HCL Domino Reviews

It's for communication, collaboration, and applications.

It has been helpful for payroll solutions and controlling what we are seeing. It helps in providing good access control for the documents we are sharing with our team and with the external team.

The DAOS feature is the most valuable. It helps to save some of my storage.

Its performance and integration could be better. It has capabilities for large deployment with several servers, but in the latest interface, running with different servers isn't supported.

They need to provide better compatibility with third-party tools.

I've been using it for fifteen or sixteen years.

It's stable. I'd rate it an eight out of ten in terms of stability.

It's scalable. I'd rate it a nine out of ten in terms of scalability.

Their technical support is definitely a ten out of ten.

Positive

Our setup is on-prem. We are an HCL partner, and we provide support to our customers for their cloud and on-premises as well.

We've seen an ROI.

I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price. 

Overall, I'd rate HCL Domino an eight out of ten.

Our customers are using it for managing their email, messaging, calendar, and workflow capabilities. They also leverage it for application development and deployment within their organizations. Regarding applications, there is substantial collaboration within the Domino environment, but other team is responsible for it.

HCL Domino has proven to be highly effective in fulfilling email and collaboration requirements within our customers' companies. Many customers prioritize data backup and security, preferring Domino over Exchange for its robust backup capabilities and enhanced security features. Additionally, Domino integrates seamlessly with BigFix, further enhancing its utility.

One of Domino's significant advantages is its versatility in terms of supported operating systems. While Exchange is predominantly installed on Microsoft Windows, Domino can be deployed on various operating systems, including Linux, AIX, and even iOS. This flexibility allows customers to choose the platform that best fits their needs, making Domino particularly appealing, especially in industries like banking where security is paramount.

Domino's intuitive features enable seamless workflow management, allowing organizations to efficiently handle tasks such as holiday requests while maintaining productivity levels.

The enhanced security and access control features of HCL Domino have significantly bolstered our customers' data protection strategies. While many customers initially utilize only basic server management functionalities, they often require additional support for more complex issues.

The integration capabilities of HCL Domino have proven effective in collaborating with other systems and tools within our customers' IT environments. Typically, we install Domino in a non-production environment first, allowing our technicians to thoroughly configure and test compatibility with existing systems. This process usually takes around two to three months as our technicians diligently ensure that everything functions smoothly before transitioning to the initial production service of Domino. Typically, it results in seamless integration with minimal to no issues encountered along the way.

The most valuable features of HCL Domino include its versatility in installation across various operating systems, ensuring flexibility for users. Additionally, its robust security measures, such as encrypted email transmission, stand out as key strengths. With minimal configuration adjustments within Domino, uninterrupted communication is ensured, making it extremely challenging for any hacking attempts to succeed.

Domino's dual functionality as both a messaging and application solution is a standout feature compared to Exchange, which solely focuses on messaging.

One of our customers recently requested a change in the user interface design of their Notes client application. They expressed dissatisfaction with the outdated appearance and desired a more modern look. While they mentioned the possibility of using third-party applications for design enhancements, such changes were limited to the web access interface. Designing a new template could provide a refreshed visual experience for users without significant changes to the underlying functionality.

I have been working with it for one year.

It provides outstanding stability capabilities. I would rate it ten out of ten.

It provides excellent scalability abilities. I would rate it ten out of ten. 
Our user base consists of twelve large enterprise businesses.

We manage customer support, where customers reach out to us via email, phone calls, or sometimes through messaging platforms like WhatsApp. Sometimes, when faced with significant issues that are challenging to resolve and may require a switch or workaround, we contact the HCL support team. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is remarkably straightforward and not at all challenging, I would rate it nine out of ten. Similarly, the configuration process is quite user-friendly. Although I encountered a few issues on occasion, they were promptly addressed by opening a ticket with HCL. Each time, they swiftly resolved the issues and provided clear explanations on how they were fixed. This happened about three or four times, with the most recent occurrence being six months ago. Overall, I'm thoroughly satisfied with the setup and configuration process.

The deployment time varies depending on the size of the company and their specific requirements. Some companies simply need to install the server and set up user accounts from scratch. However, many customers require a comprehensive setup that includes installation, configuration, and synchronization with Active Directory. This process can take anywhere from a week to a month, making it challenging to provide an exact timeframe. Typically, we provide customers with the necessary resources and guide them through the installation process. Once the installation is complete, basic configurations can usually be set up within two days.

While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end. Generally speaking, it's considered more costly compared to Exchange. The pricing structure is better suited for large enterprises rather than medium and small businesses.

The number of required servers for Domino depends on the customer's specific requirements. For instance, if a customer has around two thousand users and experiences occasional errors, we typically recommend deploying two domain servers along with two additional servers. However, if the user count exceeds two thousand, we may advise the customer to consider deploying three servers based on recommendations from HCL Domino's sessions. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

The best feature of HCL Domino is that you can use Notes for messaging plus application, not just for messaging. It's not a main system only, okay?

Another good feature is that the HCL Domino server is supported in all platforms, e.g. AIX, Windows, and Linux. Microsoft Exchange only works on the Windows server.

In terms of stability and security on the server side and applications, I also find HCL Domino very strong in those areas.

HCL Domino needs to be more user-friendly, as end users prefer Outlook over it, because they find Outlook easier to use.

We've been working with HCL Domino for the past year.

HCL Domino is strong, stability-wise.

I find the technical support for HCL Domino very helpful.

Deployment of HCL Domino is easy. You can deploy a Domino server in 10 minutes, e.g. no preparation, no domain preparation is needed. With Exchange and active directory, you need to extend the schema, but because HCL Domino has its own directory service, there is no need for this. It does not rely on Active Directory. You can integrate it with Active Directory, but you do not need to extend your Active Directory schema, and you do not need to add the object, unlike what you need to do with Exchange.

HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive. If you compare its price with Exchange, they have the same product pricing. They are within the same range in terms of pricing, but Microsoft played it another way.

Microsoft went to the customers and told them: "We can offer you ELA for a price agreement, and you can get Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Dynamics for free," so the customers made the decision of reducing their investment in HCL Domino, for them to get Exchange for free. This is the reason why customers are willing to migrate from HCL Domino to Exchange, plus there's also more customer familiarity from Exchange than HCL Domino.

We were able to evaluate Exchange.

We've been dealing with different HCL solutions: HCL Domino, HCL Notes, HCL Domino Volt, and HCL Basics. We're a partner of HCL. We're working with the latest version of HCL Domino: version 12.0.

The HCL Domino market is very small, e.g. there's not a lot of customers, or the segment using it isn't large, because Microsoft recently went to the customers and told them IBM already sold the product, and internally, IBM will use Exchange. When you migrate the HCL Domino environment to Exchange, there's a new IBM ELA deal where you can get Exchange for free. The HCL Domino segment then shrunk, so the number of customers using it is very small. The big customers have now migrated to Microsoft Exchange, and the rest will migrate eventually.

We don't have many support facilities in Egypt now, so customers transferred to a different product, e.g. Exchange for the market segment. It's really different, especially in an Office 365 model and Teams collaboration, e.g. using Teams, the competition was not fair.

My suggestion to people planning on starting their use of HCL Domino is to mix it
with other applications, rather than comparing it with Microsoft Exchange as a messaging tool, or just using it for messaging, because HCL Domino is a collaboration tool. With it, you can offer applications to different departments, build applications and share it with different departments, etc. It's more preferable to utilize HCL Domino plus messaging, than just using it for messaging only, then comparing it with Exchange.

My rating for HCL Domino is a ten out of ten.

We're using HCL Domino for the email system.

I like that HCL Domino is stable. It's a great product. I also like that HCL Domino is a mature product under IBM, which is why many companies use it.

An area for improvement in HCL Domino is security. New enhancements in the IT industry mean that security should be improved.

The HCL Domino GUI also needs improvement.

What I want in the product's next release is for it to have a user-friendly environment. HCL Domino should also integrate well with other software, for example, Outlook. If I want to use the product with Outlook, I should be able to access and get all the emails from Outlook. HCL Domino should have compatibility with Outlook as Outlook is easy to understand and is used by many people and companies.

I've been using HCL Domino for ten or twelve years now.

HCL Domino is a stable product because it's under IBM, a big name in the industry.

HCL Domino is a scalable product.

I've never contacted the technical support team for HCL Domino, though I'm not sure if other team members did.

My organization is switching from HCL Domino to Microsoft Exchange, probably in the next month, because of some challenges with HCL Domino. My organization went with HCL Domino in the past because it's an IBM product. Many people prefer using products from IBM as it's a big brand.

If you've been using HCL Domino for years, then setting it up will be easy. However, if you're new to it and you need to install it in your organization, the setup process would be complicated, particularly if you compare it to setting up Microsoft Exchange.

How much time it takes to deploy HCL Domino depends on your expertise. Some people could take two hours, while some could take two days. On the other hand, some people could take two months to deploy the solution.

HCL Domino is costly, but it still depends on how your organization views it price-wise.

I'm still using HCL Domino, but my organization plans to switch to another solution, Microsoft Exchange.

Close to three hundred people use HCL Domino within the organization.

If you're a new user of HCL Domino, it may take some time to understand it versus Microsoft Exchange. Everyone's familiar with Microsoft Exchange compared to HCL Domino.

From my personal experience, I'd rate HCL Domino as four out of ten. I cannot say it's a bad product, and I cannot say it's good, either. It's a mature product used by many companies, even big companies, but HCL Domino has some challenges. One challenge is the pricing versus the pricing offered by other solutions.

My organization is a customer of HCL Domino.

We use the solution as a domain-specific framework to develop small applications to perform specific tasks.

The solution provides data encryption, valuable insights, and security for a specific group of users. Also, it enables ease of deployment, making the development process easier. We can work on the system remotely without online access as well.

They should provide the solution's integration with other AI applications. Also, its risk management feature needs improvement. In addition, its technical support could be better.

I have been using the solution for more than ten years.

I rate the solution's stability a nine. We encounter system downtime issues sometimes.

I rate the solution's scalability a five out of ten. It could be better.

The solution's customer service needs improvement.

The solution's initial setup process is complicated. It requires building applications, installing servers, and testing them. It follows importing data as per users' requirements. Also, the time needed for deployment depends on the use cases. It takes a long time for financial systems with multiple data inputs. The process needs to be faster to keep the users engaged.

The solution is less expensive compared to other vendors.

It is an excellent solution. I rate it a ten out of ten.

We are an insurance broker and use HCL Domino for our customer relationship management. We use it to write applications for use in our company.

We use this solution for our email, workgroup, and especially for customer relationship management. We have all of our documents in this system, and it stores information about all of our processes.

We have been able to set up a portal using a special XPage application that gives our customers access to this system.

It is very easy to start writing applications.

A big advantage that is very important to us is that the ACL access to the documents belongs to the records, as opposed to the kind of record.

They update the features regularly and recently added multifactor authentication.

The XPage programming capability should be improved because it is not as modern as the other languages that we work with.

Recently, we have had a lot of trouble with the server.

The biggest problem for us is the performance. We have been working with this product for a long time and our database now contains approximately two million documents. It takes a very long time. We purchased super-fast storage with special disks and nothing helps the performance.

We have problems developing special cases.

I have been working with HCL Domino for 22 years.

This is a stable solution, provided that the database is not very big. When we have a large database then there are problems with stability. 

The database can scale to a certain size but after that, there are issues with reliability. Yesterday, for example, I worked with a database that contained 1.8 petabytes of data.

We have approximately 200 users inside the company, and we have approximately 700 customers from outside that use it.

We have two people that develop programs, two more for technical support, and I manage the team.

We use technical support only when we upgrade. We do not contact them but rather, just visit the webpage.

The initial setup is very easy. We have experience with it.

It is installed in our own data center, and it takes a few hours to set it up well, with the proper configuration.

We have three people in charge of deployment and maintenance.

We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually.

We plan on switching to another solution because of the performance. That is the only complaint that we have about the product.

This is a solution that I would recommend for a business that is just starting. I would not recommend it for big business because it gets slower over time, and we haven't seen any improvement in years. The only thing that changes is the version number, rather than the performance. To us, there's nothing new in that regard.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

Our customers have many servers that work with HCL Domino.

HCL Domino is the best product from a security point of view. HCL Domino can be used for office protocol management, vertical applications, and data entry.

HCL Domino could have a better interface.

We have been a business partner with HCL Domino for thirty years.

HCL Domino is a stable solution.

I rate HCL Domino a nine out of ten for scalability.

HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap.

HCL Domino is a product that doesn't have a modern framework or structure from the point of system architecture. However, from a security point of view, it is a very good solution that protects your data in a way that other products cannot.

Overall, I rate HCL Domino an eight out of ten.

The security features are great. I like the ease of development. The workflow is pretty easy. These are the three main things I appreciate about the solution.

The deployment process is very easy.

It's a reliable, stable product.

We can scale it if we want to. 

We'd like to see the speed of the Domino server improve. My customers keep on complaining about the speed of connectivity, irrespective of the bandwidth we use. Sometimes it is very slow.

The solution is expensive.

The ease of using the HDP server could be better. Currently, we can run an HDP server and install Domino. However, I would like an easy interface to integrate any HDP server with Domino. 

The client is pretty heavy. It should be made a bit lighter.

I am a SME on Domino. I've been working on Domino for the last 20 or 22 years.

It has been stable so far. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

We find the solution to be very scalable. 

We have about 45 people using the product in our company.

Technical support is not ideal. The actual website is pretty complex. You never know where to go if you need something. 

Neutral

We used to use SharePoint. The licensing and file sharing was good on it. Most users had used SharePoint at some point and we didn't really have to do any training when we used it. That said, we found Domino to be better.

The solution is very simple to deploy. It's not complex at all. 

Right now, I control the infrastructure of Domino. I do the development and handle the administration. Therefore, an organization only really needs one person to maintain everything. 

We handle the deployment ourselves. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to install the server. 

The licensing of Domino is expensive. One user license is $100. Compared to SharePoint, which is free when you buy the server, Domino is a lot. 

We're end-users.

We never upgraded to HCL 11. We are still on IBM Domino 9. Although we have the license, we didn't go for the upgrade since we are comfortable with IBM Domino 9.

I'd advise potential users to keep the application simple. Don't try to make things complicated. 

I would rate the solution eight out of ten.