SPS Commerce is a retail network, connecting trading partners around the globe to optimize supply chain operations for retail partners. SPS Commerce supports data-driven partnerships with cloud technology. Their retail cloud services platform features supplier onboarding, EDI compliance, ERP integration, product content management, and sales analytics.
It is perfectly suited if some heavy operation needs to be automated where jobs can be queued up. Scalable app which is required to develop in a lesser time frame. Good for when users should be able to change rules more frequently without any downtime, like promotions. The server is well proven in the market. BizTalk server is the best fit if all other integration adapters are developed using Microsoft applications and if all applications are meant to be processed on a Windows environment.
Run as far away from this company as possible.We looked into using SPS Commerce as an alternative to TrueCommerce for our EDI integration software. After initial discovery calls that claimed functionality built into the service, we decided to make the switch from our current provider as it claimed to be more expansive. Upon signing our initial contract (which they will not do a full consultation without a signed contract - GIANT RED FLAG), it was discovered that the functionality would not work with our current systems and there was no benefit of switching from our current provider to SPS Commerce. However, they claimed that "you signed a contract, regardless of whether you use the software or not you owe the money." Long story short, we ended up in mediation costing a small business significant amount of money and legal fees. SPS Commerce is deceptive and cares more about short dollars than customer experience. Look at the BBB website for more information
BizTalk uses Microsoft Visual Studio as the IDE (integrated development environment) tool, and it's very easy to use.
The orchestration engine of BizTalk addresses resource issue very well for long-running business processes by dehydrating and rehydrating orchestration instances.
BizTalk is very easy to integrate if the development is mainly on the Microsoft software family.
BizTalk needs to be better at tracking down errors after the fact. Input files by default get deleted after processing successfully, unless you specifically specify that they don't. This can be an issue where you need to see what the input file contained, since you may have errors showing up in your target platform, in our case this was SAP.
BizTalk logging needs improved. It needs to be able to log the content of the messages it sends and receives. It would be good if the log had a link to the input and output files.
BizTalk needs to allow a simple way to preserve the input and output files for debugging purposes. A master setting on the orchestration would be helpful for this.
We have quite a few people here who use this portal, and we have it set up to receive an email when an order is available to print. As of now, you can only add a few recipients to receive those emails; it limits you.
Invoicing is challenging at times as you have to remember to go in and invoice. If you forgot, it is hard to find the order to invoice, as it seems to disappear.
We still haven't figured out how to have some of the invoicing features auto-populate, so there isn't so much to fill out. I wish some of those features were easier to use, or find if you have them.
Microsoft BizTalk is not an intuitive product. It requires many hours of looking through the settings to achieve what you need. Using 3rd party DLLs is a nightmare as you are forced to register them in the GAC of the server and this process is quite cumbersome just to use a DLL.
BizTalk Server has been supported for more than 15 years. It is well proven in the market. Microsoft has provided excellent support with technical issues.
Phone support is generally very good and you can get a person on the phone within a few minutes. Their emailed customer support however is very poor and often goes several days or longer before receiving a response, if ever at all
We did look at Jitterbit dataloader from Salesforce.com. Jitterbit seems like a pretty decent solution if you are doing a lot of uploads into Salesforce.com. However, its not nearly as flexible as Microsoft Biztalk is. Biztalk allows you to create any type of custom solution you wish, whereas Jitterbit is much more limited.
We reviewed many, SPS Commerce Fulfillment was the best "bang for our buck" with the level of growth we have been experiencing. The list of services they offered were exactly what we needed to be able to move our business to that next level of professionalism where we were growing faster than we could prepare ourselves for.
I enrolled in a product I ended up not using because the vendor that required it ended our working relationship and SPS refused to offer a refund. After I canceled it, they continued to charge our account for three more months of service.
The interface is simple and easy to understand and use, so it saved time when preparing shipments.
