WMS Selection
Selection of appropriate software can make or break a business. In the Supply Chain world, companies are faced with a major decision: Which WMS is best suited for our business?
The infrastructure choice falls along the spectrum from a multi-tenant SaaS WMS to a top of the line tier 1 complex WMS, with various hybrid models in between. These are some common selection mistakes that are hard to overcome:
In buying a multi-tenant SaaS WMS, you must:
- Adopt the best practices already offered by the product
- Focus only on the best practice gaps rather than “We are Unique” expectations
- Accept the fact that changing the core code is not possible and that this is the nature of the multi-tenant rollouts
- Accept the fact that getting access to the DB is not possible since DBs could be shared across customers
- Adopt Rapid Rollout methodologies
- Automate Regression Testing
In buying a top of the line tier 1 complex WMS, you must:
- Build an internal design team capable of pre-designing your operations and automation flow, giving direction to the WMS, WCS and all other MHE vendors
- Arrive at a scalable Inventory Segmentation design
- Set clear expectations on Realtime Inventory and OMS / DOM Order Allocation
- Implement CI/CD
- Automate Regression Testing
Regardless of the final choice, it is imperative to get input from key decision-makers and carefully consider the implications of WMS choice.
