HCL Connections vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server comparison

Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

HCL Connections

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (5th), Enterprise Social Software (11th)

Microsoft Office SharePoint...

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

4.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (5th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. HCL Connections is designed for Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) and holds a mindshare of 6.0%, up 3.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 3.5% mindshare, down 5.9% since last year.

Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HCL Connections	6.0%
SharePoint	20.7%
Drupal	18.3%
Other	55.0%

Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)

Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server	3.5%
Office 365	8.2%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise	7.7%
Other	80.6%

Content Collaboration Platforms

Featured Reviews

Hasnain Zahid

Talent acquisition & development specialist at Software Productivity Strategists, Inc. (SPS)

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.

Read full review

Daniel Giacomelli

Security and Compliance at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has transformed how I manage documents through metadata and automation while enabling structured collaboration

Microsoft should restore some functionalities from older versions of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2003 and 2010. Specifically, bringing back something similar to SharePoint Designer would be beneficial. SharePoint Designer was both advantageous and challenging - developers found it limiting and preferred Visual Studio, while non-developers struggled to use it effectively. A new tool for configuring webpage design and development for content pages would be valuable. The current system is too basic. While integration of filtered lists and libraries is possible, it requires knowledge of Python or jQuery. A WYSIWYG editor would be preferable to requiring programming knowledge or Visual Studio.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM Connections is a good product with many functions."

"Communities are a popular way of combining blogs, wikis, files, and activities centered on a common objective or subject which proves popular and increases collaboration across people and teams."

"Communities and activities are very useful for team collaboration and project level communication."

"Sharing knowledge on IBM Connections will give you access to tap into all the knowledge that is accessible in your organization across the world."

"The ease of use has definitely improved the way my organization functions."

"All social interaction between users is really great, and I also like the Community feature and that everything is accessible via mobile devices."

"Marketing has created a community open to all internal employees where it has centralized all marketing content (brochures, presentations, communications)."

"The most important feature of IBM Connections is that it is a Social Collaboration suite covering nearly all aspects of modern enterprise communication and collaboration."

More HCL Connections pros

"The solution's most valuable aspects are its collaboration capabilities, its communications site and the innovation within the product itself."

"The online version doesn't have any bugs or glitches, doesn't crash or fail, doesn't need any infrastructure or virtual machine as it's completely online, and the cloud keeps it very stable."

"It is a decent tool for collaboration, especially if you are already using other Office products."

"I like the collaboration, the ability for multiple users to work on a single document and be able to firstly collaborate and share notes about the document, as well as being able to work on the document without losing the information."

"I believe the control and the restrictions, accesses that we can have once we decide to share any document through Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, are the most beneficial aspects for me."

"This product has improved the way our organization functions in the following manner: We are provided with policies and procedures for administration, we can store all the documentation related to all IT projects, and we have developed some workflows for automating licensing requests and other types of requests."

"The forms aspect of the solution, for example, the creation of surveys, is its most valuable aspect."

"The most valuable feature of the product is that it's robust and you can access many features from Microsoft, such as Exchange, through SharePoint."

More Microsoft Office SharePoint Server pros

Cons

"We hear complaints from our users that Connections, and other IBM products, are not intuitive."

"For us in the IBM Connections Cloud, we would like to use the capability for instant messages, but we need to have the groups sync up to the cloud from the on-premise, which it doesn't do at this point of time."

"I would like to have more control over the news delivery on the homepage. You now need a third-party app (we use XCC from Time To Act) for this."

"Initial setup was complex."

"I was involved in the setup process to an extent. It was quite complex."

"When your activity becomes really big, it can become unreliable and very slow."

"When we went from 1,000 users to 2,000 users, we hit some problems and then it required a lot of retuning and reconfiguration."

"For our Knowledge Management initiative, it would benefit to have capabilities within the tool to have one single source of information that allows access to the information needed based on the user’s role within the organization."

More HCL Connections cons

"The solution needs to enable better sharing capabilities between users and external users. Several users also have problems with linking their emails to their Microsoft account."

"The only complaint we have is about the lack of OCR capability."

"Searching information internally in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server could be better because when we get a lot of information, it is difficult to find."

"With the complexity and performance, it's hard to work with."

"I think these tools do a pretty good job. There is only one area of improvement. Maybe Microsoft can invest a little bit more into the ease at which integration can be done with other third party applications."

"Sharepoint doesn't integrate well with Oracle, and we use a lot of Oracle products at our company. Therefore, it makes more sense for us to go to Oracle instead of continuing to use Sharepoint."

"It is a bit restrictive to develop in the cloud version."

"The user interface needs improvement because there is a lot of stuff in there."

More Microsoft Office SharePoint Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It can be expensive for on-premises deployments, especially when you have to support SQL Server as your backend database. That's where the cost comes into play. SQL Server has its own licensing, which Microsoft keeps on changing. Therefore, it can become costly. In the earlier versions of SharePoint, version 2007 or 2010, they had an express version where the SQL Server licensing was free. It wasn't like a full-blown SharePoint. It was only a slimmed-down version. It used to be whatever your hardware costs. You would install the free software and work with it, but you were very limited in what you could do in SharePoint. If you wanted the SharePoint Enterprise Server with all the bells and whistles, then you had to pay more to get the SQL Server license based on the number of users or servers. The subscription model is different for cloud deployments. Licensing is per user and per month. The cost also depends on the storage required. If you have a lot of sites or documents, then you need to expand it based on your needs."

"Pricing plans may be flexible depending on volume usage and your corporate relationship with Microsoft."

"There are some aggressive discounts offered by Microsoft for organizations that are not for profit, which we are, and it makes it quite attractive to consider."

"One of the reasons why we don't recommend the cloud version of SharePoint is the cost. With the on premise version, you pay for the license once. For the cloud version, there is a recurring fee. It is very expensive. They expect everyone to pay $20 or $30 per user per month."

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910,479 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

19%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Performing Arts

Construction Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	26

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	17

Questions from the Community

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.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?

I am not aware of the pricing, so I cannot say if the solution is expensive or quite affordable.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?

My expectation when I start using a Microsoft product is that it would be easy to incorporate diagrams and such from other Microsoft Office products. Incorporating a diagram I've embedded in a slid...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?

I produce content about the work I'm doing inside the company, making information about IT architecture, work processes within IT architecture, and security reviews of applications or infrastructur...

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

SAP Build Work Zone vs HCL Connections

Compared 3% of the time

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Office 365 vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Compared 8% of the time

Hitachi Content Platform Anywhere vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle Beehive vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Compared 6% of the time

LucidLink vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

HCL Connections

Download HCL Connections product report

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Download Microsoft Office SharePoint Server product report

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server report

Also Known As

IBM Connections, Lotus Connections

Office SharePoint Server, MS Office SharePoint Server

Overview

HCL Connections offers a powerful collaboration platform designed for modern businesses, facilitating seamless communication and productivity enhancements.

HCL Connections helps organizations streamline internal communications with an array of tools that promote engagement and collaboration. Its ease of use enables teams to effectively manage projects, share knowledge, and foster innovation. This platform serves as a bridge for integrating social interactions with business processes, ensuring smooth workflows and increased productivity.

What are the critical features of HCL Connections?

Communities: Create and manage groups to collaborate on specific projects or topics.
Files: Share and manage documents securely, ensuring quick access for all team members.
Wikis: Collaboratively write and edit content for team reference and knowledge sharing.
Blogs: Allow individuals to express ideas, insights, and updates within the organization.
Activities: Organize tasks and discussions, enhancing project tracking and completion.

What benefits can HCL Connections bring?

Improved Collaboration: Enhances teamwork through centralized communication and resource sharing.
Increased Productivity: Streamlines workflows by aligning tools and processes.
Knowledge Sharing: Facilitates easy dissemination and accessibility of information.
Enhanced Engagement: Boosts employee involvement with interactive and accessible features.

In industries such as healthcare, finance, and education, HCL Connections is implemented to improve internal and external collaboration, drive competitive advantage, and meet compliance requirements. Its adaptable framework makes it suitable for different sectors, supporting better decision-making and strategic planning.

HCLSoftware

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server enhances collaboration, document management, and version control while integrating seamlessly with Office apps, Teams, and OneDrive for efficient communication and content sharing.

Offering automation, workflow management, and effective metadata usage, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server improves operational efficiency. It's user-friendly with low-code and no-code capabilities, ensuring accessibility for organizations. Robust security measures and access control with Active Directory integration provide secure data handling, while real-time editing allows multiple users to collaborate productively. Its search functionality streamlines information retrieval, although enhancing this feature could further improve usability. Addressing the need for a more intuitive interface, distinct integration between Team and SharePoint sites, workflow simplification, as well as improved performance with large data handling, would add to its practicality. Better third-party application integration, enhanced document sharing, and increased licensing flexibility are areas for potential development.

What are the key features?

Collaboration: Enables seamless team collaboration with integrated Office apps and Teams.
Document Management: Advanced version control and document sharing capabilities.
Automation: Streamlines processes with workflow management and metadata usage.
Security: Robust access control with Active Directory integration.
Real-Time Editing: Allows multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.
Search Functionality: Assists in swift information retrieval.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Improved Productivity: Real-time editing and seamless integration enhance work efficiency.
Security Assurance: Strong access control supports safe data management.
User Accessibility: Low-code and no-code features increase ease of use.
Operational Efficiency: Automates workflows and optimizes document handling.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is utilized in industries such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing for document sharing, collaboration, and internal communications. It supports project management, custom application development, and acts as an enterprise content management system. Organizations leverage its integration with Microsoft Teams for coordination and use it as a corporate portal. It facilitates data management, serves as a document library, and supports workflows with advanced capabilities like integration with Power Apps and Power BI for enhanced data visualization and interaction.

Microsoft

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

Del Monte Foods, Unicredit Leasing, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Nokia Czech Republic, Perkins Eastman, JLL, ICA, óxito Software, Dorset Software, PKP Cargo, Arcapita Bank B.S.C., AVE CZ, Chesapeake Energy

Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)