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HCL Connections

HCL Connections
Formerly from IBM

Overview

What is HCL Connections?

Connections from HCL Technologies (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in 2018) is a collaboration tool and employee digital workspace with key features like social analytics, blogs, document management, and a social network.

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Recent Reviews

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IBM Connections is a versatile platform used organization-wide to connect users, find and organize information, and collaborate on …
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IBM Connections review

9 out of 10
February 25, 2015
IBM Connections is being used throughout the whole organization (34,000+ end users) as a social addition to the statically delivered …
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Pricing

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What is HCL Connections?

Connections from HCL Technologies (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in 2018) is a collaboration tool and employee digital workspace with key features like social analytics, blogs, document management, and a social network.

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  • No setup fee

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  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

What is HCL Connections?

Connections from HCL Technologies (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in 2018) is a collaboration tool and employee digital workspace with key features like social analytics, blogs, document management, and a social network.

HCL Connections Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Connections from HCL Technologies (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in 2018) is a collaboration tool and employee digital workspace with key features like social analytics, blogs, document management, and a social network.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of HCL Connections are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(54)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

IBM Connections is a versatile platform used organization-wide to connect users, find and organize information, and collaborate on projects. Users across departments benefit from the collaboration tools offered by IBM Connections for internal projects and team collaboration. Additionally, frontline production workers to board members rely on this software for project management, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and idea sharing.

IBM Connections addresses various business problems such as document editing, sharing, version control, as well as enabling increased transparency. It serves as a centralized repository for constantly changing information with multiple levels of permissions, tagging, and spaces. This makes it an ideal replacement for wikis, providing structure in organizing and updating information effectively.

Organizations in the insurance industry utilize IBM Connections to write wiki places and blogs in different languages. Mizuno utilizes IBM Connections organization-wide to keep everyone informed and connected, share data, and stay updated on company-wide events. The software is also being evaluated for cloud options to provide document control, integration of social tools, and compatibility with various devices.

Users find value in IBM Connections' communication features to connect with staff and disseminate information within communities created for individual departments. The software's usage statistics and reporting capabilities are crucial for users to track the effectiveness of their content. Additionally, the HR department benefits from the MS Office plugin for sharing and editing documents.

Overall, IBM Connections has proven to be an invaluable tool in improving communication among teams, facilitating collaboration between departments spread across large geographical areas, and providing a centralized platform for everyday operations.

Users commonly recommend IBM Connections for the following reasons:

  • IBM Connections is praised for its ability to enhance collaboration and social networking within a business. Users find it helpful for improving teamwork and communication among employees.

  • Many users recommend IBM Connections for its features such as email, calendars, meeting rooms, and document sharing. It is considered suitable for companies with multiple departments that require transparency in operations.

  • Users suggest having IT staff who can handle the layout and functionality of IBM Connections to maximize its potential. They also recommend it for environments that support self-service and where end users want a well-structured content storage interaction.

Overall, IBM Connections is deemed valuable in strengthening internal social networks, improving collaboration, and providing efficient communication within organizations. It is particularly recommended for larger companies looking to save time with social and collaboration-based solutions, but can also benefit businesses of all sizes that aim to enhance their productivity and foster connectivity among employees.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)
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Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My organization has primarily been utilizing IBM Connections as a means to communicate with staff. We have an All Staff community in which we post pertinent information for all employees and communities for each individual department. We also have communities for work-related projects. In this way, we use Connections to organize our information for easier consumption. We are in the process of migrating our policy wiki to our department communities. In addition to the above, my department (HR) uses the MS Office plugin for sharing and editing documents. All in all, IBM Connections has been very beneficial to the organization as a provides some much-needed structure in terms of where information goes, when it is updated and how it is presented.
  • The plugin for MS Office/Explorer has made saving and sharing working documents extremely convenient for me and my close colleagues
  • The newsfeed feature conveniently aggregates updates from the communities/people you follow. It's nice not to have to jump from community to community to see what's going on in the organization
  • The various apps can be used for several purposes. A little creativity goes a long way when establishing what type of information the apps can be useful for communicating
  • Navigating Connections is tedious and time-consuming. More times than not I find it easier to simply search for what I'm looking for rather than trying to find what I need through other means
  • While file uploading and sharing files is useful enough, the browser lacks the seamless nature of Google Docs and the plugin can't hold a candle to Sharepoint. It works, but I find it clunky
  • We sorely miss our one-stop homepage (The Hub) that has been replaced by IBM Connections. There is no "jump-off" page to provide ease of navigation. It would really nice to be able to provide bookmarks and/or some form of directory in the side tabs of the newsfeed.
Ex) We recently gathered a committee to discuss the redesign of a product. All members in the committee were added to a community focused on the redesign. We recorded meeting agendas and minutes in the activities app, uploaded test redesigns for comment in files, and brainstormed potential improvements in the forum

Ex) The status feature is essentially useless without following the person posting the status. We do not follow individual staff members because it leads to a cluttered newsfeed with information irrelevant to other departments. We still use our phone chat client to communicate statuses.
  • I can't speak to monetary ROI, but it is an effective tool for communicating and has stimulated more open communication about special projects
  • The cloud integration with email and profile boosts the appeal and usefulness of using the web-based browser (rather than Notes) -- however, I am not sold on Verse and dread the day everything gets moved over to that platform
  • Though there's much to be desired, the wiki feature has allowed us to slowly phase out outdated resources
IBM Connections is similar to the tools provided in collegiate settings (like Blackboard), but with more emphasis on the social media model and less focused (sometimes too many options/features is a bad thing). I find the file sharing and collaboration pieces to be the most useful, because my role happens to emphasize those tasks. These features are effective, but do have a bit of a learning curve (particularly with the MS Office plugin). However, as I mentioned in a previous response, Connections is nowhere near as dependable or convenient as MS SharePoint and/or Google Docs. File syncing is very touchy, collaboration tools are clunky and the open sourced office software integrated with the web browser can render documents awkward or impossible to read.
85
Every employee uses IBM Connections to some extent, as it is our primary source of all staff communication. Our production-based employees utilize it for deadline and goal tracking, our HR department provides messages to staff, our Evaluation department uses it as a knowledge center and collaborative tool and leadership provides policy information.
5
There are several members of the IT department and HR involved in supporting IBM Connections. The IT department uses website development to improve features so they work more seamlessly. The HR department provides support for feedback and simple questions regarding usability of functions. There is also a committee for the specific purpose of guiding the development of Connections, which includes members from IT, HR, Evaluation and Customer Service for broader insight.
  • Uploading and sharing documents, with the added feature of collaborative functions
  • Communities specifically for shorter term projects to better communicate and store the information that may otherwise be lost in the shared drive down the line
  • Communicating notices or announcements to all staff in a central location
  • I did not expect to be able to upload and sync files from explorer or MS office. It is more convenient than the web browser and provides all the metadata available in the browser.
  • Using the activities feature to track agendas and minutes is nice for storing meeting notes.
  • I like that my manager can be updated on our progress without having to send her a notice or email. We already communicate several times on a daily basis, so it's convenient that we can cut out some unneeded correspondence from time to time.
  • It would be great to be able to integrate our time-off schedule with Connections. We currently use a spreadsheet because we have leadership who are very particular about how the information is presented.
  • We plan to integrate our phone and chat tech with Connections, but I'm not sure where that initiative stands at the moment.
  • While we already use the wiki for policy information, an improved method of structuring the information would go a long way in making the wiki a functional standard operations manual. At this time, there is much to be desired on that front.
It's not up to me, but I would continue to use IBM Connections unless a better product presents itself. With all it's features, it has the potential to be extremely useful with the right people administrating it. While it is essentially plug and play, there are some headscratchers, particularly within the realm of organization and relevancy of certain features.
Not Sure
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
I can't speak to leadership decisions, but I believe the main factor in using IBM Connections is simply that it is there. We have used IBM products for years so it seems like the obvious solution. Our organization is taking steps to streamline our technological foothold, so I believe it comes down to convenience and necessity.
I was not a part of the selection process and am not aware of the steps that were taken to vet products with similar features. As a stated previously, IBM Connections was like chosen out of convenience and due to prior use of IBM products, such as email and cloud storage.
February 25, 2015

IBM Connections review

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
IBM Connections is being used throughout the whole organization (34,000+ end users) as a social addition to the statically delivered intranet. The main business problem and why this organizations has decided to choose for IBM Connections is in fact that it pushed out to the end users to work more closely together on projects and in day to day work situations. IBM Connections fulfills in that completely. With the mobility part of IBM Connections the circle was completely round as this was one of the biggest issue's we had with the current intranet which was too much statically build and not developed for mobile clients (not build with a responsive web design). We have just introduced the CCM part of IBM Connections which will replace overtime to all current file-shares which are being delivered via OLD fashioned way of serving files via a FileServer model. All this together is for us a major improvement on the next step of our journey in the intranet world.
  • The Mobile consummation of IBM Connections is very good and is rapidly improving over time. Every month a new version of the Mobile app for IBM Connections is being delivered which fixes bugs but also adds new functionality over time.
  • Stability is very high of the product as it runs on IBM WebSphere (which has proved itself already in the MidMarket segment completely) and is very important for us as a customer because this keeps the day to day management costs for the environment very low.
  • The open design of the product. It's fairly easy to extend the product but also the end user working and feeling is open. What I mean by that is that the product supports self serviceability so no costs at the IT department regarding of creating FileShares and so on.
  • Out of the box IBM Connections delivers a complete solution which can be used as a base to extend on. Connections to already existing LDAP/SAP/Domiono or other HR systems can easily be build via the delivered license of IBM Security Directory Integrator product with IBM Connections which is almost limitless in connecting different resources together.
  • The UI of the activities component really needs a redesign. Currently this component was there already from the beginning of IBM Connections and never got a UI overhaul. Currently the functionality is working exceptionally good but the UI is too much based on Text instead of a graphical UI.
  • Better integration with PIM (Personal Information Manager like (domino and/or exchange)) environments.
  • Currently for the admin side of IBM Connections a lot is done on the command line. It would be a improvement if we get a special designed ADMIN UI. Where 95% of the management of the product can be handled.
IBM Connections is well suited in environments where self serviceability is supported and end user wants the next iteration of storing content/knowledge inside mails and or documents.
  • On the customer service part - one of the positive sides of IBM Connections is the openness. Thanks to that openness people started to help each other when they posted problems regarding company issues instead and they followed the officially designed business processes. In the end this made our company much more cost effective.
  • Because of the mobility functionality of IBM Connections we really saw a big jump in the employee efficiency corner. They could access their documents faster and wherever they where around the globe.
Because of the open design of the product but also because of the main support for http://activitystrea.ms/ which was a huge jump in end user news retrieval of the environment. The overall cost of the product was so much lower than comparing products as out of the box IBM Connections already delivered lots where other products we reviewed needed add-on tools with their license fees as well.
35000
Mainly as a knowldege management hub within the company but also it is currently serving us as the next step for file sharing. Within a very soon to see time we will completely switch off file shares for our end user and we expect that all content currently on file shares will be offered and driven by IBM Connections.
4
The skills of these people need to be very broad, as we talk about so many environments where IBM Connections is used. IBM WebSphere/SDI/DB2/HTTPServer/LoadBalancers/OperatingSystems and so on. So it needs to be well skilled people who need to maintain these kind of environments.
  • Better collaboration of business users of different departments
  • 24/7 availability of content and knowledge
  • Mobility support from IBM
  • Self serviceability of end users (business users).
  • Much more helpful to each other if they see from each other they struggle with the same day to day problems.
  • Content/ Documents are reused more instead of reinvented now that people can find their content.
  • Extend the reach of the platform to other platforms to get that UI/content inside connections as well.
  • Get a more steering management layer within the organization than a leading management (which is currently the situation within the organization)
  • Connect the current business process more and more to this collaboration platform.
No
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
  • Analyst Reports
The openness of the product which gave us the possibility to adapt to our current organization rules and compliances. But also the vendor reputation was a big decision maker. In this fast evolving IT market you need from a business standpoint, stability and product support for the future.
To be honest regarding the selection process, I think we would do it exactly the same again. This has proved us to be quite successful still. The only thing we would change a bit is finding the right people inside the business acting as the ambassadors for the environment. I would align that much more in a day to day business situation instead of classes and we did it right now.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Professional services company
Ilionx which is a IT Services company and also an IBM Business Partner.
Yes
We first have built a PoC environment where the stakeholders of the project could investigate how the product could assist in their day to day operations. Then we have built a development environment and finally we have built a production environment. As this platform didn't really phase out another product, we have decided to let the new collaboration platform spread it itself within the company and within 6 months we have reached throughout all employees (we could see that form the login statistics of the end users).
Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled
When you try to deliver a new environment everybody has an opninon on how things should look and work. So try to keep the team who implements the environment as small as possible. Make rapid decission about how things should look and work and change behavior over time when the environment is in production and afterall you see end users complaining about certain functionalities. Don't try to build everything at once but do it over time !
  • Deciding how the environment had to be called within the organization.
  • Lack of knowledge within the company about the product (in the end this was covered by hiring external people) to keep the project going.
  • Network infrastructre wasn't prepared on how we wanted to adapt the network infrastructure to our needs.
Try to understand you will never find a product which suites all your end user for 100%. IBM Connections is the best of all breeds but if you go look on each functionality on its own there are better example out there. But as IBM COnnections delivers it all in just one platform makes it the best example about integration of different functionality into one platform.
  • In-person training
Yes
Because it allows us to reach further in the support organization from IBM than otherwise would have been the case. This gives us certain advantages which makes it easier (and cheaper) than not doing so.
The support team for IBM Connections could be much better in proactive support issues by sending us the information they experienced with other customers.
Yes
Yes we have reported many bugs and all of them were resolved to satisfaction. Some of them need some more time and persuasion from our side to get what we want :-) but in the end we always got what we needed to leave us with a satisfied feeling.
During a migration weekend we had some issues with database migration scripts. We called IBM Support and within 30 minutes they found us a real DB2 expert which led us in the right direction regarding how things could be solved (in the end it seemed a 2 play problem where some kind of configuration setting (which we had of course) triggered a bug within DB2) so after we found out about this we disabled the config setting ran the migration scripts and enabled the config setting again. In the end everybody was happy :-)
  • The homepage functionality is very elegant to use.
  • Creating of communities and their functions is very easy to do.
  • Connections the Mobile client is straight forward.
  • The rich text editor of IBM Connections could get some improvements of copy/paste actions.
  • Getting an insight within the platform on the items you do follow and the items yo do not follow is quite cumbersome.
Yes
There are 2 ways of consuming the content mobile. One way is via a responsive web browser UI. This is quite good. Be the better option would be the use of the native mobile client delivered by IBM.
Overall seen the useabilty of IBM Connections is fairly easy. The ramp UP time speed is quite low for end users to understand how they can use it in their day to day business environment.
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