The dawn of Web deployment and Web hosting
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/1/2000
The Internet is not only impacting the way WMS users distribute their products. It's also affecting the way WMS suppliers distribute their software. In fact, most major software suppliers are developing a strategy to use the Internet as a new channel of distribution to lower the overall life cycle cost of WMS software.Two such developments are Web deployment and Web hosting.
Web deployment involves companies that want to manage multiple warehouse facilities from a central location. The software is loaded onto a centralized computer, and deployed to other facilities over the Internet or a company Intranet. A web-deployed system is licensed, operated, and maintained by the user.
There are several advantages to this arrangement. To begin, it reduces the IT infrastructure in terms of both hardware and personnel required to support the WMS across multiple locations. Operationally, Web deployment gives the user a real-time view of inventory across the enterprise. That, in turn, permits inventory and orders to be allocated more efficiently across the enterprise.
"With Web-deployment, you can trade inventory for information gain," says Henry Bruce of Optum. "A user needs fewer locations because they have greater visibility across their network."
With Web hosting, the system is owned, operated, and maintained by an application service provider (ASP), typically either the software vendor or a third-party system provider. Software systems are accessed over the Internet by users, who pay a monthly subscription fee, or buy services "by the drink" or by the transaction. In many instances, the software solution can be accessed through a common Web browser.
The APS model eliminates the up-front costs associated with licensing, implementing, and maintaining a software solution. This is an especially important factor for start-up companies that want to conduct e-commerce now but have no idea how successful they might be.
Both models are available now in the marketplace from some suppliers, including several large enterprise resource planning (ERP) suppliers. Still, market acceptance may take time to develop. "We did a sampling of our customers in the mid-market, and right now, they're skeptical about having a mission critical application like a WMS hosted at this time," says Patrick Majure of Majure Data. "But once users become comfortable with deploying software from their own servers to multiple locations over the web, we think that will open up the doors for us to host multiple customers from a server that we maintain."
Beyond those two developments, the Web offers still other advantages to WMS.
Servicing and trouble shooting a client's system, for instance, can now be done on-line by some suppliers. "With a graphical front end to our software, we can create a virtual private network with our clients that would allow us to provide software support," explains Majure. "Not only is it an easy way to upgrade a system, we can provide alerts and signals when certain conditions occur in a clients' system and have instant access as problems occur."
In the same vein, a Web-enabled WMS system provides a way to integrate the warehouse with other systems within a supply chain or with other services available over the Internet. For instance, "exception management" becomes possible with a Web-enabled system that can alert managers, sales people, and customer service representatives when an inventory item is out of stock, enabling the customer to make alternative plans.
Likewise, a Web-enabled WMS can communicate with on-line compliance labeling services that provide information about a major retail customer's shipping requirements. It can also automatically schedule pickups and deliveries with small parcel shipping carriers.
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