What I like best about Descartes Forwarder Enterprise Suite is how it brings so many parts of our workflow into one system. We handle air, ocean, and intermodal shipments, and DFES really helps us stay on top of customs compliance for cross-border moves. It also streamlines our billing and accounting — we can generate invoices directly for clients, service providers, and carriers without juggling multiple systems. On the operations side, I find it especially useful for quoting, rating, booking, and tracking shipments. Having reliable ETA/ETD updates is a huge advantage since accurate tracking is critical in our industry (and a good selling point to prospects!) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Honestly, there isn’t much I dislike about Descartes Forwarder Enterprise Suite. I always suspect new systems are going to be complex at first glance, but I quickly realized how intuitive it is once you start working with it. Even areas like customizing document templates turned out to be straightforward, and the more I used the system, the more I appreciated how well it’s designed to support daily operations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find Descartes Forwarder Enterprise Suite incredibly valuable for its ability to keep me organized with all my shipments. The software’s dashboard feature, which provides a centralized view of every shipment I've done, is particularly useful as it allows me to manage everything effectively in one place. The speed and efficiency of submitting shipping instructions electronically through Descartes is another aspect I appreciate, as it reduces the reliance on paper, making the process more environmentally friendly and sustainable. These features collectively make my workflow smoother, allowing me to focus on the critical aspects of freight forwarding without being bogged down by logistical hassles. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I experience technical issues with Descartes Forwarder Enterprise Suite occasionally, such as slow runtimes and PDF documents not being copied correctly into the system. The most serious problem occurs with slow AES validation and delays in sending shipping instructions to the steamship lines, which, although rare, cause significant stress when they happen. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Software automates Denied Party Screening and enables operations and accounting and collections to be linked providing visibility to payment for freight release. It enables a lot of customization and ad hoc reporting. Reports can be automated to run daily etc. and tracking is integrated and provides visibility to customers through online portal. Wildly customizable. Customer support is prompt. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The hardest part of the software is the initial set up. To get basic documents to generate such as a bill of lading or work order or invoice etc. the templates need customization. also many of the tools are a bit unintuitive. I think they are just 1 generation away from a really slick UI that will make life easier for users. In its current state there are great tools but it feels more like database management than us user centric interface. There are some canned reports but the formating as PDF or Excel isn't always usable for further number crunching due to formatting. We have had to make our own custom reports which fortunately one can do. It lacks tracking based automations. We are looking forward to their implementation of tracking based data automation such as vessel sailing and arrival dates being populated from tracking data but this is still not yet possible. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The platform is very straightforward and user friendly. Menus are not cluttered and are easy to navigate. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Occasionally the software will become unresponsive and I must contact the Support Desk to terminate my session in order to log back in. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

- The functionality of the System

- The reliability to do what is expected

- The flexibility to adapt it to our needs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

- The User interface is not the sexiest

- Lack of sexy features to sell internally

- easier integration of Rate data would be cool (using Code - not yet feasible due to custom fields ...)

- cheaper Reporting and visibility functionality would be appreciated (having the data is nice, viewing and reporting it in a proper format would be beneficial Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how each module works with each other. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike that as advances in technology happen, Descartes adds modules that need purchased with monthly fees instead of integrating them into the current software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Handles quotes → bookings → shipments → documentation → billing → collections in one system.

Eliminates the need to jump between separate systems (like separate TMS, accounting, and customs modules). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Outdated User Interface (UI) & Workflow Complexity

The interface can feel old-fashioned and cluttered, especially compared to newer cloud-native TMS/ERP platforms.

Many screens are field-heavy with long data-entry forms and too many clicks to complete routine tasks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of the main dashboard and filtering for shipments Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Better and simpler reporting for business metrics Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

being able to adjust columns of charges so it suits my needs and download large amounts of rates easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The amount of duplicate rates on some of the carriers get a bit out of hand. Also when there is a rate thats submitted by CoDE if theres an error in the rate it creates havoc. A better process for fixing errors would be extrememly helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

one view has it all and it's so convenient Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

nothing it's all very helpful and i don't think anything is disliked Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.