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HCL Sametime vs Office 365 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
5
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (15th)
Office 365
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
153
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 1.6%, up 0.4% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 8.6% mindshare, up 6.3% since last year.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Sametime1.6%
Zoom Workplace Business7.8%
Webex5.5%
Other85.1%
Virtual Meetings
Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Office 3658.6%
Google Workspace8.1%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise7.9%
Other75.4%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Bogdan Chechlowski - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Anubrata Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A very good communication and real-time collaboration software, it is simple, fast, reliable, keeps history and the best feature of all is its intelligence."
"This solution saves time and cost in communicating with team members, streamlines tasks in my organization by encouraging us to chat directly with the relevant person, and strengthens professional relationships through increased communication among peers."
"Audio and video calls provide faster communication than chat."
"The security was quite good."
"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."
"Teams is more usable and has a lot more features."
"For me, the most valuable features in Office 365 are the integration between all of the various apps and how you can still communicate even without third-party apps."
"We don't have any problems with the scalability of Office 365."
"We have been using Office 365 for more than a year right now, and it has been predominantly incorporated with good results."
"If you do not think about the money you have to pay to activate it, the tool offers good value and many applications, making it worth it."
"OneNote is the feature I use the most. We also frequently use the Power Apps features."
"I find Office 365 convenient and easy to use, primarily because I have been a Microsoft product user for a long time, and its user-friendly interface and consistent workflow across various Microsoft products are particularly notable."
"The Teams integration and SharePoint functionality have helped with project management in work and school environments."
 

Cons

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."
"It seems that the software might in the future, support the software telephony exchange but at the current time, it is not doing that and because of that one key feature of real-time communication is missing from it."
"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."
"Office 365 is costly, but there aren't many alternatives."
"We have had some connectivity issues."
"I would rate Microsoft technical support a five or six, as the support is not satisfactory."
"I would like to see the macro functionality in Excel made simpler."
"The Microsoft Intune admin portal still needs some compatibility support to run on all browsers."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could use some customization, but it's trivial."
"It would be a fantastic opportunity if their solution could be used in combination with VoIP software, allowing you to combine VoIP software and Office 365 on a single platform."
"Sometimes the synchronization between the desktop and online is a little bit slow."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I think that we pay $9.99 USD per user, monthly."
"The pricing is not really high, but one can get the software with the license key for free."
"I would rate the solution 3 out of 5 for the price. I think Microsoft presents a good solution concerning the price."
"Good reporting and good value subscriptions for international calls."
"Licensing, billing, and accounting are available from the management interface."
"The price of Office 365 is very expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis, or we prepay them."
"The pricing is good for all the features that we receive, e.g., Skype for Business."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Meetings solutions are best for your needs.
894,998 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business63
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise70
 

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...
What is your primary use case for HCL Sametime?
It was used for communication through text messages, primarily.
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Office 365 is that it is moderate.
What needs improvement with Office 365?
Office 365 could be improved or enhanced in some ways. It would be better if it were more simple to find the points, or sometimes there are so many possible configurations that it makes you confuse...
What is your primary use case for Office 365?
Teams and Outlook are important for us, and Teams is central to our operations. I utilize Power Automate for streamlining repetitive tasks in our organization, but not for large tasks. For tasks su...
 

Comparisons

 

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

 

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
Me & the Bees Lemonade
Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, Cisco, TeamViewer and others in Virtual Meetings. Updated: April 2026.
894,998 professionals have used our research since 2012.