IBM Sametime is a solid, reliable solution!
Updated February 26, 2016
IBM Sametime is a solid, reliable solution!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Overall Satisfaction with IBM Sametime
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.
- 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.
- Microsoft Lync and Skype
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.
HCL Sametime Feature Ratings
IBM Sametime Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Escalation required |
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.
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.
Using IBM Sametime
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- 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.