Opinions on WMS publishers

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND ABOUT WMS PUBLISHERS?

Before contacting a WMS publisher, it is normal to need to find out about the publishers in the market.

 

  • Which customers are already equipped with their solution and who are similar to you?
  • What business cases have been dealt with and to meet what challenges?
  • What opinions are expressed on the web about these publishers?
  • How can you “re-assure” yourself about these publishers before soliciting them?
  • And what questions should you ask them first?

 

It is therefore a good idea to consult the information that is often available and free on the net. Here are some tips to help you in this quest!

 

REFERENCING PLATFORMS

 

Several referencing platforms offer to list, give an opinion or even compare WMS publishers; without being exhaustive, we find :

  • Faq Logistique.com
  • Appvizer
  • LebonLogiciel
  • CapLogiciel
  • QuelSoft

 

Whether they are paid or free (for publishers), these platforms are specialised in B2B software. You can identify your WMS software publisher by various filters such as the type of company function (HR, accounting, production, etc.).

For example, the Appvizer platform, the European leader in this niche, presents WMS publishers in its “Organisation” section and in the “Stock management” section.

Articles are also available presenting the main features of a WMS or the most commonly used ones. The Faq Logistique website has a comprehensive directory of WMS publishers.

Lastly, platforms such as LeBonLogiciel or CapLogiciel offer opinions and customer testimonials.

What questions should you ask publishers to select the one is most likely to suit you?

Here are 3 tips that can help you form an initial opinion on WMS publishers

 

 

Tip 1 – Business expertise

 

If you are looking for a solution that is adapted to your needs and your organisation, we recommend that you rely on a publisher or integrator who ideally has in-house teams that have “been there” and are able to quickly identify what makes your specificities.

Some publishers or service providers offer to spend a day in your warehouse to carry out a flash audit in order to give you a pre-budget with an estimate of the immediate benefits of a WMS solution.

These elements will enable you to carry out a brief calculation of the return on investment and to justify to management a budget adapted to the challenges. The end result of this stage will be to present you with a WMS investment project as an additional string to the company’s development strategy.

 

 

Tip 2 – the technologies implemented

 

You are probably not a WMS specialist and yet the quality of the developments made to meet your needs is essential.

We recommend that you choose a publisher who has a wide range of customers in different sectors, which guarantees that your current and future needs will probably be covered by the standard version of the WMS.

Another positive sign is the level of turnover invested each year by the publisher in R&D to improve its product. You can thus find out how much of the workforce is devoted to these innovation and solution development activities.

Finally, because it will never be able to do everything, it is a good idea to make sure that your future WMS is already open and connectable to solutions provided by third parties specialising in their field (TMS, CMS, OMS, ERP, WCS, etc.).

To do this, why not take a look at the website of the WMS integrator or publisher to identify its partners (IT and Infra) and find out what types of applications have been developed in the past!

 

 

Tip 3 – IT interfacing

 

A WMS publisher must be able to present examples of interfacing with numerous systems and demonstrate its ability to manage IT projects of this kind:

  • The ability to describe precisely the different data formats that will have to be exchanged,
  • The ability to manage, advise and challenge the IT service provider who will be responsible for developing the interfaces,
  • And finally, the ability to surround yourself with third-party partners specialising in IT infrastructures to, for example, create and manage a full web Virtual Machine, implement a VPN or configure Android terminals.

If you have difficulties in forming an opinion because you are not a specialist and you need advice, contact the SITACI teams!