HCL Connections vs Skype for Business comparison

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Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.""The most valuable feature is the Activity flow that is used to catch new activities."

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"The simplicity and ease of use are the most valuable features. It's so much easier and quicker than writing an email to someone and waiting for them to read it.""One of the best features of Skype for Business is that you can set it up on mobile phones, and you can set it up on laptops. You can connect to the tool from anywhere.""It's a good product, we like using it.""I like the seamless integration to local telecommunications.""A good option for virtual meetings.""People are now able to virtually collaborate with their staff and have a conference call. We don't need a phone line to make that conference call and we are saving on that. People are able to share their presentations. Also, they can chat using the Skype""The most valuable feature is how useful it has been for virtual meetings during the pandemic.""Scalable communication tool that's easy to install. Even old people are using it, because of its ease of use."

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Cons
"The support is an area where the product can improve...If you are having an issue on a Monday, the support personnel will contact you next Monday.""The inclusion of a file plugin for Windows Explorer would make it easier to use."

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"Make it user friendly.""The stability could be improved.""There might be some invitation issues with Skype for Business.""Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with.""We have found that there is a lag because it cannot integrate with the internal landline.""We overcame the audio quality issues by asking users to use the 'Call Me' feature with their desk phone.""The solution has been discontinued by Microsoft.""If one of the users has a poor internet connection, this failure will compromise the meeting, causing delays and distortions in the communications."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
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  • "We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
  • "We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
  • "The pricing is really good. It is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365. It is on a per-user license, which is nice. I quite like that they have made it very granular with all of their licensing."
  • "It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
  • "It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
  • "To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
  • "The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
  • "We purchased an open license."
  • More Skype for Business Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
    Top Answer:The support is an area where the product can improve. My company faces some support-related issues because whenever we create or generate a ticket, it takes two days for the product's support team to… more »
    Top Answer:I use HCL Connections for marketing purposes. The IBM product in our company already provides us with direct links to the marketing and HR sides.
    Top Answer:Desktop sharing is a valuable feature.
    Top Answer:When it comes to the pricing of the solution, I rate it as a five out of ten. It falls somewhere in the middle between being cheap and expensive.
    Top Answer:The video conferencing quality can be improved. The video conferencing quality can be temperamental with internet access and bandwidth availability for a geographically dispersed team environment.
    Ranking
    Views
    182
    Comparisons
    100
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    649
    Rating
    9.0
    4th
    out of 62 in Virtual Meetings
    Views
    2,952
    Comparisons
    1,128
    Reviews
    22
    Average Words per Review
    340
    Rating
    7.6
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
    Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
    Learn More
    Overview

    IBM Connections™ is a leading unified collaboration and social networking solution that helps you filter out the noise to get work done. Connections empowers your teams and organization to engage with the right experts, accelerate innovation, and deliver results. All the collaboration tools you need to be productive are united under a single sign-on so you can reduce time spent switching between disparate tools and focus on the people and work that matters most. Experience a security-rich and business-compliant environment sanctioned by IT. Confidently share knowledge within your teams and your organization, and extend collaboration beyond traditional boundaries. Connections can enable you to improve decision-making, increase productivity, and accelerate time-to-market. Shift from being merely productive, to truly effective with Connections today.

    IBM Connections can help you: Engage experts. People-centric platform enables you to easily locate the expertise you need, right now. Accelerate innovation. Illuminate and promote new ideas within a thriving social network of teams and communities. Empower teams. Get work done together and take action; anywhere—from any device. Deliver results. Leverage cognitive insights to prioritize results and arrive at better outcomes. Extend collaboration. Safely collaborate with customers and partners, bringing them into the conversation.

    Skype for Business offers features including presence, IM, voice and video calls, online meetings, conferencing, and telephony solutions that support enterprise-level collaboration requirements. Skype for Business Record meetings, share your screen, and annotate PowerPoint for real-time collaboration with up to 250 people and use whiteboard, polls, Q&A, and built-in IM during your business meetings to make them more productive. Skype for Business provides new client experience, Skype for Business Server provides several new features to improve manageability of on-premises servers and hybrid solutions. Skype for Business also supports the Lync client experience so that you can choose a phased upgrade approach to the new client experience for users. Skype for Business is also an integral part of Microsoft Office 365, providing PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX, PSTN Calling, and Skype Meeting Broadcast capabilities to Office 365 users.
    Sample Customers
    Yamato Financial Co. Ltd., University of Zurich, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., Telus, Rabobank, Christian Brothers Services, Grupo Financiero Banorte, The Loft Group, Dow Water & Process Solutions, JGC Corporation, College of Medicine, Swansea University, solvito GmbH, Loft Group, Hamm-Reno Group GmbH, Geno SA
    EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Transportation Company12%
    Government8%
    Insurance Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization31%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Insurance Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    University8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization87%
    Computer Software Company2%
    Government2%
    Financial Services Firm2%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise42%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise46%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business4%
    Midsize Enterprise89%
    Large Enterprise8%

    HCL Connections is ranked 6th in Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) with 55 reviews while Skype for Business is ranked 4th in Virtual Meetings with 59 reviews. HCL Connections is rated 8.2, while Skype for Business is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of HCL Connections writes "Provides potent document sharing with good integration with the Microsoft desktop and smartphones". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Skype for Business writes "Reliable, useful for remote work, and great but isn't as robust as Microsoft Teams". HCL Connections is most compared with SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Yammer and Atlassian Confluence, whereas Skype for Business is most compared with Webex, Zoom, TeamViewer, Cisco Meeting Server and Kamailio SIP Server.

    We monitor all Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.