Skip to main content
TrustRadius
HCL Sametime

HCL Sametime
Formerly from IBM

Overview

What is HCL Sametime?

HCL 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.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Sametime is widely used for internal communication purposes within organizations, enabling seamless collaboration across different …
Continue reading

Sametime review

9 out of 10
June 04, 2019
Incentivized
IBM Sametime is being used globally in almost all departments from down to top in our company. We use it as a instant messenger to …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Directory of employee names (7)
    8.0
    80%
  • Message alerts (6)
    8.0
    80%
  • Mobile app for iOS (8)
    8.0
    80%
  • Mobile app for Android (7)
    8.0
    80%
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is HCL Sametime?

HCL 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.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

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

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

9 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is Talkdesk?

Talkdesk is a cloud-based contact center platform with voice, digital channel, and workforce engagement management capabilities. Talkdesk’s key features are its customizable user interface, built-in AI automation, and its integration with numerous CRM and helpdesk applications.

What is 8x8 Work?

8x8 Work is a collaboration hub for phone, video, and messaging. It brings secure unified communication and collaboration experiences to every employee.

Return to navigation

Product Demos

HCL Sametime v12 Demo

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Cloud PBX

A cloud PBX system is based on cloud computing technology where data is stored and transferred over the intenet without any need for on-site PBX equipment

8.4
Avg 8.2

Call Management

Customized phone system settings

8
Avg 8.4

VoIP system collaboration

Team collaboration via cloud phone system

8
Avg 8.3

Mobile apps

Apps are compatible with mobile devices.

8
Avg 8.3
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is HCL Sametime?

HCL 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.


HCL Sametime is ideal for cross-team chat in countries with strict data privacy and gravity laws, companies in regulated industries, and government entities who need to be able to ensure the security and auditability of their data.  ​ 


HCL Sametime Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

HCL 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.

Reviewers rate Directory of employee names and Answering rules and Message alerts highest, with a score of 8.

The most common users of HCL Sametime are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(21)

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!

Sametime is widely used for internal communication purposes within organizations, enabling seamless collaboration across different departments and locations. It provides a range of features including instant messaging, persistent chat rooms, meetings, and VOIP to address various business needs. Many IBM customers rely on Sametime as their go-to instant messaging platform due to its integration with email and web-based programs. Additionally, its compatibility with telephony systems and availability of free mobile iOS and Android clients make it a versatile choice for users.

One of the main use cases for Sametime is facilitating quick internal team meetings and project discussions. Users appreciate the convenience of being able to connect with colleagues in different offices across regions without the need for constant emails. The platform's integration with IBM Notes allows for easy booking of web meetings and checking availability for chat. Furthermore, its centralized settings and preferences management reduces the learning curve for users.

Another advantage of Sametime is its flexibility in deployment options. Organizations can choose between on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid setups based on their specific needs. This adaptability enables teams to communicate efficiently regardless of their location or work environment.

Users have found Sametime invaluable in improving productivity, collaboration, and communication within their organizations. For example, savvy users utilize Sametime as a tool for presentations instead of searching through shared drives for files. Salespeople rely on the mobile app to obtain quick responses to time-sensitive questions while on-site with customers. The ability to record meetings and transfer files faster than email further enhances workflow efficiency.

Sametime is widely used as a standard text-based chat tool across organizations, especially for quick questions. Its REST API allows for easy integration of chat functionality into existing web apps. While Sametime is a preferred messaging app within many organizations, it may not be suitable for all teams, leading to competition from other messaging tools like Slack, Google Hangouts, and Skype. Organizations need to evaluate which solution best fits their specific requirements.

Based on user reviews, users recommend Sametime for its basic instant messaging capabilities and easy setup. They find it convenient for quick chats and collaboration, making it a suitable tool for internal team communication. Reviewers appreciate its features for file transfer and texting.

Users suggest using other apps like Microsoft Workspace, Slack, Google Chat, or Hangouts instead of Sametime. They feel that Sametime requires infrastructure, feels outdated compared to other solutions, and lacks updates. Users prefer these alternatives due to their ease of use, additional features, and better integration with video and audio.

Reviewers recommend Sametime for secure communication within companies. They appreciate it as a good software for video conferencing and messaging with most of the required features, such as an AI assistant, backup, video conferences, and multichats. However, some users mention slow service, frustrating attachment loading and transferring, and suggest making Sametime less resource-consuming and more affordable.

Overall, users have mixed opinions about Sametime but commonly recommend it as a basic communication tool while suggesting using other platforms for additional features.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Chris Whisonant | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Currently, due to the nature of our being a small company, our organization does not use Sametime for internal communication purposes. We do, however, recommend, install, and maintain Sametime for many of our customers. Generally we see that Sametime is used across entire organizations and often certain departments will use it differently than other departments. Sametime can address many business problems depending on how many Sametime options are deployed - it can serve the purpose of just IM, persistent chat rooms, meetings, and/or VOIP.
  • Sametime can be installed in any number of ways to provide as little or as much functionality and integration as you want.
  • The backend capabilities of the Video components are quite amazing for providing the streaming capabilities.
  • As a telephony client, being able to have it integrated out-of-the box with your primary mail and application platform (IBM Notes) for presence and communications is a great win.
  • IBM allows for this to be run either on-premises or in their IBM Cloud.
  • On-premises installation for anything beyond the basic chat functionality can get tricky quite fast. The requirements for hardware also grow exponentially.
  • Sometimes administration of users can be problematic when it comes to reliably pushing down policies.
  • The core IM UI goes through stages of years of stale look and feel. Though I believe a new UI may be coming with the next major release.
  • There are often times where the IBM Cloud implementation has features that take a while to make it back into the on-premises codebase.
Sometimes it may be overkill for small companies, however the IBM Cloud option definitely makes up for this. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that Sametime be used to fully replace or become the primary VOIP installation, however it is well-suited for being able to provide a quick and reliable way to reach out to others from IM and then take that from a text-only conversation to either a voice/video call or a full-blown meeting with additional people.
Cloud PBX (2)
50%
5.0
Call reports
N/A
N/A
Directory of employee names
100%
10.0
Call Management (5)
14%
1.4
Answering rules
70%
7.0
Call recording
N/A
N/A
Call park
N/A
N/A
Call screening
N/A
N/A
Message alerts
N/A
N/A
VoIP system collaboration (2)
45%
4.5
Video conferencing
90%
9.0
Audio conferencing
N/A
N/A
Mobile apps (2)
90%
9.0
Mobile app for iOS
90%
9.0
Mobile app for Android
90%
9.0
  • In general, customers of IBM Notes would be able to use the core IM components as part of their license. This is good in itself, but also can lead to further desire to have more of the Sametime options.
  • On-premises installations have been good for our consulting business.
  • For customers, being able to provide presence awareness with global resource has been a huge time-saver.
Sametime's flexibility with regards to the options available is quite a compelling reason. For an on-premises solution, Sametime is great. One of the major benefits for current IBM Notes customers with the IBM Cloud option when compared to something like Skype is the seamless integration with the mail client and current systems along with other IBM solutions.
No
I have to use support for many customers. However, support is generally quite responsive and continues to see an issue through to resolution and I would recommend using their knowledgeable and well-trained staff.
Yes
As with the response to the previous question, I have often had to use IBM Sametime Support. Depending on the complexity of the environment and the nature of the issue, sometimes support can take a long time to get to a resolution (if we ever do - there have been two recent issues specifically which never ended up with a final resolution). But in general they are able to identify some root causes quickly and will escalate or get development involved when needed.
I have had some recent support calls with IBM about Sametime and with many of them I tend to work with the same technicians. This leads to some good relationships and the technicians are generally very helpful. Recently, I had a quite positive experience with a potentially complicated authenticated solution. IBM was able to gather their teams together and work with me and my large customer to come up with a workable solution.
  • Starting a conversation via chat, voice, video, and/or meetings.
  • Finding out who is online and getting notified when certain people do come online.
  • Updating your presence status.
  • Integrating your presence status with your calendar.
  • Some of the default notification settings are a little "nagging" and can be a little deep in the settings for the users to change. We typically have to update a config file when rolling out the client to users.
  • Browsers/Plugins/Java/Etc... requirements for web-based meeting rooms. Roll the dice and hope you pick a winner for the week...
Yes
The apps for Android and iOS are excellent! The functionality provided is really above par.
The interfaces for end users are very well developed whether it's a Rich Client, browser, or mobile.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Sametime is a collection of real-time collaboration and communication tools. It solves several problems and fills various needs across our entire organization, which I'll summarize as bullet points.

We have not yet integrated IBM Sametime with our phone system.

First, a list of the features we use which may or may not be unique to IBM Sametime:

  • Presence Awareness: Quickly find someone who's available to help.
  • Chat: For quick questions, notifications, or file transfers, Chat is the go-to communication tool.
  • Web Meetings: For formal training, with people on-site or anywhere in the world.
  • Screen-Sharing: For cross-training, technical support, or co-creating content.
  • Audio & Video Conferencing: We've just started using this feature but we've got great feedback from traveling Sales and internals alike.
  • Mobile Apps: From an iOS device I can join or start a web meeting, see who's available for a chat, and make or take video calls.

Additional benefits we've found:

  • Savvy users log into a IBM Sametime Web Meeting to give a presentation, rather than search through thousands of files on a shared drive before a meeting.
  • If on-site with a customer, our sales person can get onto IBM Sametime via the mobile app and get quick responses to time-sensitive questions.
  • Chat on iOS can optionally show a logged-on user's GPS location (town & state). This has been really handy on multiple occasions and does not seem to impact the iOS device's battery life very much.
  • File transfer is faster via IBM Sametime than via email. Users love that!

Here are some specific aspects of Sametime that we really appreciate:

  • Integration with IBM Notes: Not just an add-on, but full integration means it's really quick and easy to book a web meeting with dozens of other people, or see if the person who just sent you an email is available to chat about it. Your chat status changes to "in a meeting" automatically if you've got something booked on your calendar.
    • We use Notes' SmartUpgrade feature to deploy updates to the embedded IBM Sametime components of Notes along with Notes FixPacks.
  • Centralized Settings / Preferences Management: It's an XML file, yes, but the amount of stuff we can tweak is extremely useful. This reduces the learning curve for users and keeps them from changing the wrong settings.
  • Rest API lets our developers easily integrate basic chat functionality into web apps, etc.
  • 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.
  • In web meetings, even with audio & video enabled, we cannot stream pre-recorded video such as a training video in MOV format. It seems like this should be simple but I'm told only 1 or 2 competitors can do it.
  • The "WebPlayer" plugin that's required for screen-sharing, etc. is not easy to push out. IBM does not supply a typical .MSI file for easy deployment to Windows clients so we had to come up with our own work-around.
  • As is typical with most IBM software, the error messages -- though admittedly quite rare in Sametime -- are not helpful.
  • We do not have WebSphere experts on staff so there were considerable consulting costs to install and update the Sametime environment, which required 8 VM servers in our environment. Once up and running, though, the environment needs little or no "care and feeding" to operate.
IBM Sametime is extremely well suited in an environment where IBM Notes is used for collaboration, since this is what it was designed for. IBM Sametime is also designed to scale well to handle thousands of users (or more), so it is suitable for large to very large deployments.

IBM Sametime would probably not be well suited for environments smaller than, say, 500 users. This is primarily due to the high cost of consulting to get the environment installed and kept up to date. However, organizations that size are probably looking at cloud services anyway.
Cloud PBX (5)
N/A
N/A
Hosted PBX
N/A
N/A
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
N/A
N/A
User templates
N/A
N/A
Call reports
N/A
N/A
Directory of employee names
N/A
N/A
Call Management (5)
N/A
N/A
Answering rules
N/A
N/A
Call recording
N/A
N/A
Call park
N/A
N/A
Call screening
N/A
N/A
Message alerts
N/A
N/A
VoIP system collaboration (2)
90%
9.0
Video conferencing
90%
9.0
Audio conferencing
90%
9.0
Mobile apps (2)
100%
10.0
Mobile app for iOS
100%
10.0
Mobile app for Android
100%
10.0
  • Faster response times to inquiries internally, from tech support to HR to marketing and finance. This means employees are generally happy with the technology and have improved their efficiency overall.
  • Better customer service from the Sales staff who have embraced the technology. The ability to reach in and see who's available and get a quick answer for a customer is very satisfying for us and for our customers.
  • If there is a negative impact, it's been that some people see Chat as "distracting" and who have complained that this technology hurts us more than helps us. At the end of the day, Sametime is just another tool and we have to train our users to use their tools appropriately.
IBM's Sametime solution did not require that third party users have their own account, which was a big win over Skype at the time we reviewed that solution. Additionally we found users were frustrated with GoToMeeting and WebEx (the two big names at the time) because plugins had to be downloaded and installed (and frequently updated) for those to work.

Not only was Sametime a "zero-load", no plug-in client for anyone participating, but it had a cleaner interface. Integration with IBM Notes was a big factor for us initially, and as time went on we were happy to see IBM provide solid iOS apps as well.

Another advantage for us was our users could make and keep their web meeting rooms, fully stocked with presentations and other files, ready to go whenever they needed to use them. Integration with the Notes calendar meant it was easy to send out an invitation with the correct link.
Across the board, from customer service to traveling Sales to IT and manufacturing staff.
Mainly the support person assists with end-user training and adjusting the configuration to best support what end-users want. Secondarily this person provides some technical support but most of that is outsourced to a consultant. Sametime is a complex suite of technology and the downside of that is expensive consulting is needed to initially setup the environment and then perform any major upgrades.
  • Presenting across geographies. While we don't claim it reduces travel expenses, Sametime does increase the amount of time remote teams spend working together without increasing any travel expenses.
  • Cross-training. Whether for new hires or current users that are using new software or processes, sharing my screen is invaluable. Far better than sending dozens of screenshots via email!
  • Connecting otherwise disconnected people. Traveling sales people are often disconnected from the rest of their team unless they go out of their way to check in. With Sametime, the internal team can tell when the Sales person is available or on the move.
  • Fast file transfers. Many of our users still rely on email to get files to other users. However, that introduces delays and can be frustrating. By using Sametime to transfer files instead, the transfer is practically instantaneous.
  • One issue we've had for years is when someone wanted to present a slide deck from a PC in another office, they either had to copy their presentation to an "open" shared drive (clogged with thousands of files), take their file on a USB stick, or email it to someone who had access to the presentation room. With Sametime meetings, users can load up a meeting room (which they can keep and re-use for repeating meetings) and just log into the web interface to present.
  • Sales sometimes field complaints when on-site at a customer. They used to take dozens of photos and email those photos to basically everyone they could think of, hoping to get a quick response. Now they can contact a person who's actually available and, using Sametime's file transfer, take a photo on their phone and immediately transfer it to that person. It saves a lot of time and reduces confusion and re-work.
  • Using AV calling from smartphones, you can point the device's camera to a scene -- say, machinery or some kind of process -- and share that with the meeting attendees. This has been a great way to "live stream" to a private, internal audience and has the benefit of not cluttering up users' devices with large video files.
  • We are hoping to reduce travel expenses as users get more comfortable with AV calling direct from their PCs and mobile devices.
  • At some point we would like to integrate Sametime with our phone system. It should not be difficult but it is just not a priority for us.
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.
Yes
We replaced several publicly available services with Sametime. We were looking at Sametime anyway but users -- to fill various needs -- were using services such as WebEx, GoToMeeting, Skype, LogMeIn, and others. We were happy to discover that Sametime covered all those, or at least the features our users were using, and in addition we could keep the Sametime environment on-premises to integrate with other systems.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
  • Analyst Reports
  • Third-party Reviews
Product Features. Sametime eclipsed all the other solutions under a single platform. That would ultimately save time by reducing the amount of training users would need.
Now, several years later, cloud services are more easily integrated (with e.g. ActiveDirectory, mobile, etc.) whereas at the time, we prioritized integration over most other features. Integration was much easier to accomplish with on-premises systems so it was a primary driver for Sametime over its cloud / SaaS competitors.
IBM Support is, and has been for years, top notch. It's rare that my issue is not resolved within 24 hours. They do not give up on difficult issues, and they get engineers, developers, etc. to weigh in on the issue before I would ever consider escalating it.
Yes
The bug was with their mobile chat app. I was the first to report the issue and it was 100% fixed in <2 weeks.
They ALWAYS provide exceptional support! I can not think of any time when IBM Support merely solved an issue and closed the case without follow-up to make sure everything was working as it should. IBM Support also rarely plays the "blame game" that is so common. There are many cases where they could blame Microsoft's Windows of Apple's iOS, but instead they try to get hard data to prove or disprove where the root cause is.
  • The Meetings and Calendar integration is particularly helpful, not only on the PC / Mac client but also on mobile devices.
  • Sametime significantly reduces barriers to user collaboration & sharing. Our high-tech users had no problem using 3rd party services for e.g. screen-sharing before we introduced Sametime, but most of our users would never have attempted it without that functionality built-in and in easy reach. Now, screen-sharing to help a co-worker or train a new hire is very commonplace.
  • Making myself available from the mobile device is also really easy and really useful. Reporting my location (town & state) via GPS is also helpful because people in the office can easily see where I am.
  • Joining a web meeting by clicking a URL should open the "rich client" if it's installed on the PC, but we've found that to be hit-and-miss. The rich client is a bit faster and includes a few advanced features that are not in the pure web-based client, particularly for the presenter.
  • It's too easy to accidentally start an group chat. Occasionally you get "invited" to join a chat with 100 other confused users, and the person who started it accidentally sometimes gets so embarrassed that they won't use Sametime anymore after that.
  • Allowing & Taking control of a screen-share session is something most users need to be trained on first, otherwise they just don't get it. The UI design should be streamlined and made more obvious; it's a little obscure and requires too much thought to get it to work correctly.
Yes
There are 2 mobile apps for Sametime: Chat and Meetings. Both apps work REALLY well and can be automated by various MDMs for easy deployment.

The Chat app gives you presence awareness and the ability to Chat (of course) plus make or take AV calls. Additionally you can share your location via GPS (town & state) and an option to disconnect you from Sametime automatically after so much elapsed time.

The Meetings app is also handy. You can host and watch online meetings, though of course hosting a meeting is easier on a larger screen such as an iPad. The ability to mark up ("whiteboard") and take notes via the Discussion panel is very helpful.
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.
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.
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.
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.
  • ActiveDirectory, for authentication and user "business card" details.
  • IBM Notes, for calendar integration and Chat History preservation.
  • Apple iOS, via MobileIron, for mobile app deployment and auto-configuration. Users don't need to know the server name, ports, etc. It just works.
Not terribly difficult for any of them.
  • IP phone systems (various...each office has their own).
Yes, I have heard several times that it's possible and supported and not terribly difficult. I'm sure it's more difficult than what was stated, but it sounds like it's very much achievable if we made it a priority.
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
MDM (mobile device management). This makes it possible to "deploy" supported apps and pre-configure them so users don't have to.
Not everything went smoothly the first time. ActiveDirectory is always the cause of the biggest headaches when working with non-Microsoft software, but in the end we got it figured out without too much mucking about. Once that was done, the integration has worked perfectly.
Find a consulting firm who has installed Sametime before. IBM's back-end technologies are amazing for their performance, but they are VERY complex.
Return to navigation