Notes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.
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Kintone
Score 9.7 out of 10
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Kintone is a customizable digital workplace platform used to manage data, tasks, and communication. The no-code drag-and-drop interface can be used to create custom applications.
$120
per month for 5 users (minimum)
Pricing
HCL Notes
Kintone
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Professional Subscription
$24
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL Notes
Kintone
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Optional
Additional Details
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Minimum requirement of 5 users. Kintone offers a free prototype to build with using existing process.
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.
I recommend Kintone for companies that need the ability to customize standalone applications or to provide a 'hub' to employees as a jumping-off point. I also recommend Kintone for any company that is drowning in spreadsheets, or is using 10 apps for 10 different purposes - you can consolidate everything into one place. Kintone, I think, needs a larger team for customization as your company grows. If you are a small office of 20 people, using it out of the box will likely be just fine for your needs. If you're working with 200 people out of an office, it'd likely be good to have someone with a bit of CSS, Java, and API experience in order to maximize what you get out of it - though you won't need that if you're keeping it simple.
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 Menus are cluttered with extraneous, outdated options and features that modern users will never use, and Preferences are often difficult to navigate for those coming from Gmail or Outlook.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).
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.
We have been quite happy with our use of Kintone thus far. We looked at several options before choosing Kintone and believe it had the best value and best features, while allowing for complete customization, rather than being locked into preformatted apps that may not address exactly what we need or be more than what we need.
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.
I love everything bout it. I love that if there is something I don't feel is working well enough, we are able to change it. The ONLY thing I would say is that if you were able to make it so every time I click on anything in the website/app it stayed in the same page, that would be great, but I don' think it is possible and I think this is due to using so many external APIs
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.
I am very happy with Kintone and support it fully. I think that it is a great place for any company that wants to create a platform for better management. It is easy to use and pretty affordable. It is straightforward and has many tools that can be used by anyone. There are many helpful tutorials available too to guide users
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.
Everyone has their own tastes of things and way they want to work. Asking them to adapt to the changes with the new tools or apps is always difficult. We would want to start with a very small but best example within the organization, which in our case was that the employees will not be bothered by the bosses by being asked to find the documents, status of the progresses, or major things/requests/projects.
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.
Kintone is the easiest product to create from and the cost is the lowest I believe. In addition, reconfigurability and extendability are great. If you look for a low code tool, you can try Kintone. But as same as another low code tool, don't expect too much.
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.
