Softeon recently led the discussion on “next-generation WMS” during a broadcast on “The Big Ideas Videocast Series,” from the Supply Chain Television Channel and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).

Dinesh Dongre, Vice President of Strategy at Softeon, served as the key speaker on the broadcast, discussing the present and future of Warehouse Management Systems with program host Dan Gilmore, Editor of Supply Chain Digest.

While recognizing that WMS is a very mature solution area, dating back to 1975 or so when the first real-time WMS systems were deployed, Gilmore and Dongre agreed that the WMS market remained very dynamic, with changing customer needs driving continued improvements in the software.

“The requirements even within the four walls are changing,” Dongre said on the broadcast, citing growing omni-channel requirements, new approaches to material handling systems, and more complex order release and consolidation as examples.

One major change in the market over the last 5-10 years is that many WMS vendors have developed broad supply chain execution suites, which also include solution modules such as TMS, Labor and Resource Management, Distributed Order Management (DOM), inventory management tools, and more.

In turn, that means prospective WMS buyers need to think hard about what is really in and out of scope for their project, and take system evaluation to the next level by scripting end to end flows between these modules to ensure they work as expected across the suite.

Gilmore and Dongre identified five key characteristics of next-generation WMS. They are:

• Cloud WMS will Become the Dominant Approach
• Emerging Technology will Deliver Next Generation of DC Productivity Gains
• Pervasive Use of Analytics and BI will Continuously Optimize the System
• Blurring of Logistics Planning and Execution will occur
• Robust Support for Omni-Channel Commerce and Fulfillment will grow

During the broadcast, Gilmore and Dongre reviewed each of these characteristics in detail, providing a compelling view of where WMS technology is headed. Both emphasized that these capabilities are not just future oriented, but in many cases available at least in part today.