With over thirty years of serving manufacturers and distributors, we’ve learned just how important it is to establish a trustworthy relationship right off the bat. Deciding to move forward with a new Warehouse Management System Vendor can take time and effort. Asking the right questions makes it easy. Here are our top twelve questions you should ask a potential WMS vendor for the best results:
1.) Would you be willing to learn about our operations and plans for future growth?
Any good salesperson will not just “pitch-slap” you about their product’s features and benefits and expect you to sign a contract with them. During the marketing or introduction stage, they should educate you on their solution. However, they should ask you more questions during the pre-sales process. Even if there is an interim step of a detailed analysis, this is worth a small paid engagement before signing off on an entire solution.
2.) After fully determining our needs, what features are included in your software, and what would be considered additional development work?
This is the best point to see what features are included in their standard out of box solution and what will need to be developed. Understanding this up front will save you time, money and frustrations with “surprise” charges.
3.) Can you please tell me more about your team’s industry experience and expertise?
Supply Chain Solutions are a considerable investment for your manufacturing or distribution business. There are many good solutions out there, but you need to be careful about the vendor helping you implement the technology.
4.) How challenging will it be to change specific work-flows if necessary?
Every technology, specially software, is written in a manner that you need to follow certain business processes to ensure it’s successful. Normally there are best practices common among the manufacturing and distribution industries. However, there may be some very unique aspects to your business that may require a modified work-flow to meet.
5.) How many parts of your software solution are third-party?
We have a solution designed for Sage 500 Users called DCWarehouse Automation. It has our own embedded barcode designer, many WMS features, a multi-carrier shipping solution and more. However, we pass data along to several EDI Solutions. So when prospects ask does our solution also handle EDI we honestly say no. We integrate with four solutions but we are not an EDI Technology Solution.
6.) Can you give me an idea of your project implementation process and a sample project outline?
Software, hardware and technology are only part of the equation. Managing projects from beginning to end is an art and vendors who do this well use a detailed implementation process. Now asking for a vendor’s entire step by step playbook may be a little too much since much of that may be confidential, at minimum asking for a high-level outline or a sample of their project plan before you purchase the system is a good idea.
7.) How does the system integrate with my ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution, what are the ongoing integration costs?
The solution we have for Sage 500 is written in the same tool-set so is there is not batch interface or integration costs. However, there are many third-party solutions that require an interface to your ERP System.
8.) Is your shipping solution embedded or third-party?
Some WMS Systems also have multi-carrier shipping solutions and some do not. This is an important question to ask since WMS and Shipping go hand in hand.
9.) Can you offer advice on our processes, warehouse/location/bin set up, facilities or anything outside of just the software functions?
Some software vendors are very good at implementing technology but may not have experts on hand to actually provide warehouse, location and bin recommendations. We do that as a part of our offerings but it’s always good to ask your potential vendor of they partner with an expert or have those team members within their own organization.
10.) How aggressive are you in keeping current with Industry Trends where and when it makes sense?
Trends come and go and it’s important to work with a vendor who can truly communicate about these things. Just because certain technologies or concepts are trending does not mean they are worth the investment. There are however, trends that become the supply chain every day normal processes or even requirements to do business.
11.) Can you help me ship both domestically and internationally?
If your WMS Solution does include shipping, it’s important to understand there are many caveats in International Shipping. So asking your vendor about the product’s native features to ensure your international shipments are handled correctly is critical.
12.) If we decide we are a match, can I please speak to a few of your customers?
It’s important to understand that everyone in business is busy. It’s not fair to ask for customer references straight out of the gate if you do not have the budget for a specific WMS solution. However, there is nothing wrong with asking for customer references to speak with if you are about to make an investment. That is just a good business practice.
