Flexibility over features

Platform evolution

OrderCloud's development philosophy prioritizes flexibility over comprehensive feature sets. This approach emerged from our experience with traditional SaaS applications, where extensive configuration options still couldn't meet diverse B2B requirements.

B2B complexity

B2B commerce presents unique challenges due to varying customer requirements. Our previous SaaS solution, despite offering custom themes and configuration options, couldn't adequately address this complexity. We maintained our commitment to single-instance, multi-tenant, cloud-hosted architecture while seeking a more adaptable solution.

Headless architecture

We transformed our SaaS product into a comprehensive RESTful API, offering a balance between SaaS convenience and custom development flexibility. To support this transition, we:

Expanded our development team
Created UI components
Developed integration components
Built SDKs in multiple languages
Provided seed applications
Published extensive documentation
Created deployment tools in OrderCloud Portal

Best-of-breed approach

OrderCloud focuses on core B2B eCommerce and order management capabilities, developed through 15 years of experience. We integrate with specialized services for other functions. For example, rather than building email functionality, we integrate with dedicated email service providers who offer superior capabilities through their APIs.

Platform development

While the platform is mature, it continues to evolve. Our "flexibility over features" principle guides development priorities. We focus on:

Removing constraints
Expanding data model capabilities
Improving integration options
Enhancing core functionality

Key flexibility features

Extended properties

Extended properties (xp) allow custom attributes on most objects. For example, adding a gender field to a User object:

user.xp.Gender = "female"

The platform stores, indexes, and makes these custom attributes searchable and sortable.

Learn more about extended properties

Webhooks

The webhook system enables real-time integration with external systems through HTTP. Systems can subscribe to platform events (order submission, product creation, etc.) and receive immediate notifications, eliminating the need for API polling.

Learn more about webhooks

Rules engine

The rules engine provides flexible order approval and promotion capabilities:

Text-based logic expressions
Custom approval workflows
Time-based rules
Aggregated total calculations

Learn more about the rules engine

Platform vision

OrderCloud continues to evolve as a specialized B2B commerce engine. We believe optimal B2B solutions combine best-in-breed components rather than relying on either complete custom development or out-of-the-box SaaS solutions.

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