IBM Sterling Warehouse Management System vs. SolarWinds Serv-U

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

For anyone who needs to receive/send files between themselves and others, in an organized fashion, I would strongly recommend Serv-U as a great tool at a sensible cost. In our line of work, we can get several customers signed in at once, each sending in hundreds of Megabytes of data simultaneously. Serv-U has never struggled with this. We don't use the Quota set up for sending/receiving data but I can see it is useful where an exchange of information is the point.

• 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

• The Wizard allows us to create new user accounts very easily and quickly. We do not have a formal IT department so those of us "mere mortals" can use this easily.
• Using the Web Client has made it very simple to set up and instruct our customers on getting to the server from any device with a minimum of fuss. We have many customers with ESL, and school students including middle and high school. Most of them are not computer experts, just regular users so the simplicity allows to do the whole setup over the phone in minutes.
• The newer version of Serv-U does not appear to be very resource-hungry so our computer runs nice and fast, without having to be a top of the range powerbox. We concentrated on large storage to cope with the file sizes we receive daily.

• 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

• The user interface on large screens becomes tiny and nearly unreadable without the aid of Windows Magnifier.
• Active Directory integration is either absent or not straightforward.
• Settings and configuration aren't always intuitive.

Support was the biggest hurdle for us. It definitely needs improvement, but not to the point of being a deal breaker.

Incentivized

Previously we have used FileZilla and Microsoft FTP services, but neither out-performed Serv-U. although it was easy to use, FileZilla required constant attention from IT staff and did not live up to security protocol in place. The Windows Server FTP was difficult to configure for clients due to the tight integration with Active Directory. This also limited who could help administer the server.

• 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

• I have been using it for over 10 years so the ROI was there for sure.
• It is not a constant attention needing program.
• Set up and it does its job.