In our last episode, we discussed how Softeon and Thru-Put Partners produced a webinar on the “7 Uncommon Keys to End-End WMS Success.”

We covered the first 4 of those tips, which included:

  • Understanding WMS Value Upfront
  • Creating a clear decision-making framework
  • Getting the demo right
  • Not wasting time early in the project

This week, the final three uncommon tips...

Logistics Insights @ Podbean.com

Full Transcript:  

In our last episode, we discussed how Softeon – a leading provider of WMS and other supply chain execution software – and Thru-Put Partners – a leading supply chain consulting firm – produced a webinar with Modern Materials Handling Magazine on the “7 Uncommon Keys to End-End WMS Success.”

On that podcast, we cover the first 4 of those tips, which included:

  • Understanding WMS Value Upfront
  • Creating a clear decision-making framework
  • Getting the demo right
  • Not wasting time early in the project

This week, the final three uncommon tips...

Number 5:  Leveraging the benefits of WMS in the Cloud.

Today, adoption of Cloud WMS is reaching approximately 75% or more of new WMS implementations, as fears about response times fade and the deployment and management advantages of Cloud become clear.

But the move to the Cloud changes deployment dynamics from the traditional on-premise model, and these changes need to be considered to best achieve a successful project.

With WMS in the Cloud, the project can be more focused on business and operational concerns, and much less on resource consumption on the IT side of the equation, setting up the technical environment for the WMS implementation, and managing WMS performance over time.

Both business and IT support teams need to adapt to a different paradigm. That new model provides an opportunity to empower business and operational “super-users” to handle more of the support and configuration changes initially and over time. But for success, both operations and IT need to be on-board with the plan – and the may be some resistance From IT.

Number 6:  Staffing for success. 

Here is the reality: successful WMS deployments typically have 2 times the available resources applied when compared to WMS projects that struggle.

Appropriate staffing is simply a critical factor in success versus experiencing a more challenged implementation.
What is needed for WMS project success from a resource perspective?

Examples of the types of resources include sufficient testing staff that know what to look for when testing. One way or the other, you will fully test, either adequately before the actual go-live - or eventually on your customers.

Another example: someone responsible for organizing test data: where is the data coming from? Does the data effectively support what you need to actually test? This is often overlooked until it’s too late.

The bottom line: a successful WMS implementation generally takes more staffing to get to go-live than companies expect. The level and skill of staffing is a critical for a successful deployment versus a challenged implementation.

Which leads us to the last tip.

Number 7:  Create a KPI measurement system from day one.

That starts with clearly defining the daily operating reports to monitor individual and overall WMS deployment progress and performance.

Getting the right KPIs in place is actually not that difficult, but is often lost for the sake of being on-time for the go-live. Don’t let that happen to your project – have the right dashboards in place from the get-go.

So there you have the final three of the "7 Uncommon Keys to End-End WMS Success.”

If you want more, we have a full white paper on the topic here.