HCL Connections Reviews

Wikis and Blogs in combination with Activities, I like to work at home, in my office and mobile without thinking about it. I can access the solution through my tablet, iPhone, BB and Browsers.

We save a lot of mails to big groups. When we want to discuss new ideas or documents, we share them and discuss them online. No one must merge multiple mail attachments after days of changes into a final one. Files and versioning saves us time and bandwidth on the mail servers.

4.5 years

Connections is based on long developed software (WebSphere, DB2, TDI) and need some hardware resources, but when you know the basics of this software it works very stable.

No

High scalable up to multiple hundreds of thousands of users. My biggest deployment handles about 80,000 users.

We used lots of products like wordpress to blog, docuwiki as wiki, bugtracker, todo apps and so on, but Connections delivers all of it integrated in one solution.

Complex, you have to install all prerequisites like WebSphere, DB2, TDI, HTTP Server.

This depends on which department you're operating in as different departments use different features. I use it for projects a lot. If you consider HR, they use it for personnel files, staff policies etc.

The solution is useful for team engagement and team collaborations, so that everyone is working together towards the same objective and we are using the best practices among ourselves, sharing and craft sourcing.

I think it's a lot to do with metrics and in order to push up the momentum and get people to use it more, I need to know what's happening exactly in a more detailed kind of metric. So, if there are any problems identified exactly where it's not going wrong, this would help to understand how I can push it and what incentive I can put there.

Also the interface could be more easily accessible and easy to read as currently the interface is not.

In order to monitor the usage and encourage take up I need like a dashboard to know where things are good and where we are not picking up as we should and react accordingly.

The stability is good.

It isn't so scalable really as we keep changing providers.

The support is a bit difficult as we need to get into contextual details before they can solve an issue, otherwise it can take a while.

The setup was complex. Integrations were an issue and several things went wrong such as identification, credentials etc. So we had to redo the whole thing because a lot of features were not working. So, instead of actually migrating we had to do a fresh installation.

The entire suite of features is very important to me. The three features I use the most are communities, activities, and files.

IBM Connections Pink is a journey and not a destination!

IBM Connections Pink means leaving the IBM WebSphere backend and moving to the Docker.

IBM Connections Pink means you can choose where your application and data resists, i.e., either on the local, private, public cloud or a mix of all those.

IBM Connections Pink means leaving Java and moving to Node.js.

IBM Connections Pink means leaving DB2/Oracle/MS SQL and moving to a single, more powerful database platform - MongoDB.

IBM Connections Pink means introducing IBM Watson as your personal assistance.

IBM Connections Pink means a new way of collaboration, like you have never seen before.

There is no more a discussion of WHERE to store documents and where to find your corporate information. It is centrally stored and has the perfect search functionality. It’s easy to find.

The ability to use it as a hybrid solution. IBM has started the Connections PINK journey, and the hybrid option will be part of it.

We have been using the solution for six years.

There were never any issues with stability. It’s fully clustered.

When you choose to use it on-prem, you have to decide the scalability based on the usage. It can be easily expanded by adding more servers. The cloud is another story and is always perfect in performance.

I would give technical support ratings as follows:

• Level 1: 6/10
• Level 2: 8/10
• Level 3: 10/10

Level 1 sometimes seems as if they are part of a call center. When they transfer the call to Level 2, we see that the support gets better.

Level 3 is comprised of specialists most of the time, and sometimes even developers. I often ask for Level 3 directly in the initial call.

I am a true IBM enthusiast, so the answer is NO. But I am aware of other products and have seen them. Still, I would choose IBM Connections.

The latest two versions are easily to install and are well documented.

IBM is still cheaper in the end. IBM Connections runs out-of-the-box. Other vendors need customizations in order to get what you need.

I am part of an IBM business partnership, so other vendors are not an option.

Connections will be shipped soon and contains Orient Me, a new dashboard with IBM Watson technology. See Watson as your personal assistant and whom who you can get advised in your daily work.

Fully integrated solution, love the social element of Profiles, Files and Activities all securely accessed on Mobile !

Communities of practise have gained value in communicating and sharing knowledge and improving processes using e.g. Wikis

Interface, but that has had some make-over in v.5 which has now been released. Portal can complement the UI if needed I guess. Licensing !!

3 years

It's a complicated setup, but then again it's built for enterprise and volumes. Adoption is always going to be a challenge, changing the way people work. So many people are still stuck in the email paradigm. Deployment is unique per organisation.

No, but some minor browser related issues especially with Microsoft IE.

No

Customer Service: Business Partners like ourselves often run with this task. Logging of PMR's can be a lengthy bothersome processTechnical Support: Hard to say, don't often deal with technical support as mentioned, we're a Business Partner and often provide this service.

Email, improved efficiency

Complex, leave it to the experts

We're a BP so in-house

Files, communities, and blogs are the most valuable features.

There is interconnectivity with all the employees of the enterprise. The possibility to share files in a unified way helps our organization. The same file can be accessed by all the employees of the enterprise just in one place.

We are watching the new IBM Connections version 6 right now; it's working right now. It would be helpful to have more interfacing of all the IBM platforms.

The stability is very good.

Scalability is also very good.

Just do it and go to the Cloud version.

Certifications are the most important criteria while selecting a vendor. The vendor has to be really helpful, stay close and work together with us.

All social interaction between users is really great. Plus, I also like the Community feature and that everything is accessible via mobile devices.

This product should have a way to mark Communities as favorites for quick access.

I have used this product for five years.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

The technical support level is good, both from the community and from IBM.

Previously, we have not used any other solutions.

The installation process is a bit complex. However, IBM's documentation is good and there are step-by-step installations guides that you can use.

We have not evaluated any other options, prior to this one.

It is really important to have a plan on how to be successful with the implementation and adoption of this platform in your organization. You can't just install it and tell users to go ahead. Using this product as a transparent social platform where you share you work with others, is often a new way to work in most organizations.

The most valuable features of this solution are that it provides a space for team collaboration, sharing, security, and a standard language within the company.

I think the most benefit is with the asynchronous collaboration, drop meetings, shared files and action items. It helps the team to collaborate.

The IBM Cognitive initiative, which is an out-of-the-box feature in Connections: You don't really have to spend a lot of time with it.

It is pretty stable.

The scalability is great within the internal organization.

I personally haven't used the technical support, perhaps my company did.

Go ahead and implement it. As long as you get help from a business partner, it's not a big deal. Just plan ahead of time how to engage the user because the behavior is totally different, if they were not using something similar before.

The fee for my company's use is an important criteria when selecting a vendor.