Freedom

Avantages

Over the 12 years that we have been customers of ByDesign, we have seen many improvements to their base software. They have improved the user interface for both customer service and customers and expanded the offering to better support us as a global business in more than 60 countries around the world. We are able to run commissions weekly and monthly and pay our business partners on time.

Inconvénients

The software was originally designed to take advantage of functionality unique to Internet Explorer. They have been working to make the software completely cross-browser. There are still a few areas in the software that rely on Internet Explorer to function correctly, but it is becoming more cross-browser with each incremental update.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Freedom

Avantages

There are several features about ByDesign, and honestly, that is the power behind the software there is so much customization that can be made to my environment without having to do custom programming. Some of the more useful features are the promotions engine for running sales and promotions and auto-shipment. The ease of use the software is excellent; we launched live with them, and within 1-2 weeks, my customer service was pretty confident.

Inconvénients

As of right now, the thing I like least is the shopping cart. It is miles above their competition as many MLM software companies still run on outdated themes that provide a poor user experience. ByDesign has made massive improvements, but it still lacks behind Shopify, Big Commerce, 3D cart, and ext. I know they have additional updates planned, but as it stands, it is a little behind the market.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Freedom 

Pourquoi passer à Freedom

Avantages

A few different functionalities we didn't have before.

Inconvénients

It didn't ever work well.

Avantages

I think the best aspect of Freedom is exactly what the name says. It gives you the freedom to customize and make the final product your own. It is adaptable and integrates very well with our products to give our clients a full suite of tools to build their Direct Selling/Party Plan businesses. The ByDesign team is focused on long-term relationships and it shows.

Inconvénients

There was not really much to not like. When a hurdle approached both teams just put their heads together and we figured out a sustainable solution to the issue and moved on.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Freedom

Avantages

Software feature, good support team, commission engine/process performance. Able to run commission simulation.

Inconvénients

1. Missing Integration/configuration instructions on 3rd party (taxjar,...)
2. Master inventory sku (Multi countries)
3. Time zone issues (Multi countries)
4. User right management
5. 1099 efile (electric file output)

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Freedom 

Pourquoi passer à Freedom

Avantages

Dependable, affordable, accurate - which is incredibly critical. Very simple to implement, and use on a daily basis. We would not have been able to concentrate on scaling up without it. We have gone from start up to extraordinary growth in just a few years - very blessed - and ByDesign is able to keep up and keep us up and running!

BeDesign also stands behind their work. Customer service is incredible and the customization we needed was completed completely 100% as requested. Customer service here - is what it should be with all companies.

ByDesign does what they say, and much more.
Their solutions work, and more.
They are available, and eager to please.
The product is up and running 99.9% of the time without any hiccups.
I am getting what I pay for and much more.

What else can anyone ask?

Avantages

It is easy to use, convenient, and accurate. When something is released it works. If for some reason something doesn't work it gets fixed very quickly. The stability and reliability are unmatched in any other software system I have ever used. When customization is requested it is handled in the same way as regular updates and fixes. When it is released it works just as reliably as the rest of the system. These are the main aspects that are required of this software and they definitely deliver.

Inconvénients

Custom work can take longer to get done than many people want. It also can cost more than we expect to spend on some occasions. This drawback is dwarfed by the fact that when released it works.

Avantages

The platform is designed, with the end user in mind!

In other words, the company created the platform to help the home-based entreprenuer run their business, and not just for the company to monitor their reps and sales. This additional focus on providing the independent professional the tools needed to run a successful home-based business, I beleive will lead to lower attration for the parent company.

Most of the platforms I have reviewed, focus only on what will benfit the company in the long run. The team that developed the Freedom Platform seemed to go the extra mile and interview what is TRULY needed by the home-based entreprenuer.

Inconvénients

Although the platform is created for the enduser, in many cases, the end user isn't fully aware of what they need. I beleive a little more video training provided in the back office will help any independent professional navigate this platform better.

Although, the available support, is well above the average, I know firsthand the frustration of not fully understanding the best way to use the tools and reports I have at hand.

Avantages

I had two primary software concerns when launching our business. First was that we had a relatively untested concept and did not know how quickly our business might scale, so we needed to select a decently-priced solution that could still handle rapid growth when called upon. ByDesign had a good mix of small and large clients that eased this concern, and was competitively priced with others we evaluated. Second was that we did not have a lot of recent party-plan experience in-house from the past couple years so we needed a solution that had already thought through current industry processes and could deliver all the best practices.

They are continually improving the product with additional features and are great at sharing the broader roadmap with us so we have a clear picture on how they view the future of the platform.

If you want a solution that is time-tested and that can work with minimal setup out-of-the-box, you should really be talking to ByDesign.

Inconvénients

Item management might be more cumbersome for a company with thousands of distinct inventoried SKUs.

Avantages

The sales and use tax integrations are comprehensive and maintenance free. This allows for correct tax calculation and reporting. While other competitors have sales tax solutions, this one is a perfect balance in price and user ease.

Inconvénients

Needs more options for automated compliance, like registrations and annual reports. While this is current service option, a click and play would great.

Avantages

Freedom has been the perfect fit for our business, with so many features out of the box it was an easy process to switch from our old provider to Freedom. The system has been very reliable and allow us to grow the business without spending much time on system maintenance. Some of our favorite features are:
1. Easy to use. The software is designed where you get the most relevant information is a nicely formatted screen and it is easy to drill down for detail information.
2. Plenty of reports. When we need some new piece of information, we usually find a report that will give us exactly what we need. We like the feature where we can export to Excel.
3. Many built in interfaces. It was easy to interface our credit card gateway, shipping, and paying vendors.
4. I use the data warehouse feature. It allows for custom reports and custom applications.
5. Support. It is very nice to know that if we call support a person will answer the phone and help us. Although they have a ticketing system the human touch is very much appreciated.
6. The back office and shopping cart are easy to maintain and easy for the Distributors to use, also easy access from Freedom to the back office.
7. Software releases happen often, and new features are made available to us.
8. There is a lot help documentation and videos on the system. I have found many answers to my questions by watching videos and in the process learning about new features.

Inconvénients

I really don't have any cons about Freedom

Avantages

The ByDesign Software for Direct Selling is the most advanced software for our industry I have ever had the pleasure of using. The Software provides not only the state-of-the-art genealogy tracking and commissions calculations, but as well, it offers so many marketing features that really give a new company a leg up on their competitors. What I like most about this software is that it works!

Inconvénients

If I was going to make one change to the software it would be that it has more graphics on the back-office dashboard. More and more clients are sharing that they not only want it to work very well, but it has to look awesome too.

Avantages

It was affordable for us when we reached the size to need backoffice software yet was buildable to our needs today when we could afford to add additional features.

Inconvénients

Other reviewers - We were "warned" that ByDesign would "nickle and dime" us for everything. What we learned was that was not what they were doing. They were allowing us to purchase additional addons as we grew rather than forcing us to purchase all at the beginning when it was impossible for us to get a backoffice for our field at those costs.

Avantages

The software gives us a lot of flexibility to configure it in many different ways. From the way items are displayed in the shopping cart to running different promotions.

Inconvénients

We are a party plan company, and we feel the party plan module needs a fair amount of updating. It should be an intuitive process and currently it is not.

Avantages

Thank you, as always, for your outstanding support! I can honestly say that you are one of the few partners who are always there when we need them and you are just as eager to help now as when we first purchased the software. We really appreciate your support you are just amazing!

Inconvénients

The system is so robust and I want to know everything. The product roadmap is so far ahead of the industry it's giving me great insight into how to plan our growth. It would be great to have a users call or forum to learn how others are using the many features of the system.

Avantages

What I enjoy the most is the significant number of variables that can be enabled, disabled, or configured in various ways to ensure we provide the best product for our global business partners. Each market is unique and having the ability to turn certain features on in one area and not in another is monumental in helping us achieve success.

Inconvénients

Because there are so many features, it is important to make sure and analyze your choices before implementing them. This is why having a test environment available to us has really helped out.

Avantages

I've always been impressed by the ease of use and level of detail. By Design has always provided an exceptional experience for their clients (companies) but they are also extremely sensitive to the experience of the end user (people in the field). They provide a level of transparency and detail that others fail to provide, making it quicker and easier for people to get the information they need to make strategic decisions quickly. Whether you are accessing the data from the corporate side or the field side, the experience is seamless and the data accurate and informative. I also appreciate their desire to always improve upon that experience, never being satisfied with status quo.

Inconvénients

As a Mac-based user, I would like to be able to perform all functions from a browser other than Explorer.

Avantages

The freedom software is extrememly comprehensive and has been designed to provide all the business tools necessary to track and grow your business. Once you become familiar with the software it is easy to use and adds value to your overall business daily. It blows me away how they thought of everything! I also appreciate the wonderful Team at ByDesign. They go above and beyond to provide quick and efficient customer service. I am thankful for their "open line" policy... their team makes themselves available for any questions. I call them and someone actually picks up the phone to answer my question. They really are there to help and makes you feel a part of their family!

Inconvénients

It is not really a con just a learning curve. It is a comprehensive platform therefore it takes time to dive into their program and learn it. I look forward to more video tutorials for training purposes.

Avantages

This software has been road tested over 15 years by hundreds of direct selling companies, which means it's stable. It meets or exceeds your expectations. The compensation analysts on staff are competent and they will pay attention to all of the details of your plan. Drill-down screens are provided so you can easily audit the earnings calculated for your compensation plan. When custom programming is needed, the business processes followed are professional and the documents prepared to explain the need and the solution well done. There are APIs available for integration with other systems.

Inconvénients

You can't have all three: low price, high quality, and high speed of delivery. This means sometimes it takes longer to get a compensation plan programmed or to have custom programming completed. Would you rather have it fast and wrong, or not as fast but right? I would choose not as fast and right.

Avantages

Two main things:
1. It is the simplest and easiest software in the direct selling space in my experience, and it was always reliable.
2. The value for the money spent is unparalleled in the industry, by my experience

Inconvénients

There was only one thing: custom modifications sometimes required waiting in a queue for a period of time that was longer than I liked. The work always got done, but as President of the company I wanted it done in a very short time. I don't think this company is outside of industry norms, but I always wanted it faster.

Avantages

We relied on ByDesign for the design & implementation of our website, back office, comp plan, vendor integration, & even advice for a number of business decisions.
  
In my opinion, the single most important operational decision a startup mlm company faces is the choice of a software platform. That platform, in essence, is the CPU of the entire enterprise.
 
Without a doubt, we could not have made a better choice than ByDesign Technologies.
 
Great businesses are built on partnerships as we must be more than just clients & vendors.
 
We at Baranta Health are looking forward to many, many years of a wonderful relationship with ByDesign.

Inconvénients

I do not yet have the budget to do custom integrations and as my business grows I am looking forward to adding them to our platform.

Avantages

Freedom has very robust core functionality where you don't have to worry about day to day operations. We had some unique requirements for our business model and we were able to customize it they way we needed. Bydesign also helped us to integrate the software with other vendors we've been using. Interface is intuitive and user friendly.

Inconvénients

You have to use IE for to get full functionality of the back office but they are working on making it compatible with other browsers.

Avantages

I have used this software when working as an Interim (or on Demand or contract) National Sales Director and start-up Business Consultant, Especially for Party Plan companies. Some of the aspects I appreciated most are: Replicatable websites, corporate back office, Consultant Back Office, Effective Geneology tracking, and Compensation/commission payouts. When a client requests an improvement that existing clients can use, it is often included in a future update at no additional costs.

Inconvénients

As with any software programs, there are certain ways we wanted to see the data in reporting and even when that occurred there was a willingness to either find a workaround or put the requests on a wish list for future releases.

Avantages

You’ll find Bydesign’s software to cover any aspect of direct selling that you can think of. The implementation process is streamlined and the team is creative when it comes to finding a solution for your software needs. They truly are experts in their field.

Inconvénients

Because the software is so comprehensive, there is a learning curve to using it. The company does provide training on how to use the software and will take time to answer all of your questions but expect to spend some time playing around to figure it out.

Avantages

The product always works,and when I Recommend to someone I never look bad.
Great administrator back office To move around and know where sales are and who's making the sales as well as Inventory and what is selling

Inconvénients

Same as all companies interactingWith technical peopleWhen I'm notSoftware technical Is always a problem for me