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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

    Podio

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/APodio is a cloud-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, and reporting in project management workspaces; also it may be used as a light CRM platform. It enables workflow automation and integrations. It includes a free version and paid packages with additional features.

    $14

    per month per user

    Pricing
    HCL NotesPodio
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Plus
    $14
    per month per user
    Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL NotesPodio
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—A discount is available for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HCL NotesPodio
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Progress ShareFile
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    75%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Features
    HCL NotesPodio
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of HCL Notes and Podio
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Podio
    7.7
    28 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Task Management7.09 Ratings8.026 Ratings
    Gantt Charts6.03 Ratings2.09 Ratings
    Scheduling8.09 Ratings6.523 Ratings
    Workflow Automation5.06 Ratings10.026 Ratings
    Mobile Access8.010 Ratings6.523 Ratings
    Search6.09 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visual planning tools8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Resource Management00 Ratings9.522 Ratings
    Team Collaboration00 Ratings7.528 Ratings
    Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
    Support for Waterfall Methodology00 Ratings9.012 Ratings
    Document Management00 Ratings8.524 Ratings
    Email integration00 Ratings6.022 Ratings
    Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings7.014 Ratings
    Change request and Case Management00 Ratings9.019 Ratings
    Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of HCL Notes and Podio
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Podio
    -
    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 Podio
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    7.6
    9 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Podio
    -
    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
    Professional Services Automation
    Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of HCL Notes and Podio
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    -
    Ratings
    Podio
    6.3
    14 Ratings
    20% below category average
    Quotes/estimates00 Ratings6.010 Ratings
    Invoicing00 Ratings6.010 Ratings
    Project & financial reporting00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Integration with accounting software00 Ratings5.07 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    HCL NotesPodio
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Any.do
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    KanbanFlow
    Score7.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Microsoft To Do
    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL NotesPodio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    2.7
    (42 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    1.7
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (17 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.2
    (6 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL NotesPodio
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    [Citrix Podios's] customer support is very quick and they provide you an option to convert your
    project into small tasks so that you can better assist your team and extract
    maximum work out of them hence I will totally recommend its usage. I could not think that keeping track of tasks could be this much easier and smart. It is a fully customizable tool that manages my tasks efficiently and deal with them effectively.
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    • Very easy for people without coding or technical skills to set up and maintain information in "Apps".
    • Platform is very easy to learn and adopt--it's intuitive.
    • Project management potential is awesome--instead of having to fit your projects into a structure that is industry specific, you can build an app that tracks what you want, in the order you want it.
    • Has a "relationship" field that allows you to relate an individual item or record to a record in another app. It effectively gives some of the functionality of a relational database.
    • Very useful for information sharing when staff members are in different regions or places.
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    • More filter options for calendars.
    • Customizable views for Relation fields.
    • Full featured Podio mobile App for iPad.
    • A customizable profile status – would love to work with Podio in silent mode (logged in while working, but "not available" for requests when in heavy work mode)
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    Podio customer service is great. The cloud and mobile service is fast (almost instant, continuous syncing). With a solid user base, and backed by Citrix, this is a serious business solution. They're also constantly working on improving and making it more powerful. I anticipate it only getting better
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    It takes a while to understand how to wield the power of 'relationship' fields and unlocking the flow of data across Podio apps and workspaces. Once the lightbulb comes on, the options and builds are effortless and limitless. Because of the unrestrained customization, you truly start with a blank slate and must endure a potentially frustrating learning curve to crack to (no)code. But once you get it, all the power is readily at your fingertips.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Progress ShareFile
    I have not experienced any down time
    Read full review
    Performance
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Progress ShareFile
    It works all the time and if I have a question, support get back to me ASAP
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    Podio support was always responsive and very quick to provide answers and assistance during the history of using this product, their support team has always been top notch. There have been several cases where calling podio support a feature was not available and they provided either workaround solutions or added the features straight into their roadmap.
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    Could of got more help sooner and mapped out structure after the 1st month. Future planning
    Read full review
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    I have not yet found a permanent solution that meets all of our needs. We continue to use different tools across our different departments, and none of our tools really communicate with one another to our satisfaction. We remain optimistic, however, that a company will emerge that embraces an abstract, highly customizable interface and also provides exceptional customer service with an open-minded development team that does not simply say no to everything by default.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Progress ShareFile
    As you business grows, so does Podio. There seems to be no limit to the workspace and apps you can create on the platform
    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
    Progress ShareFile
    • Podio is great for task assignment and tracking. The ability to enter and assign tasks from mobile and track their completion saves me several phone calls a day.
    • Podio outdoes email as my go to place to search for information. The ability to forward emails into the system, organize by projects and contacts, and search it all saves considerable time and confusion.
    • Podio has considerable potential to reduce overall admin time spent organizing information (filing, tracking, etc) The ability to keep a single record of a given piece of information without being tied to email vs file structure works very well.
    Read full review
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