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HCL Connections vs Slack comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Users achieved ROI from HCL Connections in nine months by encouraging daily use and eliminating redundant features like chat.
Sentiment score
8.6
Organizations saw a 40% return with Slack, valuing its efficiency and productivity boost despite room for pricing improvements.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
HCL Connections' customer service varies, with mixed reviews on support responsiveness and challenges in reaching knowledgeable staff.
Sentiment score
7.1
Most users are satisfied with Slack's support, appreciating strong documentation and responsive service, especially via Twitter and APIs.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
HCL Connections offers high scalability with effective IBM WebSphere support, despite Solr search limitations and manageable storage challenges.
Sentiment score
7.7
Slack is scalable, supports thousands of users effectively, and is rated highly for expanding teams despite management challenges.
Slack is endlessly scalable.
Slack is not as comprehensive as Microsoft Teams in terms of scheduling and hosting meetings.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Connections is stable on WebSphere but needs tuning for performance; IBM support addresses occasional instability effectively.
Sentiment score
7.7
Slack is generally stable across platforms, but occasional glitches and performance variations are noted, especially on mobile.
It integrates with various systems, allowing us to manage site reliability, availability, and reliability.
Occasionally, Slack behaves unexpectedly and shuts down, which can be irritating, especially when I am in the middle of a task.
 

Room For Improvement

HCL Connections needs better document management, interface customization, third-party integration, collaboration, and cloud stability for improved usability.
Slack users want better integrations, notifications, security, and performance, with improved features to stand out from competitors.
There is a need to add a call group feature to facilitate scheduling and conducting meetings within Slack.
Configuring chats and pinning in Teams is easier, even though Slack has these features, they are not intuitive enough to engage with.
 

Setup Cost

HCL Connections pricing varies widely, offers discounts, flexible licensing, and competitive pricing compared to Jive or SharePoint.
Slack offers a free version, while paid plans with advanced features cost around $20 per user monthly for larger teams.
 

Valuable Features

HCL Connections enhances collaboration with file sharing, tool integration, expert profiles, mobile access, and efficient content management.
Slack enhances productivity with seamless communication, rich integrations, cross-platform functionality, and customizable user experience features.
In managing releases via Slack channels, one major advantage over Teams is the ability to have threaded discussions, which helps in catching up on relevant discussions without the distraction of interleaved conversations.
The integration with Google Calendar is easy to use and allows us to receive notifications before meetings.
 

Categories and Ranking

HCL Connections
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (6th)
Slack
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Social Software category, the mindshare of HCL Connections is 1.0%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Slack is 12.7%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Social Software
 

Featured Reviews

Hasnain Zahid - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable tool useful to manage marketing-related activities
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Sometimes, the portal hangs because I find that if I am on a web page, I have to log out, and then I have to log in to the portal again. Since I see that the portal hangs at times, I have to move from one side of the portal to the next, making me feel that some things are scattered in the product. I attended a meeting with IBM recently, and they are improving a few of the things, in my opinion. The concerns that I have related to the product are being improved since I think many other users have reported issues similar to the ones I faced.
PaulButticaz - PeerSpot reviewer
A competitive solution that improves collaboration and productivity
Slack has been around for a long time, and it's an industry leader. Of course, Salesforce owns Slack now and is starting to integrate into it. I have attended Slack conferences and met with product and support managers. They're an excellent organization. Choosing Slack depends on the organization's size, so you need to plan your deployment and make sure you put some controls and standards in place and not just turn it on. If you're a Slack shop, you will have to have something like a Zoom or Microsoft Teams platform for when you need to do video conferencing internally or externally. Many shops have both products, but they use Slack for collaboration, chat, and so on, and use Teams for video and audio conferences. At the end of the day, Slack is missing those capabilities, so either you're going to be a Slack/Zoom shop or you're going to be a Microsoft Teams shop. I rate Slack an eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
34%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Media Company
8%
Educational Organization
83%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
University
1%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HCL Connections?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with HCL Connections?
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 ...
What is your primary use case for HCL Connections?
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.
What do you like most about Slack?
Nowadays, we don't need to visit an HR portal. Our marketing and human resources teams directly share details about birthdays, upcoming events, and important dates in Slack. Whether it's a training...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Slack?
I am not aware of pricing, setup costs, or licensing, due to my company's partnership with Slack.
What needs improvement with Slack?
Sometimes Slack behaves unexpectedly and shuts down without notification or support communication. There is a need to add a call group feature to facilitate scheduling and conducting meetings withi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Strava, The New York Times, Spotify, Blue Bottle Coffee Company, Eventbrite, Box, Circa, Stripe
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Connections vs. Slack and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.