Why is there not one simple solution for WMS, TMS and ERP, load/sales planning?

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There are many companies that provide Telematics and TMS, WMS and carrier integration, ERP with 3rd party WMS and TMS modules but why are they generally separate providers rather than one system to do all of them? On top of this there are often separate fleet systems (or 3rd party modules), HR systems etc.

Surely it would make sense to buy everything from one software vendor?

I believe that the answer is pretty simple in the SME market, although why blue chips struggle is a different story. In my opinion the answer consists of some of the reasons below;

When I have tried to sell WMS to people of a size ￡5-200 million they usually have the same answer for why they are looking at our product rather than an ERP add on from their main vendor and that is; We want somebody who understands warehouses the software written by people who aren’t warehouse specialists does not function in the way we need as they don’t understand our requirements and their software although well programmed usually is not Warehouse centric.

When I have tried to sell TMS, Fleet and related software to hauliers of a similar size the answer is the same as above; we want to buy software off people who understand the legislation, pressures and pain we go through. For example while running the sales function for the RHA it became clear that even though we sold 3rd party software the reason they came through us rather than directly to the supplier was because we understood their needs and they could trust that.

When I have sold ERPs it was a wholly different story, as the TMS is usually purchased by an Operations Director and the WMS by Operations Director or whoever has warehouse control as opposed to ERPs being chosen by Finance and IT. The buying mix makes a huge difference as if a Finance department trusts the ERP they sometimes make holistic decisions on WMS and TMS at the same time and where this happens we usually find the WMS and TMS doesn’t match what is required.

Niche and smaller providers also have a few other advantages which seem to appeal to the SME market; firstly they can often work at a lower margin to win a sale if not an out of the box product, also they have the ability to be more adaptable and work on a consultative level rather than simply configuration.

Of course some of the disadvantages of a smaller provider are; lack of resource to take on too many products at any time, versioning and bespoking where sometimes the best thing to do is to push best practice rather than make your software fit the business traditional practices and financial stability/ business stability and investment.

This being the case, whether you are selling WMS, TMS, Fleet software, or HR software I would suggest that you think of where you want to be in five years before choosing a target approach. If you intend to grow the business to take on larger clients then you will need to build up a pedigree quickly and extend the product as far as you are able, if you aren’t looking for quick growth and want to rely on organic growth in the SME market then you will need to play on your niche credentials. This does not take in to account the fact you can buy market share etc. however if you are devaluing your product you had better have a plan to reintroduce the value. I can think of one business that did just this, however now they are struggling to sell systems in the numbers they need to alongside their marketing model.

What you often find from Blue-chips is where they might not buy all software from one software provider they may use one partner house to source and integrate all the systems (in this way the integrator is the trusted provider and manages the third party interactions). The buying position and requirements are entirely different for the bigger corporates and often come from tender and take a much more long-term view.

The simple answer is everybody wants to trust the part of the software that works for them and they look for it to be provided by a specialist who understands their WIIFM. If you are looking for a Telematics provider you aren’t going to type ERP provider in google.

Oracle are one of the few companies that have made a very good effort at getting all the strands in to one package. With eCommerce driving change in both DC setups moving to local hub/spoke and warehouses changing to accommodate D2C and coronavirus distancing, the need to be able to change quickly and pick and change systems has been driven even further up the priority list.

If you need any advice or just to network on these subjects more feel free to contact me on here.