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Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) vs. HCL Sametime

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Business Edition 7000 was a collaboration and universal communication, VOIP / telephony, conferencing and messaging platform for enterprises of 1000 to 5000 employees. It has been discontinued, and is superseded by functionality found in Webex Calling.N/A

    HCL Sametime

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHCL Sametime (formerly IBM Lotus Sametime, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in 2018) is an enterprise-level unified communications and VoIP platform. It includes features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, voice and video integration, telephony capabilities, and presence information.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    90%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    7.1
    10 Ratings
    8% below category average
    HCL Sametime
    -
    Ratings
    Task Management7.610 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gantt Charts7.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling6.78 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access7.310 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search6.38 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visual planning tools6.96 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    14% below category average
    HCL Sametime
    -
    Ratings
    Chat5.99 Ratings00 Ratings
    Notifications7.19 Ratings00 Ratings
    Discussions7.19 Ratings00 Ratings
    Surveys8.37 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase7.19 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting6.95 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts6.56 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook5.97 Ratings00 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    7.4
    10 Ratings
    6% below category average
    HCL Sametime
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning6.38 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files9.86 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration6.39 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control7.18 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced security features8.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive8.94 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync4.38 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Sametime
    8.4
    7 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Hosted PBX00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    User templates00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Call reports00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Directory of employee names00 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Answering rules00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Call recording00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Call park00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Call screening00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Message alerts00 Ratings8.06 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    6 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Video conferencing00 Ratings8.06 Ratings
    Audio conferencing00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Video screen sharing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Instant messaging00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) and HCL Sametime
    Feature
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Sametime
    8.0
    8 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Mobile app for iOS00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android00 Ratings8.07 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
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    Flock
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Zoom Phone
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Microsoft Viva Engage
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Keep
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Google Voice
    Score7.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (11 ratings)
    7.0
    (10 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)HCL Sametime
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    Cisco business edition are well suited for the environment where we need regular communication as they are easy to dial and has got great features. The product is well suited for both small business and large enterprises. Speed dial, good voice quality are key features of Cisco phones. They are not well suited in scenarios where we do not have LAN connectivity or internet. Sometimes we may face latency and jitteriness which is not good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is well suited for very quick conversations, where you know the person is an active Sametime user. It also serves as an easy way to reach out to someone you may not know when looking for an answer to a quick question, as they are likely to be a Sametime user. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to use Sametime for Audio or Video chat. The quality and reliability are horrendous.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • The platform supports up to 5,000 users connected at the same time in voice and video calls.
    • Everything is virtually deployed on Cisco servers with reliability.
    • Intuitive configuration and user-friendly web interface.
    • It has several types of IP phones and is compatible with legacy and multi-brand hardware with SIP protocol.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • Sametime's web-based interfaces are "zero load", requiring no plug-ins to be installed to join a meeting, launch a meeting, or use chat in a browser. A plugin is required only if you want to share your screen.
    • Integration with IBM Notes is very tight. Sametime's chat status can change according to your Notes calendar. You can easily see if someone who just emailed you is available to chat. Your chat History is right inside Notes as well.
    • IBM's mobile apps are top notch. We automated the apps for our users thanks to IBM's work with third party MDMs. This made it very simple for us to deploy the Sametime mobile apps -- Chat and Meetings -- and get new capabilities such as Audio & Video mobilized quickly.
    • No down time, ever. The rock solid WebSphere back-end of Sametime means the environment is always up. Period.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • More cloud based services need to be added to the default service package.
    • Companies frequently require a small contact center within the UC environment. It would be nice to see a build it contact center in the box.
    • It would be nice to see some advanced AI based services (IVR voice recognition service) in the BE7K application list.
    • Call recording should be also built in.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • Not convenient for a large group meeting.
    • Very basic tool for internal communication only not available for third party communication
    • Very basic and limited mobile app features.
    • High speed connection is needed to connect to Sametime
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is now an embedded experience for our users. They know it, they like it, they use it, and they expect it to be wherever they are. Because it is pretty easy to use and NEVER goes down, users know they can rely on it and won't be frustrated by it. Sametime is right up with there with Microsoft Office in terms of user adoption and appreciation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Just about everything works the way you expect it would and it's relatively easy for users to figure out. Sametime was one of those things that we started with only a few people as a "test" and before the test period was done we discovered a few hundred people had figured out how to log in and most got it working all on their own. Many of our users want to use Sametime and do so regularly; we do not have to create policies enforcing its usage. Users find it practical to use Sametime to do things like chat, transfer files, share their screen, and so forth.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Typically if Sametime is not available, it's because Windows Updates were done on the servers and they were not rebooted. However, that's not a problem with Sametime -- in fact, if you have Linux you could probably run Sametime for years without any hiccups whatsoever. We have no internal Linux expertise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Generally very good. Occasionally AV or screen-sharing will stutter and every now and then I hear of it dropping out altogether, but in all cases it was easy to re-establish
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    I have not needed to use the Sametime support team. Our local support team was able to configure it for me.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Looking at the feature sets and customer experience overall it's a good investment to make. It provides insights and also gives needed reports and statistics.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    We use Jabber globally in our company and Symphony (no relevant app in able list) in some of the teams as well. All these are instant messenger tools, but Sametime is the easiest one to be used and its chat history is easy to be searched. Sametime can be used to contact almost all internal staff as it’s included in default computer package. Symphony is used to chat with front end business while Jabber is used for call.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Sametime is rock solid. It runs on WebSphere, DB2 and other related IBM technologies. This does mean the back-end is highly complex and very difficult to learn and get comfortable with, however.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • It has allowed for mostly smooth communication from department to department/office to office.
    • It allows for saved phone # / last contact to appear quickly.
    • It has allowed for safety warnings/announcements to emerge all across every office so that everyone within the organization is on the same page about events when they occur.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • Sametime keeps many of our team members in contact throughout the day which leads to increased productivity which makes everyone happy.
    • We use the team chat room feature every day. This allows a team to stay focused on the task without any extra messages that are not on topic.
    • The split between IBM Sametime, Slack and Google Hangouts has caused some issues when team members are not checking for messages on a certain app.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots