HCL Domino

I have been using HCL Domino products since 1992, when it was known as Lotus Notes. I use it myself and also work as a consultant. We are an IBM Business Partner and HCL Business Partner.

We are now gaining experience with the AI function in HCL Domino because we have many databases with substantial data that we want to make available, searchable, and enable relation discovery. We have started with the low-code tools in HCL Domino, but we skipped further development due to workloads and did not have a contract for that.

I would appreciate HCL Domino to have wider integration into the SAP world because SAP is not easy to use, and if we could integrate it into a HCL Domino application, we could post data more easily to SAP from the HCL Domino environment and vice versa.

We have had projects where we connected to IBM Maximo in HCL Domino using ODBC functions, and we also connected to a MySQL-based database where we took installation features from existing interlockings. This involved integrating with other applications.

Integration with IBM would be beneficial for HCL Domino to move from ODBC connections to REST API because Maximo supports REST API, and this would be advantageous by eliminating the need to install ODBC drivers.

I am not missing anything significant from HCL Domino at the moment. There are some smaller things that can be improved, but these have already been posted on the HCL website where we can submit our wishes.

I have been using this solution since 1992, when it was Lotus Notes.

I would rate the technical support from HCL Domino a 10.

The initial setup of HCL Domino is straightforward.

I have checked HCL Workspace, but it is still emerging, so I need to monitor it. I have not worked with IBM Watson Studio or IBM Cognos, although I am aware that Watson is an AI tool. We looked into another blue-branded tool that works with Watson, but we did not explore it deeply.

The problem we encountered was that we had to install ODBC drivers for HCL Domino. We are now focusing on a REST API alternative so that no action is required from the client side, although we do not have a contract for this yet.

The analytics tools from HCL Domino have not directly helped with my data-driven decision making. We used Business Intelligence tools to analyze data we exported from HCL Domino.

The pricing for HCL Domino is completely reasonable. It is user-defined and the fees are comparable to others, sometimes a little cheaper. With the concept presented by HCL Domino Workspace at three different levels with two dollars per user per month, I think that is unbeatable.

We are currently discovering all the features already available in HCL Domino 14.5.1. We need more experience and deeper exploration, but due to limited manpower and existing projects keeping us occupied, we do not have time for extensive experience-building. We have no plans to expand at this time. I would rate this review a 10.

The primary purposes for which HCL Domino is used are mail and applications.

Some of the best features in HCL Domino are that it functions as a Swiss army knife. It does everything.

I am saying that these features are somewhat limited even though they are numerous within the product. It does many things and does them reasonably well. You can make it do many things because it is an application server. However, programming it is not easy. Nowadays, there are other platforms in which you can program more easily.

I have noticed some weak points and downsides. HCL Domino is a Swiss army knife, which is the downside as well. It does many things, which is an advantage. The biggest downside is that it is a good product, but there are not that many applications for it. There are not that many ready-made applications. When they do exist, they tend to be somewhat pricey.

I have not actually used HCL Domino's low-code tools. There are no low-code tools. HCL says there are, but frankly speaking, I have tried it and I always come back to the classic, the original HCL Domino. I do not see it as truly low-code. They call it Leap. Even when you want to do something more specific or more complex, you do need programming logic and then it stops being low-code.

I would say that there are much better low-code platforms. N8N, for instance, looks nice with nice diagrams, especially for workflow and automation, which is where HCL Domino is lacking.

The evaluation of the security features of HCL Domino in handling sensitive business information is that it has a peculiar security model, which I view as acceptable. Sometimes it may get in your way, but sometimes it simplifies things. It depends.

I have been using HCL Domino for 20 years.

My overall rating for HCL Domino is that we are happy with it. We are reasonably happy with it. We are sort of stuck with it because you cannot just move the applications. The fact is that it simply works. Once we develop an application, it basically works and does not really break.

My thoughts about the impact of HCL Domino's client-server communication on collaborative applications are that it is much faster to develop a native client application, such as HCL Notes. However, for some features, those features are simply not really possible with standard HCL client applications, which means moving all application development to web access, adding a lot of work.

My experience with the technical support of HCL is that they are responsive.

The complexities and challenges when it comes to the deployment of HCL Domino depend on the company size. It is fairly complex now.

In terms of time, the deployment might require varying durations, as it depends on what is being implemented. The programming work sometimes takes a long time. The operational work is quite acceptable and simply works.

The configuration of the setup of a new HCL Domino takes about three hours, though it depends on various factors.

I think that one person is enough to deploy the product even if we are a small enterprise. We are small with about 10 people. I think even if we had 10 times that, it would take the same time.

I have thought of some alternatives for HCL Domino. It is difficult to switch to other products because we invested a lot into the applications, meaning a complete change of the workflow. In a certain sense, HCL Domino means freedom for us because it enables us to keep the data in one datastore, which is reasonably safe and human-readable.

My overall rating for this review is 9 out of 10.

We use this solution mainly for mobile email systems. Some other customized applications run on HCL Domino.

The email system is the most valuable feature.

Scalability needs to be improved to be on the level that's required. Support could also be enhanced.

I have been using HCL Domino as a customer and integrator for ten years.

The solution is fairly solid and stable.

I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

100 users are using this solution. They are mostly government set-ups, and the end user queries are from government departments.

Support is good.

The initial setup is easy. You need to sign up. It depends on the scope. It will take longer if there are more than one or more applications.

The project usually includes infrastructure and deployment may take anywhere from one month to six months.

I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

This is based on the user's selection and policy, and we assist them in deploying the solution as part of Azure. We plan based on the user's requirements. Most of our clients are government entities, so the solution adheres to government development standards. Therefore, the recommendations are not from us but are related to the product solution, setup, and overall configuration to meet their requirements. Overall, the experience is good.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It's used for mail collaboration and as a CRM for our customers. All processes in our company rely on Domino.

The most important benefit is security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution.

The interface could be more user-friendly, and it would be better to have one programming language instead of multiple.

Also, some platform directions should be more consistent. For example, the XPages technology, which was important to me, was discontinued.

Integration has always been a problem, but we manage.

We (my company) started using HCL Domino in February 2000.

The stability is going in the wrong direction and isn't good anymore. I would rate it a two out of ten.

Scalability is also an issue. We're having problems with large databases, and we're exceeding the limits.

There are around 200 end users. We have four developers. The rest are regular users.

The customer service and support are not very friendly.

The setup was easy, but it wasn't very modern. We had trouble using new security settings and features on our main server, such as blacklisting.

The deployment was easy for normal features, but we faced issues when we wanted to use extra features.

The license for Domino is yearly. The price is high, but it's reasonable for this kind of software. It would be good if the performance and technology improved.

I don't think it's a good platform to start using because it's not improving as it should.

Overall, I would rate it a two out of ten. The main reason we decided to stop using Domino was its performance. We have big databases. Everything was very slow with our large databases and the customizations we added to make the solution more user-friendly. The performance was bad, especially in the last year.

I would recommend it for security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution.

We use it for everything: developing applications, email, group calendaring, to-do, and so on. Applications include CRM, Inventory, Safety Management System, Vacation Scheduling, Travel Expenses (in multiple languages), Order entry, Fuel Sales, Ground School Attendance and Marking, Flight Dispatch, etc.

In the current deployment, HCL Notes / Domino is helping us to move away from the paper based procedures that have been virtually unchanged since the 1950s.

As a flight training organization we are required by regulation to maintain meticulous records. There is a lot of data duplication - with all the errors that ensue. Domino is helping to reduce the ensuing wasted effort.

For workflow applications or general applications, the rapid development capability is what we value most.

The product is extremely secure. Everything between the client and server is encrypted. Databases are encrypted by default. There are many levels of security, down to the field level. It's about as robust a product as exists.

There are small areas of improvement. HCL has taken over from IBM, and is making rapid improvements. IBM sat on it for almost 20 years and did nothing, whereas HCL is making a big effort, and we are impressed.

The Notes / Domino suite includes several client applications: Notes client, iNotes, HCL Verse and now HCL Nomad. With Nomad applications designed for a Windows or Mac desktop will run with only minor modifications on Android or iOS devices. Nomad Web runs in a browser.

Some things still don't work 100 percent on Nomad, but HCL maintains an ideas portal and new requests are reviewed and incorporated regularly.

On thing we would like is that some views should be visible to a particular user on Windows/Mac but not in the Nomad app. It's currently possible to restrict the view, but it's by user, not by user combined with device.

One major failing: We wish it had a reporting engine, which it doesn't.

30 years

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. We have applications developed in 1995 that are running without any changes under the current version.

It's immensely scalable. We're a tiny operation, less than 50 people, so we're on the very small end.

The customer service and support are great. Same day response and a dedicated HCL rep who stays on the case until it is resolved.

Fore example, I had an issue with the colors on headings of views not showing up correctly depending on the operating system. I messaged them, and they responded within a day.

We communicated back and forth, sometimes twice a day, and they kept me updated on the progress and how it would be fixed in the next release. They are very responsive, the most responsive I've ever seen for a big company.

That's a huge plus for me. It makes a big difference to get a real person answering and staying on the case until I'm satisfied.

We previously - prior to 1995 - used a product called FOCUS for database and reporting functions. FOCUS (now called WebFOCUS) has a very powerful reporting engine and is primarily marketed as such, but has always also had database capabilities.

We switched to Domino because of ease of development and flexibility. Domino has Views which are sort of real time reports so we can live without a full reporting suite, but having one would be a real bonus.

It's a one-click setup. Getting the Domino server application running is quite easy. Setting up mail and other features involves the same steps as any mail system.

In house, with help from an outside contractor. Our vendor is able to provide assistance if required.

ROI is hard to determine in our current situation, since we are starting from scratch with a new deployment and have only a few apps in production. However the users are pleased and the paperwork burden is easing.

At the previous company, the entire company revolved around the Domino deployment. All customer relationship management, supplier management, product databases, customer databases, supplier databases, sales databases, vacation tracking, travel expenses, etc. were developed in Domino.

The pricing is individually determined. HCL has a simple pricing model: per user per year. We pay $100 US per user per year. But "guest" users are permitted without any licence requirement. And any number of servers can be deployed without charge.

It has a few flaws. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.