HCL Sametime vs Office 365 comparison

The compared HCLSoftware and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. HCLSoftware is ranked #17 in VM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.0% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in CCP , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 10.5% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

HCL Sametime

Read 5 HCL Sametime reviews

282 Views
206 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 150 Office 365 reviews

2,723 Views
1,961 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

HCL Sametime

Office 365

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HCL Sametime and Office 365 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, Cisco, TeamViewer and others in Virtual Meetings.

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Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

December 2025

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Helped 879,310 peers since 2012

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 Sametime

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtual Meetings (17th)

Office 365

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

150

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. HCL Sametime is designed for Virtual Meetings and holds a mindshare of 1.0%, up 0.6% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 10.5% mindshare, up 4.7% since last year.

Virtual Meetings Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HCL Sametime	1.0%
Zoom Workplace Business	10.8%
Webex	9.1%
Other	79.1%

Virtual Meetings

Content Collaboration Platforms Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Office 365	10.5%
Google Workspace	10.5%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise	9.2%
Other	69.8%

Content Collaboration Platforms

Featured Reviews

Bogdan Chechlowski

Kierownik Biura Informatyki at EIB SA

Stable product, communicate very fast and allows to see who's online in the office or work environment

It was used for communication through text messages, primarily Being able to see who was online and communicate very fast was a good feature. The security was quite good. However, when we tried to implement it for email at a high level, we had to use another solution, FortiMail Gateway. I view…

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Anubrata Ghosh

Technical Manager at Landmark Group

Teams streamlines collaboration but Outlook experiences occasional slowness on Mac

Teams is a really good collaboration tool. You can work basically at any part of the world and communicate and collaborate with anybody, as long as they are connected to the internet. It helps with remote work, and although I don't work remotely, I have offices in Dubai and different geographical locations. It helps me connect with my colleagues and team who are not in the same geography as I am in Bangalore. Teams can facilitate team meetings, screen sharing, and organizing meetings.Regarding security, we have two-factor authentication governed by organizational policy. When trying to login to Office 365, Teams, or any Office 365 app, we are required to provide a password and use Microsoft Authenticator to sign in using a code. This is how two-factor authentication is implemented in our organization. Office 365 offers a suite of apps including OneNote, though I don't use it very often. In terms of integration with Microsoft ecosystem, it offers everything needed to get work done without any hassle.

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

"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."

"The security was quite good."

"Office 365 is a good tool for daily tasks and collaborative activities, mainly using Microsoft SharePoint which integrates with other tools to facilitate collaboration such as file sharing among colleagues."

"Office 365 has great possibilities for integration, such as single sign-on and the Azure part of it."

"Office 365's most valuable features include its cloud storage and the ability to have the same document accessible on multiple devices."

"The cloud storage and real-time collaboration features are incredibly valuable."

"Office 365 is popular and easy to use due to its intuitive interface, and the collaboration with OneDrive allows us to access anything, anywhere, in the same format across devices, including mobile phones."

"Office 365 brings a very strong return on investment through time savings and different efficiencies."

"Office 365 is very easy to use and it's fast, with functionalities that allow for seamless simulations, and the collaboration features, especially when working with technology sectors, are highly useful."

"The key features for me in Office 365 are the formulas that I can create and design my own formulas, including functions like addition, submission, IF conditions, and concatenate conditions, which allow me to handle any kind of report I need."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."

"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."

"Data protection and email security are almost the same for all the organizations, irrespective of their segment (SMB or enterprises), with standard subscription at least basic Data loss prevention and Advance threat protection can be enabled for SMB segments, it is available in enterprise version / Premium versions."

"The integration with mobile services is not so good. It's coming, but they could improve a lot."

"There are some complexities to the initial setup if you use some of the more advanced features."

"We have had some connectivity issues."

"The one big problem with the solution is if you are presenting in Teams and someone puts their hand up, you don't get a notification. If you are running a meeting and just presenting you don't know that people have their hands up and want to ask a question."

"Office 365 could allow for smoother collaboration with other companies, which is the main reason we use it. The B2B connection is something we need, like global adverse lists between two tenants or multiple users. That's what we're missing at the moment."

"In the next release, I would like to have a more intuitive tutorial."

"Microsoft Word is a little bit left behind regarding the tools it has."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Good reporting and good value subscriptions for international calls."

"I would rate the solution 3 out of 5 for the price. I think Microsoft presents a good solution concerning the price."

"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis, or we prepay them."

"The pricing is not really high, but one can get the software with the license key for free."

"The pricing/licensing is easy to manage."

"We have a license to use this solution. We have an E3 license which covers many different solutions."

"The pricing is high and has actually caused us to limit the number of licenses we purchase due to budgeting."

"Most of the time, we purchase Microsoft Exchange licenses, which are less expensive and provide only an email platform and 50 gigabytes of email storage for free."

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

19%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	62
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	68

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Sametime?

I view it as part of HCL Notes and Domino, and my opinion is similar to those products. It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or oth...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL Sametime?

It was used for communication through text messages, primarily.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering HCL Sametime?

Overall, it was quite good. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It's a better product than some others from HCL, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it, given the availability of superior alternatives.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?

I didn't inquire about the specific costs of transitioning from the previous tools. However, I was informed that the cost of using the Microsoft ecosystem is higher than the combined cost of using ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Office 365?

I don't have any ideas off the top of my head at the moment about what I would improve about Office 365. I can't think of anything that frustrates me about the tools. I mentioned that I use Copilot...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Office 365?

We use the Microsoft Office 365 suite for personal purposes. We use Teams for communications, and we use Azure DevOps for some of our workflow management. I use Office 365 for Outlook for emails. I...

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 53% of the time

Symphony vs Office 365

Compared 9% of the time

Dropbox Business - Enterprise vs Office 365

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Quip vs Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

December 2025

Download HCL Sametime product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

December 2025

Download Office 365 product report

Also Known As

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime

Microsoft Office 365, Office 365 Enterprise, Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E5, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business, Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium, Office 365 F1

Overview

HCL Sametime. Secure Conversations Across Any Device

Your company can’t afford to take any data risks, but your teams still need to be able to interact and react quickly, wherever they are working. Sametime offers modern instant messaging, file-sharing, and online meetings with the proven security your business can trust.

HCLSoftware

Office 365 is more than just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It provides powerful services like business-class email, online storage, and teamwork solutions that you can access from anywhere. Bring teams and resources together with solutions like Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business that make working together more productive and enjoyable regardless of where participants are located. Easily implement security and privacy controls to help protect business data and devices against malicious threats and help you meet your compliance obligations. Automatic updates ensure your employees will always have the latest features and security updates.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Connect2Cloud, Superior Group, Daifuku Co. Ltd., Seaward, The City of Fort Worth, Christian Brothers Services, Berlitz, Deutsche Notes User Group, Danske Fysioterapeuter, Slumberland, La Vacanza, Rheinmetall AG

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