Accelerate Domino App Modernization with Volt MX Go v2.0

25. Juli 2023 Posted by Richard Jefts

I’m thrilled to introduce Volt MX Go v2.0, an innovative solution that will transform your Domino apps in half the time, risk, and cost of a total rewrite.

We recognize the enduring power of the Domino platform. In fact, 40% of the Fortune 500 companies remain loyal Domino customers, and its v14 release in December 2023 demonstrates its continued relevance and HCL’s commitment to its customers and innovation.

In v12.0.2, we provided multiple ways to modernize apps, such as through Restyle, Domino REST APIs, and Nomad. Volt MX Go serves as a complementary approach containing the best of Domino and Volt MX, our industry-leading low-code platform. You can now do even more with your Domino apps, such as extending them with multiexperience capabilities, from mobile to wearables, and incorporating cutting-edge technology such as AI chatbots – all without the fear of disruption. Read our official statement here.

With Volt MX Go, we’re also offering customers on Domino v9.0.x and v10.0.x (going out of support in June 2024) another pathway for their modernization projects.

Transforming your apps with Volt MX Go v2.0
Check out my short video explaining the benefits of Volt MX Go.

 

What’s special about Volt MX Go

What sets Volt MX Go apart is our experience and expertise in both the Domino and Volt MX platforms. The proprietary technology available only with Volt MX Go incorporates a powerful translation engine that automates up to 60% of the labor required to extend Domino apps. With Volt MX Go, developers can reuse your existing app’s data and business logic — so no time-consuming rewrites.

Furthermore, our solution allows you to both reuse your app’s existing Domino application logic and to code in modern scripting languages like JavaScript, expanding your access to available developer resources and capabilities.

A person holding a phone and a computer Description automatically generated

Notable features in the latest release

This release of Volt MX Go brings you a host of exciting features designed to streamline your app transformation process. Key highlights include the Domino Adapter, First Touch Experience, Design Import, and VoltFormula. Get more details about the features in this knowledge article.

Get started with Volt MX Go. Today.

If you’re ready to unlock the full potential of your Domino apps, you can purchase Volt MX Go today. Please contact our team to discuss your needs and how we can help you on your app modernization journey. We also offer comprehensive lab services, such as app assessments to identify Volt MX Go candidate apps, and installation.

Additionally, you can explore new app development possibilities by signing up for a free account to experience Volt MX firsthand.

With Volt MX Go, we are committed to your investment in the apps that run your business and providing new ways to build differentiating experiences to grow your business.

Making the Case for Digital Transformation: An Enterprise Evangelist’s Cheat Sheet

15. Juni 2023 Posted by Richard Jefts

Making the Case for Digital Transformation: An Enterprise Evangelist's Cheat Sheet

Let’s be honest — when it comes to digital transformation, I’m almost certainly preaching to the choir. The fact that you’re reading this at all tells me you’re well aware of the many benefits of digitizing work processes and customer journeys. But since we’re being honest, let’s admit that not everyone is as clued in as you are. In fact, a time may come — maybe tomorrow, maybe even today — when you’ll have to make the case for digital transformation to a decision maker who — how shall we put this? — doesn’t quite get it.

We’ve got your back.

When that day comes, you’ll be ready. Because here, without further ado, are the seven key benefits of digital transformation — broken down, cleaned up, and spelled out for maximum persuasiveness with minimal effort on your part. You’re welcome. Go forth and evangelize.

Because you’re bound to hear it, we’ll kick this off with the obvious question: What is digital transformation?

Simply put, it’s the process of integrating digital technologies into the various aspects of a business — resulting in fundamental changes to its operations, processes, and customer experiences. It’s a mouthful — but well worth the effort.

That brings us to the obvious follow-up: Why should we care?

Because money — or to put it more elegantly, ROI. In fact, when rolled out strategically, digital transformation can enhance your return on investment in a number of ways. Let’s run through the top seven.

  1. Improved efficiency and productivity. Digital transformation enables new forms of automation, streamlined workflows, and the elimination of any number of inefficient manual processes. These changes — which can range from new modes of collaboration to new levels of flexibility and scalability through the adoption of cloud-based services — can, in turn, enhance operational efficiency, cut costs, and boost productivity, ultimately increasing ROI.
  2. Enhanced customer experience. Digital transformation lets businesses understand and respond to customer needs more effectively. Data analytics and digital processes and tools can provide powerful insights into customer behavior and preferences — enabling highly personalized marketing, finely targeted advertising, and improved customer service. The resulting surge in customer satisfaction and loyalty will drive revenue and ultimately boost ROI.
  3. Data-driven decisions: Digital transformation generates huge quantities of timely, actionable data that can be collected, analyzed, and leveraged to inform business decisions. As noted above, data analytics and BI tools can offer valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational performance — surfacing opportunities, limiting risk, and enhancing business performance.
  4. Expanded reach: Digital transformation expands businesses’ market reach by making geography moot — not always, of course, but often enough to be game-changing. Online platforms, digital marketing, and e-commerce open the door to an always-on global audience — which can bring prodigious growth in sales volumes and market share. Once again: Ka-ching!
  5. Cost optimization. Here, the sky is pretty much the limit. Consider cloud computing, which cuts infrastructure costs and software and hardware expenditures while providing pay-as-you-go pricing. Other digital solutions save money by automating processes, reducing manual effort, and reducing errors — all of which will be reflected in an improved bottom line.
  6. Innovation and competitive advantage. Embarking on this journey of digital transformation sparks innovation internally and gives you a leg-up on the competition. Changes in processes, operations, and customer experience will spawn new products and services that meet customers where they are — or want to be — and address their new expectations, adding to that competitive edge.
  7. Agility and adaptability. Digital transformation makes businesses more flexible, agile, and adaptable — enabling them to pivot quickly, scale seamlessly, and test new ideas in real time as market dynamics and customer demands evolve. This agility means businesses can seize opportunities nimbly as they arise — a recipe for profitability and growth.

Let’s be clear: When it comes to ROI, there is no magic bullet. For digital transformation to succeed, careful planning, meticulous execution, and constant evaluation are needed to make sure business goals and customer needs and expectations stay in sync. But with a solid strategy to keep your efforts grounded, digital transformation can be the key to revving up your ROI — and that’s good news for any business.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Why Low Code is Key to Digital Transformation

21. April 2023 Posted by Richard Jefts

Why Low Code is Key to Digital Transformation

Low code is revolutionizing the way organizations do business. We all hear, every day, how important speed is or how we need to be moving faster. Low code empowers companies to develop and deploy innovative solutions quickly and efficiently. This translates to faster time-to-market, improved agility, and increased customer satisfaction. Moreover, low-code platforms help bridge the gap between IT and business teams, fostering collaboration and streamlining workflows. This translates to more efficient and effective solutions that align much more closely with business objectives. We see this today with citizen applications being built by anyone at the organization first, after which IT can use what’s been started to build enterprise-grade, low-code applications.

Low-code platforms can be used to develop a wide range of solutions, from simple mobile apps to complex enterprise applications. They offer a range of benefits, including faster development times, reduced costs, improved collaboration, and more efficient workflows. It’s no wonder that they’ve become an increasingly popular choice for businesses looking to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

According to Gartner, by 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity. In a survey conducted by Forrester, 23% of respondents said they have already implemented low-code platforms, while another 22% said they plan to do so in the next 12 months. The same Forrester survey found that organizations that use low-code platforms report a sixfold increase in speed of application development. This demonstrates the growing importance of low-code platforms in driving digital transformation across industries. I want to emphasize that 2024 is literally right around the corner.

Low-code platforms enable developers to build applications using a visual drag-and-drop interface, reducing the need for coding expertise and speeding up development times. By eliminating these complexities, low-code platforms empower developers and business users alike to create digital solutions without being hindered by technical limitations.

One of the key advantages of low-code platforms is their ability to improve agility and flexibility in software development. With traditional software development methods, updating a project requires significant effort and time: developers must modify the code, test the changes, and then deploy the updated software. In contrast, low-code platforms make it easier to adapt to changing requirements by enabling users to make changes to applications quickly and efficiently.

In addition to their speed and flexibility, low-code platforms can also help reduce costs by reducing the need for specialized developers and IT personnel. Because low-code platforms don’t require the specialized expertise that traditional software development demands, enterprises can draw on a wider pool of talent to create digital solutions. This can lead to significant cost savings, particularly for smaller businesses or organizations with limited IT resources. It also frees up the best of your IT talent to focus on higher-value initiatives.

Low-code platforms are not without challenges. As with any new technology, there may be concerns around security and data protection, particularly for enterprises that routinely handle sensitive data. It’s important for organizations to carefully evaluate the security and compliance capabilities of low-code platforms before adopting them. You need to work with proven vendors that have rock-solid solutions.

At HCLSoftware, we’re committed to empowering businesses by providing the tools they need to thrive in today’s competitive market. Our low-code platform offers a powerful yet user-friendly — and secure — environment enabling businesses to develop and deploy solutions quickly and efficiently, without the need for specialized coding skills. By leveraging our low-code platform, businesses can focus on delivering value to their customers, driving innovation, and achieving their digital transformation goals. All with speed!!

Our application development platforms provide more than 10 million applications to enterprises globally to keep their businesses running.

LEARN MORE ABOUT VOLT MX, OUR MULTIEXPERIENCE LOW-CODE PLATFORM

LEARN MORE ABOUT DOMINO, NOW WITH NO CODE, LOW CODE AND PRO CODE CAPABILITIES

LEARN MORE ABOUT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Why Is Secure Collaboration in the Digital Age So Important?

21. April 2023 Posted by Richard Jefts

Why Is Secure Collaboration in the Digital Age So Important?

Of the factors needed to support an effective digital transformation, one is indispensable: Without employee buy-in, no digital transformation will succeed. To attain the level of engagement needed to transform your business, you must empower your teams to work in new ways that make sense for them. Providing secure collaboration tools is thus an essential step toward implanting a truly digital work culture in your organization. Think about the importance of the information we exchange every day between email, text, social media, etc. We speak about financials, customers, employees, acquisitions, and other valuable information that needs to be kept safe. If this information of all things is not secure then fundamentally, we are exposed and not being good shepherds for our customers, partners, investors or employees. Keeping our information secure is required — and expected — when we are collaborating.

Gaps and deficits in organizational culture can be a major barrier to digital success, as McKinsey showed in a study that identified increased collaboration — along with customer-centricity and calculated risk-taking — as a must-have behavioral shift for organizations embarking on a successful digital transformation. A later study by McKinsey showed “how, and by how much, digitizing tools and processes can support success” by enabling employees to work in new ways — and called out three specific changes as essential:

  • Adopting digital tools to make information more accessible across the organization — which, according to the study, more than doubles the likelihood of a successful transformation.
  • Deploying “digital self-serve technologies” for employees and/or business partners.
  • Modifying standard operating procedures to incorporate new technologies.

Beyond these three elements, McKinsey found that “an increase in data-based decision making and in the visible use of interactive tools” could also more than double the likelihood of digital transformation success.

So, with this in mind, what key attributes are needed for secure collaboration tools to engage employees effectively and help to create a cultural shift in your organization? What concrete capabilities will win your teams over and give your organization the digital momentum you’re looking for? Here are some of the ways in which secure collaboration tools enable teams to work together efficiently and effectively — while also securing sensitive data.

Increasing productivity — Secure collaboration tools help teams work together more efficiently, reducing the time required to complete tasks and increasing overall productivity. For example, cloud-based collaboration platforms allow team members to work on documents in real time, from anywhere, without worrying about version control issues or emailing files back and forth.

Enabling remote work — The pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work, and secure collaboration tools became essential for enabling teams to work together from different locations. With the right tools in place, remote workers can collaborate just as effectively as they would in an office setting, without compromising the security of sensitive data.

Enhancing communication — Collaboration tools improve communication between team members, keeping everyone on the same page and working toward the same goals. By providing a centralized platform for communication, they make it easy for team members to share information and feedback, reducing the risk of miscommunication and misunderstandings.

Ensuring security — Digital transformation often involves the use of sensitive data, and it’s essential that this data is kept secure throughout the collaboration process. Secure collaboration tools use encryption and other security measures to protect data from unauthorized access or interception, reducing the risk of data breaches or other security incidents.

Facilitating compliance — Compliance with data privacy and security regulations is becoming increasingly important, and secure collaboration tools can help organizations meet these requirements. By providing features like access controls, audit logs, and data retention policies, collaboration tools make it easier for organizations to demonstrate compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.

Transformation is disruptive by nature, and seamlessly providing multiple channels for sharing and communication in a safe way can be a challenge for any organization. Nevertheless, secure collaboration is an indispensable aspect of any digital transformation process — both technically and at a business level. Enabling teams to work together efficiently and securely is essential for digital transformation. Regardless of the location or the type of data they are working with. By investing in secure collaboration tools, organizations can ensure that they are able to collaborate effectively around any information and from anywhere in our rapidly changing digital landscape.

Enterprise Leaders Deliver Value in the Digital+ Economy by Transforming Experiences

24. Februar 2023 Posted by Richard Jefts

Enterprise Leaders Deliver Value in the Digital

Digital Transformation isn’t just making sure your business, your apps, or your CX are available online. It means creating technology and processes for customers, partners, and employees that embody their potential, enable their vision, meet their needs, and achieve their goals. Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to transform business processes and customer experiences to meet the evolving needs and opportunities of the digital age. Beyond the obvious efficiencies introduced by digitizing data, interactions, and business processes, digital transformation offers the prospect of reimagining and reinventing business at a fundamental level — from sales and marketing paradigms to success metrics, from business models to customer engagement. As a result, we are seeing a huge shift of companies becoming “digital first” and taking a “digital first” approach.

In fact, digital transformation begins and ends with customers and employees. Customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) are at the heart of this transformation — whether those users are consumers or other clients external to the business, employees working in a hybrid model, or other internal stakeholders. To a great extent, this focus on CX and EX is driven by our changing expectations. Users of technology today expect personalized, intuitive, seamless experiences across all touchpoints — and companies that fail to deliver on these expectations risk losing out to competitors. Customer-centricity is therefore an indispensable consideration as companies embark on their digital transformation journey and think about how they can improve the engagement, enablement and empowerment of their employees to be connected and more effective than ever.

For all these reasons, digital transformation has become a top priority for businesses of all types and sizes — and companies are investing heavily in digital solutions to improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience, and gain a competitive edge. This elevation of digital transformation among business decision makers, in turn, has brought greater attention to specific solutions and opportunities to enhance business outcomes, leverage data and analytics, incorporate emerging technologies, and systematically and seamlessly address the always-evolving global security and compliance requirements.

Composable solutions that combine app development and automation, CX, secure collaboration, digital solutions, and emerging tech can enable businesses to develop holistic, customer-centric solutions that meet their needs and drive growth and allow them to differentiate themselves from their competitors. By focusing on the user, leveraging low-code platforms where appropriate, and prioritizing these key factors, enterprise leaders can deliver value to their customers in the digital age and achieve success in digital transformation.

Low-code platforms empower businesses to accelerate the development and deployment of new solutions while reducing costs and minimizing the need for specialized coding skills. By leveraging pre-built components and templates, businesses can streamline development and focus on delivering value to their customers faster than ever.

How HCLSoftware is powering digital transformation

In the past year, we touched over 5,000 companies with our e-commerce and CX solutions and helped their businesses grow more than US$200 billion in annual sales transactions. Our marketing automation platform reaches one-third of the earth’s population, and we power over 1 billion user experiences — daily. Our application development platforms provide more than 10 million applications to enterprises globally to keep their businesses running.

To succeed in the digital age, enterprise leaders must embrace a holistic approach to digital transformation. This means starting with a clear understanding of their customers’ needs and priorities, developing solutions that prioritize CX and leverage low-code platforms where appropriate, and continuously iterating and improving their solutions based on customer feedback and changing market conditions.

It also means investing in the right talent, processes, and technologies to drive innovation and growth. This may include hiring data scientists and analysts to help make sense of customer data, adopting emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate and optimize processes, and partnering with trusted vendors like HCLSoftware to ensure the security and compliance of digital solutions.

Digital transformation is not just a buzzword – indeed, the pandemic brought home to us all how critical it is for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. By focusing on your customers, employees and other users — while leveraging low-code platforms where appropriate, and prioritizing business outcomes, data and analytics, emerging technologies, and security and compliance — enterprise leaders can drive growth and innovation in their organizations and deliver value to their customers in the digital age.

LEARN MORE

The Countdown to the Newest HCL Domino and Sametime Begins! Join Us for Our Global Launch

15. April 2021 Posted by Richard Jefts

I am thrilled to announce that registration is now live for what will surely be a true, blockbuster event on June 7. This exclusive virtual event celebrates our latest versions of HCL Domino v12 and HCL Sametime. The first 1200 registrants got a free gift (we blew past that number in a couple of days!).

I personally love the amazing video that helps capture the excitement as we could down the days to these “breakaway” releases. (An agenda will be released soon. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest.) 

The launch event will include thought-leading sessions, demos, customer speakers, and more. And, it kicks off an exciting collection of Domino content delivered in a series we are calling the “Domino Dozen” (once you’ve registered for the launch, you will have access to this program). Each day, for 12 days following the launch, we will drop a new, essential Domino-related treasure. These pieces will include webinars, panel discussions, and technical deep dives, early access to special programs, thought leadership pieces, and more.  

Also, join us for the closing keynote and happy hour on June 23 — we are calling “Nerdi Gras,” as a hat tip to the days of Lotus past. We will be releasing a party kit soon, with downloadable favors, so you can join in the fun.

For those of us who’ve been on this Domino journey with us for so many years — and for those of you we will be welcoming as new customers — we can’t wait to celebrate.

Join us.

Digital Week 2020: Oh, What a Week It Was!

17. November 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

Something big just happened. And it was amazing. Our very first truly digital mega event, Digital Week 2020, just wrapped in the Americas and EMEA. For those of us who joined us live, we hope you felt as invigorated and inspired as we did. We had 2,225 people sign up to participate. We had 75+ unique sessions of content — from thought-leading discussions with analysts and influencers to zippy, quick tech roundtables and coffee chats, we covered a wide range of topics, trends, and technologies.  

We had more attendees at our keynotes — and more meetings and conversations — than ever before. Dion Hinchcliffe (from Constellation Research) and Wayne Kurtzman (from IDC) both signalled to the market that we are a low-code powerhouse. We had major product releases — including the world premiere of our new game-changer, HCL Volt MX (that session had more than 500 attendees to show up for this exciting news). In addition, we launched new, exciting versions of HCL Digital ExperienceHCL Sametime PremiumHCL Connections v7, and gave a preview of HCL Domino v12 and our vision for the future of the digital office. 

For data geeks, check this out: We had 2+ terabytes and 35 hours of content plus almost 50 hours of breakout HCL Sametime meeting rooms. Oh, and only 5 instances of “can you hear me?,” 7 of “is this on?” and 27 of “you’re on mute.” Plus 11,250 beverages were consumed at the coffee chats and happy hours. Oh, and ZERO miles were traveled.   Watch this video, which captures the buzz and energy of HCL Digital Week 2020.  

Thank you for joining us. You helped us achieve bigger conversations, bigger sessions, and bigger releases. Thank you for making our first truly digital event as possible and powerful as it was — and we have another great lineup for the first week in December for our customers, partners, and friends in APJ.   

We are poised and ready to be the partner of choice for digital transformation. Let’s transform the future — together. See you at the next great event! 

The post Digital Week 2020: Oh, What a Week It Was! appeared first on HCL SW Blogs.

Open Source at HCL Software

5. November 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

From the very beginning, there has been strong intent for HCL Software (formally HCL Products and Platforms) to be a key player in open source — for us to be involved in external communities as participants, contributors, and leaders. As strong as that intent has been it has taken us time to build our internal communities, training programs, and means of prioritization so that we at HCL Software could contribute in a consistent and sustainable way. Well, that time has arrived. 

HCL Software’s OSPO (open-source project office) has approved our participation with the Jitsi community. This long-standing community is dedicated to an open and modern meeting environment with technology that challenges many of the existing proprietary tools. We will be over the coming weeks and months submitting fixes and new features that we have developed while building our chat and meetings solution, HCL Sametime Premium. We are also working with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and OpenNTF

The value of an open-source community can be immeasurable at times.  We have all seen this with examples like the Apache Software Foundation or Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and how passionate communities and developers can make amazing innovations to technology that truly makes a difference.  These are the types of communities we at HCL Software want to contribute to on an ongoing and consistent basis. 

For our own customers, new samples are being published on our new HCL Software public github.com repository that demonstrate capabilities or provide simple tooling for HCL Software’s products including samples for the HCL Domino AppDev Pack and soon some of our product documentation. 

We are firmly committed to expanding our participation in other open-source communities and industry consortiums. HCL Software will be a leader in the open-source movement with growing contributions and participation over the coming months and years. This will allow us to dramatically increase our velocity in features and functions and will result in higher quality products for our customers and partners. But even more importantly, it will enable our customers and partners to work with us in a more transparent and productive way. 

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Digital Week 2020 is Coming

21. September 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

It’s with great excitement that we’re announcing Digital Week 2020! Starting November 9, HCL Digital Solutions will be hosting a blockbuster virtual event that’s not to be missed. From thought-provoking keynotes from analysts and influencers at IDC and Constellation Research, to a packed agenda filled with incredible product announcements and technical sessions that will make even the biggest geek excited, we know Digital Week 2020 will be one for the record books.  

The whole week will be full of news and announcements about our entire HCL Digital Solutions portfolio — including the world premiere of HCL Volt MX, a multiexperience app platform and our newest product. This week is truly global, and we will be live from everywhere — on 6 continents and in 8 languages.

Digital Week 2020 is a week-long experience (one each for Americas/EMEA and APAC), with three distinct event streams:

DS IMAGINE 2020 (Monday | Tuesday):  

Business models are shifting and the way we work has been flipped upside down. And yet, there is the ever-present need to drive new revenue and meet shareholder and customer expectations. Technology is evolving so quickly that you have to adapt and transform how you do business. Join us for two-days of thought leadership sessions and portfolio announcements that every business leader will want to attend. Let’s transform your business.  

DX INSPIRE 2020 (Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday):  

After last year’s success, we have DX Inspire 2020, our second-annual user group and conference centered on HCL Digital Experience. Come learn how we’ve transformed — so you can deliver business-critical digital experiences at the speed of cloud. Our HCL DX Fall 2020 release delivers more value from your existing on-prem investments with the added speed of new cloud capabilities, reimagined content tools, and faster and lighter app dev. Join us to get exclusive access to demos, experts and our HCL DX leadership team.  

FACTORY TOUR 2020 (Wednesday | Thursday | Friday): 

Come geek out with us backstage and get your hands on our latest industry-leading technologies and demos. You’ll get further insight into our new releases, join roundtables and technical sessions, participate in breakout rooms and “cafes,” and compete with your peers in our global HCL Domino Volt Hackathon! Come show off your skills and build the future with us! 

We are putting the final touches on our Digital Week 2020 event app — built on HCL Domino Volt — that will give you full access to more than 75 sessions. In the weeks leading up to the event, keep an eye out for your verified account login information so you can view the detailed agenda for each event. 

Starting the first week in November, you will be able to access every session live from within the event app, just like a TV guide.  

Join us. This just can’t be missed! 

 

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We Are Now 120 days from a Very Important Date!

17. März 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

On July 16, 2019, HCL announced the End of Marketing/End of Service of Connections Cloud and SmartCloud Notes (SCN) with services ending July 16, 2020.

Conceding that you have not yet decided on what your plan is, the time is now to move forward in planning that decision.  We are 3 months from the existing cloud service shutting down. Please complete this survey to help us better understand how to best support you over the next 3  months.

As you might imagine, we at HCL are hopeful that our investment strategy in the collaboration products you have inspires you to move ahead with us in a new environment.  That being said, we know that some of you will have to make alternative plans.  We are doing our best to prepare you concisely and transparently.  To that end, you have the following options:

  1. Move your data to an approved HCL Cloud Hosting Managed Service Provider
  2. Move your data on-premises, to a private cloud, or a third-party cloud provider
  3. Do nothing and lose all data after July 15, 2020

 **Note: No data will be accessible on the existing cloud service after July 15, 2020**

In case you are currently in discussions with an approved HCL Cloud Hosting Managed Service Provider, we strongly encourage you to sign your contract, and get your data migration scheduled and proceed down this path:

 

Picture

Supposing that you are not working with an approved HCL Cloud Hosting Managed Service Provider but would like to move your cloud data to an on-premises environment, private cloud, or a third-party cloud provider, please see the API documentation about the Connections Cloud data extraction and migration.
Below we have outlined clear next steps for each of our affected products:

For SCN/Verse customers, we recommend you start your mail data migration now.

  1. Get started today by contacting the service provider of your choice — see our roster of HCL Cloud Hosting Managed Service Providers
  2. Read our SCN/Verse data and user migration FAQ
  3. Download and use our Mail Offboarding Resource Guides
  4. Begin your migration!
  5. Please complete this survey to help us better understand how to support you over the next 3 months

For HCL Connections customers, we highly recommend you:

  1. Get started today by contacting the service provider of your choice — see our roster of HCL Cloud Hosting Managed Service Providers
  2. Watch the playback of the recent webinar here discussing the data migration process specific to HCL Connections, how to get started, and all you need to know.
  3. Read the Connections Data Migration FAQ
  4. Please complete this survey to help us better understand how to support you over the next 3 months

Office Hours! If you still have any questions about how to get started, we can help! We are hosting 4 cloud migration office hour sessions to answer your questions. You will be directed to a public Box link, where you will be prompted to download an ICS file that has all the call-in information there for you to import into your calendar. Pick a date/time that works for you then download the invitation and import it into your calendar and join us!

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HCL Celebrates International Women’s Day

6. März 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

HCL thinks about diversity the way we think about product innovation — both are essential to the success of our business. When we relentlessly innovate, our products become more valuable and essential for creating growth and positive business outcomes for our clients. When we focus on diversity and inclusion for our employees, we create more room for innovation and concrete results for our business. We believe that our focus on diversity in the workplace as a core value gives us and our clients the freedom, we need to achieve our goals.

And to be clear, the business case for diversity is well-known — companies with higher diversity in management earned 38% more revenuein the last three years than those with less diversity.

Our commitment to gender equality

For more than 40 years, HCL has been at the forefront of employing and empowering women. We have consistently and consciously furthered this cause through various initiatives, as well as creating a larger social environment that facilitates gender-equal workspaces.

We, along with #IWD2020, believe an equal world is an enabled world. We want to celebrate women’s achievement, shine a light on and combat gender bias wherever we see it, and take meaningful actions to drive gender equality.

HCL has been very active in spotlighting the crucial role that women play in the technology industry through our own Red Ladder Initiative that celebrates, advocates, and fosters women’s leadership. The program identifies and recognizes top-performing and high-potential women leaders and uses them as role models for other aspiring women — and men — in STEM fields. The initiative was a winner of Stevie’s Award for Women in Business 2017, in the category of “Women Helping Women.”

To foster stronger career development, we’ve launched focused programs for our mid-level women managers to quicken their elevation to leadership positions, and delivered programs for senior women managers which focuses on their career progression with key learning elements like one-to-one mentoring by senior leaders, peer coaching for domain and technical skill enhancement, and blended learning with multimedia programs from globally acclaimed learning partners. These programs were recognized by Brandon Hall with the “Best Advance in Women Leadership Development” (Gold Award, 2017) and the “Best Diversity and Inclusion Strategy” (Silver Award, 2018) by Brandon Hall.

Yet, there is still a long way to go to forge a true balance for the better.

Just this past month, our team, the HCL Digital Solutions portfolio, comprised of HCL Domino, Digital Experience, Sametime, Connections and Leap, was very excited to announce the grand opening of our new HCL Lab in Vijayawada, India, hosted by our Chairman, Shiv Nadar, which will be staffed with 70% women engineers.

Not only does this lab help us build a diverse global team, but it will be the genesis of our HCL Domino Applications Modernization team, with the mission to enhance and extend the value of the millions of applications used by our 20k+ clients. This team will also drive overall increased velocity and engineering efficiency for our HCL Digital Experience and Connections products. As with everything we do, this site’s opening represents the investments we are making in our products, but more importantly in delivering on our commitments to you, our clients and partners.

In my career and life I have been fortunate enough to have women in both my professional and personal life that I have learned from. And I am happy to say that I continue to learn from women —  every day.

With our relentless goal to provide more value and innovation to our customers — and delivering on our mission of “Relationship Beyond the Contract” — the HCL Digital Solutions portfolio is positioned to deliver enterprise digital transformation to our customers for many years to come. But we can only do this if we consciously hire, promote, and empower women from a diverse spectrum of races, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, and religious beliefs.

Join me in our mission, and challenge yourself to ask, “how will I help forge a gender equal world?”

#IWD2020 #EachforEqual

Richard Jefts
General Manager and Vice President of Development
HCL Digital Solutions

 

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Next Steps: Data Migration for SCN/Verse and Connections Cloud Customers

13. Februar 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

On July 16, 2019, HCL announced the End of Marketing/End of Service of Connections Cloud and SmartCloud Notes (SCN) with services ending July 16, 2020.

To make the migration as smooth, safe and secure as possible, and to ensure the future of our customer’s data and software, HCL has appointed a small number of HCL Cloud Hosting Partners/Managed Service Providers to deliver cloud services directly to you.

Below are key resources and next steps for all customers affected by this announcement:

HCL Notes and HCL Verse customers:
1.    Get started today with your data and user migration with our HCL Managed Service Providers
2.    Read our SCN/Verse data and user migration FAQ
3.    Download and use our Mail Offboarding Resource Guides

HCL Connections customers:
1.    Get started today with your data and user migration with one of our HCL Managed Service Providers
2.    February 27 at 9 AM ET: Register for our webcast: Moving ahead with Connections Cloud: A Practical Guide to Next Steps

Our goal at HCL Software is to provide ongoing and transparent communications during your cloud migration. For any questions, concerns, or feedback, please email us directly.

Thank you,

Richard Jefts
General Manager and Vice President of Development, HCL Digital Solutions

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Important News About HCL Lotus Protector for Mail Security

10. Februar 2020 Posted by Richard Jefts

Security is more critical now than ever in our everyday lives and the continued functioning of a business and in the email systems that carry our daily business correspondence.

HCL has evaluated the market for software and services that provide this level of security for mail and has decided that market-leading vendors better meet our customer needs.

As is documented in the End of Marketing/End of Service/End of Life Announcement on HCL.com effective February 11, 2020, HCL will no longer sell HCL Lotus Protector for Mail Security. Support for this product will end on February 11, 2021.

HCL realizes that companies using HCL Lotus Protector for Mail Security as part of their overall corporate security and required to ensure the safe use of your mail environment.

HCL is happy to announce that we have partnered with Proofpoint Inc.* to provide an alternative solution. Proofpoint’s proven solution for HCL Domino can provide a solution that will keep your business correspondence safe and secure.

Proofpoint will work directly with you to migrate to the appropriate solution in their portfolio without disruption to your business.  You can contact Proofpoint directly, via email.

In summary, while HCL will no longer provide a solution for your mail security. Proofpoint’s proven solution for HCL Domino can provide a solution that will keep your business correspondence safe and secure.

If you have questions, please send us an email.

———

* Proofpoint, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFPT) is a leading cybersecurity company that protects organizations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber-attacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 1000, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web.
www.proofpoint.com

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We Delivered! Domino and Sametime v11 Are Here

20. Dezember 2019 Posted by Richard Jefts

At HCL Digital Solutions, we are proud to bring our customers and business partners a significant new version of Domino and Sametime. To learn more, we’ve assembled a compendium of videos and resources for you to explore:

DOWNLOAD NOW
Here is the link to upgrade now.

NEW VIDEOS AND PRODUCT INFORMATION
 
HCL Domino and HCL Sametime v11
Watch the launch video here.
Visit our Domino product page here.
Visit our Sametime product page here.
 
Introducing HCL Domino Volt
Watch the launch video here.

HCL Nomad: Zero-Effort Mobile Apps
Watch the launch video here.

Mail Experiences in v11
Learn about HCL Mail and HCL Verse here.
 
A Closer Look at Sametime v11
Watch the launch video here. See the product page here.

Domino on Docker
Watch our “Boot Camp” video here.

New Partnerships
Find out about OnTime and ApprovedContact: Free Time Busy.
Learn how Panopta Makes Domino Monitoring Radically Easier

MORE RESOURCES
 
Domino V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/domino/11.0.0/index.html
 
Nomad (iPad, iPhone and Android Tablet)
https://help.hcltechsw.com/nomad/welcome/index.html

Notes V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/notes/11.0.0/index.html

Designer V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/dom_designer/11.0.0/index.html

Traveler V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/traveler/11.0.0/index.html

Sametime V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/sametime/11.0.0/index.html

HCAA V3.0
https://help.hcltechsw.com/caa/3.0/index.html

iNotes V11
https://help.hcltechsw.com/inotes/11.0.0/index.html

HCL Lifecycle Information
https://hclpnpsupport.hcltech.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0068850
 
HCL Client Advocacy
https://www.cwpcollaboration.com/advocacy.html
 
HCL Support (browse our knowledge articles, interact with us on the forums and open a case)
https://hclpnpsupport.hcltech.com/csm
 
Thank you for your continued support. And, best wishes for a Happy New Year.
 
Domino and Sametime Product Teams

The post We Delivered! Domino and Sametime v11 Are Here appeared first on HCL SW Blogs.

Live from Tokyo: Questions Asked and Answered

18. Dezember 2019 Posted by Richard Jefts

On December 4, when we announced HCL’s first significant releases for Domino, Notes, Sametime, and Connections, we broadcasted live from Tokyo. Thousands of customers and partners tuned in from all over the world, and more than 50 business partners held concurrent viewing parties to celebrate in more than 20 countries. We had almost 4 million impressions on social media. We answered hundreds of questions in real-time, but there were so many we couldn’t get to them all. Here, are your smart questions and our useful answers about what this launch means for these products, and you.  

You can read a recap of the recent launches here. You can replay all content from the Live from Tokyo event here.

APP DEV

Q: The mobile app in HCL Nomad is only for lotus notes app, right? No Xpages

A: Correct, HCL Nomad runs existing Notes apps both online and offline, unchanged. There are no plans to support Xpages-built apps.

Q: Cloudevents support is amazing!

A: We think so too! Here are additional video content on Domino Event Publisher and Cloudevents available.

Q: No mention of Xpages and yet I understand you have announced the intention to not only support but “invest”? Do you have anything to add here, please?

A: Beyond supporting customers using Xpages, we did announce that we would make targeted investments. Primarily to specific library versions. Details to follow in 2020.

Q: Does the Domino Event Publisher mean that there will be a new version of App Dev Pack for version 11?

Yes, there is an AppDev Pack version 1.0.3 coming out at the end of 2019. Besides the preview version of the Domino Event Publisher, it contains fixes to existing functionality. Also, DQL witnessed some significant updates.

AVAILABILITY

Q: When will Notes/Domino 11 be released?

A: Domino, Sametime and Notes will be delivered on December 20. Nomad for Android is available; Nomad for iOS will be available on or before December 23.

COMPATIBILITY

Q: Which version of Traveler and Sametime is compatible with Domino V11?

A: There are V11 versions of Domino, Sametime and Traveler available on December 20, 2019.

Q: Is a direct upgrade from version 8.5.3 to version 11 possible too?

A: Yes.

CONNECTIONS

Q: Will Orient Me still be packaged with the Component Pack?

A: Yes, Orient Me will be packaged with the Component Pack.

Q: Will Connections 6.5 be deployed to Connections Cloud as well?

A: As cloud customers move off the legacy Connections Cloud environment to our cloud hosting providers, customers will have the latest and greatest versions of Connections capabilities, including Connections 6.5.

Q: Are there any short learning videos about Connections available?

A: We have these live on our HCL Digital Solutions YouTube channel! Check it out. And it’s available to be translated in anyone’s local language.

Q: Does Smarsh Connected Capture have a new release for HCL Connections 6.5

A: Existing Smarsh versions are compatible with Connections 6.5.

Q: Is Sidebar easily customizable?

A: Sidebar is customizable via Connections Customizer. We will work on an extensions model via the Application Registry the same way we already offer Client Extension models in Orient Me and the Important to Me bar. See our Connections YouTube channel.

Q: Is there an integration between Connections Activities and Notes to Dos and other to-do apps?

A: It’s a great idea. However, it’s not available in Notes v11, or Connections 6.5. Please submit your idea to our ideas portal.

Q: Is Sidebar based on the component pack or WebSphere?

A: Sidebar is available in the core Connections (aka WebSphere) stack.

Q: Will a newly invited external member run through the onboarding wizard?

A: Every user will run through the onboarding wizard Touchpoint the first time they use Connections. The onboarding wizard can also be customized to be rerun or require the acceptance of certain usage terms

Q: Will, the Social Sidebar, be available in Notes?

A: No, the Social Sidebar runs in a browser, not in Notes.

Q: Will feature “Invite a new external user to the community” or “share file with external ” available?

A: As in previous versions of Connections, Connections 6.5 allows you to include external users in your Communities and share files with external users

Q: Where is a user registered (to which directory) once registered using Invite feature of HC6.5

A: They will be registered to the directory dedicated to external users (a separate directory has to be specified to support external users).

Q: Activities Plus / Kudos Boards: Is the number of users who can use activities plus & boards limited?

A: Activities Plus is available to all Connections users at no charge, and licenses for the desired number of users for full Kudos Boards capabilities can be purchased.

Q: Connections team need to follow Sametime in removing WAS and DB2 within a year (preferably in version 7).

A: Thank you for the feedback. Connections already run on Oracle or SQL Server databases, and we will have more to share on the Connections architecture over the coming year.

Q: When can we have access to the new HCL Connections?

A: HCL Connections 6.5 has been released already and is available for download on Flexnet. December 20th is for Domino, Notes, and Sametime; Nomad the 23rd.

DOMINO

Q: When will Enterprise Integrator be available for v11?

A: HCL Enterprise Integrator will be available for both v10 and v11. It is scheduled for Q1-2020. The communication about the exact timing to be done soon.

Q: Will there be a direct update path from Domino 9 to Domino 11?

A: Domino enables you to upgrade directly from v9 to v11.

DOMINO LANGUAGES

Q: As promised, V11 to launch with all languages but when will you release Group 2 languages for v10 including Russian?

A: There will be another communication with the specific details of additional language pack support for both v10.0.1 and v11.

Q: When will Domino/Notes v11 French version be available?

A: HCL plans to make the language pack available for French with the rest of the Wave 1 languages in 1H-2020. Stay tuned for communication on the exact date.

LICENSING

Q: Is there any alternative to ILMT to track and record the license usage?

A: Customers can elect to move to the Per User Metric model provided in V11 of Domino and Sametime. You will need to use either ILMT or BigFix to track PUVs.

Q: Will there be a Community Edition for domino and other products?

A: HCL is replacing the Community Edition with access to a Domino and Sametime trial license. The exact details will be available in the coming weeks.

Q: Using V11 licensing, if a customer has 500 users and want to has multiple Domino servers, how many user licenses do they need to purchase?

A: The new licensing model charges for the number of users irrespective of the number of Domino servers.

Q: Will there be changes regarding supporting programs in the future? A lot of the products had other IBM products included as supporting programs.

A: Details of the entitlements and supporting programs will be available when Domino, Notes and Sametime ships.

Q: Will we find out about licensing options for Domino?

A: There will be a License Primer available in January to all customers, HCL Masters and Business Partners.

Q: How will the Utility server license be replaced? Surely that doesn’t work with a per user basis.

A: In the initial release of v11, there is no replacement server-based such as Domino Server or Xworks available. HCL plans to have an alternative solution in 2020.

MARKETING

Q: How many participants were there in the live broadcast?

A: Thousands and thousands, plus more than 50 business partner led viewing partners in over 40 countries!

Q: Are there any newsletters for partners for regular updates and happening around HCL Domino?

A: https://hcltech.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=419b4a12dde6496d7c469ec62&id=7769b7e1a3

Q: Where can we see the deep-dive content?

A: Please visit our YouTube channel for all the latest video content from launch.

NOMAD

Q: Where can I ask general questions about browser support for conventional Domino applications?

A: As part of v12, HCL Nomad is extended to run Notes apps natively on a browser. This means you don’t need the Notes client or ICAA installed. Stay tuned for more information.

Q: Is there a long-term plan for HCAA? (e.g. will it be in v12)

A: HCL will continue to develop and enhance HCL Notes, and augment support for running apps using HCL Nomad. In v12, when HCL Nomad will be able to run Notes Apps in a browser, we expect customers to switch to this new approach immediately. However, HCAA will be available in v12.

NOTES

Q: Is Notes 11 compatible with Domino 9.0.1?

A: Yes, Notes applications and custom templates will work in the v11 client. However, the embedded experience was removed in v10.

PARTNERSHIPS

Q: Is Panagenda Upgrade FREE for v11 included in the entitlements?

A: No, Notes includes MarvelClient Essentials code. Upgrades to a full license of MarvelClient is available from panagenda themselves. However, you can use the MarvelClient Essential to help your upgrade of the Notes client from v9 to v11.

Q: Panopta integration is awesome.

A: Thank you. They are an excellent partner and solution. To learn more about the Domino and Panopta integration, there is additional content available here.

PLATFORMS

Q: Will Domino 11 support for IBM iservers?

A: Yes, Domino v11 is coming to IBM i. It will follow after the initial shipment of December 20 by the end of Q1-2020.

SALES

Q: Are there sales contact here locally in the USA? I’m having difficulties dealing with the service overseas.

A: Please reach out to Shannon Batson Shuburte, Head of Sales for North America, HCL Digital Solutions.

Q: I would like to have a local contact here in the USA to discuss HCL Software and our migration from IBM

A: Please reach out to Shannon Batson Shuburte, Head of Sales for North America, HCL Digital Solutions.

Q: How do I find an HCL Business Partner here in the USA?

A: Please visit our HCL Partner Connect webpage here.

SAMETIME

Q: When will it be possible to integrate Sametime Meetings and Sametime A/V in Connections (as we had in Connections 4.5)? Just click to video conference?

A: We are working with the Connections team to identify a roadmap in 2020 once the new Sametime Meetings capability is available. Stay tuned.

Q: When will Sametime v11 have online meeting and screen sharing?

A: The new Sametime embedded Audio/Video and Meetings capability will be available mid-2020.

Q: Sametime on Linux will include Web Conferencing?

A: Yes, we’ll have both Windows and Linux releases of Sametime v11 Meetings next year in mid-2020.

Q: Will there be a review of the old IBM Project Toscana? Persistent Chat and Interfaces to different Notes / Domino products, etc.?

A: Sametime v11 supports persistent chat including with groups, and when we integrate with Connections in 2020, we will have team/channel chat. We’re also enhancing our SDKs and integration with other products, both HCL and third party.

SUPPORT

Q: Any word for End of Life of version 9?

A: HCL Digital Solution has honored the IBM Support Lifecycle for Notes, Domino and Sametime. Hence, there is no change to the previously announced extended support of Notes, Domino and Sametime 9.0.X date of September 2021.

TRAINING & CERTIFICATION

Q: What training be available for Domino administrators and developers?

A: Outside of updated product documentation, insight about how to use the new capabilities are being developed by HCL Masters, Business Partners, and the community.

HCL DOMINO VOLT

Q: Will Domino Volt be available for customers with Messaging license as well?

A: Yes, Domino Volt will be available as an Add-on for customers with both Complete Collaboration and Messaging Licenses.

Q: Domino Volt is what was known as LEAP on Domino?

A: Domino Volt was the project formally named Sandstone. It is based on LEAP and combines HCL’s best low-code and application development platform capabilities into a single offering.

Q: Does HCL Volt cost extra?

A: The pricing model for Domino Volt will be available when the offering is available in 1H-2020.

Q: Do HCL Masters have access to Volt today? How do I get it?

A: Domino Volt will be in closed beta by early 2020 for the HCL Masters, and HCL will be emailing them very soon.

Q: I’m confused. What’s the difference between Volt and LEAP?

A: Domino Volt is based on Leap and combines HCL’s best low-code and application development platform capabilities into a single offering. HCL LEAP is a standalone product that runs on WebSphere and DB2.

Q: Is HCL Domino Volt a replacement of Notes workflow?

A: Domino Volt is a superb platform for building new applications with a simple workflow. However, in our roadmap for v12, we intend to add a graphical workflow experience to the Domino platform. We will be looking at the functionality of Lotus Workflow as one use case.

Q: We have been told multiple times that LEAP on domino will be entitled within the domino license. Has that changed?

A: As you know, any forward-looking statements about any roadmap are subject to change. While the pricing of HCL Domino Volt will be released with the product in 1HG-2020, it will be very competitively priced, i.e., incremental to the cost of Domino.

Q: Is there any training material available for Volt?

A: Training and other reference materials will be made available when the product is released.

Q: Can you use Volt to update the interface for an existing legacy Domino database?

A: Domino Volt is for creating new applications. These could be new applications that integrate existing Domino data. However, Volt is not designed for updating or modernizing existing Domino applications

Q: Will Volt eventually replace Designer?

A: While they share the same Domino application platform, Designer is for the professional mid-code developer that build traditional Notes apps; Volt for the IT and Business Professional.

Q: Is there an upgrade path from LEAP to Volt? Will LEAP continue to get enhancements?

A: While there are no announced plans, we expect there will be an upgrade path from HCL LEAP to HCL Domino Volt in the future. In the meantime, HCL LEAP will continue to be enhanced.

Q: What about the Domino Volt license model?

A: While the details will be announced in the 1H-2020 when the offering is available, the license model is based on a per-user metric. We want to encourage customers to build applications, so there is no per App or Flow metric, unlike some low-code competitors.

Q: Any ERP integration? Or Connectors for MuleSoft?

A: HCL Domino Volt supports access to SharePoint and any REST or SOAP-based APIs, including those from SAP. However, we plan to add support for other integration solutions such as Dell Boomi and Mulesoft.

Q: Are Volt apps browser only? Can you get to it in Notes?

A: Correct, they are web-based apps. However, we will be working to enable them to work within HCL Nomad. There are no plans to add support for the Notes client.

Q: How can we register for the beta of Domino Volt?

A: There will be both a closed and open beta of Domino Volt. The closed beta will be open to HCL Masters only by the end of 2020. Details about the Open Beta will follow.

Q: Is Volt a direct competitor to one of the low code leaders, Outsystems, for example?

A: Yes, HCL Domino Volt is a low-code application platform. With this solution, existing customers will not need to make a major investment in a separate platform for their development needs for situational apps, workflows and core systems such as Outsystems.

Q: Is what being announced available right now (i.e., Domino Volt)?

A: Domino Volt will be in closed beta by EOY for the HCL Masters, and available for Domino v10 and v11 in H1-2020.

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