HCL Notes vs. OneDrive

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
OneDrive
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
OneDrive from Microsoft is a cloud storage and file syncing service.
$5
per month
Pricing
HCL NotesOneDrive
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
OneDrive for Business Plan 1
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
OneDrive for Business Plan 2
$10.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$12.50
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesOneDrive
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsOneDrive can be purchased as a standalone tool, or as part of a Microsoft 365's business suite.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesOneDrive
Features
HCL NotesOneDrive
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
10 Ratings
12% below category average
OneDrive
-
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 Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
10 Ratings
14% above category average
OneDrive
-
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 Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
7.6
9 Ratings
5% below category average
OneDrive
7.1
119 Ratings
16% below category average
Versioning9.04 Ratings7.695 Ratings
Video files6.05 Ratings6.4106 Ratings
Audio files6.05 Ratings6.3100 Ratings
Document collaboration8.08 Ratings8.4113 Ratings
Access control6.08 Ratings6.8114 Ratings
Advanced security features8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync8.05 Ratings7.5117 Ratings
File search00 Ratings7.0119 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
OneDrive
7.3
113 Ratings
17% below category average
User and role management00 Ratings7.1101 Ratings
File organization00 Ratings7.8113 Ratings
Device management00 Ratings6.996 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
-
Ratings
OneDrive
7.9
116 Ratings
9% below category average
Performance00 Ratings8.3115 Ratings
Reliability00 Ratings8.1116 Ratings
Storage Reports00 Ratings7.489 Ratings
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HCL NotesOneDrive
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User Ratings
HCL NotesOneDrive
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(16 ratings)
5.4
(118 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(5 ratings)
6.0
(6 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
5.9
(17 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(36 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesOneDrive
Likelihood to Recommend
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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Microsoft
I can speak from my own experience: in cases where workstations are switched every year or so, one drive makes it very simple to keep things synced, even for very large files. This is even true for large files (such as video or CAD files) that are enormous.
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Pros
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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Microsoft
  • Allows for easy organization of documents
  • Secures files separate from general documentation
  • Allows for documents to be collaborated on in live real time with multiple editors accessing the same copy
  • Provides online access across the globe to resources for teams development and project needs
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Cons
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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Microsoft
  • Some functions and apps are not available to all countries/regions
  • The one drive app takes too much space in mobile devices
  • The apps for mobile devices lack some tools, like the option to search templates
  • It could allow to manually plan when to sync, specially photos, which take long times to sync
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Likelihood to Renew
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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Microsoft
I like Box better. If you sign into Microsoft using a personal account, be EXTREMELY careful. All of your downloads could suddenly be available to your entire company, and that is incredibly embarrassing. Did that happen to me? Not going to say, but just always check which MS account you sign into.
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Usability
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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Microsoft
Using OneDrive is very intuitive and has been improved over the years. It's just like using native file management on either your Mac or PC. It's drag and drop functionality is easy and it clearly shows when files are uploaded to the cloud or if there are errors
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Performance
HCL Technologies
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It has a good performance, the pages load normally, access to the files, management, reports, everything is working well. With regard to integration with other systems, we have not done so yet.
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Support Rating
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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Microsoft
It's a Microsoft product so there is a wealth of information online both from Microsoft directly and from millions of users but as a corporate user we also have access to direct Microsoft support through a variety of avenues (phone, email, etc.). This makes finding answers to issues more accessible, however, it does also mean that any new feature requests will get buried.
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Implementation Rating
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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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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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Microsoft
Box is another file-sharing application that is very similar to OneDrive. Box falls short of OneDrive in its syncing capabilities. OneDrive is very quick with syncing so you never have to be concerned that you are not using the most up-to-date materials. Box was always a bit delayed and did not always accurately sync across systems. OneDrive benefits from being backed by Microsoft, so you expect the connection across applications that it allows. OneDrive also provides consistency for use and intuitive understanding because of that Microsoft consistency. I'd prefer OneDrive over Box.
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Return on Investment
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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Microsoft
  • OneDrive allows us to save much time on creating and archiving backup copies of our data. Microsoft gives a guarantee on the possibility of recovery of files or folders even from 30 days ago. It provides a great comfort of work.
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