Lingo is a telephony and VoIP software solution from Lingo.
$15
per month
OpenPhone
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
OpenPhone, a business phone service from the company of the same name in San Francisco, adds work phone numbers to existing devices. No new hardware required; all that's required is an app. Extended services include a lightweight contact management CRM, and customer service team management (e.g. shared inbox) features.
Lingo is great for small to mid sized company working with big box retailers that want to manage EDI in a cost effective but also time efficient manner. If you are looking for complete automation and integration, or a highly developed interface this is not the EDI platofrm for you
If you have more than 2 people in your organization, then this will save you so much time. Delegation is the key to starting a business. Even when you're a 1 person show, being able to present to your user base the differentiation of options for client communications is critical. As a founder, feeling compelled to be always on is something I strive not to be. OpenPhone gives you that flexibility. I have found it to be less appropriate in complex HIPPA compliant areas, but that is it. OpenPhone really does seem to suit an open array of use cases.
Cost setup for each retail partner is steep. In this digital age, it seems like a rip off to have to pay for this service
ERP/Warehouse integration - it does not have the ability to integrate with our ERP setup currently.
Sometimes there are just one too many steps to submit documents - wish it automatically prompted to the next submission step to remember to get through all steps more easily and not get lost in submitting documents
Call quality can be spotty on wifi if the connection is poor, but nothing they personally can do about that. 4G LTE is usually stronger and more stable.
We used SPS for a brief time because our warehouse had the capability to integrate with this program. It was very expensive and the interface for manually processing was not user friendly or easy to navigate. The integration was going to be an additional large cost. Lingo, while it does not have the integration capabilities, was the lower cost and easier to use option. We could get things done quickly for a lower cost and easily teach our third party warehouse to help in the process.
OpenPhone has an easier user interface than Grasshopper. Years ago when I was using Grasshopper, I recall that their user interface looked antiquated and full of complications. They would also update the interface just as everyone was getting used to using it. OpenPhone has many more functions. Grasshopper's app did not offer basic functions such as in-app texting between team members, and its call transfer function was incredibly complicated to use. In my opinion, Grasshopper was an inferior service/product in almost every way.
It was user friendly so we could have our warehouse take over helping us process ASNs and take over steps on processing EDI orders for no additional cost- this has saved our admin time needed for these orders
We were able to add all our retailer partners with specific requirements without issue. It helps us stream the processing and save time/money on these orders where the margins are not always great and the rules complicated
