What is our primary use case?
Fluent Order Management's main use case is that the omnichannel capabilities are exceptionally good, and the technological aspect of it, using GraphQL and mutations, makes it an ideal solution.
A specific example of how I use those omnichannel capabilities or the GraphQL features in my day-to-day work is that it makes it very seamless when we are trying to build integrations with other third-party systems. I don't have to be worried about changing anything from an API aspect internally. The API provides attributes in the system itself, and we can seamlessly integrate with your e-commerce channel, whether it's Shopify, SFCC, or marketplaces such as Amazon or Mirakl. All of these capabilities are very great, and we can integrate with multiple systems seamlessly. Fluent provides the flexibility of using sourcing engines, and integrating with WM systems downstream also becomes easier. Having the ability to integrate with all of these systems is what makes Fluent Order Management prominent. I believe that the future of the order management system from a technology aspect has to be GraphQL; it's much simpler, the schema is well-defined, and if we want to use additional attributes, we can use them. It's not the old traditional Java where the columns have to be created and a data type has to be declared and stored and all of that, so I think that's very flexible and seamless. The entire webhook concept is great as well; it does not cause performance issues.
In terms of how Fluent Order Management fits into my workflow, when you compare all the order management systems out there in the market today, whether it's Manhattan, Sterling, or any of the upcoming systems that are available, some of the points that we are looking at or trying to be mindful of are the capabilities that it has. Can we easily update the UI? Can we add buttons? Can we introduce more integrations? The omnichannel capabilities, the UI accessibility, all of these are things that should be considered, and I do think that Fluent Order Management provides them all, which is why it makes it a leading platform.
What is most valuable?
Regarding the best features Fluent Order Management offers, I think it's all of these options because some platforms are very difficult to customize, but Fluent Order Management allows the user to build the customer's roadmap. The capabilities that I've mentioned—the UI, the GraphQL, the integrations, the technology—are commendable. The out-of-the-box product features that are provided in the modules are also great for a medium retailer or for a small use case retailer to start up with, and you can also make this more enterprise-driven as needed. I think the ability to provide solutions for small retailers as well as medium and large-scale retailers, having all of these capabilities, is brilliant.
I do want to commend the Fluent Order Management engineering team regarding the features and the improvements that the system has been making since they have launched. Having the ability to retain just one order with different types—home delivery, click and collect, and same-day delivery as part of the same order—is very rare, but Fluent Order Management is working towards a mission where they want to make it seamless and easy and accessible to have all the types of use cases within the platform itself. I think it's very important for organizations to understand and realize the capabilities that the system can do out of the box, and if your business case requires you to add things or enhance them, you can add those too. They're already doing a great job, and they just have to be completely transparent with what the goals are, share the proper use cases they're seeing on a day-to-day basis, and make things seamless.
Fluent Order Management has impacted my organization positively because being a cloud-based SaaS application, it is able to support high-volume orders. For example, L'Oréal has 36 to 38 brands that it is able to consume data from such high volume. It's ensuring that the application doesn't go down and maintaining zero downtime abilities. Having multiple retailers is part of what adds value. We are now implementing the store modules where the warehouse operations are using it for picking and packing as well. All of these capabilities are a win and a plus, and I think this is improving the operational abilities in the system and in the organization itself. Fluent Order Management having the ability to not just provide order management solutions but also provide store-related solutions for picking, packing, and making those points seamless is a win as well. The ability to easily update the UI per the user's requirement is what is key.
What needs improvement?
Unfortunately, data regarding the positive impact on orders processed per day, time saved, or reduced downtime cannot be shared as it is internal information.
I do not know of any areas Fluent Order Management can improve. As and when we are facing issues, the team is accessible to help us, and they are always available to understand our pain points and how it impacts the business. When we face issues or the platform is not working to its best potential, having the Fluent Order Management support team and the expert services is a great thing that we look to. They're very approachable, and we always have these engagements with them where they guide us or take these use cases back to the engineering team to refine modules.
Fluent Order Management is pretty easy, and it is something that people can easily get onboarded onto, and there's nothing as an improvement to be shared at the moment.
The reason why I'm saying 8 is because given that Fluent Order Management is an order management system that is still growing and still making improvements vastly, I would like to see how we can introduce AI into the order management system. Do we have capabilities of introducing a chatbot or AI on Fluent Order Management? I think that part of leveraging AI is a bit pending, and I'm deducting one from a technical aspect regarding some of the modules that I'm not aware of, just being skeptical on that front.
Regarding Fluent Order Management's AI capabilities, I have personally not had any experience with the AI capabilities that Fluent Order Management has, and maybe that is something for me to explore. I do know that Fluent Order Management has introduced some AI capabilities from a development aspect, but because I'm not a developer, I do not have those insights.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fluent Order Management for four and a half years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of how stable Fluent Order Management is, the application is up 98% to 99% of the time, but there are some edge use cases where, for example, during Black Fridays when you're getting thousands of orders into the system, it is possible that sometimes the orders are stuck or they do not even get into the orchestration because there are some technical Fluent Order Management issues that happen. The API was not triggered, or for some reason something went down, or while scaling up, something happens in the back end. At least 98% or 99% of the system is all the time up and available. We have those 1% edge use cases when the workflow is not triggered or the API does not work as expected or the tokens expire, and during re-authentication, the API could fail. These are not big issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think the scalability of Fluent Order Management is very dynamic in nature because during peak times, Fluent Order Management ensures that the cloud capabilities are at their maximum. When there is an increase in volume and demands, the load balancer actually expands and has multiple instances or servers running in the back end so that there are no delays or issues in the system. I do not doubt the scalability in Fluent Order Management. Depending on the volumes and the size, the system proactively scales up and has more servers running in the back end even before the customer can reach out. We usually get a notification from Fluent Order Management notifying all the partners how they plan on expanding the servers and the load balancers that they have to ensure things such as Black Friday sales or any of these other sales that happen become seamless. This is a very positive response.
How are customer service and support?
Regarding customer support for Fluent Order Management, the customer support is very responsive. They have a dedicated team who is proactive in nature, and depending on the severity of the case that is raised with them, they ensure that we get the alerts and the questions prompted. I would rate them around 8.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using Fluent Order Management is to share all the use cases with Fluent Order Management to see if it has all the capabilities that you are looking for. My recommendation is to go with a vision and dream big. If you're starting out as a medium retailer today and your vision is to grow into one of the large players, be transparent about this vision. Share your current use cases, irrespective of the complexities that you have today, and share your actual use cases and pain points that you are facing from an operational standpoint. Try to understand how introducing Fluent Order Management would actually ease that pain point. I think it's very important to understand the use cases you are trying to achieve. You have to have realistic timelines to ensure you actually meet those use cases. Continuously working with the product team and with your engineering team, ensuring all the use cases are captured, is what is going to lead you to success. Be vocal about your needs, think about how it is going to ease the operations for your organization, consider all the complex and the smallest use cases that can happen, and be open to ideas and suggestions that the product team has because they understand the pain points that you are going through. They are aware of the solutions because there are other customers who are already onboarded and experiencing them. I gave this product a rating of 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other