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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

    Microsoft 365 Business Premium

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AAn integrated solution, designed for small or medium-sized businesses, bringing together the productivity of Microsoft Office with advanced security capabilities to help safeguard data from external threats and help protect against data leaks. With Microsoft 365 Business Premium, users can empower employees to be productive anywhere on any device. Get more done with AI built into the Office apps. Work better together with a hub for teamwork bringing your tools and people together in one place.…N/A
    Pricing
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    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
    Community Pulse
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    50 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    48 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    50 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    33 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    Features
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of HCL Notes and Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    -
    Ratings
    Task Management7.09 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gantt Charts6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling8.09 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation5.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search6.09 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visual planning tools8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of HCL Notes and Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    15% above category average
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    -
    Ratings
    Chat6.010 Ratings00 Ratings
    Notifications9.010 Ratings00 Ratings
    Discussions9.57 Ratings00 Ratings
    Surveys9.14 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase10.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook10.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of HCL Notes and Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    7.6
    9 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files6.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files6.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control6.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced security features8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync8.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Microsoft 365
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    8.9
    (108 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    1.7
    (5 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.6
    (57 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.4
    (9 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL NotesMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
    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
    Microsoft
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium is well suited to any size organization and is a must-have for business purposes. It is a vital component for the majority of work software needs, as the Microsoft 365 Business Premium package has apps to handle needs that I didn't know we had. It is a great way to provide the required software programs to teams, especially those that work remotely due to the great sharing capabilities built into it. Furthermore, the nonprofit program provided our small nonprofit with vital components for our remote work, while allowing us to keep our donated funds going directly to our mission.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Microsoft
    • Work in sync in different departments.
    • Being able to work from any device or computer. It is a very noble tool in different devices.
    • The work between the different programs (Word, Excel, Notes) that it offers is extremely light and good.
    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
    Microsoft
    • adding calendar invitations is not straight forward
    • copying folders from SharePoint libraries to an external drive should not be relying on the available space on the C drive
    • administering mailboxes for our company is convoluted forcing me to hunt for settings and options
    • lack of flexibility on the location of the OST and PST files
    • the new version should not do away with PST files but rather improve their reliability.
    • the PST internal structure is inefficient. the PST file should be able to shrink automatically when one delete emails.
    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
    Microsoft
    It is part of the organisation now. It provides and rich feature set and requires a relatively low amount of administration.
    Read full review
    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
    Microsoft
    The basic apps are straightforward and easy to use, especially since they have been around so long. I'm referring to the basic apps like Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc. Other features such as Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint Sites, Sharepoint Lists, Sharepoint Groups, etc. all require a higher level of knowledge to both implement and use properly
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    In the last 5 years, Microsoft has come a long way. The performance of the products has become more and more user-friendly and it seems that the feedback provided by the user community is being listened to and worked on. The processes are very fast and seamless. There are negligible errors and doesn't slow the systems down.
    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
    Microsoft
    As mentioned elsewhere in the review, Microsoft has historically paid attention to community feedback and issues, but timeliness can improve, and so can the addressing of long-standing issues about which many users have said "I have this issue too!" but no official solution exists. For issues that do have a solution, however, the solution is usually not difficult to find, and the explanation of features on Microsoft's website can mitigate many problems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Microsoft
    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
    Microsoft
    Before migrating to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, we possessed an in-house exchange server. Therefore, it was difficult for us to look at alternatives to Microsoft for a solution – we did look at the Google Suite of products, but the transition for us seemed less cumbersome to stay with Microsoft from a staff and administrative perspective. While the G Suite does offer us many outstanding products and services, we also didn’t feel that Gmail is up-to-par as a corporate solution the way Exchange/Outlook/OWA are – this alone was also a driving force for our end-users, as there was minimal transition for them to move from an on-premise solution to an off-premise solution. The additional features of SharePoint, Teams, Project, and so many other applications within Microsoft 365 also helped us make a strong case to stay with Microsoft and expand what we were using. The end-user and mobile protections of InTune have also put us at ease when issuing laptops and mobile phones to an almost fully-remote end-user base.
    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
    Microsoft
    • We can now keep work going from anywhere. It doesn't matter if we are on a job site or sitting in the office or working from home for a day or two we don't have to miss a beat.
    • It has unified how we store information so that everything isn't stored on individual computers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots