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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Axero

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AAxero's Communifire is an Enterprise Social and Collaboration platform. Used internally, it connects employees, key customers and partners to pursue shared goals. Used to build an online community, it puts the emphasis on working together, not just meeting socially. The platform, designed to encourage the spread and expansion of ideas is suited for organizations that want their community to not only get connected but also feel they are getting things done.

    $49

    per month

    HCL Notes

    Score3.5 out of 10
    N/ANotes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.N/A
    Pricing
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsAxero tailors your investment to meet your unique needs. Custom pricing and volume discounting available. Contact Axero for details.—
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Axero and HCL Notes
    Feature
    Axero
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Notes
    6.9
    10 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Task Management00 Ratings7.09 Ratings
    Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
    Scheduling00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
    Workflow Automation00 Ratings5.06 Ratings
    Mobile Access00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Search00 Ratings6.09 Ratings
    Visual planning tools00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Axero and HCL Notes
    Feature
    Axero
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Notes
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    15% above category average
    Chat00 Ratings6.010 Ratings
    Notifications00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Discussions00 Ratings9.57 Ratings
    Surveys00 Ratings9.14 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Axero and HCL Notes
    Feature
    Axero
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Notes
    7.6
    9 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Versioning00 Ratings9.04 Ratings
    Video files00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
    Audio files00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
    Document collaboration00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Access control00 Ratings6.08 Ratings
    Advanced security features00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Device sync00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Small Businesses
    HCL Connections
    Score9 out of 10
    Flock
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    HCL Connections
    Score9 out of 10
    Microsoft Viva Engage
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    HCL Connections
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Keep
    Score9.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    1.7
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AxeroHCL Notes
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Axero Solutions
    Specific scenarios where Communifire would be well suited to an organisation, would be companies that are people focused and committed to frequent and open communication channels from both the top-down and bottom-up. It also would suit organizations that are committed to providing the staff opportunities to collaborate, share and actively contribute to company initiatives and planning. If these aren't elements of your organization's culture, the system would still work for you or those companies who just want to push information out and have an effective intranet. Communifire would cater to these scenarios just as well and is more than capable of providing that type of simple solution.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    I often work with teams from other country and regions, hence HCL Notes is a very useful platform for internal company management operations. It standardized organisational work standards in most of the offices worldwide. HCL Notes also enables chat with other team around the world that I find very helpful when initiating conversation or just want to have a quick update rather than sending emails and waiting for replies. However, HCL Notes is not very efficient in web browsing and user still need to use other internet service providers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Axero Solutions
    • Communifire allows people to connect easily through instant chat and messaging. It works similarly to other social media platforms like Facebook so its not hard to learn.
    • Communifire makes it easy to share news and events with our community and the presentation of this information looks very professional.
    • I found Communifire quite easy to configure to our individual needs. There were a lot of options to turn things on or off. This was important to us because in some areas of our community we wanted to allow our contractors many features and in other areas we wanted to really limit what was on offer.
    • We had a big list of things we needed a platform to do. Communifire ticked all the boxes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • It has a really strong and robust database that's extremely scalable and holds up well to thousands of users and many different environments.
    • It has a really good enterprise-grade framework for development custom database applications
    • All of the custom database applications along with the email all have a nice uniform look and feel so their easy-to-use.
    • I really like how it's developed and supported on every client OS (Windows, OSX, Linux)! The competitors definitely do NOT offer this (M$).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Axero Solutions
    • You can't duplicate broadcast messages or schedule ones in advance if they've already been sent.
    • The analytics on broadcast messages is nonexistent.
    • I wish the digests had rich text.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • Notes' backwards compatibility sometimes gets in the way. Menus are cluttered with extraneous, outdated options and features that modern users will never use, and Preferences are often difficult to navigate for those coming from Gmail or Outlook. We have greatly simplified this via Policies, but users still find it daunting to go through all the options that are available.
    • The IBM Notes client for Windows & Mac is essentially the Eclipse Java development platform...so it is HUGE. Performance initially was very slow but IBM has done a good job of speeding things up. As IBM moves more toward cloud-delivered applications, this will not be as much of a problem.
    • Notes and Domino can be complex to manage for administrators who are more accustomed to ActiveDirectory, Group Policy, etc. Editing a notes.ini file to add a feature, or working with XML files by hand to create a SmartUpgrade kit can be daunting to those coming from more modern administrative roles.
    • Some users claim to "hate" Notes mail. While I have heard this less and less over the past 10 years, we have had 3rd party software offer plugins to Outlook and it's rare to see any for Notes.
    • The client update process should be automated more. I would like to see the Notes client update quietly and quickly more like an Adobe software update. If an update fails it should automatically try again without prompting the user over and over.
    • Notes multiple language spell checking is a downloaded add-on Java-based resource that has to be deployed in a convoluted way that is difficult for users to grasp. Therefore any foreign language spell check updates must be done individually per Notes client by IT, which is unfortunate. I would prefer to see that be a "live download" update option for users to get directly from IBM (don't make me download it and put it on my network).
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Axero Solutions
    Our business depends upon this software to provide information on all aspects of our business. The future of business is a marriage between web site and customer interaction. This software will allow us to move in that direction.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    I've been in IT business and as a Programmer/Developer for 20+ years with too many programming languages experiences/back ground (C/C++/Visual Basic/Basic Program/Unix/COBOL/Java). Also with 18+ years with Lotus Notes/IBM Domino, I am still and always think Lotus Notes is the best RAD platform available!. When the time where resource is very limited and the expectation is very high and the turn around is too short, IBM Domino/Notes is the platform to use and it's the only choice available.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Axero Solutions
    This rating has a caveat - there is always room for improvement, and this team gets it. You always learn from customers how to do things better and easier, so it is a constant learning of how people use the site. Although the search engine is exceptional, most people do not use it as their first line of research. Much of the usability has to do with layout - and is not just a software usability item, so the rating is severely dependent up on the layout/options you choose for your usage. And their team will do anything in their power to get the results and layout you want. The areas that need improvement - and acknowledged by the team - are the administrative tools. There are a ton of options, and it takes a little to learn some of those. For most people, however, this won't be an issue, because the support team will always help you. This is always the case with more power. If there were fewer options it would no doubt be easier, but they give you the keys to all of the cars in the lot; so a little more to learn.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    Easy to use for the user, most of the apps we developed, there is not much need for user training. Most of the times, we just do a demo to the users group and they can pick up from there.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Axero Solutions
    Never any problems. Quite impressed
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Axero Solutions
    Works in real time.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Axero Solutions
    I have always found Communifire support to be exceptional. We have had a personal account manager who has been very helpful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    I've been using the production for a very long time and very happy with it. Also, all the online resources and forums for notes is very friendly and easy/quick for getting help. I found out that compared to Microsoft or Oracle or any other platforms, IBM Notes online forum is the best I have seen.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Axero Solutions
    I found the system to be very flexible and the Communifire team very supportive in helping me identify solutions for my goals.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    Implementation is easy and smooth if the requirement is well gathered/documented. Notes is a RAD platform, all projects in Notes is simple in the implementation step.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Axero Solutions
    We selected Communifire for the excellent sales support, strong feature set and quick set up time. We were able to get started immediately and build out features as need required which led to faster execution and higher adoption rates among our team.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    Outlook has been considered for years as a replacement platform. Pricing and support staff made it prohibitive. Our long-time use of Microsoft Office productivity suite naturally led us to consider the adoption of Office365. A recent investigation told us that Azure Cloud services propel an O365 solution to the forefront. Early adopters in international divisions have paved the way for Azure and O365.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Axero Solutions
    • We are still building out features of the platform but with implemention of paid features by members, we will be able to cover our operating cost of the platform.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    • Over the years, we have lost countless hours of productivity from the thousands of crashes we have experienced.
    • One benefit of IBM Notes is that it is very simple to train a new user on. Many people prefer and are familiar with Google tools, but those that use IBM Notes have very little trouble acclimating themselves.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Axero Screenshots

    Screenshot of Mobile intranetScreenshot of Knowledge managementScreenshot of Recognition