What is our primary use case?
We have some common services, like REST-based services. We have applications, general social services, and application services. We'll use the solution as a utility to share across the applications selected.
What is most valuable?
When an organization is, for example, a bank, it can't use an open-source solution - even though open-source solutions are providing more current features. They need to go for a vendor-based solution like this product.
It's a well-settled, mature platform.
The stability is good.
It can scale.
What needs improvement?
We'd like for them to open up to a more cloud-based solution that could offer more flexibility and maybe a better rules engine or more integration with rules engines. The rules should also be more centralized.
We'd like to see more documentation. We feel like we may be missing some things and would like some documentation to lay out the entire product better. We need better use cases. They don't offer many examples to showcase their product's capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for more than a decade. It's been 12 to 14 years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. They have the flow language. We've been using it since version 6.0 and we haven't had any major issues. It's pretty seamless.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For what we need, it scales quite well. We don't have to worry about having to scale too large as our organization, a bank, is not a very big bank. That said, scalability has never been a problem.
It's a solution that is generally used by the IT department, not everyone in the company. Maybe between five and ten people use it in total.
How are customer service and support?
We have to use technical support sometimes. We do, for example, during migrations. We incorporated a business process from webMethods. We are now changing the process in terms of where we were using the database to control the business processes. It is more or less now using the RED METHODs PPM. When changes need to happen we contact them and work with them.
While they do help, the documentation could be better.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple and very straightforward.
That said, open-source solutions are easier. However, we like to have a contractor come in and take care of everything.
Everything to be set up must be done carefully and properly. Certain changes cannot be incorporated so easily. There might be certain dependencies across certain applications. We take a pretty careful approach every time we are migrating.
What about the implementation team?
We had a third-party assist us with the implementation. It makes everything very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm a user of the application. I don't directly handle the licensing.
What other advice do I have?
I'd warn potential users that, if you get into the ESB sort solution, once you get into it, coming out of it is very difficult. The dependencies are very high and you are running it in the middle of your architecture. It becomes something you have to budget for and allocate every year.
I'd rate the solution a seven out of ten due to the complicated installation process.
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.
Thank you for the insightful post.