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HCL Connections vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server comparison

The compared HCLSoftware and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. HCLSoftware is ranked #5 in CP , with an average rating of 9.0, and holds a 3.6% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #7 in CCP , and holds a 6.3% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 76% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
HCL Connections
Read 55 HCL Connections reviews
  • 151 Views
  • 16 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
Microsoft Office SharePoint...
Read 23 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server reviews
  • 1,240 Views
  • 1,063 Comparison Views
76% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between HCL Connections and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Atlassian, Liferay and others in Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals).

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Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
June 2025
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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
55
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (5th), Enterprise Social Software (12th)
Microsoft Office SharePoint...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Content Collaboration Platforms (7th)
 

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 3.6%, up 3.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 6.3% mindshare, down 10.1% since last year.
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

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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Mehdi Hasankhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use but offers poor integrations with Oracle and has inflexible security configuration
I can't configure the current security I want. There are a lot of bots in it. 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.
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

"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."
"Document management and records management features are the most valuable."
"The collaboration, the ability for multiple users to work on a single document."
"This solution has provided us with a collaborative workspace to allow everyone to work together and be on the same page."
"The forms aspect of the solution, for example, the creation of surveys, is its most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the fact that it doesn't require coding. You just need to configure it. You don't need to code before getting something running. It makes it very fast."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the Communication Site."
"The most valuable feature is that it is very usable. I can navigate it, I can have a media call, I can have a call with my project team, so we can chat with every team kind of like WhatsApp. Any time there are projects or other things, we can chat in a secure way. It's automation-specific secure."
"The solution is pretty easy to use for the most part."
More Microsoft Office SharePoint Server pros
 

Cons

"The inclusion of a file plugin for Windows Explorer would make it easier to use."
"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 solution is like a CRM, so the initial setup is complex. It takes a few days to deploy the solution and the length of time depends on how large the company's topology is and what the client's demands are."
"The GUI is outdated."
"Many of our customers would like to see an OCR feature, so it would be very good to have this in a future release."
"The ability to preview files in different formats should be expanded to include formats such as embedded postscript (EPS), AutoCAD, and Adobe Acrobat PDF."
"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."
"The product could be improved by accommodating different technologies, particularly integration."
"I would like to see the integration with Teams reinforced."
"The areas around security, such as protection, need to be included."
More Microsoft Office SharePoint Server cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Pricing plans may be flexible depending on volume usage and your corporate relationship with Microsoft."
"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."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Educational Organization
15%
Performing Arts
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
See all answers
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 ...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

SharePoint vs HCL Connections Logo
SharePoint vs HCL Connections
Compared 100% of the time
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Amazon WorkDocs vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Compared 73% of the time
Datto Workplace vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Logo
Datto Workplace vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Compared 17% of the time
Flock vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Logo
Flock vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Compared 5% of the time
Kiteworks vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Logo
Kiteworks vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Compared 5% of the time
More Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
HCL Connections
June 2025
HCL Connections reportDownload HCL Connections product report
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
June 2025
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server reportDownload Microsoft Office SharePoint Server product report
 

Also Known As

IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
Office SharePoint Server, MS Office SharePoint Server
 

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.

HCLSoftware

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is a Microsoft software portal based on the ASP.NET framework. MOSS facilitates file sharing and collaboration, social networking, Web databases and Web publishing. It is hosted by Microsoft Windows Server and is accessible through Microsoft Office or the Web.

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
Buyer's Guide
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
June 2025
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