IBM Z vs. Slack

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Z
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
IBM Z is the company's mainframe enterprise server solution product line.N/A
Slack
Score 9.1 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…
$8.75
per month per user
Pricing
IBM ZSlack
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
IBM ZSlack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo 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
IBM ZSlack
Features
IBM ZSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM Z
-
Ratings
Slack
8.0
625 Ratings
3% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.8428 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.961 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings7.8361 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.1394 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings9.4598 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.3605 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.4273 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
IBM Z
-
Ratings
Slack
8.8
633 Ratings
10% above category average
Chat00 Ratings9.6632 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings8.9629 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings9.3617 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.2410 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings7.8409 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings8.9110 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings8.7182 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings8.9120 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM Z
-
Ratings
Slack
8.5
600 Ratings
6% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings8.2324 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings8.3538 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.5525 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.0426 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.3409 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.3360 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings9.0211 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.0452 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IBM ZSlack
Small Businesses
Dell PowerEdge
Dell PowerEdge
Score 8.2 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
HPE ProLiant DL
HPE ProLiant DL
Score 8.6 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Power
IBM Power
Score 9.0 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM ZSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(42 ratings)
9.2
(630 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(25 ratings)
Usability
4.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(248 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(3 ratings)
9.9
(68 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
8.8
(5 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM ZSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
Most of the time, server utilization is reliable and stable during peak times. Truly amazing, this product offers a lot and gets it done in no time without any confusion.It is reliable, too accurate and the performance is top-notch. It seems to be competitive in all virtual energy systems and its connectivity is also good. It's available at a low cost, but it's enough to have as many low-cost, more efficient systems as possible. It's a minor thing, but very rarely, it can cause work interruptions while it can get stuck due to more frequent use such as restless work. These power servers are very efficient and really help when things go wrong. I am using this product to retrieve data much faster.
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Salesforce
Slack is great for tracking commits to new coding projects. You can take parts of code that still need to be implemented later and easily search through the history of comments if there is something that goes wrong with a code commitment. It can be difficult for people that only like Teams to adjust to a new platform if you are using both to communicate.
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Pros
IBM
  • Virtualization for Scale-Out and Scale-Up in the same footprint
  • Security for different workloads: Large Confidential Computing and lightweight Secure Execution
  • Performance is a true game changer: extreme throughput powered by amazingly huge caches.
  • The one and only FIPS 140-2 Level 4 HSM on this planet
  • Quantum Safe Encryption NOW!
  • AI infusion to every transaction
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Salesforce
  • Huddles Run smoothly without any interferences.
  • Smooth individual calls quick and easy without any interruptions.
  • seamless notifications across multiple devices
  • The ability to easily tag a team member to urgently attend to a specific escalation.
  • Slack being user friendly and able to integrate easily with other platforms and apps.
  • How to easily open up different channels for different escalations and needs.
  • a safe direct messaging option.
Read full review
Cons
IBM
  • It would be good if IBM could demonstrate more use cases for Z to potential clients
  • A migration strategy from Open Systems to Z would be helpful
  • Any additional marketing to could explain the benefits of Z/Linux, especially now that RedHat is in the mix.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Would love a better integration with GitHub. For example, notifications when your PR is updated, when review is requested, @-mention in comments, etc.
  • Improved "Later" tab, for example the ability to create to-do lists or making the "Later" tab into a more powerful to-do list (annotate items with notes)
  • More powerful integrations, e.g. Google Calendar could render a calendar view within Slack, rather than sending the daily schedule
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Likelihood to Renew
IBM
The IBM Z mainframe capabilities are unmatched for cloud readiness and optimization the learning capabilities are matched perfectly with Watson and the expandability of the cloud makes it a perfect choice.
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Salesforce
To be more transparent, I give 10 because Slack serves our collaboration needs. It provide us a good platform for team communication relaying important update within the company, it has even mobile app where you can install in your phone to monitor any updates within that team that needs your immediate attention and intervention.
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Usability
IBM
Once you learn how, it easy. It's different than most other systems
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Salesforce
My rating was 7. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly features like channels, threads, and integrations make it excellent for team communication and onboarding. However, its usability is held back by the resource-intensive desktop app and cluttered feeling in large workspaces. The mobile app's performance and unreliable notifications have also been noted as weaknesses.
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Reliability and Availability
IBM
The Z in IBM Z is for zero down time. If you configure your system according to IBM's best practices, you can achieve zero downtime
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Salesforce
Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
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Performance
IBM
Performance is a major part when you configure your system. IBM has many tools to study your system and suggest the appropriate configuration. With the right contract, you can add processing power dynamically and remove it when no longer needed
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Salesforce
Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
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Support Rating
IBM
Support is usually superb, only occasionally dropping to very good. We participate in some of the CD (Continuous Delivery) aspects of z/OS, IMS, MQ, and DB2.
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Salesforce
Whenever I've had to troubleshoot an issue with Slack (which, to be honest, has not happened very often), their online documentation has been easy to locate, easy to understand, and effective in resolving my issue. Slack's ever-growing popularity also means that there's a large community of practice out there that can be depended upon.
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In-Person Training
IBM
Over my 33 years on this platform, I attended many in person courses, conferences, and other training opportunities.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Online Training
IBM
There are many online courses from both IBM and other vendors. Most are great. All of the documentation is available online.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
IBM
I do not personally have any key insights regarding implementation of IBM Z Enterprise Servers as that is what our mainframe architects do.
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Salesforce
I was not part of the implementation team, but I recall being 100% happy and excited to learn and use a new tool. I'm still am to be honest.
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Alternatives Considered
IBM
IBM Z is the best storage solution as it provides the best in class data protection with the cryptographic hardware keys, no loss in data while migration, and a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for develops to understand and has less of a learning curve. This makes it well above the competition.
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Salesforce
I like Slack better than ClickUp, because I would spend 30-60 minutes a day updating my ClickUp tasks. The way ClickUp was used was very micromanaging. I billed by the hour, so I was willing to put in the time to alert the boss what tasks I was working on.
One of my jobs used Hive - I mostly just ran it in the background in case anyone messaged me. I did not use it often.
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Scalability
IBM
If you need more processing power, just add more CPU's or memory. The largest system can have close to 200 CPU's and 40 TB of memory. If that is not enough, you can add more physical computers, and connect them using a sysplex
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
IBM
  • With IBM Z we really feel a different positive impact on our company. A trustworthy and the most powerful place we have ever.
  • A unique computing platform that helps a lot for the progress of our company.
  • It keeps our data save, encrypted.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Slack has been incredibly helpful in connecting various tech apps and ecosystems, creating a more streamlined and responsive process.
  • Slack has made it significantly easier to communicate with our team members across multiple time zones, creating a more engaging environment for our all-remote team.
Read full review
ScreenShots

IBM Z Screenshots

Screenshot of IBM z17™ single-frame 

This configuration is optimized for enhanced modularity and is available in a traditional factory-frame setup. It provides advanced capabilities and is ideal for environments requiring a robust and scalable solution within an industry-standard footprint.  

IBM z17™ single-frame 

This configuration is optimized for enhanced modularity and is available in a traditional factory-frame setup. It provides advanced capabilities and is ideal for environments requiring a robust and scalable solution within an industry-standard footprint.Screenshot of IBM z17™ multi-frame 

This configuration is designed for general-purpose use, offering a balance of performance, scalability and security suitable for a wide range of applications.Screenshot of IBM z17™ rack mount 

This rack-mounted configuration allows for installation in existing data center rack infrastructures, providing flexibility and integration with current systems. It combines IBM Z's strengths with the convenience of modern rack-mounted hardware.