Blue Yonder Luminate Logistics vs. SAS Visual Analytics

The size and scope of the operation is the main question. In a smaller environment, or one that does not require a complex Warehouse Management Solution (WMS), RedPrairie may not be a good fit.

Incentivized

I was in a meeting with the client and there I have to show them some analytic data to them. But I was confused about how I will manage to show big data to clients with accuracy. But then the SAS Visual Analytics software helps me in presenting accurate data at the moment and it was very presentable and through that, I got the deal for that business.

Incentivized

• Cycle counting--great feature for inventory accuracy.
• System directed put-away--system directs driver where to store and put materials away, keeps a warehouse in tip-top shape.
• CNZ-Count near Zero, actually set at count at zero, when a bayrow emtys out, prompts fork driver to verify that the bayrow is actually empty by doing a cycle count....great for inventory accuracy!

Incentivized

• Provides the flexibility to the end user to slice and dice the data.
• Anyone can make predictive models with the help of in-built algorithms without the need to write a single line of code or knowledge of what's under the hood of algorithms.
• The feature to simply ask a question related to data and getting a response in form of text, chart or graph is amazing.

Incentivized

• Their implementation team was unable to provide examples where they successfully executed large scale multi site global deployments. May require strong client team or 3rd party implementation firm to ensure successful deployment and results.
• As of 3 years ago, their parcel shipping module was very new and unproven in marketplace.
• As of 3 years ago, Red Prairie had limited offering in modules that complement the WMS such as trading partner management and distributed order management. If you truly just need warehouse management capabilities this might not matter. For us, this meant we would need to involve more solution providers or internal development to address supply chain initiatives.

Incentivized

• SAS is relatively expensive when compared to other BI tools and requires a large amount of upfront fee which becomes an issue for smaller organizations.
• UI for the dashboards looks a little date in comparison to competitors like Tableau and Microstrategy.
• Integration with other open source software like Python needs to be built in.

Incentivized

Again, the product was good. Customer service was OK at best. For any new installations or upgrades, I would seek a third party servicer/installer who would be more flexible in contract negotiations and provide service guarantees beyond what could expected with RedPrairie itself. If you choose to deal with RedPrairie directly, prepare for a lengthy negotiation process.

Incentivized

SAS really is the cutting edge in Business Intelligence. That is all they do! They are constantly coming out with new products, product upgrades, and their tech support is second to none. In addition, their support of Education has made our ability to acquire their product possible.

I found RedPraire to be the best system I have used of the years.

Incentivized

SAS BI is good for creating reports and dashboards and then sharing it with the users. It also has ability to manage access to the reports and dashboards but somehow with most of the world moving to open source languages R, Python and Julia, SAS BI feels to be archaic in terms of feature set and integrations it allow[s]. Also, comparing it with other Business Intelligence tools like Tableau and Microsoft BI, the functionality of SAS BI is very limited and doesn't justify the pricing.

Incentivized

When you call tech support, you are immediately routed to a person who can answer your question. Often they can answer on the spot. However, if they cannot, you are given a track number and then followed up with. There have been times when I have had multiple track numbers open and they will actually TRACK YOU DOWN to ensure that your problem has been resolved. Issues do not fall into black holes with SAS. They are also willing to do a WebEx with you to diagnose the problem by seeing your environment, which is always helpful.

RedPrarie seems to have been better than Aloha. I will say that I used Aloha a very long time ago and it is probably light years ahead now. Aloha seemed to be a little more flexible in what you could do. The major downfall was you had a system that needed to be connected to the POS network directly on site that would be used only for reporting. This would require you to have another PC for computing needs. Like I said before, this is probably something that has changed in the newer world of Aloha.

Incentivized

I have used Crystal Reports, Jaspersoft and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). I would recommended Business Intelligence over SSRS and Crystal Reports. SSRS is very SQL-centric and Crystal Reports is more of an end-user tool. I would recommend Jaspersoft over Business Intelligence for developing a seamless web-based reporting interface but I highly recommend Business Intelligence for end-user ad-hoc reporting.

Incentivized

• Warehousing errors were reduced by almost 12% with Blue Yonder Luminate Logistics.
• Order processing was done at more than 7% of the average TAT with the use of this service.
• End-user & ops team had higher productivity by almost 15% after integrating the service in day-to-day activities.

Incentivized

• SAS Visual Analytics licensing cost should be reduced to enable users to use it in mass scale.
• More statistical and mathematical equations and theories should be converted into SAS functions for reusing.
• Because of enriched ETL and reporting capabilities SAS Visual Analytics is most preferred by business users.

Incentivized