Sage 100

I have a customer looking at warehouse automation from both Scanforce and Scanco. The quotes $$-wise are nearly identical. 6 users Scanforce Premium vs Scanco Enterprise. Aside from the sales cycle, does anyone have feedback on pros and cons of the two solutions? One question that came up is that Scanco seems to require a WiFi connection to transmit data, and if the connection isn't good then there can be issues. 1. Have your customers been relatively happy with either of the two 2. Any known issues or problems that arose after they purchased. 3. Other feedback to consider? I'm hoping to gather some comments to help them make a decision.

DSD has a new multi-bin WMS that works with Scanforce. Danny and his team have gone beyond the call of duty to solve issues when in a pinch. I have been on the phone with him at midnight on Easter during an upgrade a couple of years ago. If the wifi connection is inaccessible the handheld will continue to collect data and the data can then be transmitted when a connection becomes available. I saw a demo of the DSD / ScanForce system last fall when it was under development. It looks great.

We generally work with Scanforce as a first choice. Service and responsiveness are top notch. We have two clients with Scanco; service is just not the same.

We have always been Team Scanco, have several customers using them and have been very happy with the system and support. When there are issues, they respond quickly in order to resolve them. Of our customers, two are what I would consider to be large: 12-15 devices in the facility. Packaged with the ACSG enhancements, these are excellent solutions.

Agree with @DougHiggs. I've had a few installs of both over the years. There have been far fewer issues with Scanforce needing support. Their support is always fantastic. As you note with Scanco, there is the issue of a solid WiFi connection. Scanforce isn't dependent on it. A large company for whom I am only the technical consultant and not the reseller is currently trying to go live with 'ONE', the trifecta of Scanco, ACS, and JDB. There are a lot of unexplained importing errors for Scanco, and as always, the software from ACS is buggy. I'm looking forward to getting another multi-bin deal so that I can sell the DSD product with Scanforce. Slightly off topic, DSD has a support team, whereas with ACS, Ron Chompf is the only person who takes calls about MB. We sometimes wait for days for him to get back to us. He's a nice man, but they seem stretched pretty thin.

Scanforce has been our first choice the last 5 or 6 years because of better service and support. We've had a few Scanco deals lately, but am still waiting for feedback on how those went.

We are just moving a client to ScanCo as they have ACS Multi-bin and the replacement of that module would be very expensive with respect to implementation. We have moved 1 of 23 scanners to Scanco as of Tuesday. They use an RDP session for their software and everything is cloud base. The system seems to be forgiving it WIFI is lost and then reattached; however there is no access if WIFI is lost. Scanforce loads all data to the handheld and then syncs transactions back to the ERP. Scanco ""feels"" more real time. So far they seem to be similar with functionality but Scanco has some dashboards that we have not yet used. They are still working on some label formatting which has seemed to stump them a little. I think the selection of the backend WMS - ACS vs DSD would be the driving factor. So far support from Scanco has been good. ScanForce had excellent support but would not offer after hours support during upgrades.

@WayneSchulz we have done two of each over the past 5 years. The first two were on Scanco, the second two were on Scanforce. We moved to Scanforce due to a project that went terribly wrong with Scanco. It drug on for months, we paid to bring a Scanco guy on site only to have him finally confirm that the issues were related to bugs. They then wanted us to pay to fix the bugs. For expedience sake, we did but they never delivered the fixes. Customer finally got fed up and coordinated a conference call with the presidents of all three companies. The call started rocky and went down hill fast. In the end, the customer demanded that we pull all Scanco out, demanded a refund on some of the fees paid through us to Scanco from Scanco, and dispatched us to find another solution. That turned into our first Scanforce implementation. Please note, this was a number of years ago and I believe the management at Scanco has turned over since. I have great respect for my fellow partners who have given good reviews to Scanco. However, I will never be able to convince my partner to change back from Scanforce without a major catastrophic event with Scanforce. Based upon past experience with Scanforce, I don't see that ever happening. The entire team has been great to work with and have always delivered what they promised on time and on budget.

We experienced some issues many years ago with the old Scanco, but I don't mention them, because Scanco now is very different - responsive and a great product. I have not experienced major issues with ACSG software, specifically the standard enhancements. And even if it is just one of the Ron's, they are very good at getting back to us on issues.

I have three customers using Scanco. Good experience. One of them was in implementation during the Scanco management transition. One has a ton of Scanco modifications. Experience has been good. One had a few issues early on but that was in progress during the transition of the Scanco management.

Wayne, To me the choice is a no brainer. I vote ScanForce all the way. ASI has had several dealings with Scanco and have not been impressed with their customer service or pricing. I can attest personally to the willingness of the ScanForce team to go above and beyond for our customer with custom programming and changes to the software to make it fit to the customer's needs. The Scanforce import is a little hokey but I think that is due to how MAS works instead of their software. I think that both companies will require a WIFI connection for the scanners if you want them to transmit live. I know that ScanForce will communicate when the scanner is put on the cradle that is connected to a computer via USB. I think this is true for all scanners though. I can say that ScanForce has stood behind their software and scanners since the sale. We recently had an emergency reinstall required to rebuild a server and the support team was on the phone with me on Monday morning at 9:00 AM to get the software downloaded and installed. We had some technical problems and they hung with me through the day until about 6:00 pm. I am not even sure they billed the customer as it was covered under their maintenance. I suggested they bill for their time. I also know that Scanforce has co-written a multi-bin software that will work with their software and MAS. I have seen a demo and was impressed. I would recommend ScanForce hands down. Cooper

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I've completely anonymized the information and removed any hint of company or consultant names and provided a summary to the customer. As I have conversations with customers I continually talk up the 90 Minds Group and that it exists as a resource for candid feedback on both technical and sales issues. Overall, I find customers really like this concept and I encourage each of you to make customers aware of this group you belong to and its capabilities for gathering feedback on both technical and sales related items. Remember, when sharing information always (and I mean ALWAYS) anonymize. It is never ok to share a comment and link it to the person or company that said it. Not to a customer and most certainly not to a vendor or publisher. Using Cooper's response as an example here is what I see as: **NOT OK:** **Source:** Cooper Black, consultant for ASI Wayne, To me the choice is a no brainer. I vote ScanForce all the way. ASI has had several dealings with Scanco and have not been impressed with their customer service or pricing. **OK:** **Source:** CONSULTANT To me the choice is a no brainer. I vote ScanForce all the way. We have had several dealings with Scanco and have not been impressed with their customer service or pricing. The most important takeaway from this is that what happens inside Socialcast groups should only be discussed with people who have access to that group. Never specifically identify a comment question to a specific group member unless you have directly asked and received their permission. Customers love this type of feedback. Just be very careful that it's fully anonymized.

Here's a more concise summary of the rules of 90 Minds - https://docs.google.com/document/d/13mzP12arlooRFfRNGdczp6Tk2bFSzCWi_vkzUU23pkw/edit

The voting for one or the other and positive comments on experiences are appropriate and are what customers need to read to contribute to their evaluation. The negative comments, however, are as misleading as negative comments found on yelp. Bad experiences can be attributed to many factors that may be out of the direct control of the vendor, including network and wireless network issues, the customer or the consultant. Without a full background on these, they are really out of context.

Great point. I think as consultants it's important we include some of our own analysis. I included the following to help provide some context. I have learned over the years to avoid telling the customer what to buy. Going all the way back to my CPA days I've found those types of ""you have to buy this"" would sometimes elicit ongoing complaints every time there was a problem with ""that product/service you told us to buy"". So I try to stay as neutral as possible in these things and help them research their own decision. **Here's a copy of what I supplied as the introduction:** As we discussed the other day I've gathered some information from my fellow 90 Minds consultants. I have anonymized the responses so as not to identify any individual responding person/company. I ask that you keep this information confidential and not re-share with either of the companies reviewed or with anyone outside your company. My take: The responses largely confirm what I've heard over the past 3-5 years. Scanco had a rough time 3-5 years ago with a product rollout and/or management team. They've largely since fixed that, but the experience has left a bad taste with some consultants and caused them to switch their recommendations. Scanco has worked hard and some of the consultants have been won over and now recommend Scanco while others remain loyal to Scanforce. As you can see from the responses, many consultants don't install more than a handful of these systems as they tend to be for larger and more active wholesale distribution companies. Some responses may be based upon information several years old and for that reason, I'd take care to pay attention to the overall comments and not any one specific problem mentioned. From a consultant recommendation point of view, I think of this WMS selection as somewhat akin to Coke vs Pepsi. Greatly oversimplified. Both WMS are similar, those who love Coke won't touch Pepsi. And vice versa. This concept seems to extend to the WMS systems. I think Scanforce gets the edge in this feedback for support quality. Scanco gets the edge for multi-bin however this is also from an era where no reasonable competition for multi-bin existed and consultants are eager to try out the new DSD/Scanforce Multi-Bin. The issue of requiring WiFi for Scanco seems to be verified by responses Though people have enjoyed ACS for multi-bin they seem eager for a viable alternative

We have implemented one each recently, so not a lot of experience. ScanForce was selected for Remote Sales (truck delivery of food products) - good fit, price, service, support. Scanco was selected for warehouse automation with ACS multi-bin (2 shipping locations with boxed and palletized goods via StarShip) - good fit, price, service, support. Each is east coast and is challenged to support west coast clients because of time zones. Ditto to Karen's comments about Ron C. availability for ACS MB - he knows his stuff but don't expect immediate support which is when you will need it. Multi-bin is wide and deep and can be quirky and none of the ONE knows thoroughly the throughput from Scanco - Sage - MB - StarShip. CAUTION: ONE pricing is woefully understated for training. Unless the client is thoroughly versed in the software, expect that you will be reeled in and you'd be well advised to price your services up front. Scope, scope, and scope some more. Then, test, test, and test some more. In both cases, you'll be dealing with users you've probably never met, ie. warehouse pickers, packers, and shippers. Or remote salespeople. Ask about development time. In both cases, custom programming was warranted - 6-8 week lead time! Ditto to prior comments regarding technology differences and appropriateness for the problem you're trying to solve. Bottom line - don't expect to sub it all out to one or the other. You will be the throat to choke.

LOL ""You will be the throat to choke."". Particularly when your client has a 600 line order that won't load into shipping data entry and tech support doesn't get back to you for three or four days.... or you send an email with six critical bullet points and you get a one sentence reply three days later with ""try this"". Yes, your butt is being held close to the coals!

^^ another good reason to be an advisor and provider of info from which the customer makes the ultimate decision. In some cases the customer will ask ""what would you do?"" however the final decision needs to be made by them whenever possible.

For sure. 100% agree, yet the end user looks yo the person they gave a check to for a remedy.

I believe the end user will look to you, the expert, the referrer, and the one they confidently believe ""knows our business"", whether you take a check or not, to be the project manager regardless of how you frame or deflect responsibility.

@BobPfahnl I am almost always all of the above. I can lay out all of the options and let them make the decision, yet, if something goes awry you can bet the first call is to me.

It still seems to be more of a decision regarding the WMS. With ACS - I would lean towards Scanco - with DSD - I would lean towards ScanForce. We are now in our second week of a transition from ScanForce to Scanco for a larger WMS site using ACS's WMS. Installation was slightly rocky. It took them a couple of days to install. We were expecting to use one of the handhelds the day after the initial scheduled install. The consultant started at 3:00 and said he had to leave by 4:45. Worked on label printing and no software install. We reset a mid-morning appointment with him the following day. He connected with us - could not get the label printing to work and said he would have to escalate to an upper level team. I asked him to start on the app install. He indicated that he needed another consultant to do that and we would need to schedule some time. I pushed back and he got the other tech scheduled late that afternoon. The tech was able to configure one of the handhelds. We have used this handheld for the past week doing Warehouse Transfers. Overall it has gone well with minor training obstacles. Barcode printing is still not working. We are going to push on this in the current week. They have problem sizing labels and could not place a logo on the label mimicking the ScanForce configuration. Overall we have had to push and send some messages to the executive team regarding the struggles. Overall I would prefer ScanForce in the environment but probably not with ACS as I see it probably has a limited future. I think DSD is working diligently but still has some functional gaps that they are working on closing. Many sites would probably not be affected with the functional gaps but this particular site was fairly deep with their requirements.