I’m sure you are very familiar with Gartner® and the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Warehouse Management Systems report. But did you know that Gartner publishes a companion report: Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems that provides a deeper dive into providers’ product and service offerings by extending the Magic Quadrant analysis?
If you are looking for a new WMS, we suggest you start by looking at the recognized vendors in the Magic Quadrant, then move on to Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems research.
Our key takeaways from the Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems Report
According to Gartner, “For this research, we identify nine critical capabilities. We then use Gartner’s warehouse stratification model to highlight five different use cases — from very simple Level 1 warehouse operations to highly automated and complex Level 5 facilities.” The nine critical capabilities considered in the report are, “core and extended functionality, usability, analytics, implementation tools, adaptability, supporting technology, material handling integration, and overall simplicity of use and operation.”
Made4net has been recognized in all five Use Cases in the 2023 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems Report. These Use Cases are Level 1 Warehouse Operation, Level 2 Warehouse Operation, Level 3 Warehouse Operation, Level 4 Warehouse Operation and Level 5 Warehouse Operation. According to Duff Davidson, Made4net CEO, “The breadth and depth our solutions is being demonstrated daily with over 800 customers in 30 countries and 20+ languages. We’re enabling success in basic pick, pack and ship operations, highly automated facilities, and everywhere in between.”
Davidson continued, “We’re also really excited about our partnership with IKEA who will be using WarehouseExpert across its entire supply chain and omnichannel fulfillment operations. Eventually 100,000 coworkers will be using the system across IKEA stores and DCs. It’s a true testament to the scalability of the solution.”
What Today’s WMS Users Want
Scalability and flexibility are several factors rivaling functionality for today’s WMS buyers. As warehouses have become increasingly automated, businesses are seeking solutions that offer robotics integration and enhanced support for material handling solutions. According to Amit Levy, EVP, Sales and Strategy at Made4net. “With WarehouseExpert, our customers can optimize the flow across all assets and resources, including Autonomous Mobile Robots and processes that rely on manual labor, in order to keep orders flowing.”
System highlights include:
- A flexible, rules-based platform, built on Microsoft technology and a microservices-driven architecture, that aids in configurability and customization
- A fully integrated end-to-end solution for true supply chain convergence, including WMS, WCS, YMS, Labor, TMS and Proof of Delivery
- An easy-to-use user interface that is friendly and personalized
- A robust technology that is the foundation to a configurable platform with features like screen generators, feature rich user experience and optimized scheduling.
- Ability to manage all warehouse resources – humans, Autonomous Mobile Robots and MHE, all through the same task control engine
- E-commerce enablement for optimized multi-channel distribution and seamless integration with technology, including voice, vision, IoT, shopping carts and carriers
- Configurable workflows that are driven by business rules
The report mentions several strategic planning assumptions to consider, including that “Through 2026, technical architecture will equal functionality in importance for new WMS buyers seeking flexibility, adaptability, composability, usability and affordability.” And, “By 2026, support for intralogistics smart robotics solutions will be a primary consideration for WMS buyers.”
WarehouseExpert™ WMS Performs Strongly Across a Diverse Range of Warehouse Operations
The report synthesizes product information provided by 18 vendors across 21 total WMS products. The information was gathered from November 2022 through March 2023. Made4net has been recognized in all five Use Cases in the 2023 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems Report.
‘’While the WMS market is mature, customer demand for specific functionality and capabilities is driving some vendors to enhance their offerings and thus changing the positioning in this research:
- Multitenant cloud solutions built on a composable microservices architecture that provide extensibility and continuous upgrades.
- Work planning and optimization.
- Enhanced user experience through a more consumer-grade look and feel, especially for supervisory workforce.
- Labor management and planning.
- Robot integration strategy and capabilities.
- Reducing implementation burden due to constrained resources by leveraging technology within the WMS.
- Supervisory workforce engagement, gamification and support.
- Enhanced support for material handling automation integration and work orchestration across various automation classes and vendors.’’
Choosing the Right WMS
When it comes to a WMS solution, there is no one-size fits all approach to finding the right fit. Having a good understanding of your warehouse complexity is key as more complex facilities require more WMS functional breadth and depth to support their needs, while less complex operations often require less functional robustness. You don’t want to overbuy or underbuy.
We encourage you to use Gartner research as part of an evaluation of WMS products.
You can get a complimentary copy of the latest Gartner research here.
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Disclaimers:
Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Warehouse Management Systems, Published 27 July 2023 By Analyst(s): Simon Tunstall, Dwight Klappich, Rishabh Narang, & Federica Stufano.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
