Considering Microsoft Commerce Server?

Good luck finding a company to work with.

[mdornz]

I work for a company looking for a new commerce platform. We decided that Commerce Server 2007 looks like a great product and would be a good fit. Now I had to find a Microsoft Partner that would customize / install / integrate Commerce Server for us. I discovered Cactus Commerce & Avanade. After a few phone calls and a demo, I was given quotes upwards of half a million dollars. After the quote neither company has followed up to see if I want to move forward. I've asked for some additional information, but haven't heard from them for over 2 weeks now. Therefore, if you work for a company with limited IT/development resources, good luck finding assistance getting Microsoft Commerce Server up and running. We are currently leaning towards another solution at a similar price range and should be signing a contract sometime next week.

[bmcgee]

Why don't you hire a consultant? You don't need a company to do it; that will just cost extra overhead.

Get someone in-house for a few months and be done with it for much cheaper than those quotes you are receiving. It's not that big of a task.

[shdsofblu]

What is the other solution you are looking at? We are also strongly considering Commerce Server, but can't find a whole lot of constructive information on it.

Thanks.

[mdornz]

@bmcgee:
Not a terrible idea but how would I find a consultant that is skilled and trustworthy? What happens 6 months down the road when I want to add something or fix something and the consultant I originally hired is not available? If I don't start with the Starter site (which was recommend to me), then the site would have to be built from scratch. This is a major undertaking. Too many questions and too much risk.

@shdsofblu:
I am leaning towards an on-demand solution from ATG. It seems very feature rich and scalable. It will allow me to focus on the business side rather than hardware/software. Another very good option is IBM Websphere Commerce but it is not an on-demand solution and I don't know too much about it. I agree 100% on the lack of information out there for Microsoft Commerce Server.

[Jack_Hughes]

Microsoft is a big company with a lot of irons in lots of fires.

We have built our shop around Elastic Path and are very happy with it. I believe they do custom development too, though we've done it all in house.

[shdsofblu]

The problem we are having is trying to find a good fit with our back end asp.net order mgmt program - with sql database. We want something that will easily interface, yet still give us full control over the catalog.

Good suggestions...anyone else have solutions that might fit this?

[mdornz]

I have also looked at Elastic Path many times. It looks like a solid solution and they have a lot of good information on their website. The only things holding me back are their lack of big name U.S. clients and the fact that my Java skills are lacking. I am the only programmer with my company, and I haven't written in Java since a class in college (5 years ago).

Also, it depends what you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend, but from what I have seen, ATG is a more advanced solution providing much more than just an E-commerce storefront.

[Jack_Hughes]

mdornz, I doubt you could implement elastic path on your own. I doubt you could implement any large e-commerce system on your own for that matter. :)

Best of luck!

[mdornz]

@shdsofblu:
I don't think you have to be confined to a .net solution just because your backend is .net. We also use a Microsoft .net solution for our backend.

XML is a universal language. Most commerce platforms include web services that send and recieve information to and from your backend with XML.

[shdsofblu]

yes, but doesn't it make it easier? or a "tighter" connection?

[mdornz]

@Jack_Hughes:
Thanks for the vote of confidence. :) Hence the reason we are looking at an on-demand solution from ATG.

@shdsofblu:
I suppose, but I wouldn't use it as a factor when evaluating different solutions. I would think of it as an added bonus.