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 0.6% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #2 in CCP , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 8.8% 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

217 Views
122 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 145 Office 365 reviews

2,200 Views
1,474 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, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings.

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Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

August 2025

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Helped 867,497 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

6.6

Number of Reviews

145

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)

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 0.6%, down 0.7% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 8.8% mindshare, up 6.0% since last year.

Virtual Meetings Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HCL Sametime	0.6%
Zoom Workplace Business	15.3%
Webex	12.6%
Other	71.5%

Virtual Meetings

Content Collaboration Platforms Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Office 365	8.8%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise	10.1%
Microsoft OneDrive for Business	9.4%
Other	71.7%

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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Gary Cook

Executive at Empowered Analytics

Access to advanced features boosts productivity despite pricing concerns in developing regions

I need to do maintenance for Office 365 very seldom, once a year. In the maintenance process for Office 365, we have about 12 people involved. For the maintenance side of Office 365, only one person is involved. Looking at Office 365's pricing, I would give it a 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. My overall rating for Office 365 is an 8 out of 10, but for the product itself, I would give it a 10. I would definitely recommend Office 365 to other businesses, probably a 9 out of 10 for recommendation. This is only because of its price and the fact that they do not take into account developing countries such as South Africa, where they should give us more favorable prices or local prices. We do not have a partnership with Microsoft, which is a sore point for us. We have reached out to Microsoft South Africa, and they are very hard to contact and largely uncooperative. We are a B-Level 2 and a B-Level 1, which are local affirmative action ratings that companies get. Level 1 is the highest, and Level 8 is the lowest. We hold amongst the highest BEE ratings, but we have not found Microsoft South Africa to be forthcoming or very open. We should have a partnership with them, and we run Power BI as we are a Power BI shop now. I strongly would want to see a box within Office 365 for our team to have ChatGPT through OpenAI as well. We use Excel as a data source for many tasks and find that it integrates really well with Python. We write a lot of Python code and use Excel as a data sheet many times, and we operate through SQL and other zero elements as well. From an Office 365 viewpoint, we find that with Copilot and Python and Excel's provision for Python, it is very useful.

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

"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."

"It is very easy to deploy."

"The most valuable feature of Office 365 is automatic saving. If something happens on the computer your work is saved."

"The most valuable features of Office 365 are Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams. Teams helped us to collaborate more through its call and document sharing features."

"Quarantine email alerts to users to allow the email to their inbox (tricky but handy) - tricky if one doesn't have third-party email security, handy if one has got good third party email security)."

"We use it for documentation management, to collaborate with Microsoft Teams, web calls, web conference calls, chats, and as a documentation repository mainly. We have an Office pack suite to be able to write documentation, make spreadsheets, and create PowerPoints."

"The most valuable feature is Microsoft Exchange."

"It has more features than somebody would expect, and it is worth taking a deeper look into the features available."

"Cloud-based management is valuable and software deployment is positive."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"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."

"We have had some connectivity issues."

"Constantly evolving with new features, which can be challenging for users."

"One of the big changes is when Microsoft updates anything, they will switch where some of the settings are and where to find them, which becomes a little frustrating because you're used to it in one spot and it's someplace else."

"Could include integration with other single sign-on solutions."

"Performance-wise, Office 365 needs a lot of bandwidth. The problem is, the solution requires very high bandwidth and internet usage. Meaning, the desktop application consumes a lot of internet data. Sometimes, when the connection is slow, it won't work and it won't load. This is an area for improvement for Office 365."

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

"Improvements can be made to the products generic offering. It's not customized for health care. It doesn't understand the meaning of health care related concepts. Providing a greater degree of industry specificity would make the tool much more unique and valuable."

"The feature to convert PDF file to a Word document needs improvement as well as the feature to save the file automatically when typing, without using the save command."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

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

"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."

"The pricing/licensing is easy to manage."

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

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

"For the moment, we are paying on a monthly basis because we are still adapting the support and how we want to proceed. I think we will move to paying for the annual license."

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

18%

Government

Outsourcing 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?

For pricing, I think it's fairly priced, I would rate it 8.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Office 365?

The areas of Office 365 that have room for improvement are what should be better in this solution.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Office 365?

A typical use case for Office 365 is how I primarily use this solution.

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 51% of the time

Dropbox Business - Enterprise vs Office 365

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Office 365

Compared 6% of the time

Atlassian Confluence vs Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

August 2025

Download HCL Sametime product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

August 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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