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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    HCL Notes

    Score3.5 out of 10
    N/ANotes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.N/A

    Ideagen Collaboration Portal

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/AIdeagen Collaboration Portal , formerly Huddle is Ideagen’s tool supporting teams' work by enabling them to store, share and work on content.

    $10

    per user/per month

    Pricing
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Huddle
    $10
    per user/per month
    Huddle Plus
    Contact sales team
    Huddle Premier
    Contact sales team
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of HCL Notes and Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    7.2
    6 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Task Management7.09 Ratings9.16 Ratings
    Gantt Charts6.03 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Scheduling8.09 Ratings4.53 Ratings
    Workflow Automation5.06 Ratings4.52 Ratings
    Mobile Access8.010 Ratings6.46 Ratings
    Search6.09 Ratings6.56 Ratings
    Visual planning tools8.03 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of HCL Notes and Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    8.8
    5 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Chat6.010 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    Notifications9.010 Ratings4.54 Ratings
    Discussions9.57 Ratings9.03 Ratings
    Surveys9.14 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase10.06 Ratings10.04 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting10.03 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.02 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook10.05 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of HCL Notes and Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    7.6
    9 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    7.6
    6 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Versioning9.04 Ratings9.16 Ratings
    Video files6.05 Ratings7.35 Ratings
    Audio files6.05 Ratings6.45 Ratings
    Document collaboration8.08 Ratings6.56 Ratings
    Access control6.08 Ratings6.56 Ratings
    Advanced security features8.08 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive10.02 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Device sync8.05 Ratings7.34 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    9.1
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    1.7
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL NotesIdeagen Collaboration Portal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    If you are sharing private information like contracts for designs and designs that aren't meant to be shared only with one client, the platform is very secure
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    HCLSoftware
    • 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$).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    • Huddle allows users to use the native document file types. For example, Word files are still in a Word, not a "Huddle" file version.
    • Huddle workspaces are invitation-only. If someone should not be in the workspace, they will not be invited and provided access to the documents. Or, they can be removed from the workspace if needed.
    • Communication about documents is located with the documents in a discussion thread under the document preview. Thus, email inbox clutter can be limited.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    HCLSoftware
    • 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).
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    • The desktop app is occasionally unreliable and it is never easy to get to the bottom of it with the tech support people...
    • Tasks are virtually useless as they have no context. We want tasks to be against documents so we can make our workflow more formal but they are not, so we don't use them. A reimplementation of to do and calendar facilities with files/documents as the context would make a huge difference to us.
    • The Huddle Office plugins are a great idea, but they cause us far too many Word and Excel crashes so we have to turn them off.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    Huddle is very easy to use whether you are a new user or you have used it for years, it is an incredibly intuitive system that is so simple to teach to new users, the lock feature prevents important documents from being edited accidentally, while the edit features allow for true collaborative working
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    HCLSoftware
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    We liked how simple it was to use. And the feature set it offered was more in line with our needs than the alternatives we looked at
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    HCLSoftware
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ideagen
    • This has made it a lot easier for remote workers to access important documents without needing to use the VPN at home (which does not always work).
    • It clearly shows who updated the last document and when so it is clear who you need to ask if you have questions or something.
    • We have used it in client settings, so this saves money as we do not need to request a separate client laptop or VPN token.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Ideagen Collaboration Portal Screenshots

    Screenshot of Document collaborationScreenshot of Document approval trackingScreenshot of Mobile apps that support remote productivityScreenshot of Android & iOS apps to stay connected while on the moveScreenshot of Huddle Overview