IBM Sterling vs Vooma (2026)

Agents call AI tools instead of starting Order Management System APIs or services directly. Each tool is a single defined capability, such as searching for orders, canceling an order or validating a coupon, with a name, description, input schema and permissions. Tools also define how the system connects to external services, and since the 5 June 2026 release administrators create, modify and delete tools from the Order Hub interface.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_tools.htmlread 2026-09-17

A named integration catalog of eighteen tools (Turvo, Triumph/Greenscreens, McLeod, Aljex, DAT Rateview/Ratecast, Truckstop, Tai, Highway, Front, Revenova, Transfix, Outlook, Bitfreighter, 3PL Systems, RingCentral, Truckstop RMIS, Slack, MyCarrierPackets) has its own Integrations page, a later release adds Sonar, Tabi, Google Chat, Teams and McLeod Carrier Diaries, and custom integrations are supported.

Vooma acts in outside systems with authentication. Build writes fully built loads into the customer's TMS, Cover posts loads to DAT and Truckstop loadboards, Schedule writes instant updates into the TMS and Slack or Teams, and Quote posts to DAT loadboards from the inbox.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-09-08

Two router agents, the Orderhub Router Agent and the Callcenter Router Agent, direct each prompt to the agent that handles it. Some agents depend on other agents to complete a task, so a user needs access to every agent in the chain for it to succeed. Each agent acts through AI tools that are implemented as services in the Sterling Order Management service definition framework.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/t_configuring_ai_agent_access.htmlread 2026-09-17

Vooma's platform runs from quote to cash, and its agents run workflows of several steps across channels. Homepage diagrams show an order read from email, details extracted, a load built and completed in the TMS with a chat update, a delivery appointment checked against TMS status, slots requested, confirmed and reported to Teams, and a delayed shipment detected, the driver called, and a work-in coordinated with the team. Vooma Agents launched as a platform for building agents across channels in natural language.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and the November 2025 funding and launch postread 2026-09-08

Agents are reached through the AI chat interface in Order Hub and IBM Sterling Call Center, where enabling them turns on chat-based natural-language interaction and a router agent directs each user prompt, and the embedded agents can also be surfaced in another omnichannel interface such as an ecommerce channel or a CRM application. There is no schedule, webhook or system event that starts an agent without a person asking, so the entry point is conversational.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_agents_in_oms.htmlread 2026-09-17

Events across channels start work. Quote scans the inbox and prepares quotes as requests arrive, Cover answers inbound carrier calls day or night, Schedule starts on its own from load status or with one click inside the TMS workflow, Track monitors active shipments on a cadence the customer sets and calls or texts drivers, Collect watches delivered shipments for missing documentation, and the Track API accepts tracking status updates as they occur. Inbound email, inbound voice, TMS state changes and continuous monitoring are all covered.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Solutions pagesread 2026-10-22

The Search-Action Agent answers by analyzing documentation and logs and summarizing them into actionable guidance, the Diagnostics Agent gives access to application, agent, integration and MQ logs, and the agents retrieve relevant information from systems, databases and APIs to answer the request in front of them. There is no customer source set that can be indexed, refreshed and permissioned, and no citation surface showing which documents influenced an output. The agents that do the document analysis sit on the Self Service set, which IBM restricts to nonproduction environments.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/self_service/concepts/ss_ai_agent.htmlread 2026-09-17

Quote reads incoming requests and connects to the customer's pricing engines and rate history through named rating integrations (DAT Rateview and Loadsearch, Triumph/Greenscreens, Sonar, Tabi, Truckstop) and the TMS, which is retrieval over connected systems assembled per quote. There is no index, graph or embeddings layer Vooma maintains over the customer's knowledge. Tribal knowledge is captured in the separate Memories feature, and a system that learns the nuances of SOPs, customers, carriers and facilities is learning absorbed into the model.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-09-08

Memory is context within a conversation. The agents understand the conversation context and retrieve the information needed to answer the current request.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/self_service/concepts/ss_ai_agent.htmlread 2026-09-17

Schedule saves memories of how each location books, so later appointments need fewer hands on moments, Quote enriches each request with tribal knowledge captured by Vooma, and a Memories feature holds the customer's own notes on how to quote, for use across the platform. These are persistent stores written once and drawn on by later runs. No lifetime, retention control or management surface is stated, and Build's learning of preferences over time is absorbed into the model rather than a stored memory.

SourceVooma, vooma.com Schedule and Quote pages and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-10-22

Every AI tool carries permissions that control whether it completes read-only or write-enabled actions, which bounds what an agent is able to do. The Self Service agents add user-controlled write operations and the ability to stop a response mid-execution. The generally available Order Hub and Call Center agents have no approval step or consent checkpoint on an action the agent proposes. The write and stop controls sit on the Self Service set, which IBM still restricts to nonproduction environments.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_tools.htmlread 2026-09-17

The customer sets how much each agent does alone. Quote works as a copilot, an auto draft tool or a fully autonomous responder, chosen per workflow, with exception handling, labeling and CC rules. Build shows the extracted load for a quick review and edit before it goes to the TMS, Cover routes high priority calls and approvals to supervisors through Teams, Slack or email and transfers live calls with whisper details, Track runs on a tracking cadence and escalation triggers set per shipment, and Schedule escalates by email or chat when it needs new information.

SourceVooma, vooma.com Quote, Build, Cover, Track and Schedule pages and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-10-22

Sterling Order Management System is hosted in a secured data center, is ISO-27001, ISO-27017 and ISO-27018 certified, and runs with and encryption. Access control reaches the agents themselves. Each agent is associated with user groups, permissions are granted or revoked agent by agent under Applications, IBM Sterling Agentic AI, AI Agent in the resource hierarchy, users are identified by IBMid, and access is evaluated every time an agent runs, with unauthorized requests blocked.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/overview/omc_service_overview.htmlread 2026-09-17

Vooma shows an AICPA SOC badge on its Security page and in every page footer and calls itself SOC 2 compliant, with encryption in transit and at rest, regular penetration testing, vulnerability assessments and automated monitoring. The strict access controls it mentions are Vooma's own internal controls, and there is no SSO, SAML, SCIM, role based access or permission model for the customer's organization. Vooma does not publish the attestation type, auditor or date.

SourceVooma, vooma.com/securityread 2026-09-08

A tracing toggle in AI chat, added in the 5 June 2026 release, shows the agent's detailed steps and captures them for diagnosis. Transparency features let administrators understand how an agent reached a conclusion before acting on it. The governance framework applies audit logging to every action and data request, including requests from externally developed agents connected over MCP.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_whatsnew_ai_agents.htmlread 2026-09-17

Real time insights into call activity and daily email reports come with agent conversation transcripts with drivers and callers and Teams notifications of outcomes, and every quote opportunity is tracked so missed revenue is visible. That is activity reporting from Vooma with visible transcripts. There is no audit log, run trace, retention period or export.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-09-08

Six named data center locations carry the Sterling Order Management System cloud services, Dallas and Washington in the US, Frankfurt and Amsterdam in the EU and Sydney01 and Sydney02 in ANZ. The subscription includes a named environment set of production, disaster recovery with two stated RTO and RPO options, preproduction, quality assurance and development. The AI agents run in cloud environments, and on-premises support for them is planned, not shipped.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/overview/omc_service_overview.htmlread 2026-09-17

Personal information is stored and processed in the United States or where Vooma's providers maintain facilities, hosting and server providers are named only as a category, and EEA transfers fall under standard contractual clauses. The product is a cloud service with a login at app.vooma.ai. There is no region list, customer environment option or selection surface.

SourceVooma, vooma.com/privacy-policyread 2026-09-08

Twelve agents are listed in the product's own resource hierarchy under Applications, IBM Sterling Agentic AI, AI Agent, including Search Orders, Cancel Order, Coupon, Appease Customer, Inventory Supervisor, Inventory Lookup, Inventory Supply Lookup and four inventory segment agents. Each is granted or revoked per user group, so a customer adopts them one at a time. The Agentic Toolkit Add-on reached general availability on 9 March 2026, with the Order Appeasement agent following on 6 April 2026. A further eight Self Service agents still carry a private preview note.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/t_configuring_ai_agent_access.htmlread 2026-09-17

Six prebuilt agents are named on the homepage, Quote, Build, Schedule, Cover, Track and Collect, and the first five each have their own page under Solutions. Quoting, load building, appointment scheduling, carrier sales, shipment tracking and POD retrieval are distinct jobs, none depends on another, and the customer adopts them as a named set. Voice is the phone channel threaded through the agents, not a separate product.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Solutions pagesread 2026-10-22

Every agent across Order Hub, IBM Sterling Call Center and Self Service is watsonx-powered, and customers and administrators have no model selection, routing choice or bring-your-own-model surface. The MCP server's note about using proprietary or industry-specific AI models covers the customer's own external agents connecting into OMS, not model choice for the OMS agents, so there is a single provider.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_agents_in_oms.htmlread 2026-09-17

Customers and admins get no model selection or routing control, and no model provider is disclosed. The privacy policy names Google Analytics, MailChimp and Stripe as third parties and says Gmail API data trains only models specific to the application.

SourceVooma, vooma.com/privacy-policy and platform pagesread 2026-09-08

The AI Agent developer toolkit lets customers define and deploy their own agents and tools. The MCP server exposes OMS data objects, workflows, APIs and execution services so externally developed agents can read real-time order, inventory, promising and fulfillment data and initiate governed transactions, with the server endpoint, access scopes and OMS roles and policies set when MCP integration is enabled. The MCP capability comes in the Agentic Toolkit Add-on, Essentials Edition.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_agents_in_oms.htmlread 2026-09-17

Developer documentation sits at docs.vooma.ai, public and rendered on the server, with an llms.txt index.

The Build workflow lets a customer's system call Vooma's own endpoints to create and update customers and locations and receive Vooma webhooks on customer, location and order creation and update, with an API reference at /api-reference for each, and the Track workflow has a Tracking Status endpoint accepting loadId, timestamp, location (coordinates or city and state) and metadata.

Outside callers drive these endpoints to write into the platform, with the fields named. The partnered TMS integrations are the platform reaching out to other systems.

SourceVooma, docs.vooma.ai/workflows/build and /workflows/trackread 2026-09-08

The subscription includes a named environment ladder. Development is for module and developer integration testing, quality assurance for integration, scalability and user acceptance testing, and preproduction for final validation before deployment to production. AI tools are implemented as services in the service definition framework that is deployed through it, and users can submit feedback on agent responses in the product. There is no testing of the agents with fixtures, mocks or datasets before production, and no scoring of output quality over time beyond runtime tracking.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/overview/omc_service_overview.htmlread 2026-09-17

There is no evaluation harness, scored test cases, release gate or controlled experiment after deployment that measures the agents. The features nearest to it do other jobs. Schedule's smart learning from historical acceptance patterns is absorbed learning, daily email reports and call activity insights are operations reporting, exception handling routes each output, and the homepage's response time, win rate and deflection figures are outcome marketing.

SourceVooma, vooma.com pages readread 2026-09-08

The agents act through AI tools that call Order Management System services and connect to external systems through defined integrations, which is tool calling, not operating an interface. There is no browser, desktop or remote computer control.

Sourceibm.com/docs/en/ssgtjf/buc/c_ai_tools.htmlread 2026-09-17

The agent works inside third party interfaces Vooma does not control. Vooma logs into portals to secure appointments, its AI workers email, call, text and log into systems, and portal scheduling books appointments hands free in Blue Yonder, Opendock, Manhattan, LMConnect, Rydershare and Yardview, with support for custom portals. Facility scheduling portals are software Vooma does not control, where no stable API exists. Vooma does not state the mechanism. Support for custom portals is consistent with an agent driving a browser, but Vooma does not say so.

SourceVooma, vooma.com homepage and Q3 2025 releaseread 2026-09-08