HCL Sametime vs Office 365 comparison

The compared HCLSoftware and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. HCLSoftware is ranked #15 in VM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.4% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in CCP , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 9.9% 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

451 Views
383 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 152 Office 365 reviews

3,965 Views
2,894 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.

To learn more, read our detailed Virtual Meetings Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

March 2026

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Helped 885,286 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 (15th)

Office 365

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

152

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 1.4%, up 0.4% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 9.9% mindshare, up 4.9% since last year.

Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HCL Sametime	1.4%
Zoom Workplace Business	8.6%
Webex	6.4%
Other	83.6%

Virtual Meetings

Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Office 365	9.9%
Google Workspace	8.9%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise	8.4%
Other	72.8%

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

"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."

"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."

"Every application in the Office 365 bundle is beneficial, making day-to-day tasks easier."

"Office 365 allows me to access documents and work on them much quicker, and I find it beneficial as it includes Outlook, which improves my workflow efficiency."

"Office 365 has AI capabilities that improve our processes, as we are using Copilot to assist us in writing documents."

"Office 365 significantly improves our operational efficiency by consolidating our phone system, file storage, and email into one ecosystem."

"The most valuable features in Office 365 for me are productivity, as all my productivity requirements are fulfilled, and communication capabilities."

"Office 365 is reliable and enhances productivity by allowing my team to use the same documents with multiple versions."

"The most innovative feature of Office 365 is the Power Apps, which allows us to automate literally everything that we want automated."

"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."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."

"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."

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

"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 could be easier to use at first. Tutorials are needed to know how to use the solution."

"Depending on use cases, Office 365 could be improved in terms of scalability."

"It could be more user-friendly for inexperienced people."

"The language feature in Copilot for Arabic specifically needs more machine learning enhancement, and the tables in Microsoft Word need to be more flexible, similar to those in Microsoft Excel."

"They should reduce the license fees....otherwise its the best office solution till date from the Microsoft."

"There is no direct return on investment as IT is a cost center."

"I feel frustrated with Microsoft support sometimes, rating it a five. It is difficult to get through to support, and they often refer us to guides to solve problems rather than providing direct support."

"Since we are using a cloud base, for stability, I can rate it 8, because there are some performance issues and outages I've encountered."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The price of Office 365 is very expensive."

"I think that we pay $9.99 USD per user, monthly."

"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."

"The pricing is good for all the features that we receive, e.g., Skype for Business."

"Licensing, billing, and accounting are available from the management interface."

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

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

"The pricing/licensing is easy to manage."

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

12%

Marketing Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

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	70

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...

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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?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Office 365 is that it is moderate.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Office 365?

Office 365 can be improved by increasing support, which currently is not efficient and takes a lot of time to resolve issues. It has been observed that support personnel often lack hands-on experie...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Office 365?

Email and collaboration are the main use cases for Office 365 at Omagi Media Labs. It is used for internal and external communication in daily work. Groups and Teams groups are created and used in ...

See all answers

Comparisons

TeamViewer vs HCL Sametime

Compared 22% of the time

Skype for Business vs HCL Sametime

Compared 22% of the time

Webex vs HCL Sametime

Compared 20% of the time

GoToMeeting vs HCL Sametime

Compared 18% of the time

Vidyo vs HCL Sametime

Compared 17% of the time

More HCL Sametime Competitors

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 41% of the time

Symphony vs Office 365

Compared 10% of the time

Dropbox Business - Enterprise vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

Quip vs Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

March 2026

Download HCL Sametime product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

March 2026

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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