An enterprise resources planning (ERP) system is great…until it’s not. But, before you sign on the dotted line for your first warehouse management system (WMS), have you given serious (and honest) thought to how your growing pains might manifest in that pricey new platform?
Casey Winans has. He’s the founder and CEO of Fullstride, an independent advisory firm purpose-built to ensure smooth transitions from ERP to WMS. Jason chats with Casey about the art and science of a successful upgrade and how to perform an internal review of warehouse processes and employee engagement before making the move to WMS.
“ERP systems get the headlines in terms of the failures and the limelight in terms of what to watch out for. I get that because they can kneecap an entire business,” says Casey, referring to ERP software’s broad range and reach within a business. An ERP might interact with every department, from the warehouse to the accounting desk. However, an ERP’s “do-it-all” nature may not align with highly specialized warehouse goals. That’s where a WMS shines.
To be clear, Casey isn’t selling WMS tech. Instead, he offers expertise bridging the gap between C-suite goals and warehouse reality. He and his Fullstride team work with businesses to assess internal issues, ideally before a WMS package is purchased, and create a strategy for optimizing system implementation.
The process can leave some owners feeling exposed as they aren’t the most objective auditors of their businesses. But, “a [WMS] vendor won’t ask the hard questions because they’re not geared to fixing them for you,” Casey says. “There’s an assumption that you’ve already done the homework [and] your people are on board. It’s just this assumption that goes unsaid.” Those unspoken issues could eventually cost a business thousands in revenue, to say nothing of the WMS sticker price.
Choosing the right WMS system can simplify your warehouse operations, bolster staff performance and morale, and improve your bottom line. Investing in an independent client advocate can increase those returns, says Casey. “They can talk to the integrators and get that all moving so the budget and the timeline are preserved.”
RECOMMENDED EPISODES
QUOTES
“We always see the best in our businesses. So, if someone’s gonna ask you are your processes well defined? The gut answer is, yeah, they are. We don’t know what we don’t know. We’re so close to it. We see how it works. We don’t necessarily see all the gaps and all the ugly stuff that lies behind it.”
“I see this a lot, the disconnect between leadership and the frontline. I think a big part of the fear of technology is the basic question of ‘Why do I have to change? This works for me.’”
“Hindsight is a brutal teacher.”
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Distribution Talk is produced by The Distribution Team, a consulting services firm dedicated to helping wholesale distribution clients remove barriers to profitability, generate wealth, and achieve personal goals.
This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. Special thanks to our sponsor for this episode: INxSQL Distribution Software, an integrated distribution ERP software designed for the wholesale and distribution industry.
