Customer track and trace. We get information from SAP which is updated later by carriers (via EDI). The user interface is built in OutSystems.
Software Engineer at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Streamlines development, allows us to focus on logic and business requirements
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is Agile development. I love that you save a lot of time on development and can focus on logic and business requirements."
- "Mobile apps need improvement."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Development timeframe and deliveries on sprints. Customers can check the progress on a weekly basis and provide adjustments and comments right away.
What is most valuable?
Agile development. I love that you save a lot of time on development and can focus on logic and business requirements.
What needs improvement?
Mobile apps need improvement.
Buyer's Guide
OutSystems
November 2024
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816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues with scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is a 10 out of 10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not have a previous solution. We started the department using OutSystems with the goal of creating applications for our internal customers (departments and warehouse customers) to help their main businesses.
How was the initial setup?
Setup was straightforward. I was not there at that time, but I know that it was very smooth. The developer at the time was trained by OutSystems and this helped with the first applications.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is still very expensive, so small companies can’t generally afford it. We hope that this changes. Still, the time saving on development and delivery is worth the value.
What other advice do I have?
Agile development is really worth it. Depending on the size of your department – and requirements – you don’t need a big development team. The same developer can take care of all steps: analysis, development, implementation, support.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Executive Board Member (CIO/COO) at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Improves development processes, scales well, but implementation difficult
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of OutSystems with discipline and the development processes. Instead of each developer doing tasks on their own with their own approach, et cetera, the solution would help bring some organization to the development process."
- "The largest obstacle currently associated with OutSystems is its high cost and limited availability of skilled personnel. Despite being a rapid application development platform, having a highly skilled individual familiar with the platform can be much more beneficial than an inexperienced individual. Because there is a shortage of people with the necessary OutSystems skills, utilizing the platform can become expensive. This makes little sense, considering that a rapid application development platform should be accessible to the average person. However, having a highly skilled individual can greatly increase productivity, making the cost worthwhile."
What is our primary use case?
I am using OutSystems in internal workflow processes for approving expenses.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution has helped us, but it's no longer a strategic choice for us. We are not investing anymore in this platform. We realized the value of using OutSystems if you have an internal development capability. We've been using the solution mostly in outsourcing for development tasks, and it doesn't make much sense to us, to pay the amount for the solution for the capital gains to go to the external provider we use for the development.
If I have a large team of developers, eventually using the solution would make sense. That's not the case. In my business model for IT, I do not have any internal development capability. I'd rather do it without a rapid development platform because the savings go to the provider. It doesn't go to me. I have to pay for the ticket and then I have to pay additional costs for the development. It doesn't make any sense. It is a good solution and technology, it only does not fit our use case.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of OutSystems with discipline and the development processes. Instead of each developer doing tasks on their own with their own approach, et cetera, the solution would help bring some organization to the development process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using OutSystems for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We did not experience a time when the solution did not perform, the solution is stable.
I rate the stability of OutSystems an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale. However, the catch is the pricing has become more and more expensive in the last few years. Consumption is increasing, and the price has increased a lot.
We have approximately 200 users using this solution in my company.
How are customer service and support?
The support is not provided by OutSystems themselves. It's the service vendors, the integrators. There is a shortage of skilled workers that are knowledgeable of the tweaks of the platform and the shortcuts that can increase the productivity of using it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are using ServiceNow and it's depicted as a container for OutSystems. It's not the same, but it has the capability of doing some type of rapid development, and we are using it more and more.
How was the initial setup?
The largest obstacle currently associated with OutSystems is its high cost and limited availability of skilled personnel. Despite being a rapid application development platform, having a highly skilled individual familiar with the platform can be much more beneficial than an inexperienced individual. Because there is a shortage of people with the necessary OutSystems skills, utilizing the platform can become expensive. This makes little sense, considering that a rapid application development platform should be accessible to the average person. However, having a highly skilled individual can greatly increase productivity, making the cost worthwhile.
I rate the initial setup of OutSystems a four out of ten.
What was our ROI?
I have not seen a return on investment using OutSystems.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
OutSystems is expensive, and they changed the pricing model in the last couple of years. It's changing too much and it's becoming unstable. They are constantly shifting their prices based on users, courses, and other factors.
What other advice do I have?
To ensure that we will be able to benefit from leveraging internal development capability, I would suggest using a tool, such as OutSystems. With this solution, it is possible to increase the average productivity of the existing team of developers. Even a small increase of two to three percent can lead to significant gains. However, if there is a limited number of developers, it may be difficult to realize substantial productivity gains from using OutSystems.
I rate OutSystems a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
OutSystems
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about OutSystems. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Chief Executive Officer at Dependify LLC
Helps our clients generate certificates and has a great drag-and-drop feature
Pros and Cons
- "The drag-and-drop feature is very valuable."
- "The tutorials for the solution should be updated."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to help our clients generate certificates. They needed an app to help them record and have data. It allows them to take the certificate number, check if it is authentic and if the equipment that the ticket number is issued against is working perfectly.
What is most valuable?
The drag-and-drop feature is very valuable.
What needs improvement?
The tutorials for the solution should be updated.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for about a month and are currently using version 11.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and doesn't require many server resources, so I don't think there are stability issues. They have enterprise and have been around for a long time. Some of the tutorials we use were created in 2014, and we still use them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. Once we registered, we installed it and were able to start work immediately. It took approximately 24 hours to set up.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good but can be improved by updating the tutorials available. I advise people considering the product to ensure they have their data somewhere to generate a certificate. Additionally, I advise them to do their own research. The application makes life easier.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
It Consultant at Chiyoda Corporation
Useful for our organization's manual control systems
Pros and Cons
- "The scratch coding is useful. The solution is easy to understand."
- "It's difficult to do the component version control. I would like them to add more studying materials."
What is our primary use case?
Our use case is mainly for the manual control systems.
There are about 20 developers using this solution in my company.
What is most valuable?
The scratch coding is useful. The solution is easy to understand.
React is very easy to use for an experienced software developer.
What needs improvement?
It's difficult to do the component version control. I would like them to add more studying materials.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Some systems have over 1,000 end users. It's very stable for heavy duty operation.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For one developer to use, the cost is around $5,000.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Jr Engineer at Vizionforge Technologies
A low-code solution that's easy to work with but needs some customization in the front-end
Pros and Cons
- "OutSystems is a low-code solution. Most features are like drag-and-drop, so it's pretty easy to work. Thus it helps the organization by saving time for developers."
- "The resource availability needs to be increased."
What is our primary use case?
We use OutSystems for our customers in the banking and utility sectors.
How has it helped my organization?
OutSystems is a low-code solution. Most features are drag-and-drop, so it's pretty easy to work with. It thus helps the organization by saving time for developers.
What is most valuable?
The OutSystems Accelerator is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
There are very few resources available to learn OutSystems. If someone is utterly new to OutSystems and is trying to understand this technology by searching on platforms like YouTube, Udemy and Coursera, they won't find anything. It has negligible resources.
In the next release of OutSystems, I would like to see a few more customizations in the front end.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for four months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the technical support nine out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously I was working on high-code solutions. Then I started using OutSystems low-code solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. I would rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate the pricing a five out of ten. There are no additional costs with the standard license.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise anyone wanting to use OutSystems to start learning early while pursuing a college degree.
We are a team of ten Software Developers who use OutSystems in my company. We plan to increase the usage of OutSystems in the future. I would rate the overall product an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Director, Research & Advisory, Applications Development at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Easy to set up with good drag an drop functionality but needs better documentation
Pros and Cons
- "The product is mostly stable."
- "The documentation needs to be more robust."
What is our primary use case?
My engagement with the solution was primarily as a private contractor for our banks. We were doing several RPA developments for banks. So they had some processes whereby they wanted to use a low-code approach. They wanted to create workflows out of that. That's what I was focusing on.
What is most valuable?
Their drag-and-drop functionality is amazing. Their visual layout designers tend to be way better than the ones that I've seen - even compared to something as simple to use as Power Apps.
It's easy to set up the solution.
The product is mostly stable.
What needs improvement?
One of the things that they could do a little better is the performance speed of the UI refresh. It sometimes seems a little choppy, depending on what sort of machine power we have. I have a moderately powered machine, and I still found that the reload of the UI was not the most accurate, and I would have to reload the same page a couple of times to get the reflection of the right information.
It's frustrating in that if you forget to refresh, you're showing somebody the wrong thing, and your bosses aren't happy with you.
The documentation needs to be more robust.
Their UI reach refresh rates could be perhaps better. There's a lot of heavy focus on the client being able to create, to refresh quickly. I don't know what that mechanism looks like for them.
The integrations that have been created for automated testing, et cetera, should be a big area of improvement for them. If they could think about creating better integrations or opening up the integration space to get more hooks into more automated testing frameworks and platforms, it would be a nice little addition to their whole arsenal.
OutSystems has an opinionated approach to how it will save the data in the back and how it will create application architecture. So they have components, and they have the ability to break things into smaller pieces, however, if I was ever to try and take the system that OutSystems created and try and replicate and take that code base, for example, and put it into a .NET IDE, it doesn't work. Ever. That was sort of a bummer for me.
One of the things that I keep hearing from people is, "We are going to use low-code applications of platforms to create a very basic proof of concept," and that is where their inclusions end. However, to use that proof of concept of complex work, we need to go back to the Javas, and the .NETs, and the C++ of the world. The ability to get that code over and make it work in these different IDEs was not well thought through.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Except for the issues around screen refreshes, its stability is okay. It's fine. It's comparable to PowerApps.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've also used Microsoft PowerApps.
Clients were also using UiPath.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, however, initially getting my feet wet, and kicking it off, can be difficult. The documentation at that moment in time was lacking. It was a very basic, here's how you do a hello world kind of thing, and everything else that followed those instructions were based on the same simple idea. If they could just start making the documentation a bit more realistic with real-world situations, they'll definitely be helping their clients a lot.
There isn't a lot of maintenance needed. There only needs to be one person maintaining the product.
What other advice do I have?
My advice would be more for OutSystems. They need to make documentation foolproof. They need to make it easy enough for anyone to read and get it up and running. From OutSystems's point of view, they would prefer not to have people struggle for installations, so they should make it really super quick.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Highly scalable and good support
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of OutSystems is very good, it scales automatically very useful for us."
- "OutSystems could improve by being more like GitHub. It would be more helpful for us for division management and version control for our application."
What needs improvement?
OutSystems could improve by being more like GitHub. It would be more helpful for us for division management and version control for our application.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using OutSystems for approximately five years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of OutSystems is very good, it scales automatically very useful for us.
How are customer service and support?
We are satisfied with the support but it could be better. We are the product provider and sometimes we contact the support for our customers and we have to escalate our issue most of the time for the correct answer.
I rate the support from OutSystems a four out of five.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate OutSystems a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Developer at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Helps to make development process easier
Pros and Cons
- "The tool makes the development process easier."
- "I have difficulty in using several new features. Some of the product's features are tricky to use as well."
What is most valuable?
The tool makes the development process easier.
What needs improvement?
I have difficulty in using several new features. Some of the product's features are tricky to use as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the product's scalability a nine out of ten. My company has around 20 people for the product. We use the product daily.
How was the initial setup?
The product's setup is easy. One person is enough to handle its deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is expensive and I would rate its pricing a seven out of ten. You need to pay a yearly subscription to use the product.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the product a nine out of ten.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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