IBM Notes Full Feature Email and More, a Good Mid-Size Solution
Updated July 02, 2019

IBM Notes Full Feature Email and More, a Good Mid-Size Solution

Christopher Stark | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Notes

IBM Notes is being used across the entire organization both nationally and internationally. Notes is primarily our email, calendar, and contacts solution, but also serves as a collaboration tool, messaging, and database client/server.
  • Data sharing via small database format is valuable as they are quickly deployed, easily managed and distributed on backend email servers.
  • Integrated messaging allows quick communications between geographical sites reducing long distance costs.
  • Policy documents for registering new users, setting initial security levels, assigning default database access is managed easily with the admin client.
  • There is room for improvement in the OS compatibility arena. IBM Notes tends to run behind and crash issues exist.
  • I would like the Recent Contacts feature removed, it has caused many issues within our organization, it is activated by default after a local installation.
  • Client misunderstanding of the "All Documents" view. This is a dangerous view, primarily because many users misunderstand it as a "folder".
  • As an overall solution for email communication, it has been effective in so far as the licensing per client being very competitive!
  • Having largely autonomous administrative control per datacenter has been valuable for expedience. Sites do not have to wait to enable features.
  • Availability of qualified administrative personnel or the lack thereof has impacted management and deployment.
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.
I believe Notes is well suited for small to midsize organizations that could utilize it's integrated database and messaging components. The format of the databases, however, leave the migration of those databases problematic inasmuch as compatibility to other platforms is an issue. I believe most end users find the interface open and intuitive with features that are useful and functional.

HCL Notes Feature Ratings

Task Management
7
Scheduling
6
Mobile Access
7
Search
7
Chat
9
Notifications
8
Discussions
8
Surveys
6
Versioning
6
Video files
3
Audio files
3
Document collaboration
7
Access control
8
Advanced security features
8