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Adobe Experience Manager vs HCL Connections comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Adobe Experience Manager provides a positive ROI through ease of use, efficient updates, analytics leadership, and flexible content modification.
Sentiment score
7.2
Users achieved ROI from HCL Connections in nine months by encouraging daily use and eliminating redundant features like chat.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Adobe Experience Manager support is skilled but slow, varying by company size, focusing on base issues over custom code.
Sentiment score
6.5
HCL Connections' customer service varies, with mixed reviews on support responsiveness and challenges in reaching knowledgeable staff.
They are attentive to big companies but tend to be negligent towards mid-sized companies.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Adobe Experience Manager efficiently scales for large enterprises, handling load stress, easy customization, and smooth cloud migration post-transition.
Sentiment score
7.6
HCL Connections offers high scalability with effective IBM WebSphere support, despite Solr search limitations and manageable storage challenges.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Adobe Experience Manager is stable and secure, with cloud version benefits, despite some setup and integration issues.
Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Connections is stable on WebSphere but needs tuning for performance; IBM support addresses occasional instability effectively.
 

Room For Improvement

Adobe Experience Manager faces criticism for its high cost, complexity, limited documentation, inefficient support, and challenging integration with Microsoft.
HCL Connections needs better document management, interface customization, third-party integration, collaboration, and cloud stability for improved usability.
Technical support could be improved, especially for smaller companies.
 

Setup Cost

Adobe Experience Manager is expensive with variable licensing, but efficient for large websites and offers a one-month free trial.
HCL Connections pricing varies widely, offers discounts, flexible licensing, and competitive pricing compared to Jive or SharePoint.
For large enterprises, the cost is often comparable with other major CMSs.
 

Valuable Features

Adobe Experience Manager offers ease of use, integration with Adobe Marketing Cloud, and robust tools for digital asset and content management.
HCL Connections enhances collaboration with file sharing, tool integration, expert profiles, mobile access, and efficient content management.
The integration of customer behavior and website setup is impressive.
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe Experience Manager
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (8th), Web Content Management (3rd), Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) (1st)
HCL Connections
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Enterprise Social Software category, the mindshare of Adobe Experience Manager is 3.3%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL Connections is 1.0%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Social Software
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Becker - PeerSpot reviewer
Impressive integration of customer behavior with an easy setup and okay support
I've worked with all major content management systems. Currently, I work with the leaders such as Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, and Acquia Working with big companies, I help them either consider setting up a new content management system or address issues they might have with their existing…
Hasnain Zahid - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable tool useful to manage marketing-related activities
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Sometimes, the portal hangs because I find that if I am on a web page, I have to log out, and then I have to log in to the portal again. Since I see that the portal hangs at times, I have to move from one side of the portal to the next, making me feel that some things are scattered in the product. I attended a meeting with IBM recently, and they are improving a few of the things, in my opinion. The concerns that I have related to the product are being improved since I think many other users have reported issues similar to the ones I faced.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
39%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
30%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Media Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Adobe Experience Manager?
It is easy to learn. You don't need to be an advanced Java developer.
What needs improvement with Adobe Experience Manager?
While there are many aspects that could be improved, discussing them would require more time. The licensing model is opaque, and technical support could be improved, especially for smaller companies.
What is your primary use case for Adobe Experience Manager?
I've worked with all major content management systems. Currently, I work with the leaders such as Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, and Acquia.
What do you like most about HCL Connections?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with HCL Connections?
The support is an area where the product can improve. My company faces some support-related issues because whenever we create or generate a ticket, it takes two days for the product's support team ...
What is your primary use case for HCL Connections?
I use HCL Connections for marketing purposes. The IBM product in our company already provides us with direct links to the marketing and HR sides.
 

Also Known As

Adobe Day CQ5, Ektron Social Marketing, Episerver Content Cloud
IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Metra
Yamato Financial Co. Ltd., University of Zurich, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., Telus, Rabobank, Christian Brothers Services, Grupo Financiero Banorte, The Loft Group, Dow Water & Process Solutions, JGC Corporation, College of Medicine, Swansea University, solvito GmbH, Loft Group, Hamm-Reno Group GmbH, Geno SA
Find out what your peers are saying about Adobe Experience Manager vs. HCL Connections and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.