Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HCL Notes
Score 6.6 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
Slack
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The…
$0
per month per user
Pricing
HCL NotesSlack
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesSlack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year. Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesSlack
Considered Both Products
HCL Notes
Chose HCL Notes
Our organization used IBM Notes before I started working there and is a legacy system that some teams still use. Many others in our company have switched to Slack and Google Hangouts as well as Google calendar. Slack and Google Hangouts offer a much better chat experience that …
Chose HCL Notes
As I stated previously, mail is mail. Notes is a fantastic option as a frontend for mail. On top of that, a business can be built from the custom applications that can be developed in it. We do have gmail as an option, but the vast majority of users are on Notes. We also choose …
Slack
Chose Slack
Slack is a far superior product. Skype did not have enough features and the mobile app was garbage comparatively. Sametime was one of the worst messaging services I have used. Notifications were incredibly inconsistent.
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
HCL NotesSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
10 Ratings
13% below category average
Slack
7.8
384 Ratings
1% below category average
Task Management7.09 Ratings7.7238 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.03 Ratings7.061 Ratings
Scheduling8.09 Ratings7.7196 Ratings
Workflow Automation5.06 Ratings7.8213 Ratings
Mobile Access8.010 Ratings9.2371 Ratings
Search6.09 Ratings8.2369 Ratings
Visual planning tools8.03 Ratings7.2142 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
10 Ratings
14% above category average
Slack
8.6
394 Ratings
7% above category average
Chat6.010 Ratings9.6394 Ratings
Notifications9.010 Ratings8.9390 Ratings
Discussions9.57 Ratings9.1381 Ratings
Surveys9.14 Ratings8.2235 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase10.06 Ratings7.7235 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting10.03 Ratings8.4111 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.02 Ratings8.5184 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook10.05 Ratings8.3122 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
7.6
9 Ratings
7% below category average
Slack
8.4
368 Ratings
3% above category average
Versioning9.04 Ratings8.0171 Ratings
Video files6.05 Ratings8.4324 Ratings
Audio files6.05 Ratings8.4319 Ratings
Document collaboration8.08 Ratings8.1257 Ratings
Access control6.08 Ratings8.1237 Ratings
Advanced security features8.08 Ratings8.1199 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.02 Ratings8.7213 Ratings
Device sync8.05 Ratings9.0258 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HCL NotesSlack
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.7 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 8.6 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HCL NotesSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(16 ratings)
9.3
(394 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(5 ratings)
9.4
(20 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.8
(29 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
1.0
(65 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesSlack
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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Salesforce
I think Slack works really well in office settings, or even for any group of people who need an easy way to communicate with each other through organized channels. It may not be the best for those who intend to use it as a social media type app, it is more geared towards business use.
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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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Salesforce
  • Automated Notifications: Integrated tools like Jira, Trello, and Google Drive to receive automated notifications and updates directly in Slack, improving visibility and efficiency within the team
  • Message Encryption: Slack encrypts the messages in transit and at rest, ensuring the security and privacy of sensitive information and making our IT team's life much easier.
  • Reminder Bots: We used Slackbot to set reminders, automate follow-up actions, and provided information based on user queries.
  • SurveyMonkey Integration: Integrated our Slack with SurveyMonkey to distribute surveys and collect feedback from team members, streamlining the feedback-gathering process which was a huge support to our HR and Admin team.
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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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Salesforce
  • The only thing I can think of is that it is easy to create too many channels. This has more to do with the team using Slack and less to do with Slack itself. maybe some direction on Slack's part on how best to utilize channels would be helpful.
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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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Salesforce
As useful as Slack has become within our company, I feel fairly confident we will continue to use Slack as a communication tool. They continue to improve their software and add value to its use within our office. Customer service delivers, which is an absolute must. Looking forward to how they improve.
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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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Salesforce
As long as you use the basic chat features and nothing more, it really is super easy to understand and use. Once you want to take advantage of some of the more advanced features and capabilities, that's when things get complicated. Anyone who has use SMS or a chat program before will be able to figure out the basics though, so rolling this out should be relatively straightforward and not required exhaustive training. Teaching chat etiquette is something else though.
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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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Salesforce
I've never had to contact support for Slack which is a great testament to its ease and use. Adding people outside of the organization takes a little getting used to, but ultimately allows for greater collaboration between FTE and contractors. There is no clear alternative to this software, so it's the best we can do for now.
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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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Salesforce
It always helps if you communicate to everyone in the organization how important it is to drop whatever other chat tools they are using and jump quickly to Slack. They will all fall in love with it.
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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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Salesforce
Slack is the superior offering for what we do and who we communicate with. The other programs offer basic features, but Slack continues to innovate and is business-first, which is very helpful for our small team. The feature set and integrations are better in Slack than other offerings we have evaluated
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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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Salesforce
  • We have a story when one guy mentioned in a our site group with tag @here about his wedding, he didnt know that @here works only for people who are online, so most of the people missed the message, slack is not the best place to update about the important things
  • Slack helps to solve and be updated if you have an internal problems and you want to know how the solving goes
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ScreenShots