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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CallFire

    Score9.7 out of 10
    N/ACallFire is a VoIP and messaging solution designed for both external B2C interactions and internal company use. It includes features such as text messaging, call tracking, voice broadcasting, and an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Subscription pricing starts at $99 per month.

    $99

    per month

    HCL Sametime

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHCL Sametime (formerly IBM Lotus Sametime, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in 2018) is an enterprise-level unified communications and VoIP platform. It includes features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, voice and video integration, telephony capabilities, and presence information.N/A
    Pricing
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Editions & Modules
    Lite
    $99.00
    per month
    Startup
    $199.00
    per month
    Grow
    $299.00
    per month
    Pro
    $599.00
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of CallFire and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    CallFire
    7.6
    11 Ratings
    4% below category average
    HCL Sametime
    8.4
    7 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Hosted PBX6.02 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)9.07 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    User templates7.04 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Call reports7.210 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Directory of employee names9.05 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of CallFire and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    CallFire
    9.3
    10 Ratings
    12% above category average
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Answering rules8.07 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Call recording10.010 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Call park8.53 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Call screening10.04 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Message alerts10.05 Ratings8.06 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of CallFire and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    CallFire
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    23% above category average
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    6 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Video conferencing10.01 Ratings8.06 Ratings
    Audio conferencing10.01 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Video screen sharing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Instant messaging00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of CallFire and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    CallFire
    8.3
    2 Ratings
    5% above category average
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Mobile app for iOS8.52 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android8.01 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Small Businesses
    Aircall
    Score8 out of 10
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (15 ratings)
    7.0
    (10 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CallFireHCL Sametime
    Likelihood to Recommend
    CallFire
    If you need to find a test candidate for your client quickly, this is one of the best ways. Pull yourself a hot list of a couple hundred potential candidates and load them in to CallFire. Then get ready to hit about 50-60 calls per hour. You should have a great test candidate for your client in about 24 hours! It's amazing how quickly you can show your clients the true speed of your company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    CallFire
    • CallFire provides detailed analytics that show what/when callers select within the phone system
    • The text message broadcast feature is a game changer. This allows a company to dispatch text campaigns with specific calls-to-action, with tracking analytics.
    • The voice broadcast feature allows a mass automated message to be sent to client phones. This saves a lot of time when the same notification needs to go out to multiple clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    CallFire
    • The services are easy to use and robust, but there is room for improvement. Unfortunately, not much has changed over the last 2 years of use. There haven't been any new features or innovations in that time.
    • API integration and automation is not easy for most folks to jump into and there is very little technical support or documentation to take advantage of such features.
    • The standard reports are generally sufficient, but there isn't any customization or intelligence available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    CallFire
    There is no reason not to, it has proven effective in the usage
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    CallFire
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    CallFire
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    CallFire
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    CallFire
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    I have not needed to use the Sametime support team. Our local support team was able to configure it for me.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    CallFire
    CallFire has a pricing structure that is attractive to us as a small business. The "pay as you use" options helps us keep our overhead low, especially with so many softwares already in our tech stack. It's a tremendous value for the cost!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    CallFire
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    CallFire
    • I sent out a broadcast message pretty deep in our data base, well three years out. I had one customer come in and buy thanking me for contacting her.
    • Our holiday season was up 35% over last year, this year we used CallFire more than we did in the past.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots