Since the software’s conception, many companies have utilized Lotus Notes for their documentation needs. But what exactly is this system and how is it used? Created in 1982 and bought by IBM in 1995, Lotus Notes is an enterprise email system. It works as a workflow software that provides instant messaging, email, calendars, and contacts to companies across various industries.
Although Lotus Notes had a large user base for many years, the software has recently been decreasing in popularity. This is primarily because of IBM’s announcement in 2012 that it would be discontinuing the Lotus brand altogether. While the Lotus database software is still available, it is sometimes considered an inactive brand. IBM sold this software to HCL Technologies in 2018, the company that still owns the rights to this product to this day. To fully understand Lotus Notes, let’s look at who still uses this software, how it is utilized, and explore potential replacements.
The current Lotus Notes user base consists of primarily American computer software companies. These companies are generally small, with an average size of 10-50 employees and less than $10M in revenue. If you examine the overall collaborative software industry, Lotus Notes takes up less than 7% of the total market share.
After buying the Lotus system from Lotus Software, IBM’s primary goal was to enhance workplace collaboration. To do so, everything in Notes was setup as a database. Each user has their own e-mail database, and different user groups have the ability to share databases that can display, add, or control company information. Aside from business data, these databases can also perform behind the scenes, planned, or on-demand tasks for a user. Essentially, this software is built to simplify a company’s processes by integrating email, business applications, and collaboration into one easy-to-use workspace.
The Lotus Notes technology boasts many collaborative advantages. The software is dependable, perceptibly stable – having been around for over 30 years, and fairly cybersecure as compared to competitors. In the software, all your business data is saved on Lotus’ Domino server, where each user can access it wherever they are at any time. With access to shared information in the system, employees can schedule meetings and mitigate issues with clients all within the software. Lotus’ centralized database allows for streamlined document management, collaboration, and integration.
However, most companies that utilize this database software use it only as an email hosting technology and have been since the mid-90s. Since its conception, to keep up with the times, IBM and HCL have both tried to modernize this tech to keep up with competitors. This included making Lotus integrate with Outlook for people who prefer the Microsoft interface over the original client, to no avail. If anything, this modernization technique ended up pushing many customers to switch from Lotus to Exchange, since they felt more comfortable with Outlook to begin with.
There are some disadvantages to using Lotus Notes, as the brand itself is discontinued, including:
For the above-mentioned reasons, many companies who use Lotus Notes are looking to switch to a newer, more flexible out of the box and Commercially Available off the Shelf (COTS) technology. These companies are often looking to centralize documentation and workflows into a single system and create links to ERP and CRM systems.
When choosing a replacement, finding a configurable document management software system with a team that is experienced in this type of complex data migration should be your first priority. In order to ensure a successful transition out of Lotus Notes, you will want to find a document or specification management software vendor who can offer the following features and services:
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For more information on DocXellent and our extensive experience with migrations out of Lotus Notes, contact us today.