OpenBOM vs. UserVoice

OpenBOM is well suited for users who require the ability to have a "structured sandbox" when it comes to part, BOM, and vendor management. By having this structure, it allows for consistent capturing of key information, in a structured way, while also being dynamic where approved users can modify the information without too much overhead. We're using it for a medical device.

Incentivized

UserVoice is well suited if you field a lot of feedback and ideas from clients. If you are a company who is building your software based on customer feedback, it is important to have a place to store and organize this feedback. I think UserVoice is ideal for a company whose feedback comes into one team but needs to be passed along to another (i.e Support to Product). UserVoice is also great for companies that are growing and growing their product quickly.

Incentivized

• E-BOM management with an intuitive interface.
• Import/export from/to popular systems.

Incentivized

• Customer feedback - gives intense insight about what you should build next
• Customer service interface - easy to use, helps users find help without contacting us
• Admin interface - easy and quick to help customers

• Consistent log-off/ log-ins required (despite saying stay logged in)
• Default "custom use" of fields (vs. requiring the user to check this each time a new parameter is selected).

Incentivized

• Doesn't always catch obvious spam/we have to do a fair amount of blacklisting
• Doesn't have multiple language options
• No online/email tech support available. You have to call if you have an issue.

Incentivized

I just really liked UserVoice.

The day-to-day usability is good. More technical settings require a bit more effort.

Always very responsible and helpful when an issue happened. They eat their own cooking when it comes to using their products.

Have clear goals and owners established before you start using any tool like this. Very important to get accounts and rights setup so that there's no lag time in customer response once things go live. Make sure IT is involved if you plan to use the Single-Sign On (SSO) or any of the access control tools.

OpenBOM is mainly BOM-centric, whilst PLM solutions have much wider functionality, suitable for cross-department activities. We are in constant search and evaluation of a one-fits-all solution and, I must say, after a price spike, OpenBOM doesn't look as attractive as it used to.

Incentivized

I like the ease of integration into web and mobile apps for UserVoice. It's also a comprehensive bug reporting, user feedback, and knowledge base tool.

Incentivized

• My company has avoided (literally) hundreds of misconfigurations, saving us months of development cycle time.
• We have been able to streamline vendor management/ approval (or disqualification), reducing the overall time from ~8 hours to <2 hours per vendor. And our maintenance of the vendors (e.g. requalification) has similar savings.

Incentivized

• Has allowed us to more quickly answer learner questions
• Has allowed us to more easily manage our FAQs page/front facing support information
• Has provided us with a tool to gather daily feedback from our users

Incentivized