The 3 types of WMS editors

WMS publishing companies a priori offer relatively similar products.

So how is this market organized? Which publishers for which types of needs and for which development prospects?

In order to see things more clearly, we have classified them into 3 main categories .

Expert editors

These are generally specialists present mainly in very specific sectors (process industries, pharmaceuticals , etc.) or in very specific logistics professions (cold logistics, e-commerce , etc.). These WMS publishing specialists often offer complete “verticals” (APS, ERP, TMS, OMS).

These publishers are regularly consulted by large groups, often with international locations, and who wish to overhaul their warehouse logistics by equipping themselves with a WMS. The projects are therefore complex with numerous logistical configurations.

These large groups also want to take advantage of the installation of a WMS to standardize , in a given sector of activity, their logistics practices in their different sites; in fact, change management in organizations is a crucial point.

Features:

Here we will find publishers with offices and representations in France and internationally, with very large teams of functional and technical consultants These publishers also rely on integrator partners to deploy their solutions around the world. The methodologies implemented are quite classic (known as V-shaped) and therefore the implementation times are relatively long . Managing interfaces between logistics, quality, sales or production teams then becomes a “project within a project”.

Given their experience and seniority in the profession, these large-scale publishers have good sectoral practices (benchmarks) which can contribute to more quickly “aligning” heterogeneous processes from one site to another in a new customer.

The functional coverage of their solution is generally important for a given business. However, these coverages do not prevent significant costs from being incurred in adaptation, subject to relatively detailed (even heavy) specifications, in order to address all of the sites' practices. As a result, there can be numerous back and forths with the client's functional teams (project manager, key users, end users, etc.).

The advantages:

• Functional coverage of the WMS,
• Specializations by sector of activity (concept of verticalized solutions),
• Simultaneous implementation of several sites in France and internationally,
• Robust businesses.

Points of vigilance:

• Little agility – restrictive V-shaped methodology,
• Daily rates charged,
• Low responsiveness in the event of unanticipated modification requests,
• Cost of specific developments.

Publishers of “light” inventory management solutions

Recently, new players have positioned themselves in this WMS segment and we have little perspective on their sustainability in this market.

Some of them have also abandoned their positioning as WMS publishers along the way, to reposition themselves on less complex solutions such as TMS or OMS.

Features:

These publishers offer relatively basic and inexpensive solutions, ideal for inventory management . Their solution is less, or even unsuitable, for managing logistics flows.

The specifications must therefore be particularly detailed to properly verify, before choosing them, the perfect adequacy of their solution with the needs expressed. If this is not the case, the specific developments, at best, will incur significant costs or development time, or at worst, will not be feasible due to a lack of sufficient technical or professional skills at this publisher.

It is therefore important for this category to measure the “benefit/risk” ratio .

The advantages:

• Cost of acquiring the solution,
• Easy to implement for inventory management,
• Ergonomics – quick handling,
• Ideal for logistics flows and basic business rules.

Points of vigilance:

• Functional covers to manage technical flows and performances,
• Ability to evolve and support the growth of the warehouse over time,
• Low seniority or financial strength,
• Small publishers.

General publishers

These publishers position themselves at the meeting point between the big and small players.

There are well-established publishing companies with numerous references. They are broken down between generalists present in numerous sectors of activity .

Features: