It takes 90 days to get your business ready to pursue its first Warehouse Management System. But folks always feel that is too long.
Here are 5 reasons why that's not true ??
1?? The entire team is already wearing multiple hats
The reality of a growing mid-sized business is that there are more roles than there are people (and funds) to fill them.
That means folks take on multiple roles.
Adding another for the WMS project is often "the straw that broke the camel's back" yet it's not obvious beforehand.
2?? Processes are more tribal than anyone knows
Even questions that seem simple often have multiple answers. This causes folks to look around surprised.
There's a ton of work involved with airing all the expectations, traditions, and often missed requirements.
This takes a ton of time to sort out, which eats days and weeks.
3?? Not just a project for the warehouse team
Your business is complex with multiple teams adjacent to the warehouse, even if they are outside the four-walls.
The interactions are often fuzzy at best, which naturally leads to friction as you've grown.
Now's the time to shine light on the dysfunction and define compromises to how y'all interact. Those are called guardrails.
Without them, the new layer of control (WMS) will just make what was once annoying, downright painful, if not catastrophic.
4?? Meetings in between meetings in between meetings
Many of the surprises need to be taken offline and researched to arrive at real understanding and alignment.
These are activities that can happen outside of the project team, with the answers making their way back to the group.
This takes time and may involve investors, absentee owners, or parent company leadership teams. And takes time. Lots and lots of time.
5?? Sometimes the answers come from outside
Some of these questions cannot be answered by the existing project team or folks already involved with the business.
Sometimes, new expertise must be pulled in and brought up to speed.
Again... not a quick outcome.
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Time flies by.
90 days is not long.
Not when you're talking about business decisions that impact a large investment in systems. With a 5-10 year (or more) lifespan...
The folks that don't learn this before reaching out to vendors pay dearly for this reality check. Learning while the vendor is "on the clock" is how so many buyers find themselves stuck on the struggle bus. ??
#realtalk #clarityfirst #clientadvocate
#wms #operationsmanagement #erp
