In early May, Manhattan Associates (www.manh.com) held its annual user conference at Disney in Orlando, Fla. That same week, RedPrairie's (www.redprairie.com) users convened across town at Universal.

And the number one and two providers of best-of-breed warehouse management systems (WMS) shared more than just geography. They presented surprisingly similar views on the future of supply chain execution.

For one, both see enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors like SAP and Oracle as the most serious threat to their businesses. That's because many chief information officers say they want one vendor for all their supply chain software needs. For another, both recognize that it's no longer enough to just be a great warehouse management system (WMS) company.

Those realities are driving their go-to-market strategies in several ways.

Growth through acquisition: Having acquired transportation and reverse logistics solutions that contributed to Manhattan's nearly $200 million in 2003 revenues, the company is looking for more acquisitions that make sense. "We will continue to redefine the market and maintain our market position," said Peter F. Sinisgalli, Manhattan's new president and chief operating officer.

Meanwhile, John Jazwiec, RedPrairie's "company leader," is challenging his team to increase revenues from $130 million to $300 million by 2006 through more acquisitions like its recent purchase of LIS.

An integrated suite of products: How do you compete with SAP and Oracle? Both say by providing global support as well as a supply chain execution technology platform beyond core warehouse management systems.

"Optimizing processes within the four walls of a warehouse in North America is no longer enough for many of our customers," explained Jazwiec. "They need worldwide visibility to their customers and suppliers."

Not to be outdone, Manhattan refers to this as a "source to consumption" solution footprint. Those solutions include transportation management, reverse logistics, trading partner collaboration, visibility and event management, labor management, and slotting. Expect to hear more about RFID from both.

Optimization: Both vendors are dipping their toes in the supply chain planning waters with optimization engines that integrate WMS, transportation and yard management systems. That combination will be used to plan the optimal way to pick and ship while still meeting customer service requirements.

Going forward, both companies expect vertical expertise and depth of functionality to differentiate competitors. But the most important selling point might be the fit with users.

"As the technology starts to look alike, our customer relationships are what will differentiate us from our competitors," said Jazwiec.

Sinisgalli struck a similar note at Manhattan: "We have been and will continue to be neurotic about making sure we're exceeding our customer's expectations."