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When you’re looking at upgrading your warehouse, one of the biggest choices you’ll have to make is if you want to use a standalone warehouse management solution (WMS) or an integrated add-on warehouse management app. In today’s article, we’ll help you determine how you can focus your business needs for warehouse software, so that you can find the right solution at the right price for your company.

ERP with Module or Standalone WMS?

When choosing your warehouse management app, your first step is to decide if you want an add-on warehouse management module for your ERP, or if you want a standalone solution that doesn’t require ERP. There are benefits and drawbacks to either solution, and only you can decide which would be better for your business.

Questions to consider:

  • Do you need to seamlessly integrate with your existing ERP? If you’re looking to connect a new WMS to your ERP, you may want to consider an integrated add-on module because your warehouse management app developers will deeply understand your existing ERP solution capabilities.
  • Is a shorter training time a requirement? An integrated add-on solution will offer a shorter training time, since your staff will already understand where the software can enhance operations, whereas a standalone solution will require all-new training and explanation for your staff.

What’s Your Budget?

In addition to the prior considerations, you’ll also want to give some thought to your budget (though I don’t think we need to remind you about this!). Oftentimes, standalone solutions will come with pricey extras that your business doesn’t need or want, whereas an integrated add-on can deliver just the services you need—at a price tag you can handle.

Questions to consider:

  • How are you managing your warehouse now? Sometimes fulfillment speed has less to do with your technology, and more to do with the fact that your warehouse fosters productivity bottlenecks arising from poor processes or paper-based systems. Eliminating data entry with an affordable integrated add-on often solves the problem.
  • What are your future plans? Companies looking to make large-scale distribution their main focus may want to consider a standalone option, because they’ll need the bells and whistles that enterprise WMS products provide. However, those same bells and whistles may be overkill if you plan to maintain a manufacturing business and simply want to deliver better customer service or faster order fulfillment times.

Are You Wanting to Save Time?

This seems like a dumb question at the outset (after all, what kind of business doesn’t want to save time?), but it’s an important consideration. The truth is, salespeople are salespeople, and they’re likely to paint you a lovely picture of time savings, without addressing important issues such as setup time.

  • Do you need a new system up and running soon? A standalone solution typically takes longer to implement and set up, because the system is starting from zero. In standalone WMS, all your warehouse information will need to be painstakingly loaded into the system, which takes more time than the synchronization process of an integrated add-on. Plus, as we mentioned earlier, training is faster with an integrated add-on.

Learn More About Warehouse Management Apps

Warehouse management software is hard to figure out – and with the speed required to meet today’s customer demands, it’s unlikely your business has the time to carefully pick through all your options.