We recently posted a blog “5 Reasons why customers are leaving Lotus Notes?” which attracted an overwhelming large number of visitors and page views. And not just that, lots of people commented on this post. So, we dug deeper and found that most of the comments came from either IBM employees who are connected to Lotus Notes product suite (including Ed Brill) or IBM Partners who sell not Lotus. Now all the comments made sense. ’-) ! Most of the commentators are not willing to see the reality.
So, we decided to show them some real data. We picked a sample of 100+ large enterprises that have chosen Google from information publicly available. And, we dug deeper to trace out what was their previous email system. Here is the report of our analysis. Check it out you will be surprised to see the number of large enterprises that left “Lotus Notes”.
RSS
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Are you serious when you call a company with 700 users a large enterprise? Really? You should stop digging now, the hole only gets deeper.
jsingner… I’m assuming you’re referring to Ed Brill’s blog entry in October 2012 that stated that 1151 organizations reinstated their Notes licensing (http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/1151-enterprises-return-to-notesdomino-ytd-in-2012). If so, you’re misunderstanding that it means left IBM Notes and then came back and reinstalled Notes.
For some clarification, read Volker’s thread on the topic: http://vowe.net/archives/013508.html
What it really means (and Ed does not disagree) is that 1151 organizations had let their Notes maintenance contract lapse. They can still run Notes in that scenario, but they are not entitled to software updates and new versions. During that time, Traveler came out which many organizations wanted. If they had let their maintenance contract lapse, they had to reinstate to have the proper licensing and entitlement to run it.
Again, assuming you’re talking about the same 1100 number, you’re reading something into the raw facts that they don’t support. Notes is still (in my opinion) a great product that gets bashed for both good and bad reasons. I also don’t trust blog entries like this one from vendors who have a vested interest from promoting the fact that organizations are switching. They have something at stake, and it involves painting a picture that shows people are jumping ship left and right. Like you did, they’ll take numbers and put meaning into them to support whatever view they want to promote.
To borrow and slightly modify your ending words…
Really….please do some research before making comments and assertions on something as important as this subject.
You are just plane wrong. There are just as many Notes seats as Exchange.
That is a fact. You probably do not like Notes as you have never used it.
There is no system that can do what Notes does.
If you were the head of IT and were looking for a platform for email plus your mission critical applications what would you look for….
1. A Platform that is stable and yet cutting edge with features.
2. A platform that promotes social networking
3. A platform that promotes cloud computing
4. A platform that promotes a SaS environment if needed.
5. A platform that is secure – meaning does not get hacked into….ever.
6. A platform that supports offline use – meaning NOT connected to the internet and you can still work in island mode.
7. A platform that is collaborative in nature – meaning users can share information
8. A platform that promotes rapid application development
Can you answer yes to ALL of the above requirements if you are considering Microsoft or Google Apps?
No you can not. That is fact.
Dude… are you serious?
“You probably do not like Notes as you have never used it.”
Really???
Look up http://duffbert.com/duffbert/blog.nsf
Google “duffbert”
Do *not* tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Notes is a very good platform. Been there, done that for 17 years. Did you miss this part of what I wrote? “Notes is still (in my opinion) a great product that gets bashed for both good and bad reasons.”
You have a vested interest in the Notes platform…
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11096353/act-for-lotus-notes
http://vigilus.net/website/index.HTML
http://www.vigilus.net/vigilusblog.nsf/d6plinks/JSIR-8XLPCZ
If you read my response before going off the deep end, you’ll notice I said I didn’t trust *anyone* who had a vested interest in pushing conversions from one platform to another. That includes the article that was published that started this exchange (no pun intended).
I remember when you appeared on Planet Lotus, and I remember when you got dumped off. It wasn’t your “writing style”.
This is a technology, not a religion.
And I’ll say once again…
Please do some research before making comments and assertions on something as important as this subject.
Thanks for the free publicity.
Moving off of Notes for email and calendar is one thing…moving off for other applications is just not always a great business move. You mention social, mobile and web. ALL things that with XPages ….Notes applications are more then capable of handling. The 5 reasons Gartner listed were weak.
And yes…I do sell a notes application however….it happens to work with ANY email platform. And…because of XPages…our users actually do not know in some cases that the backend is Notes. Frankly they do not care . I do not need organizations to stay on Notes for my company to survive. I just believe for what Notes gives organizations ….there is no better platform that I have seen. Sharepoint?….no….force?….no.
I told myself I wouldn’t bother to respond… but I’m still just amazed here.
*I* didn’t mention anything about social, mobile, or web. I don’t have a clue as to where you’re pulling your arguments from. I don’t see where I mentioned Gartner anywhere. My original comment was that you were misinterpreting Ed Brill’s statement of 1151 organizations reinstating their Notes support contracts. You’re the person who keeps tossing out statements that aren’t based anywhere in reality.
You’re correct in that migrations are not always (or even usually) a rational decision. Ed Brill talks about this here: http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/gartner-says-ibm-customers-migrating-to-microsoft-will-likely-be-disappointed
Maybe that’s where you got your Gartner idea. No argument on my part. But when you talk about “there are just as many Notes seats as Exchange”? In that same Ed Brill posting, you’ll see him state:
“We’re in a consistent #2 position in this market(…)”
Counting seats is nearly impossible these days due to the way things are counted, how they’re licensed, etc. But you won’t even find IBM claiming to be in the #1 spot in the email market. And I’m sticking with *just* the email market with that statement, as you’re the one who compared Notes seats to Exchange seats.
You’re welcome for the “free publicity”. It’s good to remember that not all publicity is good publicity, however…
Thomas “Duffbert” Duff not know Notes? It is to laugh (to borrow a line from my favourite feline philosopher). When I got into Notes, there were a few people a new developer interested in learning couldn’t help hearing of. People like Rocky Oliver, Bob Balaban, Richard Schwartz, Scott Good, Jake Howlett (who was the ONLY Domino blogger at the time, and while he was relaatively new to the platform, was almost singlehandedly responsible for transforming the way we “worked the web”) and a pair of fellows who billed themselves as Team TSG: Joe Litton and Thomas Duff. Those guys were all there when I got there, and none of them have ever given Notes and Domino any criticism it didn’t deserve. In fact, they’ve spent quite a bit of their time evangelizing the platform when most of the world was against them.
I’m thinking there’s a chance you might have heard of me along the way, even if you’ve managed somehow to miss out on Duffert’s wisdom. If not, you can try searching Google for “stan rogers” site:www-10.lotus.com and see what that brings you.
This is just not factual.
The real story is ….1100 organizations that had previously left IBM Notes decided they needed to come back and reinstall Notes.
There is nothing that gives users….
- datasecurity
- ability to work off line disconnected
- can use on web and ANY mobile device
- rapid devlopement and deployment of highly custom apps
REally….please do some research before writing a blog on something as important as this subject.