HCL Verse vs Office 365 comparison

The compared HCLSoftware and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. HCLSoftware is ranked #13 in EA , and holds a 1.5% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #2 in CCP , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 6.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

HCL Verse

Read 3 HCL Verse reviews

414 Views
312 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 143 Office 365 reviews

1,562 Views
344 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

HCL Verse

Office 365

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications.

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Buyer's Guide

Email Applications

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 Verse

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Applications (13th)

Office 365

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

143

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. HCL Verse is designed for Email Applications and holds a mindshare of 1.5%, up 1.4% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 6.8% mindshare, up 6.3% since last year.

Email Applications

Content Collaboration Platforms

Featured Reviews

Marcos Roberto Silva

Diretor at MASTERDOM

Stable, scalable, and good interface

HCL Verse has a nice interface and it is a practical email solution. There are a diverse set of features, such as the search bar on top of the screens. The usability from the old applications to the new version has been very good. It was great that we were able to migrate applications from the older version to the new one.

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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

"HCL Verse has a nice interface and it is a practical email solution. There are a diverse set of features, such as the search bar on top of the screens."

"The most valuable feature is the mail server."

"As an email provider, I believe Office 365 is the best email provider."

"The most valuable feature is the integration with OneDrive, which has allowed us, a small business, easy access to a cloud environment, with no need to back up the data from five different computers."

"My primary use case is for preparing presentations to teach, often on PowerPoint."

"The products are quite simple for the end-users to use, the up-time is very good, the product is practically maintenance-free, and the multi-layer security is excellent from the security standpoint."

"The integration with other applications is pretty good."

"The most valuable feature is the integration between net and mobile devices."

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

"It's inexpensive to license."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"Security is very important to us, so improvements to this functionality are welcome."

"The solution could improve by allowing us to use a color that we want in the editing boxes."

"I rate the support of Office 365 a four out of five."

"I started working a lot on Microsoft Teams and I find it a bit vast. It should be divided out a bit so that someone can use it for basic functionality, like audio, video, and calls. Then, if someone wants more advanced functionality for file sharing and team creation, and so on, they could use a separate app."

"Using Visual Basic, I have had a lot of trouble with relative paths when programming for Excel, and sometimes it is very difficult to debug programs."

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

"There are several additional features we would like to see, such as advanced features of SAN protection in Office 365. The main thing is the SAN protection; we would like to see a lot of advanced features added because we had a lot of spam attacks."

"A need that a company like ours has is that we want to be able to have data flow into one tool, for example, for all the management of tasks through the company and workflow of who is doing what and so on. There are no real solutions for this at the moment in Office 365. It would be nice if they could implement this in the next release, so we can have one solution from one company giving us the whole data and flow of data into the company."

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

"Normally, they have a way to work with specific developments, and I think they shouldn't allow the partners to make some changes they have made. When I have a client with a lot of changes, we have a problem with that because there aren't rules to develop inside the ERP, so you can do anything."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"This is an affordable solution but the price could be improved."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

"The price of Office 365 is very expensive."

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

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

65%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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

HCL Notes vs HCL Verse

Compared 51% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs HCL Verse

Compared 9% of the time

Huddle vs HCL Verse

Compared 9% of the time

HCL Domino vs HCL Verse

Compared 9% of the time

Hub vs HCL Verse

Compared 8% of the time

More HCL Verse Competitors

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 37% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Office 365

Compared 10% of the time

Atlassian Confluence vs Office 365

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Mindjet MindManager vs Office 365

Compared 3% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Email Applications

June 2025

Download HCL Verse product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

May 2025

Download Office 365 product report

Also Known As

Verse, IBM Verse

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

IBM Verse is a powerful email hosting solution that enables users to access their business communications from a laptop or desktop browser or from a mobile device. This email and business messaging experience is based on an innovative user-centric design, including social analytics and advanced search capabilities. IBM Verse helps users quickly find and focus on what content is most important, empowering them to build stronger working relationships while optimizing business results.

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

Canon Marketing Japan Inc., Australian Trade Commission, BTC, Havas, Canal Barge Co.Inc., RAVInvest, Elemental Path, WDR mediagroup

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