VTEX vs HCL Commerce (formerly Websphere)
Inflexible, monolithic platforms can't keep up with the needs of a modern digital-first organization like yours. Learn how commerce leaders are making the switch from HCL Commerce to VTEX in an average of 90 days.
Let’s TalkVTEX is on another level
VTEX is growing fast, with more than 3,000 customers in 40+ countries. HCL Commerce, on the other hand, has been dropped by the analysts from the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce report and continues to see business leaders move off their solution to modern commerce platforms like VTEX. Here are the main differences between the VTEX Commerce Platform and HCL Commerce (formerly Websphere).
In 2020, we achieved some remarkable milestones:
- Named a digital commerce Visionary by Gartner
- Named a Leader for B2C Commerce by IDC
- Recognized as the fastest growing platform in the world by IDC
- Raised $365M in the last 10 months while remaining fully profitable and earning a $1.7 billion valuation
More than 2,500 active customers trust VTEX
VTEX vs HCL comparison (Websphere): Commerce platforms from different eras
It may seem counterintuitive, but there was a time it made sense for enterprises to build a full IT infrastructure to support their e-commerce operations. However, once SaaS solutions like VTEX arrived, organizations could respond faster to business and customers’ needs with lower costs and greater flexibility.
Here are the main differences
- Microservice, API-first, and multi-tenant SaaS commerce solution Single, monolithic, on-prem application
- Cloud-native, runs in public cloud infrastructure like AWS. Needs to be installed and managed in a local IT environment
- Users are always on the latest version - updates are automatic Users are typically on a down-level version - applying updates is manual
- Serverless, low-code development platform for extensions and integrations Hard to use, integrate, and extend
- Scales automatically only the services that need more capacity Manual scaling process - does not scale efficiently
- Low maintenance and total cost of ownership High maintenance and total cost of ownership
- Microservices-based with over 100 independent services A monolith separated into a few large modules
- API-first and 100% API enabled APIs added after the fact - not all data and services exposed
- Cloud-native multi-tenant SaaS solution On-premise or self-managed single-tenant cloud solution
- Built from the ground up as a headless commerce platform Supports a headless mode - not originally architected for headless
- Continuous - over 12,000 enhancements and updates in 2020 alone Updates provided quarterly or semi-annually
- Automatic - no lengthy upgrade cycles, regression testing or refactoring of custom code. Manual - require refactoring of custom code and lengthy regression testing cycles
- Upgrades are automatic so users are always on the latest version Upgrading to the latest version requires a complete reimplementation, which is time consuming, expensive, and resource intensive
- Automatic - no need to manage servers and environments Manual - requires a cloud-ops engineer to deploy additional resources
- No need to monitor, plan, or scale resources for peak events Peak events must be planned for ahead of time and require constant monitoring
- Services scale up and down dynamically as each one requires more or less capacity Entire modules must be scaled together, which consumes more compute resources and is less efficient
- Offers VTEX IO, a low-code and serverless development platform Must create and manage development tools and dev-ops processes
- Custom code and extensions are maintained separate from platform code Developers need to directly modify platform code
- VTEX takes care of all the servers and environments for you Users need to maintain separate environments and servers for development, test, staging, and production
- Upgrades are automatic and your customizations won’t break when a new version or enhancement is applied Custom code needs to be refactored when vendor provided updates are applied
- VTEX Master Data Management lets you customize and orchestrate commerce and customer data without modifying platform database schema Data structure extensions require the manipulation of platform database schema
- Serverless - you don’t need to create and manage environments and servers for your applications and integrations Need to host and manage servers and environments for all front-end applications and integrations
- Versionless APIs provide access to all VTEX services and data objects APIs were added after the fact and are versioned
- Over 1,000 pre-built applications and integrations Limited ecosystem of pre-built applications and integrations
- 24x7 support. VTEX provides Customer Success Managers that serve as partners to help you meet your business goals Standard L1/L2 support services depending on which version you are on. V7 is in extended support
- VTEX Customer Success helps you maximize traffic, conversion, and sales without paying an extra fee Experts to help make the most out of the platform and optimize operational processes requires separate contacts and fees
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VTEX versus HCL (Websphere) Comparison Guide
A lot has changed since HCL Commerce was developed, find out what a modern commerce platform can do for your business.
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Migrate from HCL Commerce (Websphere) to VTEX
Replatforming from HCL to VTEX can be done in as little as 90 days. This migration guide will show how to make the switch in three months or less.
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90 Days to Revenue
Move to a digital commerce platform that scales as you grow and future-proof your business using our practical, proven approaches.