Item: S2K Enterprise
Rating: 8
Author: Melissa Porter

Overall Satisfaction with S2K Enterprise

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

S2K is being used by our merchandising division to streamline the efforts between order entry, customer service, accounting, and shipping/receiving. Prior to this, there was the use of multiple separate systems. Switching to S2K allowed us to streamline our efforts and decrease the overall delivery time of products to our customers.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Customization for various businesses.
One-stop shop for managing a website, real time inventory, order processing, accounting, and shipping.
The platform is easy to use. Whether it is used by a customer service member, designer, or developer.

Cons

There will most likely be customizations made for a particular niche site to integrate with their system.
Product reviews, up sells, and cross sells are not built into the website functionality. Customization to the offerings would be needed.
Very little documentation or open source resources on instructions or development in regards to the website design and integration with the ERP.

Return on Investment

Reduced shipping time - shipments are now heading to customers 2 days sooner than before.
Ability to search by attributes.
In stock status - real time inventory tracking tells customers if a product is available without the wait.
Order tracking - the ability to track every shipment associated with their order.

Alternatives Considered

S2K offered a system that could be used by various departments. There were modules for accounting, customer service, order entry, and web development. The ability to customize the website integration was a plus. S2K allows the option to have products in different warehouse locations. This allowed us to better manage inventory and see in real time what the stock status was.

Likelihood to Renew

S2K is easy to use, has room for growth, and serves the company's needs as a whole.

Likelihood to Recommend

This ERP is suited for products that do not require customizations or personalization. Ideally, if you are selling a product as is, then S2K will fit your needs. Make sure to have all of the requirements for each piece laid out. For instance, with products - know all of your attributes and functionality for product pages ahead of time. Include this in the presentation for ERP selection. Ask what functionality is out of the box, and what is a customization. Ask for quotes ahead of time. This may increase the overall cost of the ERP as well as the time it takes to launch. Example: Product reviews, cross sells, remarketing, abandoned cart integration, etc.

Using S2K Enterprise

Users and Roles

60 - This ranges from customer service, purchasing, accounting, and the web team.

Support Headcount Required

8 - Ecommerce Manager
Merchandising Team
Customer Service
Web Team

Business Processes Supported

Reduced shipping time by 2 days.
In stock status for customers - real-time inventory tracking for products.
Improved order tracking - ability to check every shipment associated with an order. This is used as we ship from multiple warehouses.

Innovative Uses

This implementation has cut down on the lofty ideas for the ecommerce site. We have strict guidelines of capabilities that the system can handle.
Integrating this system has cut our delivery time in half. Everything is real time, therefore shipments are getting to customers in half of the time than previously.

Future Planned Uses

Automate product uploads. Our previous system did not allow us to upload products in a batch via a spreadsheet.

Evaluating S2K Enterprise and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - Nexternal and PeopleSoft

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation
Vendor Reputation
Analyst Reports
Third-party Reviews

The platform offered all of the features we were looking for. The idea of using one system for everything was the ultimate goal. Not only to cut down on time, but on manpower and overall tasks.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Not one thing.

S2K Enterprise Implementation

Implementation Rating

If this is someone's first ERP implementation, I strongly suggest you ask for services to help implement. Ask for training on every aspect of the implementation. Make sure this is put into the overall ERP quote.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Vendor implemented
Professional services company

Vormittag Associates helped our company implement this ERP.

Implementation Phases

Yes - 1. Brainstorming
2. Timelines and deliverables
3. Customizing
4. Implementing

Implementation Issues

Budget
Ability to customize to fit our business.
Distance of third party team implementing ERP.

S2K Enterprise Support

Support Rating

Great support. The staff is very knowledgeable about the platform and the capabilities within the IBM framework.

S2K Enterprise Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success	Poor followup Problems left unsolved Escalation required Need to explain problems multiple times Slow Initial Response

Premium Support

Yes - We use a third party who does any customizations or work on the ERP. We pay on a contract for support.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of S2K Enterprise Support

When we were skinning the site, Vormittag Associates spent a week in our office teaching the team how to skin the site and make modifications to fit our needs. It was very informative. We were able to skin the entire website in less than 4 days, where this might have taken weeks to do. The team provided support in assisting how to skin, basic functionlaity and admin work for the website.