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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

    Rakuten Viber

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AViber, now from Rakuten (acquired 2014) is an instant messaging and cross-platform VoIP software solution designed for personal use and available for both desktops and as a mobile app. It includes features such as video and audio calls, instant message, and unlimited-member group chats. Users can also make paid international calls.

    $0.02

    Per Minute

    Pricing
    HCL SametimeRakuten Viber
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    USA
    $0.019
    Per Minute
    UK
    $0.019
    Per Minute
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HCL SametimeRakuten Viber
    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 SametimeRakuten Viber
    Considered Both Products
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Rakuten
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    67%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 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
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    HCL SametimeRakuten Viber
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of HCL Sametime and Rakuten Viber
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.4
    7 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Rakuten Viber
    9.5
    13 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Hosted PBX9.02 Ratings9.56 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)9.02 Ratings9.78 Ratings
    User templates8.02 Ratings8.87 Ratings
    Call reports8.02 Ratings9.89 Ratings
    Directory of employee names8.07 Ratings9.78 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of HCL Sametime and Rakuten Viber
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Rakuten Viber
    9.3
    15 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Answering rules8.05 Ratings9.59 Ratings
    Call recording8.02 Ratings9.79 Ratings
    Call park8.01 Ratings8.84 Ratings
    Call screening8.02 Ratings8.89 Ratings
    Message alerts8.06 Ratings9.814 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of HCL Sametime and Rakuten Viber
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    6 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Rakuten Viber
    9.6
    13 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Video conferencing8.06 Ratings9.513 Ratings
    Audio conferencing8.05 Ratings9.713 Ratings
    Video screen sharing8.01 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Instant messaging8.01 Ratings10.09 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of HCL Sametime and Rakuten Viber
    Feature
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Rakuten Viber
    10.0
    18 Ratings
    24% above category average
    Mobile app for iOS8.08 Ratings10.017 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android8.07 Ratings10.017 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    HCL SametimeRakuten Viber
    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 SametimeRakuten Viber
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (10 ratings)
    9.6
    (18 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)
    9.4
    (7 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HCL SametimeRakuten Viber
    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
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    Rakuten
    As mentioned previously, it is easy to use and access since the you can chat, send voice memos or stickers in a conversation. So in overall it's very entertaining. But throughout that, the audio quality can seem to be a bit off. (Could be personal headset issue) Overall that is the only issue that is present or consistent.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Rakuten
    • Viber is a cross platform product. It does not matter if someone uses Android or iOS device, it will work exactly the same.
    • Also the desktop version is very good. You can switch between the desktop and mobile versions within a conversation and see updates right away.
    • It's a very international product. It has been available for very long time, which makes it very wide spread - it has a good user base.
    • You can see the status of your messages.
    Incentivized
    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
    Rakuten
    • When someone sends a file in Viber, the program automatically saves it in your phone memory. This means that you must delete them manually and it really annoys me, as it takes a lot of time to do that.
    • It contains enormous amounts of adds.
    • There is file sharing limit.
    Incentivized
    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
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    Rakuten
    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
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    Rakuten
    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
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    Rakuten
    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
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    Rakuten
    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
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    Rakuten
    I have not frequently used the support for Viber as I have not had many problems with it on my phone. I did use support one time for problems with the computer application and used the forums to solve my problems. They were fairly easy to follow and I appreciated the online help in that format.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Rakuten
    End-to-end encryption scrambles my messages and delivers them as a scrambled code to my friend's device, whether mobile or desktop, so that only their device can decode them into plain text. If my friend's phone is turned off or they don't have access to the internet, my message will be stored on Viber's servers (for a limited time) until their device is ready to receive it.

    Because Viber can't access or read my private conversations in the first place, Viber can't sell them.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Rakuten
    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
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    Rakuten
    • Viber saves me financially since I am now able to communicate with my international clients for free.
    • Viber helps keep my clients engaged by the fact that I can so easily share photos, which is important as a freelance photographer.
    • Viber allows me to make my messages to clients appealing in a visual way, which I have noticed helps drive actions of my clients, such as remembering to book their next session or pay for their photo order.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots