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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

    Ziflow

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AZiflow online proofing creates a single source of truth and streamlines the review and approval process for creative content to deliver marketing projects faster for agencies and brands.

    $249

    per month

    Pricing
    HCL NotesZiflow
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Standard
    $249
    per month 15 users
    Pro
    $399
    per month 20 users included
    Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL NotesZiflow
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details—Educational discounts are available for the Business and Enterprise editions. Up to a 20% discount is available for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HCL NotesZiflow
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Ziflow
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    225 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    166 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    224 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    146 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    168 Answers
    Features
    HCL NotesZiflow
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of HCL Notes and Ziflow
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Ziflow
    -
    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 Ziflow
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Ziflow
    -
    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 Ziflow
    Feature
    HCL Notes
    7.6
    9 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Ziflow
    -
    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 NotesZiflow
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL NotesZiflow
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    9.6
    (226 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    1.7
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (16 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL NotesZiflow
    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
    Ziflow
    We work with a lot of cross functional teams, so it is nice to have them review things on their own and provide feedback all in the one place for our team to review. It helps cut back on meetings and emails full of feedback that gets lost. This is especially helpful when we are working on our catalogs. We do reviews on Ziflow all the way from rough layouts to proofreading.
    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
    Ziflow
    • Simple and user friendly interface with little if no learning curve.
    • Accurate and specific change requests are especially enhanced when using the markup tools.
    • Nice to be able to assign who the decision maker is and also be able to change project participants easily, like when someone goes on holiday or sick leave.
    • SOCD (sent, opened, comment, decision) progress indicators provide an awesome 'at a glance' view of project participants activity.
    • Email notifications and integration with ASANA is brilliant.
    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
    Ziflow
    • Comments with instances that span multiple pages force you to zoom out, which can be rough on multi-page proofs. We end up making a comment on each instance for ease of review.
    • Maybe it is in there, but I would love to be able to upload a new version and review/make comments before any of the other reviewers can see it—to double-check for errors. Maybe there is a verification stage first before releasing it to the other reviewers.
    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
    Ziflow
    Ziflow is easy to use, efficient and now is also part of our daily lives. Hence, the teams are already adapted to the tool and willing to work with it. The features are according to all what was expected and we had a great experience until the moment with the tool
    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
    Ziflow
    The tool is easy to use for digital oriented people. For the ones not used to this kind of environment, it could look a bit complicated at the beginning, but following the instructions and tutorials and performing it once makes you get a grip of it in just one use.
    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
    Ziflow
    The ZIflow support team has always been very responsive to my questions, issues and other problems. The good thing is I have never had to use their support team all that much because Ziflow has been for the most part trouble free. If it had been error prone, we would have dropped it long ago.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Ziflow
    They were friendly and took the time to go through everything, especially relating to how we would use the system.
    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
    Ziflow
    It was seemless! Things got instantly better when we started using Ziflow!
    Incentivized
    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
    Ziflow
    I found Ziflow to be much better than PageProof in several ways. The tools available for making comments and edits are more intuitive and there is a greater variety of tools and the version control features worked much better as well. Also their customer service was far better when it was necessary to interact with the company
    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
    Ziflow
    • Improved efficiency and time saved in making proofs and adding people to proofs with staging and template features.
    • Robust proofreading features for reviewers like comparing previous versions.
    • In my experience, customer service is quick to help with issues or outages (which aren't often).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Ziflow Screenshots

    Screenshot of Ziflow's  markup tools, which enables stakeholders of all abilities to circle, highlight, draw, point, and overall produce feedback that doesn’t leave creatives guessing.Screenshot of Ziflow’s workflow automation and templates, for creative teams that constantly repeats tasks when setting up review workflows.Screenshot of where users can see different versions side-by-side to compare changes to a project over time, and automatically highlight version differences, all the way down to the pixel with the auto-compare capability.Screenshot of frame-accurate commenting on video and motion projects. Feedback can be viewed on a specific video frame to remove any chance of confusion. Ziflow Safe Zones are used to make sure crucial content remains in-frame on every device, and to see likely cut-off points at industry-standard aspect ratios. Users can review projects from a web browser on any device - no app download is required.Screenshot of Ziflow, on mobile devices. Team members can access proofs via proof notification emails on their devices. Comments and decisions can be made via the device's native browser, with Ziflow's HTML5-based Proof Viewer.Screenshot of ZiflowAI: Creative collaboration, powered by artificial intelligence. It is a chatbot designed to drive review and approval processes forward.