Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your Warehouse Software
Waiting too long to invest in technology upgrades in your facility can put your organization at a competitive disadvantage. However, if you upgrade your warehouse software, you’ll immediately see its impact on your business and team.
Despite the benefits of implementing automation and management software though, deciding when to upgrade and what technologies to leverage can be challenging.
If you are struggling to make this determination in your warehouse, here is an overview of the key drivers for updating and changing warehouse software, common challenges it can solve, and how to determine which platforms to sunset or optimize.
Common Reasons to Change Your Warehouse Software
In the world of warehousing and logistics, every business decision is made with efficiency in mind. That is why it is incredibly rare for organizations to upgrade warehouse software simply for the sake of upgrading. Instead, nearly every decision to upgrade aims to solve a problem.
Typically, operations begin exploring ways to upgrade warehouse software when they:
- Need to adapt to shifting demands, processes, and procedures
- Have partially upgraded technology, which has revealed other operational deficiencies
- Determine whether maintaining, customizing, or updating existing software is impractical or costly
When one or more of these factors come up, operations leadership can either keep the facility’s existing technology, invest in tech upgrades, or attempt to retrofit older solutions to adapt to current needs. However, replacing obsolete technology with a more modern alternative is often the best path forward.
3 Challenges Upgraded Warehouse Software Can Solve
Deciding to upgrade warehouse software can solve a variety of business challenges, but perhaps the most common are supplier changes, increased automation, and a lack of communication.
1. Supplier changes
Whether you make the decision to cut ties with a supplier, they are purchased, go out of business, insist on costly upgrades, or they terminate the relationship, investing in tech upgrades can make it easier to find new vendor partners in these situations. This is largely because a warehouse that leverages the latest technologies is an appealing partner to customers, suppliers, distributors, and other upstream members of the supply chain.
Therefore, it is smart to position yourself as a tech-centric, innovative facility that provides frictionless experiences to its partners. By doing so, you can attract new suppliers, gain an edge over the competition, and forge lasting relationships with new suppliers.
2. Increase in automation
Old software can’t keep up with the latest changes in automation. Therefore, clinging to old technologies can leave your warehouse unable to meet customer demand, which can lead to reputational damage, supplier changes, and other business challenges.
WES software is the future of warehouse management systems and a key player in your journey toward an automated warehouse. With the right WES technology at your disposal, you can pursue opportunities to automate critical workflows, optimizing the efficiency of your warehouse.
3. Lack of communication
Aging technologies often struggle to communicate and share data effectively with one another. When you rely on a disjointed network of technologies, data silos almost always form. These silos leave you and your team with poor visibility, which can make the decision-making process even more difficult.
Outdated software not only struggles to communicate with your other applications, but may also create friction between you and your vendor partners. When you decide to upgrade warehouse software, you can eliminate data silos, facilitate more efficient information sharing across your business, and gain real-time insights into your organization’s performance.
How to Determine Which Warehouse Software to Upgrade
Before making technology upgrades, you must first decide which software platform to invest in. There are several factors that can influence this decision though.
There are three primary types of warehouse software:
- Warehouse Management System: A WMS controls the flow of inventory within your facility and provides insights into every phase of this process—from receipt to putaway to shipping.
- Warehouse Control System: A WCS integrates with your WMS to provide added layers of functionality, designed to control automated technologies and equipment within your facility.
- Warehouse Execution System: WES is the latest iteration of WCS solutions that provides the same functionality as WCS platforms, but they offer a much higher level of warehouse management.
If you understand the relationships between these solutions, you’ll more easily identify which tech upgrades to prioritize.
The Relationship Between Softwares When Upgrading
As a fundamental rule, a WMS serves as the driver of communication between each platform. Therefore, having the right warehouse management system in place is foundational to the success of your organization.
While a WES will not replace your WMS, it can augment its capabilities and extend its life. For example, suppose that you have a WMS and a wishlist of functionality that you want to add. Integrating a WES into your workflow is an efficient and cost-effective way of tapping into new features and capabilities.
Likewise, replacing your aging WCS with a more modern WES solution can help remove any operational roadblocks that can negatively impact productivity or output. As the next generation of WCS software, WES technology optimizes your labor resources by providing real-time visibility, as well as your new or existing equipment.
Additionally, WES technology serves as the glue between automated equipment and technologies. If integrating automated technologies into your workflow is a priority for your organization, you need a WES solution that can keep pace and successfully orchestrate your operations.
Upgrade Your Software With a Trusted Systems Integrator
A trusted systems integrator and software provider will help you decide when, how, and what warehouse solutions to upgrade. The expert team at Conveyco can help your warehouse perform at optimal capacity and efficiency by providing timely guidance and strategic support.
As a customer-centric partner, Conveyco can connect you with upgrades and solutions based on your needs so that our proposed strategy is cost-effective and in alignment with your organizational goals.
Interested in learning more? Schedule a free consultation with one of our solutions experts today!
