We performed a comparison between HCL Notes and Microsoft Exchange based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Email Applications solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."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."
"It is easy to integrate the product with other services."
"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."
"The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services."
"HCL Notes is stable most of the time."
"The product is very stable and scalable."
"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."
"The most valuable feature is the UI."
"Internal communication stability within Exchange is ensured by the stability of the internal network which is guaranteed by default."
"It is very well integrated with other Microsoft programs, teams, and so on. They work well together."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange is its ease of use."
"Communication is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"All of Exchange's features are valuable. For example, we can configure the MAPI profile, IM profile, or mobile profile."
"One of the most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange is its security."
"It is a product that is simple to manage, and easy to use."
"It is a very stable tool...It is a very scalable tool."
"The solution could improve by adding some more features."
"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."
"There is a chat component but it does not work properly."
"I would like to see integration with other solutions."
"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."
"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
"The interface could be more user-friendly. Some additional trainings could be added as well."
"Deployment should become a bit easier, the process is a bit complicated. You have to have done it one or two times before you get it right. The first time you do it, it won't be perfect. There are a lot of complications compared to Gmail For Business, which is a bit easier when it comes to configuration."
"If it was the same product, and slightly cheaper, that would be amazing."
"Nothing is perfect, that's why I am giving Microsoft Exchange a nine."
"The support needs to be more knowledgeable."
"There are limitations in terms of the number of emails that can be sent in a minute, which makes it a little difficult for the marketing folks."
"Microsoft Exchange could improve security. They can elevate a lot of security features."
"Its search functionality can be better. It is currently not really easy. It has the capability to search your mailbox, but it has some restrictions in terms of the number of results that you can retrieve. You can only get around 250 results. If you want to do a deeper search, you need to use different functionalities of the product. The policy that we have for handling emails is that we do not delete emails at all. If I insert the text that I am searching for in the Search field, it only retrieves a limited number of emails. To search for an email from 2010, I need to use different search functions to find what I am looking for. Microsoft can also improve its licensing for its products. Microsoft's licensing is not very easy to understand. It can sometimes be really complex to understand what you need to have in order to comply with Microsoft licensing."
"Exchange can be a little finicky, sometimes, or flakey. Last week, for example, I had gone into my calendar to check on some briefings that I had established, and then went back into my inbox, and suddenly the view had changed. I had no idea what it was that I had done, and I couldn't figure out how to get that view back. I took a productivity hit as a result of that, trying to fix it, due to the fact that it just wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I was used to working with. Two different tech support people had to work with me in order to get the view back to what I wanted just so I could be productive."
HCL Notes is ranked 7th in Email Applications with 13 reviews while Microsoft Exchange is ranked 3rd in Email Applications with 78 reviews. HCL Notes is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Exchange is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of HCL Notes writes "Accessible from any device, good support, and works very well for emails, document sharing, and workflows". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Exchange writes "Very stable with an easy-to-use email management system". HCL Notes is most compared with HCL Verse, HCL Domino, Google Workspace, Microsoft Exchange Online and Zimbra Collaboration, whereas Microsoft Exchange is most compared with Zimbra Collaboration, KerioConnect, HCL Domino, Open-Xchange and OpenText GroupWise. See our HCL Notes vs. Microsoft Exchange report.
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