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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    HCL Sametime

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHCL Sametime (formerly IBM Lotus Sametime, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in 2018) is an enterprise-level unified communications and VoIP platform. It includes features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, voice and video integration, telephony capabilities, and presence information.N/A

    HotTelecom

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ABeta Company's HotTelecom is a service that consists of a wide range of VoIP needs with over 6000 virtual phone numbers both local and mobile for business, designed to present an easy to use and affordable means of communication. HotTelecom offers virtual phone numbers, toll-free numbers, SMS numbers, SMS numbers for registration and multi-channel numbers, and virtual PBX set-up. All these come with clear-voice technology, for high sound quality.

    $5

    Monthly fee + connection fee

    Pricing
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Virtual fax number
    $30
    Monthly fee + connection fee
    Virtual PBX
    $65
    Monthly fee
    Direct virtual phone number
    from 5
    Monthly fee + connection fee
    Virtual SMS number
    from 7
    Monthly fee + connection fee
    Toll-free (800) number
    from 7
    Monthly fee + connection fee
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Each price is the price of monthly fee. There might be an additional connection fee for the products.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Beta Company
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of HCL Sametime and HotTelecom
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.4
    7 Ratings
    6% above category average
    HotTelecom
    10.0
    5 Ratings
    23% above category average
    Hosted PBX9.02 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)9.02 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    User templates8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call reports8.02 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Directory of employee names8.07 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of HCL Sametime and HotTelecom
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    3% below category average
    HotTelecom
    10.0
    5 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Answering rules8.05 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Call recording8.02 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Call park8.01 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Call screening8.02 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Message alerts8.06 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of HCL Sametime and HotTelecom
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    6 Ratings
    1% above category average
    HotTelecom
    9.0
    5 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Video conferencing8.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio conferencing8.05 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Video screen sharing8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Instant messaging8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of HCL Sametime and HotTelecom
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    2% above category average
    HotTelecom
    -
    Ratings
    Mobile app for iOS8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android8.07 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Small Businesses
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (10 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    9.6
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL SametimeHotTelecom
    Likelihood to Recommend
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is well suited for very quick conversations, where you know the person is an active Sametime user. It also serves as an easy way to reach out to someone you may not know when looking for an answer to a quick question, as they are likely to be a Sametime user. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to use Sametime for Audio or Video chat. The quality and reliability are horrendous.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    When our clients or partners call our corporate number they can now reach any needed employee or department by themselves. It is simple - they just need to use voice assistant and press the needed number.
    Read full review
    Pros
    HCLSoftware
    • Sametime's web-based interfaces are "zero load", requiring no plug-ins to be installed to join a meeting, launch a meeting, or use chat in a browser. A plugin is required only if you want to share your screen.
    • Integration with IBM Notes is very tight. Sametime's chat status can change according to your Notes calendar. You can easily see if someone who just emailed you is available to chat. Your chat History is right inside Notes as well.
    • IBM's mobile apps are top notch. We automated the apps for our users thanks to IBM's work with third party MDMs. This made it very simple for us to deploy the Sametime mobile apps -- Chat and Meetings -- and get new capabilities such as Audio & Video mobilized quickly.
    • No down time, ever. The rock solid WebSphere back-end of Sametime means the environment is always up. Period.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    • Friendly and responsive customer support.
    • Wide geographical coverage.
    • It's easy to set up.
    • High-quality phone calls.
    • There are a lot of additional services available.
    Read full review
    Cons
    HCLSoftware
    • Not convenient for a large group meeting.
    • Very basic tool for internal communication only not available for third party communication
    • Very basic and limited mobile app features.
    • High speed connection is needed to connect to Sametime
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    • Video calling is not available as a feature.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is now an embedded experience for our users. They know it, they like it, they use it, and they expect it to be wherever they are. Because it is pretty easy to use and NEVER goes down, users know they can rely on it and won't be frustrated by it. Sametime is right up with there with Microsoft Office in terms of user adoption and appreciation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    HCLSoftware
    Just about everything works the way you expect it would and it's relatively easy for users to figure out. Sametime was one of those things that we started with only a few people as a "test" and before the test period was done we discovered a few hundred people had figured out how to log in and most got it working all on their own. Many of our users want to use Sametime and do so regularly; we do not have to create policies enforcing its usage. Users find it practical to use Sametime to do things like chat, transfer files, share their screen, and so forth.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    HCLSoftware
    Typically if Sametime is not available, it's because Windows Updates were done on the servers and they were not rebooted. However, that's not a problem with Sametime -- in fact, if you have Linux you could probably run Sametime for years without any hiccups whatsoever. We have no internal Linux expertise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    HCLSoftware
    Generally very good. Occasionally AV or screen-sharing will stutter and every now and then I hear of it dropping out altogether, but in all cases it was easy to re-establish
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    HCLSoftware
    I have not needed to use the Sametime support team. Our local support team was able to configure it for me.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    We are totally satisfied with help Customer Support. They were quick and responsive
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    HCLSoftware
    We use Jabber globally in our company and Symphony (no relevant app in able list) in some of the teams as well. All these are instant messenger tools, but Sametime is the easiest one to be used and its chat history is easy to be searched. Sametime can be used to contact almost all internal staff as it’s included in default computer package. Symphony is used to chat with front end business while Jabber is used for call.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is rock solid. It runs on WebSphere, DB2 and other related IBM technologies. This does mean the back-end is highly complex and very difficult to learn and get comfortable with, however.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    HCLSoftware
    • Sametime keeps many of our team members in contact throughout the day which leads to increased productivity which makes everyone happy.
    • We use the team chat room feature every day. This allows a team to stay focused on the task without any extra messages that are not on topic.
    • The split between IBM Sametime, Slack and Google Hangouts has caused some issues when team members are not checking for messages on a certain app.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Beta Company
    • We've got the option to use another marketing channel with HotTelecom's SMS virtual phone numbers. They also provide us with an ability to count everything in marketing campaigns made with SMS numbers and to make the right decisions based on the received data.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    HotTelecom Screenshots

    Screenshot of Personal account on the website. User can perform an order there.