe Connect is wonderful for repeatable branded learning experiences or webinars. They allow for creating an event with a series of similar layouts. The ability to alter these are easy, and duplicating layouts makes for fast alterations. Changing between layouts also creates visual interest as learners see things shift. Adobe Connect also is great for accessibility, the captions allow for resizing and placing the captions in various sections. The recordings also can have a searchable transcript to get to the information you want fast. Adobe Connect allows for running fun games/events as well, there are lots of apps that make the experience unique, and allows for managing content on screen as you'd like.
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HCL Technologies
I often work with teams from other country and regions, hence HCL Notes is a very useful platform for internal company management operations. It standardized organisational work standards in most of the offices worldwide. HCL Notes also enables chat with other team around the world that I find very helpful when initiating conversation or just want to have a quick update rather than sending emails and waiting for replies. However, HCL Notes is not very efficient in web browsing and user still need to use other internet service providers.
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Pros
Adobe
  • It's a quick method to exchange files, file, documents, and videos from a web app. Real-time conversation, and screen-sharing are all supported. It has a highly user-friendly interface. It is really simple to assist the teams.
  • Even team engagements is beneficial since it allows them to share their expertise with others, and the big benefit is the security of the rooms' access is fairly simple to manage.
  • The interface, which include features like notes, chat, pods, etc. When we're trying to gather rapid and exact information, simplify our work as much as possible.
  • Adobe Connect's features since they allow team members to express their ideas during meetings without causing disruptions, thereby bypassing the current international boundary of distance.
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HCL Technologies
  • It has a really strong and robust database that's extremely scalable and holds up well to thousands of users and many different environments.
  • It has a really good enterprise-grade framework for development custom database applications
  • All of the custom database applications along with the email all have a nice uniform look and feel so their easy-to-use.
  • I really like how it's developed and supported on every client OS (Windows, OSX, Linux)! The competitors definitely do NOT offer this (M$).
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Cons
Adobe
  • Nonetheless, Adobe Connect lacks the engagement monitoring, which can be critical for the management to oversee.
  • Besides, Adobe Connect has no certification management, which is essential in the current education or training field.
  • Lastly, Adobe Connect has no offline editing tool, hence, when the internet connection is not there, many things can not be conducted effectively.
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HCL Technologies
  • Notes' backwards compatibility sometimes gets in the way. Menus are cluttered with extraneous, outdated options and features that modern users will never use, and Preferences are often difficult to navigate for those coming from Gmail or Outlook. We have greatly simplified this via Policies, but users still find it daunting to go through all the options that are available.
  • The IBM Notes client for Windows & Mac is essentially the Eclipse Java development platform...so it is HUGE. Performance initially was very slow but IBM has done a good job of speeding things up. As IBM moves more toward cloud-delivered applications, this will not be as much of a problem.
  • Notes and Domino can be complex to manage for administrators who are more accustomed to ActiveDirectory, Group Policy, etc. Editing a notes.ini file to add a feature, or working with XML files by hand to create a SmartUpgrade kit can be daunting to those coming from more modern administrative roles.
  • Some users claim to "hate" Notes mail. While I have heard this less and less over the past 10 years, we have had 3rd party software offer plugins to Outlook and it's rare to see any for Notes.
  • The client update process should be automated more. I would like to see the Notes client update quietly and quickly more like an Adobe software update. If an update fails it should automatically try again without prompting the user over and over.
  • Notes multiple language spell checking is a downloaded add-on Java-based resource that has to be deployed in a convoluted way that is difficult for users to grasp. Therefore any foreign language spell check updates must be done individually per Notes client by IT, which is unfortunate. I would prefer to see that be a "live download" update option for users to get directly from IBM (don't make me download it and put it on my network).
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
The longer you use Adobe Connect, the longer you are likely to use it. Because you can build more and more resources over time, creating rooms that you re-use, recorded content you can repurpose, and tools that form the basis of ever increasing productivity, the more you use Connect, the more productive you become. Unlike competing products where, with every meeting you essentially start over -- setting up your resources for each meeting -- in my Connect rooms, I have highly tuned tools to accomplish my knowledge transfer goals. When I want to conduct another session - I send a link out to the appropriate room and instantly we are all focusing on getting a job done together. This ability of Adobe Connect to make you productive at an ever quickening rate is a competitive advantage
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HCL Technologies
I've been in IT business and as a Programmer/Developer for 20+ years with too many programming languages experiences/back ground (C/C++/Visual Basic/Basic Program/Unix/COBOL/Java). Also with 18+ years with Lotus Notes/IBM Domino, I am still and always think Lotus Notes is the best RAD platform available!. When the time where resource is very limited and the expectation is very high and the turn around is too short, IBM Domino/Notes is the platform to use and it's the only choice available.
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Usability
Adobe
I gave it a 6 because it does have lots of functionality, has a strong brand and reputation following, etc. but it does have its glitches and experiences with low bandwidth issues. I believe it has more features than my organization fully leverages, so some of those pieces haven't been explored yet. But there are opportunities for improvement in their online resource support, stability at high usages as well.
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HCL Technologies
Easy to use for the user, most of the apps we developed, there is not much need for user training. Most of the times, we just do a demo to the users group and they can pick up from there.
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Support Rating
Adobe
The customer support of Adobe connect is professional and well-skilled for resolving our minor and major issues. Moreover, it has almost all the features that will provide you a secure connection, with people across the world. Education institutes can also implement this software. On the basis of its quality and technology, I will surely advise you to try it once.
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HCL Technologies
I've been using the production for a very long time and very happy with it. Also, all the online resources and forums for notes is very friendly and easy/quick for getting help. I found out that compared to Microsoft or Oracle or any other platforms, IBM Notes online forum is the best I have seen.
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Online Training
Adobe
The ability to have most of the functionality of a full LMS at a fraction of the cost is huge. I can create manage and deploy both synchronous and asynchronous training based on the situation and all of my training is tracked through a series of easily created reports
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HCL Technologies
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Prices do not seem to vary much among resellers of the Adobe Connect hosted license; the only price variation you're likely to find are among the audio providers. When implementing, you may also wish to look into expanding the amount of storage you are allowed on the server to avoid any problems later on as your library of files starts to build up
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HCL Technologies
Implementation is easy and smooth if the requirement is well gathered/documented. Notes is a RAD platform, all projects in Notes is simple in the implementation step.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Actually, it was the other way around....we were using Adobe Connect, company-wide, then switched over to Zoom, mostly, I think, as a cost-cutting measure. But some Learning & Development folks campaigned to be allowed to retain some Adobe Connect licenses (for example, one L&D area had literally over 250 room layouts that their course facilitators could just jump into and use to deliver a course on short notice), which also allows some of us to continue to publish Presenter and Captivate modules to the Adobe server. (But, even those of us who still have Adobe Connect licenses use Zoom for most regular business meetings.)
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HCL Technologies
Outlook has been considered for years as a replacement platform. Pricing and support staff made it prohibitive. Our long-time use of Microsoft Office productivity suite naturally led us to consider the adoption of Office365. A recent investigation told us that Azure Cloud services propel an O365 solution to the forefront. Early adopters in international divisions have paved the way for Azure and O365.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Save on time - our instructors and people that use the platform can teach more classes and more often than in-person training and time traveling.
  • We cut down on spending. When we offer training using Connect - we do not have to spend on meals, hard copy materials, and reserving a venue to deliver training.
  • We increase our training sales significantly but offering Connect as an alternative - any unforeseen cancellations to a public class can result in transferring to a remote online Connected class.
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HCL Technologies
  • Over the years, we have lost countless hours of productivity from the thousands of crashes we have experienced.
  • One benefit of IBM Notes is that it is very simple to train a new user on. Many people prefer and are familiar with Google tools, but those that use IBM Notes have very little trouble acclimating themselves.
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ScreenShots