The on-demand WMS for smaller companies

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/2006

Low monthly fees. Ninety-day free trial. Get up and running in days.

That might sound like the pitch for a new cell phone service, but it's not. It's how Navis introduced SmartTurn, a new warehouse management system (WMS), at D/C Expo in May.

SmartTurn is specifically designed for the forgotten warehouse market, according to Kevin Nanney, director of product management.

That's small-to-mid-size facilities doing less than $250 million in revenue. But what differentiates the system is its business model: SmartTurn is a hosted, on-demand solution available for as low as $500 per month.

Implementation can take place in a matter of days. "We took our first customer live over a weekend," Nanney says.

Navis is so confident in the new system that it's offering a 90-day free trial.

Steve Banker, director of supply chain management for the ARC Advisory Group, is intrigued. While other on-demand solutions have come and gone, Banker says he thinks SmartTurn may survive.

In part, that's because the team putting SmartTurn together worked at Salesforce.com, a leader in the on-demand application space. "They understand the model," says Banker.

And in part, it's because of the low price. "I get very excited about ROI," Banker says. "There are a number of inexpensive traditional WMS packages. But even they run $20,000 in licensing fees and $20,000 in services.

If Navis can hold the price point and the implementation time frame, I see a prospect for really strong ROI."