HCL Connections vs Microsoft 365 Business comparison

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Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.""The most valuable feature is the Activity flow that is used to catch new activities."

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"Valuable features are video conferencing, email, and Office suite.""What I like is that Office 365 is nicely integrated with our email application Outlook. We also don't have to worry about updates. They are free, and they just happen automatically.""I definitely like the user interface.""The initial setup is very straightforward.""The most valuable features have been the performance and ease of use.""We are satisfied with technical support.""The product has good pricing. It's quite inexpensive.""I like the fact that everything is online. It makes the solution very accessible."

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Cons
"The support is an area where the product can improve...If you are having an issue on a Monday, the support personnel will contact you next Monday.""The inclusion of a file plugin for Windows Explorer would make it easier to use."

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"The integration with other platforms could be improved.""Its price could be better.""This solution could improve by having better integration with other platforms.""I am pretty happy with its features. However, it could be cheaper for long-term business use.""The platform’s GUI could be more simple to understand.""The OneDrive part could be more user-friendly, because many people want to use it.""I have used the normal Excel Microsoft 365 worksheets. When it goes to macro running then 365 is not that user-friendly.""They should improve the screen sharing feature in Microsoft Teams."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
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  • "Depending on which plan you purchase, there are a plethora of applications available to you."
  • "Compared to buying a license, it is much cheaper and a good buy."
  • "We do monthly billing, however, I'm not sure what the exact costs are. We may pay around $1,000/month. We started using the Microsoft Teams and we've started doing the conference call feature, so that's another $4 an account and we have a few accounts using that right now."
  • "USD $1,250 annually for the standard package."
  • "Pricing can vary a lot due to fluctuations in exchange rates and that is not favorable for planning."
  • "Now you can select different licenses, for example, if somebody doesn't need all of the features, it would cost $8 USD per month and if they didn't need the email application then it would cost $6 USD per month."
  • "It works out to be $12.50 per user per month."
  • "Microsoft 365 Business will be good to have if you have a large organization where you have more than 3000 employees. Other cheaper solutions, like Gmail, are easily available in the market."
  • More Microsoft 365 Business Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
    Top Answer: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 to… more »
    Top Answer: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.
    Top Answer:I am highly satisfied with the security features and user-friendly interface.
    Top Answer:The base price is reasonable, but when it comes to the specialized tools for servers, the cost can become quite high.
    Top Answer:There is potential for it to offer even more features such as compliance reporting and device management. Given the rapid growth of other companies, especially in product management, I believe that… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    182
    Comparisons
    100
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    649
    Rating
    9.0
    Views
    564
    Comparisons
    271
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    285
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
    Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
    Learn More
    Overview

    IBM Connections™ is a leading unified collaboration and social networking solution that helps you filter out the noise to get work done. Connections empowers your teams and organization to engage with the right experts, accelerate innovation, and deliver results. All the collaboration tools you need to be productive are united under a single sign-on so you can reduce time spent switching between disparate tools and focus on the people and work that matters most. Experience a security-rich and business-compliant environment sanctioned by IT. Confidently share knowledge within your teams and your organization, and extend collaboration beyond traditional boundaries. Connections can enable you to improve decision-making, increase productivity, and accelerate time-to-market. Shift from being merely productive, to truly effective with Connections today.

    IBM Connections can help you: Engage experts. People-centric platform enables you to easily locate the expertise you need, right now. Accelerate innovation. Illuminate and promote new ideas within a thriving social network of teams and communities. Empower teams. Get work done together and take action; anywhere—from any device. Deliver results. Leverage cognitive insights to prioritize results and arrive at better outcomes. Extend collaboration. Safely collaborate with customers and partners, bringing them into the conversation.

    Microsoft 365 Business is an integrated solution, bringing together the best-in-class productivity of Office 365 with advanced security and device management capabilities to help safeguard your business.

    Sample Customers
    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
    Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Transportation Company12%
    Government8%
    Insurance Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization31%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Insurance Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Government7%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Healthcare Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise42%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise48%

    HCL Connections is ranked 6th in Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) with 55 reviews while Microsoft 365 Business is ranked 2nd in Mobile Device Management (MDM) with 240 reviews. HCL Connections is rated 8.2, while Microsoft 365 Business is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of HCL Connections writes "Provides potent document sharing with good integration with the Microsoft desktop and smartphones". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft 365 Business writes "Improves productivity and allows team collaboration in organizations". HCL Connections is most compared with Skype for Business, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, whereas Microsoft 365 Business is most compared with Google Workspace, Microsoft Intune, ManageEngine Endpoint Central and Windows Autopilot.

    We monitor all Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.