IBM Sterling Warehouse Management System vs. Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued)

Like I previously mentioned, this software fits our needs right now because it allows us to control inventory and remove items when needed from our participating retailer's websites. The price is reasonable. Our traffic and shipping teams have also used this software to create fewer touch points in shipping and make the process more digital. That has been a big winner for us. You'll definitely want an internal IT team to support this software. The implementation process is long and tedious and you will need to restructure to fit your needs. That is difficult to do when you are a smaller business with cross-functional employees.

Incentivized

It integrates fully with the other Microsoft software we use daily, and this coordination speeds up our work and gives us the agility to run easily. For example, in a purchase inquiry, the customer, after submitting a request, identifies the teams that should work on the project, and if they need further review by other people, they are added to the process, and everything is managed seamlessly rather than the sales process. Get the result as fast as possible.

Incentivized

• Pretty straight forward for entering new items or deleting items not needed in the feed anymore.
• Able to match vendor models to retailer SKU's without issue.

Incentivized

• Microsoft Dynamics AX's scalability to meet our regional office needs provide flexibility to the team's requirements.
• Combined with Citrix Xenapp, the application offers seamless access for users on high latency unreliable network connection to the application.
• Application maintenance and updates are easy which makes it possible for us to manage remotely considering the servers are located in a remote Asia site.

Incentivized

• Not able to export lists to excel. This is a big negative for me personally. It makes it harder and more time consuming to clean up accounts.
• Doesn't warn you if the same sender and receiver code are on another list.
• The dashboard is not the best. The next button that you would assume takes you to the next page actually doesn't, it ends up showing past interactions with the software. You have to click on the tiny numbers at the top to navigate. Super annoying. Not very user-friendly or appealing to the eye.

Incentivized

• MRP can be slow to adapt to changes in actual production or supply chain transactions.
• Setting up number sequences seems a trivial matter, but these numbers ID transactions once they are in the ledger and are key--easy to miss this point in the implementation process.
• Bank rec being easily automated and able to quickly plug into a bank back end to get data is not the best.
• Payment processing can be 'clunky' based on checks, ACH, Wires...as some of these items are not triggered out of the box in AX, bur are easily added --talking ACH and Wires specifically.

Incentivized

Microsoft Dynamics continues to evolve by bringing more functionality to the customer. Also there are several independent software providers that offer a wide range of solutions for vertical markets.

Incentivized

Overall the product does what we need it to do in order for us to function as a company. While there are some concerns over ongoing costs, the belief is, once we have it fully acclimated to our business the cost should settle into alignment with our original expectations. The new features that are consistently being added do add value to the product as they are usually customer request directed.

Incentivized

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

We use a 3rd-party Microsoft Partner for the system. They are responsive and very knowledgeable. While costs have been mentioned several times in this review they are very aware of costs and have developers who are more economical they use to help offset the level of work required to meet our changes and fix our issues.

Incentivized

It took a lot of work, but Microsoft ultimately did a good job with in-person training, including being onsite in multiple global locations for extended periods.

Our solution deviated from a number of key out-of-the-box standards that were included in Online training. We just used that for introduction to the general functionality.

Some rough spots, but ultimately worked out. The contract didn't appear to be structured to support the level of overlapping facility deployments required to meet timeline commitments. Merging cultures on the program was also challenging. Overall, not an easy implementation by any stretch. Everyone did the best they could.

I was not part of the decision making process to select Microsoft Dynamics AX, however, I do know that an exhaustive search was done and many options were considered alongside Microsoft Dynamics AX and I feel that the right decision was made in choosing this solution.

Incentivized

• The overall impact has been good for us and I do feel like the software is worth the money they just need to do a lot of updating and making the software more user-friendly.
• As a ecommerce account manager, it is important that we are able to remove and add items quickly to our retailer sites. This software has allowed us to do that.
• Would like to see a more knowledgeable support staff that are able to work through issues in a timely matter.

Incentivized

• With the robust built-in reporting we were able to drop an external reporting platform that costed about $40,000.
• API integrations have saved manual entry and reduced having to hire 2-3 people to manage data.
• Several administrators and developers are required for this which costs about 200-300 thousand in employee costs.

Incentivized