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HCL Notes pros and cons

Vendor: HCLSoftware
3.9 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

HCL Notes is very stable and scalable, with excellent integration capabilities.
It provides stratospheric security, including field-level security and secure encryption.
It excels in workflow applications, managing approvals and tracking with ease.
It offers unique capabilities with strong replication features for offline access.
HCL Notes is easy to manage, set up, and migrate, standing out against other platforms.

CONS

Notes uses more resources than an email client should and needs improved performance.
Some features and integrations with other solutions are lacking or need enhancement.
The loading time is excessive, affecting efficiency.
Upgrading web support and implementing modern features could greatly benefit users.
HCL needs more market visibility as many companies prefer Exchange or Outlook over Notes.
 

HCL Notes Pros review quotes

reviewer1419795 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Analyst at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sep 14, 2020
The product is very stable and scalable.
it_user1510131 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Supoort Engineer L2 at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 25, 2021
The solution provides great security.
reviewer1600272 - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Delivery Manager at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Jun 15, 2021
The most valuable feature is the UI.
Learn what your peers think about HCL Notes. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MR
Diretor at MASTERDOM
Nov 3, 2021
The solution is practical, good interface, and performs well.
AT
IT Director at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Dec 3, 2021
The initial setup was easy for me.
NB
Administration & Technical Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Jan 5, 2022
Its security is absolutely stratospheric. In an application, you can lock down to field-level security. For example, I could log in and see a field in an HR database with salaries. When you log in, you see exactly the same database, but the field with the salary just isn't there. So, you can literally have field-level security on it, and you can also have secure encryption. For example, I could give you that database allowing you to see the salary, but a calculation that shows how much they get per month in another field is encrypted. So, you won't be able to see that because you don't have the encryption key. You can implement high-level security very simply.
Bogdan Chechlowski - PeerSpot reviewer
Kierownik Biura Informatyki at EIB SA
Feb 22, 2022
The most valuable feature is the access that it provides to documents. This offers us an easy way to make changes.
Narendra Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at a consultancy with self employed
May 10, 2022
HCL Notes is stable most of the time.
Chiheb Charmiti - PeerSpot reviewer
IS Manager & Consultant HCL Domino at JACOB & ASSOCIATES
May 18, 2022
It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents.
TA
COE at Asia Pacific Computer Services
May 19, 2022
HCL Notes has fantastic built-in security. The email and personal communication components are excellent, but they are some applications provided by HCL that Notes previously provided when it was under IBM and Lotus. Everyone wants email, so that's just part of the product. However, more savvy users can build their own solutions for managing information, and that's the great thing about it.
 

HCL Notes Cons review quotes

reviewer1419795 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Analyst at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sep 14, 2020
Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI.
it_user1510131 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Supoort Engineer L2 at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 25, 2021
GUI and replication can be improved.
reviewer1600272 - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Delivery Manager at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Jun 15, 2021
I would like to see integration with other solutions.
Learn what your peers think about HCL Notes. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MR
Diretor at MASTERDOM
Nov 3, 2021
The solution could improve by adding some more features.
AT
IT Director at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Dec 3, 2021
The interface could be more user-friendly. Some additional trainings could be added as well.
NB
Administration & Technical Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Jan 5, 2022
The only improvement that we're planning to do is that all our applications are still designed in the layout and format of Notes version 4, and our plan over the coming years is to modernize their look. One of the things they're developing or considering deploying is a program to automatically upgrade the look and feel of databases. If they deploy that, that will be revolutionary. In other words, we decide on a corporate look and feel for our database and press a button. We've probably got 50 different applications in Notes, and it would just go through the whole lot and upgrade all of them to look the same.
Bogdan Chechlowski - PeerSpot reviewer
Kierownik Biura Informatyki at EIB SA
Feb 22, 2022
We had trouble connecting this solution to the database from Microsoft. We have done it, although it can be easier.
Narendra Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at a consultancy with self employed
May 10, 2022
The loading time can be excessive.
Chiheb Charmiti - PeerSpot reviewer
IS Manager & Consultant HCL Domino at JACOB & ASSOCIATES
May 18, 2022
I love this product. I have used it for many years, and I have been a developer for it. If anything, it can be faster in the client version. The client version is a little bit hard. It is not fast. This is the only problem I see. Otherwise, it is a very good product.
TA
COE at Asia Pacific Computer Services
May 19, 2022
I would like to HCL update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products. For example, there's a programming language that I used for my product Woodpecker called LotusScript. LotusScript has been available since around 1995. When LotusScript was released, it was like the original Visual Basic, but it has improved since then.