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G00251406
Magic Quadrant for Warehouse ManagementSystemsPublished: 15 May
2013
Analyst(s): C. Dwight Klappich
WMS demand remains resilient and buyer sentiment is concrete.
WMSapplications are mature and approaching parity, but vendor
innovationcontinues.
Market Definition/DescriptionGartner defines a warehouse
management system (WMS) as a software application that helpsmanage
the operations of a warehouse or distribution center. WMS
applications offer capabilitiessuch as receiving, put-away, stock
locator, inventory management, cycle counting, taskinterleaving,
wave planning, order allocation, order picking, replenishment,
packing, shipping, labormanagement and automated material handling
equipment interfaces (see "Apply an ArchitecturalFramework to
Stratifying Warehouse Management Systems"). Radio frequency (RF)
systems, whenused in conjunction with bar codes and possibly RFID,
provide the foundation of a WMS, deliveringaccurate information in
real time. Gartner includes integrated functionality such as voice
picking,parcel manifesting, value-added services, light
manufacturing/kitting and third-party logistics (3PL)billing as
components of a WMS evaluation. This is because many buyers now
demand thatthese components be included in a large number of WMS
engagements.
The WMS market breaks down into four types of vendors, the first
three of which are covered in thisresearch:
Application megasuite vendors: These vendors offer broad
portfolios of applications acrossmost application categories (for
example, front office, back office, supply chain management[SCM],
logistics, CRM and product life cycle management). Infor, Oracle
and SAP areconsidered megasuite vendors.
SCM/logistics suite vendors: These vendors offer a portfolio of
applications focused primarilyon SCM or logistics, but not other
areas. While these vendors might offer a variety of SCM orlogistics
solutions, they do not necessarily offer an integrated platform
(although some do).Vendors in this category include JDA Software
and Manhattan Associates.
Specialist WMS: These vendors focus primarily on WMS, although
they might offer someadditional capabilities.
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WMS component vendors: Not covered in this research, these
vendors focus on best-of-breed components that can be used to
supplement a WMS for example, workforcemanagement, slotting
optimization, yard management or dock/appointment scheduling.
Magic QuadrantFigure 1. Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management
Systems
Source: Gartner (May 2013)
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
@logistics Reply
@logistics Reply is part of the Reply group, a Europe-based
company that provides a wide array ofIT services. Reply has revenue
of around 400 million, with a primary focus on consulting,
systemintegration, application management and business process
outsourcing services. Reply offers itsservices to multiple
industries, with more than half of its revenue in product-centric
industries suchas manufacturing, telecommunications and high
tech.
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@logistics Reply has been in business for 15 years, focusing on
services and software applicationsin the area of supply chain
execution (SCE) most notably, WMSs. It offers two WMS
solutions:Click Reply and SideUp Reply. Click Reply is a Web-based
solution that can be deployed on-premises or hosted, while SideUp
Reply is a multitenant software as a service (SaaS) WMS.@logistics
Reply claims to have 300 named WMS customers; a high percentage of
them are in Italy,and most are in Europe.
Strengths
@logistics Reply has a notable market presence in Europe, but
few customers in othergeographies.
The vendor has broad industry coverage in 3PL, automotive,
grocery and food,pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telcos, and fashion.
It is particularly strong in service partslogistics, with several
notable customers.
The vendor offers WMS on-premises or hosted with Click Reply,
and offers multitenant SaaSwith its SideUp Reply solution. While
several WMS vendors have taken their on-premisesapplications and
now host them as single instances in the cloud, @logistics Reply
offers thiswith Click Reply but its SideUp solution was
specifically engineered for multitenant SaaS.
Although @logistics Reply is a modest-size WMS provider, it is
part of a much largerorganization with strong consulting and system
integration capabilities so company viabilityand consulting
capacity are better when compared with similar-size, stand-alone
WMSproviders.
The company has notable customers with complex warehouse
environments.
It offers capable, but not differentiated, core WMS
capabilities.
Cautions
@logistics Reply is primarily focused in Europe, but has begun
expansion into othergeographies.
WMSs and packaged business applications are not the core
business of the parentorganization, Reply, which could result in
long-term focus and commitment struggles.
The vendor is not as broad or proven in extended WMS
capabilities as the Leaders are.
It is not pursuing a comprehensive SCE convergence strategy at
this time.
Accellos
Accellos is a small but growing vendor of SCE products covering
WMSs, transportation andelectronic data interchange (EDI). It
offers two WMS solutions: AccellosOne WMS is focused on, butnot
necessarily limited to, the small or midsize business (SMB) WMS
market, and AccellosOneEnterprise 3PL Warehouse Management is
focused on midsize to large logistics companies. Thevendor also
offers AccellosOne Collect, a bar code data collection solution for
Microsoft Dynamics.
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The company originally grew through acquisition, but since
stabilizing its product portfolio, growthhas largely been organic.
Accellos has added 750 new customers across its product lines
since2009, including 75 new WMS customers in 2012. The vendor has
approximately $35 million inannual revenue and 160 employees. It is
headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with officesin the
U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Gartner estimates that Accellos
has more than 3,000total customers, with more than 750 WMS
customers worldwide and integrations with several ERPapplications.
Unlike many vendors that have added some 3PL capabilities to their
base WMSs,AccellosOne Enterprise 3PL Warehouse Management was
designed from the beginning to addressthe multitenant (customer)
needs of 3PL, with specialized capabilities for things like
service-levelagreements, customer profitability and billing.
Accellos is one of the few vendors innovatingspecifically around
the needs of SMB warehouse operations, and it has been dedicated
toexploiting the current generation of Microsoft technologies to do
so.
Strengths
Accellos focuses on the needs of SMB WMS users, with an emphasis
on providing ease of use,minimized time to value and low total cost
of ownership (TCO).
AccellosOne WMS was designed specifically with SMBs in mind it's
not a solution designedfor the high end of the market, with just
some functionality disabled.
AccellosOne Enterprise 3PL Warehouse Management offers a product
designed specifically forthe needs of midsize to large 3PL
providers, with significant concentrations in cold-storage
andretail fulfillment.
Accellos has partnerships and integrations with popular SMB ERP
solutions with prepackagedconnectors for Acumatica (new cloud ERP),
Microsoft, NetSuite (cloud ERP/CRM), Sage andSAP Business One.
The vendor has one of the lowest TCOs, with price points for
software and services starting wellbelow similar systems.
Accellos has an SCE convergence strategy, providing WMSs and
other application areas, suchas transportation management and EDI,
on a common technical platform called AccellosOnePlatform.
Accellos is very Microsoft-centric and takes advantage of
contemporary Microsoft technologies.It is innovating in several
areas, such as releasing two Windows 8 tablet solutions.
The vendor has an intriguing cloud strategy wherein the same
product can be delivered on-premises, as private cloud and as
multitenant SaaS, which provides customers withdeployment
flexibility.
Cautions
Accellos is small and could be an acquisition target; however,
it was purchased by Accel-KKRin 2012, and it is uncommon for
vendors to be sold soon after an ownership change occurs.
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Although it sells globally, the majority (90%) of its customers
and resources are in NorthAmerica.
The vendor has limited sales capacity, but it continues to grow
rapidly.
While it is growing its new customers rapidly, this could stress
service capacity, which typicallyscales slower than sales.
Companies outside North America that are considering Accellos
should evaluate resourceavailability as much as functionality.
However, the company has more than 100 internationalcustomers and
strategic partners in the U.K., South Africa, Latin America and
Australia that arecapable of selling, implementing and supporting
customers in those regions.
AccellosOne WMS is aimed at what Gartner refers to as Level 2 or
lower warehouses, but it cansupport up to Level 3. Users with more
sophisticated needs should rigorously test the vendor'sability to
scale up.
AccellosOne WMS focuses principally on core WMS capabilities,
with some extended WMScapabilities like dock scheduling, automation
integration, event management and analytics.AccellosOne Enterprise
3PL Warehouse Management is only sold to 3PL providers, and
isdesigned with specific capabilities for the 3PL marketplace.
Consafe Logistics
Consafe Logistics is a supply chain IT provider headquartered in
Lund, Sweden. It is part of the JCEGroup, a privately owned
international and diversified investment company headquartered
inGothenburg, Sweden. The JCE Group's investment portfolio is
divided into strategic and financialinvestments. All its long-term
core holdings are classified as strategic investments and can
bedivided into the following main business areas: industrial,
logistics, offshore, renewables andtechnology. Consafe is the core
logistics holding. The JCE Group employs more than 10,000
peopleacross 30 countries, with operations in Brazil, Chile, China,
Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Mexico,the Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. Consafe Logistics has about
400employees, and its WMS offering, Astro WMS, represents about 50%
of its business. Although ithas implementations in 30 countries,
the vendor focuses primarily on Northern Europe (Benelux,Denmark,
Norway, Poland and Sweden), with growing potential in Eastern
Europe. The vendor hasbroad industry coverage in retail/consumer
goods, industrial, wholesale, food and beverage, and3PL.
Strengths
Consafe Logistics has a local market presence in Northern
European markets, withimplementation offices in Denmark, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the U.K. Thevendor is
expanding through acquisitions of distributors and service
providers in EasternEurope.
Consafe Logistics has shown its dedication to thought leadership
with the formation of itsLogistics Innovation Center. This is a
structured and collaborative endeavor that involvesConsafe
employees, customers, partners and academic institutions in the
cycle of innovation.
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The vendor offers its own warehouse control software for
integrations with material handlingautomation.
The vendor's architecture is designed to provide a customization
layer to reside outside thecore WMS application layer, which
protects upgrades.
The vendor offers a unique adaptive task interleaving capability
that self-adjusts work plansbased on changing conditions in the
warehouse.
For its size, Consafe Logistics has some impressive customers in
terms of company namerecognition, complexity and sophistication of
warehouse operations.
The company offers an attractive and intuitive logistics
dashboard for managing exceptions andmetrics/key performance
indicators.
Consafe has commercialized emerging capabilities for mobility
within and outside theenterprise.
Cautions
Consafe Logistics has limited implementation capabilities
outside Northern and Eastern Europe.
This is a regionally focused vendor. Although its parent is
large and global, there is minimalsynergy between the two.
The vendor has yet to establish a market presence outside of a
few select geographies, and isnot well-known in the
marketplace.
The vendor trails in delivering a cloud offering.
eBizNET Solutions
eBizNET Solutions, headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, is a
provider of a portfolio of supply chainsolutions, including WMSs;
transportation management; port and cargo management; and
reverselogistics, warranty and aftermarket solutions. Although the
vendor sells direct, it is also the mostaggressive in pursuing a
partnership model. It is developing an ecosystem of partners, such
as withNetSuite, in which eBizNET is one of the integrated partner
solutions available on the NetSuiteplatform, catering exclusively
to NetSuite's customers. Although paper partnerships are not new
inSCM, eBizNET has a well-formed Partner Enablement Program, in
which it shares with partnersthings such as a common vision,
resources, knowledge on the products through various
trainingprograms, discussion forums and joint ventures. The vendor
offers two levels of implementationservices, due to the price
sensitivity of SMB customers: It can do implementations remotely,
whichis less costly for customers, or on-site. The latter is a
higher-price implementation that uses thevendor's U.S.-based team
and partner ecosystem. Customers can choose the delivery
optionbased on their budgets. The vendor has about 55 WMS customers
split about 70% in NorthAmerica and 30% internationally.
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Strengths
For its size, eBizNET is innovative in its products and
go-to-market strategies.
Of the WMS specialists, it has the most robust strategy and
track record in establishing andsupporting an ecosystem of
partners, such as NetSuite, SPS Commerce and others.
Given its size, it has noteworthy global coverage, with close to
one-third of its customersoutside North America and nearly 25% of
its customers in Asia.
The vendor offers multiple pricing options, depending on the
needs of the customer, or what itcalls "Pay as You Grow." There is
a low starting price and very good TCO.
The company is capable at the low end of the market, with
solutions such as NetSuite WMS,and scalable to Level 3 warehouse
environments with its principal offering.
eBizNET primarily offers core WMS capabilities with some
extended WMS capabilities, such asyard and order management.
Although it primarily provides SaaS solutions today, the vendor
can offer the same solution on-premises.
It is particularly strong in aftermarket service logistics and
has strong WMS capabilities,combined with its other offerings, such
as reverse logistics.
Cautions
The vendor is small, with fewer than 100 people on staff and
roughly 60 current customers.
Due, in part, to its ecosystem strategies, eBizNET is growing
rapidly, which could stress itslimited resources. However, the
vendor is expanding its partner ecosystem to deliverimplementation
services.
Although eBizNET has an intriguing implementation model, where
upward of 70% of theimplementation can be done remotely, this was
identified as somewhat problematic for somereference customers,
with timing and language barriers becoming issues.
Support and consulting trail the software applications in
process maturity and customersatisfaction, although no customers
said that this jeopardized their projects.
Although primarily a strength, the vendor's aggressive pricing
model could be a financial strainif it is not managed properly.
HighJump Software
HighJump Software, headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, is a
midsize vendor employingmore than 300 staff members and servicing
more than 4,500 claimed customers worldwide, most ofwhich are
direct store delivery and EDI users. The vendor's other solutions
focus on warehousingand include WMSs (415 customers), data
collection and lightweight manufacturing execution. Thevendor is
owned by Battery Ventures, a private equity firm. The vendor has a
history in SCE, starting
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many years ago with automated data collection solutions, and
later building a fully functional WMSin the early 1990s. However,
the vendor generates more than 50% of its revenue from its
WMScustomer base. Close to 80% of the vendor's business is in North
America, with the remaindernearly equally divided among Europe,
Latin America and Asia. HighJump primarily uses third-partypartners
for sales and support outside North America. In 2012, the vendor
signed a strategicpartnership agreement with BT Global, which was
aimed at extending its global reach and scale inseveral
international markets via BT's supply-chain-focused business unit,
BT Global Trace. In2013, HighJump moves to the Challengers quadrant
from the Visionaries quadrant. This was largelybecause it offers a
solid and proven WMS; however, it trails vendors in the Leaders
quadrant inseveral areas: It is not a thought leader or innovator,
and it does not yet have a compelling strategyfor SCE
convergence.
Strengths
HighJump continues to be recognized by customers and Gartner as
the most intrinsicallycustomizable WMS product evaluated in this
Magic Quadrant, and customers continue to citethis as the primary
reason why they select the vendor.
While highly customizable, HighJump's architecture allows these
changes to be held outsidethe base application in what it calls a
separate "server," which protects the customer's upgradepath. So
far, we have never spoken to customers that have said they were
unable to upgradedue to their customizations.
There is a strong Microsoft orientation to the product from a
technology and a business processplatform (BPP) perspective.
The vendor is pioneering a unique approach to packaging
customer- and vendor-developedinnovation that it calls App Station.
It is analogous to the Apple App Store. Customers onlyneed to take
the features they want or need, and they are not burdened with the
traditionalbloated applications of large suites.
HighJump was one of the first mainstream WMS vendors to offer
its WMS as a private cloudservice.
Cautions
HighJump has not yet systematically integrated a
process/workflow modeling tool with itsbusiness process composition
tools, although it does offer disconnected process models inVisio
as documentation. However, adding workflow modeling is on its
future product road map.
The vendor's WMS offering is limited to the Microsoft operating
system and tool deployments,but it can use the Oracle Database
running Unix or Linux architecture.
The vendor's core WMS is competitive, but it lacks the depth and
breadth of extended WMScapabilities compared with WMS Leaders.
Although Battery Ventures provides HighJump with access to
capital to make additionalacquisitions, this also means that a
change in ownership is likely in the next few years, eitherthrough
an initial public offering or the company being acquired.
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The vendor has and plans to continue growing through
acquisition, which can divert attentionfrom core WMS
capabilities.
The vendor does not have a compelling SCE convergence vision or
strategy.
The vendor's WMS is primarily a North American solution,
although it does have somecustomers in other geographies.
HighJump uses an indirect sales model for international sales
and support.
Infor
Infor has a wide product portfolio composed of multiple ERP
products, some stand-alone productsand some domain-focused suite
products largely amassed through numerous acquisitions over thepast
several years. Infor has a very large customer base across all its
products, and it can become aforce in WMS just by selling to its
existing customers; however, it is now gaining traction,
especiallyin emerging markets, by selling WMSs to net new
customers. The vendor had made severalacquisitions that included
WMS solutions, either directly or as part of broader product
offerings. Asa result, it has multiple WMS offerings one that it
actively sells, and others that it sellsopportunistically or no
longer sells. In this year's Magic Quadrant, we only look at the
primary WMSthat Infor actively markets today: Infor Supply Chain
Execution (Infor SCE formerly Infor WM 9).Infor SCE is the
next-generation WMS product, built on a contemporary
service-orientedarchitecture (SOA), that leverages Infor's
cross-product technology platform for Web user interface(UI),
business intelligence (BI), mobility, middleware and event
management. Infor SCE includesmore than just a WMS for example,
transportation, workforce management, mobility, eventmanagement and
other SCE components. Infor has been strong selling WMSs within and
outsideNorth America, with 59% of its total WMS deals international
35% in Asia/Pacific and 24% inEMEA.
Strengths
Infor has a very large customer base across all its product
lines, and Infor SCE is a viablealternative to specialist WMS
offerings for many of these users. Infor SCE is an option for
mostof the company's ERP customers that are looking for a
reasonable WMS provided by a singlevendor with global support
capabilities. However, Infor is not limited to its ERP customers
around half of its new customers are stand-alone WMS buyers.
Compared with WMS specialists, Infor has a higher percentage of
new deals outside NorthAmerica, with a strong global presence of
direct and indirect sales and support. It has an edgein many
emerging-market deals, which can be helpful in global rollouts.
The vendor has delivered on a platform strategy for Infor SCE,
and is pursuing an SCEconvergence strategy by moving capabilities
(such as transportation, management, mobility andevent management)
onto a common technical platform.
Infor SCE exploits Infor's significant investment in its
technology platform, which includesmobile applications, in-context
BI and out-of-the-box integrations with Infor ERP systems usingits
purpose-built middleware called Infor Intelligent Open Network
(ION). While not limited to its
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installed ERP users, this investment will benefit Infor's ERP
users who are looking for a newWMS.
Infor is well-positioned to exploit growth in emerging markets,
and it is taking advantage of thistrend through its own resources
as well as partner resources.
Customers report that they are happy with the support and
maintenance they receive.
Cautions
Infor primarily sells Infor SCE to its ERP installed base in
mature markets, although it is gainingsome traction selling the WMS
as a stand-alone offering to non-Infor customers in thesemarkets.
However, Infor is quite successfully selling Infor SCE as a
stand-alone offering inemerging markets, as well as serving its
customer base.
Many of the vendor's legacy WMS users, primarily in grocery, are
quite complex andsophisticated and have heavily customized these
products. While some Infor legacy WMScustomers have successfully
migrated to Infor SCE, these complex customers should considera
change to Infor SCE to be a new implementation, not a migration.
These customers shouldscrutinize the basic functionality while
developing strategies for how best to address any of thecompany's
previous customizations that might remain important.
Infor SCE lacks the overall breadth and depth of WMS market
Leaders. It is a nondifferentiatedproduct in complex Level 4
warehouse environments.
While Infor's WMS capabilities have a pedigree in best-of-breed
WMSs, Infor's marketing hasyet to establish visibility and a
reputation in the WMS market.
Infor has yet to establish a strong global partner ecosystem
that is similar in scope andcapability to the other megasuite
vendors. However, the vendor does have a large and growingecosystem
of regional partners that can sell and service Infor SCE customers.
For globaldeployments, users should thoroughly scrutinize Infor's
global deployment capabilities andmethodologies.
The vendor has indicated that it has enabled alternative
deployment models, such as privatecloud or managed services, but no
customers have yet adopted this approach.
The vendor has yet to deliver consistent and demonstrable
strategies for exploiting its globalreach to become a force within
the global WMS marketplace, although it is making progress indoing
so.
JDA Software (Dispatcher WMS)
JDA Dispatcher WMS, formerly RedPrairie Warehouse Management
Dispatcher, is not the vendor'sstrategic go-forward WMS. Future
go-to-market strategies for this solution are restricted,
comparedwith the main WMS offering. Because this solution will be
sold to a select few vertical industries andgeographies, it fits
the definition of a niche solution, which is largely why its
position moved fromthe Challengers quadrant to the Niche Players
quadrant. As JDA looks to rationalize products, as ithas done in
previous acquisitions, this product is also most likely to be moved
into legacy status.
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However, the vendor has a strong track record of continuing to
support products for the long term,while also allowing customers
migration paths to newer offerings.
Strengths
JDA Dispatcher WMS is a functionally solid and stable product
for moderately complexwarehouses.
Prior to the merger, the vendor continued to moderately enhance
its functional footprint to meetsome of the vertical needs of 3PL
providers and the geographic needs of European companies,most
notably U.K. domiciled companies.
JDA Dispatcher WMS has a stable European presence, in addition
to sales, implementation andsupport, with local product development
for Europe.
JDA Dispatcher WMS has a reasonable presence among 3PL providers
and logistics serviceproviders (LSPs) in Europe.
Cautions
JDA Dispatcher WMS is redundant to the vendor's flagship JDA
Warehouse Managementproduct. It's not likely to represent the
strategic WMS future for the company.
JDA Dispatcher WMS is primarily sold in Europe notably in the
U.K. while JDA WarehouseManagement is more pervasive in other
geographies.
Although JDA continues to invest in this product, it will not be
positioned as the strategicfoundation for JDA's future. The merger
will result in future solution rationalization challenges.
JDA Software (Warehouse Management)
On 1 November 2012, supply chain software and service providers
RedPrairie and JDA Softwareannounced that New Mountain Capital
(owner of RedPrairie) had offered to acquire all outstandingshares
of JDA. The merger compiles an expanded product portfolio and
increased global scale.However, the business value that the new
entity can deliver to its customers will increasingly comefrom how
well it can integrate and rationalize the discrete parts of its
expansive product portfolioand multiple architectures, which will
affect its strategies. Acquiring numerous companies over theyears
has resulted in both companies having broad, minimally integrated
portfolios of products thatcurrently do not fully share a common
technology platform within their respective domains. The newentity
will argue that enterprises want application suites (not
necessarily a single one, but a few).However, the time, effort and
cost to move toward a common platform across execution andplanning
will be sizable, and will take several years. However, some
RedPrairie solutions will benefitfrom the cloud hosting strategy
that JDA has launched.
The combined entity has synergy in its customer base and main
target markets, retail and consumergoods. Significant retail
footprints will provide the new entity with an opportunity to
eventuallycreate an integrated planning and execution suite for
large retailers and manufacturers.
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Multichannel retailing could be a significant opportunity for
the new company, assuming anappropriate platform and supporting
strategy is executed.
Prior to the merger, RedPrairie was a long-tenured provider of
WMSs and related supply chain andretail solutions. The company's
roots in warehouse management go back more than three
decades.RedPrairie had multiple WMS offerings, several of which are
now legacy products. There are twoWMSs actively marketed today, but
they overlap somewhat: JDA Dispatcher WMS (formerlyRedPrairie
Warehouse Management Dispatcher) and JDA Warehouse Management
(formerlyRedPrairie Warehouse Management, which also itself was
formerly named WM/D, or DiscreteWMS). Prior to the merger,
RedPrairie, in its own right, offered a broad collection of
disparateapplications, including WMSs as well as transportation
management, workforce management andretail management. Over the
past several years, RedPrairie and JDA have primarily
boughtinnovation through numerous acquisitions, enhancing their
positions in areas such astransportation, retail workforce
management, store operations, multichannel commerce and supplychain
planning (SCP). RedPrairie had previously acquired an early pioneer
in cloud-based WMSs,SmartTurn, but this offering has not been
included or considered in this research.
Strengths
JDA Warehouse Management is in the Leaders quadrant because it
offers industry-leadingdepth and breadth of core WMS and extended
WMS capabilities.
RedPrairie had a long track record of delivering WMS solutions
for some of the most complexwarehouse operations, combining strong
WMS products and services to support the needs ofdemanding clients
especially in the consumer goods and food manufacturing
anddistribution vertical industries.
The vendor offers strong delivery of related products, such as
workforce management,traceability and performance management.
This solution provides some support for lightweight
manufacturing execution activities, withcapabilities such as
performing complex multiline production scheduling, tracking
component-level inventory attributes in a multilevel bill of
materials, streamlining line setup and execution,and managing raw
materials, including backflush and scrap.
The merger potentially expands the vendor's global sales
infrastructure.
Cautions
Customer references continue to say that the vendor has some
service and support challenges,and consulting capacity
constraints.
This WMS is not a model-driven application that supports user
customization. Although the JDAWarehouse Management technical
architecture is acceptable and mature today, given JDA'snumber of
acquisitions and the breadth of its product portfolio, users must
monitor the vendor'sability to modernize its applications.
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JDA's evolving platform vision and strategy are unproven and
will take several years tocomplete. Prior to the merger, RedPrairie
had planned to take as much as five years to matureits platform
strategy, and now the merger will impact the strategy, which will
likely change.
Although the vendor sells WMSs into multiple industries, its
primary overall business focus andextended solution strategies are
principally targeted at consumer goods and retail. This willlikely
be further solidified with the merger, which could impact prospects
and customers innonstrategic vertical industries.
The vendor's approach to vertical industries has now changed,
and users in noncore industriesshould monitor JDA's strategies,
processes and commitments to serve those industries.
While Gartner recommends that users set a goal for a
zero-modification implementation, thereare valid instances in which
customization is necessary. RedPrairie had long provided
theseservices, but under the combined organization, strategies for
addressing customization havechanged, so customers and prospects
need to monitor them.
The vendor has a very large, although not fully integrated,
portfolio of products, and it canbundle multiple components to
sweeten a deal. If users will utilize these components in
areasonable time frame, then this is acceptable; however, users
must be cautious not tooverbuy, thereby making what appears to be a
good deal not as favorable because of excessiveshelfware.
LogFire
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, and with staffed operations in Latin
America and Asia/Pacific, LogFire isa vendor of multitenant,
cloud-based SaaS WMSs. The founders and team have deep roots
inWMSs, having come from long stints with perennial WMS Leaders.
Because of the managementteam's past experience, LogFire is
strongest in multichannel consumer goods, retail, apparel and3PL
warehouse environments, although it is not limited to these
markets. The vendor was initiallyfounded to offer warehouse and SCM
consulting, and this expertise continues to benefit clientsafter
LogFire brought to market a packaged SaaS WMS. However, the
vendor's growth now comesfrom its SaaS offerings. The vendor has
about 50 customers slightly more than 60% are in NorthAmerica, and
the rest are international (most being in Latin America).
Strengths
Customer references called out strong customer intimacy, due to
the vendor's WMS expertiseand services.
LogFire's experienced leadership has long tenure in the WMS
marketplace.
LogFire is one of the few vendors that is strongly committed to
Latin America with a direct localpresence in multiple countries,
where it has numerous live implementations. It also
hasimplementations in North America.
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The vendor provides a strong offering for multichannel retail,
apparel and consumer goods,which require strong, value-added
service capabilities. However, the solution is not limited tothese
markets.
The vendor provides a robust, scalable, and adaptable technical
architecture and cloudinfrastructure used by companies globally,
and in automated facilities.
For its size, LogFire offers its clients a well-defined and
comprehensive portfolio of solutionsand professional services.
The vendor is pursuing an SCE convergence strategy, partially
through organic development ofits own solutions as well as by
partnering with other providers of SaaS solutions (such asdemand
planning).
Cautions
LogFire remains one of the smallest WMS vendors included in this
year's Magic Quadrant, interms of its number of customers and gross
annual revenue.
Sales and implementations are predominantly in Latin America and
North America, while Asia/Pacific and Europe are being pursued
opportunistically.
Although the vendor's SaaS pricing model offers an advantageous
cost of ownership, theinherently gradual ramp-up of recurring
subscription revenue could impact LogFire's valuation,unless it
rapidly grows new customers and top-line revenue.
As LogFire continues to grow, resources could become
constrained.
The vendor only offers a cloud WMS, principally multitenant
SaaS, and is not viable on-premises.
Manhattan Associates (SCALE)
Supply Chain Architected for Logistics Execution (SCALE) is a
less expensive, as well as anintentionally less functionally broad
and deep, offering compared with Warehouse Managementfor Open
Systems (WMOS). SCALE focuses on simple to moderately complex
facilities and LSPenvironments. It is a mature, stable and proven
solution the hallmarks of an offering in theChallengers quadrant,
where Ability to Execute is paramount that benefits from the
vendor'sbroader SCE visions and strategies. Manhattan targets SCALE
for independent Level 1 throughLevel 3 warehouse environments,
where usability, ease of use, implementation and support combined
with lower cost of ownership are critical criteria (see "Apply an
ArchitecturalFramework to Stratifying Warehouse Management
Systems").
Strengths
SCALE is focused on the needs of SMBs and emerging geographies,
although it is not limitedto either one.
Sales volume for this solution continued to grow in 2012.
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The vendor has a robust implementation methodology and
consistent implementation support.
This WMS offering leverages Microsoft's technology stack for
ease of deployment and ease ofuse.
This product offers certified integration with Microsoft
Dynamics AX.
SCALE is more broadly sold and implemented across vertical
markets.
Cautions
The vendor uses direct and indirect sales channels, and uses
partners for sales andimplementations in smaller geographies.
Prospective users in these markets must validatepartner
capabilities and product considerations during evaluation.
This solution is purpose-built for midsize or smaller warehouse
operations. Although thefunctionality is solid and can handle
moderately complex warehouse operations, the product isnot designed
or intended for highly complex facilities.
SCALE is built on the Microsoft .NET platform and focused on
logistics execution. Companiesinterested in broad SCE convergence
should look to the company's WMOS solution, which ispart of the
Manhattan SCOPE application portfolio.
This product is well-suited for SMB-type logistics operations,
while many of the vendor's otherofferings are targeted at
sophisticated and complex environments.
Manhattan Associates (Warehouse Management for IBM i)
Strengths
Manhattan Associates' Warehouse Management for IBM i is a very
mature, stable and provenproduct, with more than 20 years on the
market.
Warehouse Management for IBM i is a functionally robust and
proven WMS application, with anotable group of long-tenured and
quite complex WMS customers.
Although the product is mature, the vendor continues to invest
dedicated R&D in this version.Manhattan has built integrations
to its other SCE offerings, such as labor management,
slotting,transportation management and SCP.
Customer references note the stability and scalability of the
solution.
It's the most robust and well-supported RPG/IBM i WMS available.
It's primarily sold to retail,with a particular strength in
apparel.
There is a very loyal IBM i community, and Manhattan is one of
the few vendors still committedto supporting robust offerings in
the space, which helps these users extend their IBM
iinvestments.
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Cautions
Manhattan Associates' Warehouse Management for IBM i offering is
developed in RPG/IBM i,and RPG expertise is becoming increasingly
difficult to secure.
For intraproduct integration (for example, WMS to transportation
management system [TMS]),the vendor leverages a variety of data
communication methods that are chosen based on aspecific client's
needs for a given size of data payload or functionality, which is
then enabled byManhattan's integration layer.
Warehouse Management for IBM i lacks the strategic emphasis of
Manhattan's WMOS.
The traditional green-screen UI is becoming less acceptable to
users who are used to Windowsand Web-based UIs.
This is not the strategic direction for the vendor.
Manhattan Associates (WMOS)
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Manhattan Associates offers a
broad suite of SCM solutions thatincludes WMSs, transportation,
distributed order management, SCP, supplier enablement andothers.
The vendor has very deep roots in WMS that go back almost 25 years.
It offers three distinctWMS offerings, each targeted at different
markets: Warehouse Management for IBM i, which catersto customers
that prefer the reliability and ease of operation of the IBM i
platform; SCALE(previously Manhattan's WM for Windows), which is
based on a Microsoft technical platform, andcaters to the SMB and
LSP WMS markets in emerging geographies; and WMOS, which caters
tosophisticated warehouse environments. WMOS is the vendor's
flagship WMS offering and is builton the SCOPE technical platform,
which includes Manhattan's other supply chain solutions, such
astransportation, distributed order management, replenishment and
planning. Although the companyhas global operations, the majority
of its business continues to come from North America andWestern
Europe. SCALE, however, continues to gain traction in emerging
markets.
Manhattan is inclined to drive innovation in-house, unlike many
other WMS vendors that innovateand grow through acquisition.
Manhattan is not an acquisitive company that tends to focus
onorganic innovation. It has made few acquisitions the most recent
being more than seven yearsago but they tend to be early-stage
offerings that are more easily redeveloped and integratedwithin
Manhattan's solution portfolio.
So far, the company is the only one that has staked its future
on providing a single, commontechnical platform SCOPE which
seamlessly integrates multiple SCM components, such asWMS, TMS,
SCP, supplier enablement and distributed order management. In the
Magic Quadrantevaluation model, weightings for certain
characteristics, such as innovation, market understandingand
vision, relate primarily to a vendor, not just a product. For
vendors with multiple WMS offerings,like Manhattan, we weight some
Completeness of Vision characteristics heaviest for the
vendor'sstrategic WMS. However, this does not mean that these
characteristics are any less meaningful forthe vendor's other
products.
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Strengths
The SCOPE technical platform seamlessly integrates WMOS with all
the other newer SCMsolutions that the vendor offers, such as
transportation, SCP, returns management, flow anddistributed order
management. Going forward, this provides the vendor with the best
platformin the market to address SCE convergence.
WMOS offers industry-leading depth and breadth of core WMS and
extended WMScapabilities.
Manhattan has demonstrated a continued ability to bring
innovation to its core WMS solutions.This augments the WMSs and
extends SCE processes, such as adding returns
management,distributed order management, mobile warehouse
management and landed cost management.
Manhattan's WMOS is broadly used in WMS environments, from
moderately complex toextremely complex, sophisticated and
high-volume warehouse operations.
The vendor is stable, and has conservative financial operations
with reasonable earnings andcash reserves.
It has a distinctively high win ratio in complex WMS deals in
which it competes.
Manhattan is focused on organic, self-directed innovation. It
continues to bring to market self-developed and complementary
components, such as returns, flow, cost to serve, distributedorder
management and Store Commerce Activation.
The company has a compelling vision for a next-generation SCE
platform. Furthermore, thevendor has a team of math and science
experts that is investigating innovative ways to exploitemerging
technologies and decision-making enhancements through the use of
embeddedanalytics across the SCE platform.
Manhattan has established strategic relationships with select
customers that have committed toits SCOPE platform. This is
atypical of best-of-breed software vendors that lack the
C-level-executive clout of large-scale suite vendors.
The vendor is gaining customer traction with its platform
strategy, with more than 50 customersnow committing to the
platform.
Manhattan is one of the few vendors that can address
multichannel commerce on a singleplatform, with competitive
offerings in logistics and distributed order management, where
manyother vendors are strong in one area or weak in others or have
solutions on different platforms.
Cautions
Few existing WMOS customers that were live prior to the release
of the 2010 version havemigrated to this version, so most
references are new customers with less long-term experiencewith the
solution. Prospective customers should talk to older and newer
customers.
The vendor continues to be heavily dependent on service revenue,
and the amount and cost ofcustomization continue to be
disproportionately high.
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Manhattan originally developed SCOPE tools for customers to use
to make changes, but thevendor now advises customers to work with
it to ensure that changes are done safely andresponsibly.
Manhattan lacks a broad or compelling vertical industry strategy
beyond its historical strengthsin retail, apparel, consumer goods,
wholesale distribution and 3PL.
The majority of its revenue (currently more than 75%) comes from
North America.
So far, the vendor has not strategically committed to offering
alternative deployment models,such as cloud or SaaS.
The vendor lacks an established ecosystem of implementation,
system integration and servicepartners. Warehouse management
remains Manhattan's predominant business. Compared withthe number
of WMS users, the adoption of other SCOPE-based applications
remains low,although user demand and implementation are growing.
Furthermore, outside North America,there is inconsistent support
for non-WMS, SCOPE-based applications, such as SCP
ortransportation.
Oracle
Oracle provides an expansive portfolio of business applications
in addition to its deep roots inoperating technologies, such as
database management systems. The company offers WMScapabilities in
several of its solutions, such as Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
and Oracle Retail(formerly Retek). Oracle also offers a fully
functional WMS as part of the Oracle E-Business Suite(EBS). Oracle
EBS WMS is the solution evaluated herein. Oracle Warehouse
Management is amature yet continually evolving offering with well
over 1,000 WMS customers worldwide, Gartnerestimates. Oracle EBS
WMS is deployed across multiple vertical industries, and is also
extensivelysold and deployed globally (Gartner estimates that more
than one-third of its customers areinternational). The solution now
offers a choice in deployment approach. It can be provided as
aseamlessly integrated extension to Oracle's EBS for customers
seeking an integrated ERP andWMS, or it can be deployed stand-alone
in a distributed WMS environment. Although not part ofthis
research, Oracle's other WMS offerings might be viable alternatives
for customers seekingreasonable WMS capabilities integrated with a
strong midmarket ERP system or a suite of retailapplications.
Strengths
The company's WMS offering can be deployed and seamlessly
integrated with EBS, or it can bedeployed as a stand-alone WMS.
This tight integration provides notable examples of SCEconvergence,
in which processes can span from one area of EBS into warehouse
managementprocesses.
Oracle is one of the faster-growing WMS providers. Gartner
estimates that it has added severalhundred new WMS customers in the
past 12 months.
The vendor's WMS is installed in a wide variety of industries.
It is particularly well-representedin sectors not targeted
aggressively by WMS leaders, such as aerospace and defense,
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industrial manufacturing, high tech, communications, and life
sciences, which, Gartnerestimates, compose more than 50% of
Oracle's customer base.
Oracle continues to increase the breadth and depth of WMS
functionality. There wereconsistent references from moderately
complex warehouse environments, with the vendor nowservicing an
increasing number of Level-4-complexity warehouses.
Oracle also offers a mobility solution it calls Oracle Mobile
Supply Chain Applications (MSCA),which provides simplified
RF/mobile-device-based transaction capabilities, such as receiving
orpicking. MSCA is not a full-blown WMS, but it can automate key
functions in areas where aholistic WMS is not needed (for example,
Level 1 warehouse environments).
There is a strong use of current-generation Oracle technology,
such as rule engines andflexfields, to simplify use. The
combination of the Oracle Warehouse Management workflow andits rule
engine makes the solution user-customizable and tailorable, thus
approaching Gartner'sdefinition of a model-driven and
zero-customization WMS.
Oracle has a global reach, and its WMS is more deployable around
the world than comparablespecialist WMSs.
The vendor has compelling visions for SCE convergence with
process integration, and fororchestration with transportation,
manufacturing and product aftermarket service, such asdepot
repair.
Oracle has a growing ecosystem of implementation partners.
Oracle Business Accelerators are available; they guide Q&A
and expedite implementations.
Cautions
Oracle is developing a next-generation product line, Oracle
Fusion Applications, but it is unclearhow this will impact the
future direction of Oracle EBS, including Oracle
WarehouseManagement. However, any impact on the WMS from Oracle
Fusion Applications' evolution willhappen several years in the
future.
The vendor is not yet a market Leader in WMS functional depth or
breadth, but it continues toadd functionality to its WMS.
Although Oracle's core WMS capabilities are nearing those of WMS
market Leaders, thevendor's value-added, extended WMS components
are not yet extensive or mature. Itcontinues to add and enhance
core functionality, as well as deliver some extended
WMScapabilities. This product was not a common alternative for
non-Oracle EBS users, since a keybenefit of Oracle Warehouse
Management was its seamless integration with ERP. However,
thevendor can now offer WMS stand-alone on a separate instance from
Oracle EBS.
SAP
SAP continues to offer two distinct WMS solutions, but its
principle focus going forward is on SCMExtended Warehouse
Management (EWM), its latest WMS offering and the solution
evaluated here.
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SAP ERP Warehouse Management (ERP WM) is a very mature and
extensively implemented WMS Gartner estimates it has more than
5,000 customers but it is not the vendor's strategic WMSplatform.
ERP WM was covered in previous Magic Quadrants, but because SAP now
focuses newcustomer engagements primarily on SCM EWM, it is no
longer covered.
From its inception on SAP NetWeaver, SCM EWM was built to take
advantage of SOA and a model-driven architecture common to many of
SAP's newest solutions. SCM EWM broadens and deepensthe vendor's
WMS functionality. Furthermore, SCM EWM is not a new application,
since it has beencommercially available for more than seven years
now. Initially, demand and live implementationswere limited, but
for the past four years, SAP has been more aggressive in selling
and implementingSCM EWM, as well as in growing its ecosystem of
partners. SAP has strong momentum in the WMSmarketplace, annually
adding more new and live customers than most other WMS
specialistvendors. It now has more than 600 total customers, 350
named live customers, 450 productivedeployments and more than 200
implementations in progress. We estimate that the vendorcurrently
has more than 60% of SCM EWM implementations in geographies other
than NorthAmerica, with just under 20% of its customers in Brazil,
Russia, India and China.
Strengths
SCM EWM represents the strategic direction of SAP's WMS vision
and functionality.
SAP has a compelling platform strategy for addressing SCE
convergence. This product offersstrong integration with SAP
Business Suite and other components, such as
transportationmanagement, trade compliance, and environmental,
health and safety.
SAP has noteworthy market momentum with growth in new sales and
implementations (morethan 600 total customers and 350 live
customers), and notable numbers of new customersadded year over
year. This momentum has largely come during the past four years as
it focusedmore attention on SCM EWM.
SAP has a substantial global presence, as well as go-to-market
and deployment capabilities.Currently, it has customers in 20
different countries, and 60% of its business is outside
NorthAmerica.
The vendor offers a native material handling control system
(MHCS) called Material FlowSystem (MFS) that allows SCM EWM to
directly connect to programmable logic controllers.
SAP has a large and growing ecosystem of implementation and
consulting partners across theglobe.
The offering was designed to provide functionality for complex
warehouses and increasinglybroad capabilities, such as yard
management, slotting and rearrangement, material flowsolutions, and
engineered labor standards.
SAP has been addressing implementation and TCO issues by
delivering three EWM RapidDeployment Solutions (RDSs) over the past
three years. It has one for installing and gettingEWM ready; one
for migrating from SAP ERP WM to EWM; and one specifically for
deployingEWM in retail industry warehouses.
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SAP has enhanced EWM customization by having several hundred
enhancement spots (that is,user exits) where users can create
modifications outside the base code to protect support
andupgrades.
Cautions
For complex deployments, the TCO is higher than equivalent
best-of-breed WMSs, largely dueto implementation costs. For less
complex deployments, the vendor addresses this throughRDSs, which
are fixed-price, fixed-scope and fixed-timeline service offerings.
However, theseare not typically appropriate for complex
implementations where TCO remains high.
Although the product's core WMS capabilities are nearing those
of the market Leaders, thevendor continues to trail in functional
depth, experience and implementation of extended
WMScapabilities.
SCM EWM was originally oriented toward finished goods
distribution, not manufacturingwarehouses; however, the company has
added capabilities to address this to bring SCM EWMin line with
what SAP ERP WM offered.
While SAP has a very large installed base for ERP WM, SCM EWM is
a completely differentproduct, and companies that are considering
moving to it should consider this to be a possiblereimplementation.
However, the vendor and several partners now offer RDSs for
migration fromERP WM to SCM EWM.
There have been many improvements in design over ERP WM, but SCM
EWM is still a complexproduct. Although customization is enhanced
by having several hundred enhancement spots(that is, user exits),
they need to be used judiciously.
Softeon
In business for just over 10 years, Softeon, which is
headquartered in Reston, Virginia, is a small,privately owned
vendor of SCE solutions. It has a compelling value proposition that
combinesleading-edge SOA technology with rich WMS functionality. It
also has a rapid developmentenvironment that allows the company to
add new capabilities at a faster pace than many of itslarger
competitors. While its roots are in WMSs, the vendor has a
compelling SCE convergencevision and portfolio today. Softeon is
one of the more innovative, partner-oriented vendors in thismarket,
as evidenced by the work it did to adapt warehouse management
concepts and its WMS tothe unique needs of digital media (for
example, music, video) distribution for one of its customers.The
vendor has around 40 customers, some of which have very large WMS
implementations.
Strengths
Softeon offers a broad and deep suite of SCE capabilities
centered on its strength in WMSs,including core WMS and extended
WMS capabilities, as well as functional areas like distributedorder
management, returns management, SCP and direct store delivery.
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The vendor's WMS is built on a strong and flexible SOA that has
allowed it to rapidly introducenew capabilities.
Although the product is not yet a truly zero-modification
environment, the company offers tools,such as a strong rule engine,
that allow for user tailoring without modification.
For its size, Softeon has some impressive customers in complex
warehouse environments.
The vendor has strong offshore development organizations with
more than 350 engineers.
It continues to exhibit agility as it pursues some unique
opportunities in digital SCM (that is, thedelivery of digital
products).
Softeon has taken a unique approach to cloud by having a unified
data model/foundation for itsWMS cloud offering for SMBs and its
Enterprise version. This unified data model/foundationeliminates
expensive data migration and facilitates the incorporation of
additional complexfunctionality as business growth demands.
Softeon is one of only a few vendors that offers an SCM platform
that spans planning andexecution on a common technology stack. It
is pursuing a somewhat unique SCE convergencestrategy, moving areas
such as vendor-managed inventory, distributed order management
andSCP onto the same platform as WMS.
Customers were complimentary of the vendor and its solutions and
services.
For its size, it has a strong and well-documented solution
delivery methodology, which it callsIterative Solution
Realization.
Cautions
Since the vendor is small, and considering the strength of its
product, it could be a takeovercandidate.
Softeon's strength is in engineering and product development,
and it has yet to establish itselfas a prominent contender in WMSs
and SCE, which constrain its growth.
Softeon is focused primarily on North America from a sales and
marketing perspective,although it is expanding into other
geographies. Its large clients, however, are taking itssolutions
international. As a result, it has several international
implementations live or inprogress.
The vendor has limited sales and marketing resources, which
could tax its growth.
Softeon's sales and marketing investment had been low, thereby
limiting its market presence.However, the company recognizes that
this will be an important area of investment over thenext several
years.
Synergy Logistics
Snapfulfil is a recent offering in the U.S. from established
U.K. WMS vendor Synergy Logistics.Formed in 1972, Synergy Logistics
is a software company with a North American office, Synergy
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North America, which is based in Charleston, South Carolina.
Synergy focuses on WMSs, withclients ranging from global
organizations to SMBs. Synergy took more than 30 years of
WMSexperience and, in 2006, rebuilt its WMS offering, Snapfulfil,
from the ground up, using the latest inWeb-native technologies and
deployment methodologies. Snapfulfil has been implemented by
morethan 30 customers in less than three years, and was launched in
North America in early 2010.
Synergy's Snapfulfil has the most unique business model of the
vendors in this year's MagicQuadrant. While it would be considered
an on-demand WMS, although not multitenant SaaS, thedelivery model
is more of a comprehensive managed service, and not simply a
softwaredeployment. Synergy's staff actually performs the complete
turnkey implementation for itscustomers, and includes the RF
hardware and implementation costs in the subscription fees.
Thecustomer doesn't pay anything until the software goes live
(today, the average time acrosscustomers is eight business weeks).
Synergy wants the customer to get the system to valuerealization as
quickly as possible, and is committed to a no-capital-expenditure
delivery. Synergystrives for satisfied customers that are eager to
renew, since the annual renewable contract value isat the core of
the vendor's business value proposition.
Strengths
Unlike other pure multitenant SaaS WMSs, Synergy is a mature WMS
provider that specificallyarchitected its newest offering,
Snapfulfil, to support the SaaS business model.
Snapfulfil offers an adaptable architecture with a robust rule
engine and high levels ofconfigurability to support customers'
specific requirements, and to enable the vendor's uniquerapid
implementation methodology. Currently, the vendor does all the rule
configuration for thecustomer as part of the subscription.
The managed service and turnkey delivery model reduces
implementation risk.
Synergy is a mature WMS provider in the U.K. and Europe with a
long tenure. It has a small butgrowing presence in North
America.
Hardware and implementation services are built into the
subscription price.
Synergy offers rapid implementation.
Cautions
Customers are dependent on the vendor for configuration and rule
changes. This places apremium on consulting and support resources,
which could be taxed if the vendor grows toorapidly. However, this
is not currently an issue expressed by customer references.
There are a small number of employees around 40.
The vendor is just now establishing a presence in North America,
and remains strongest in theU.K. and Europe. It currently has no
intention to expand into other geographies.
Resources are potentially scarcest in North America until this
business expands.
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Snapfulfil is not a true multitenant SaaS WMS. It offers an
on-demand, single-instance-per-tenant cloud delivery model.
Synergy is strongest for core WMS capabilities, with some
extended WMS capabilities.
The vendor has not articulated an SCE convergence vision or
strategy, or an inclination to movein this direction.
Tecsys
Headquartered in Montreal, Tecsys is a modest-size vendor of
WMSs and related SCE capabilities.It offers a broad portfolio of
SCE capabilities. It has been in business for 30 years and has a
largenumber of clients. For most of its history, it focused on
selling modest deals to Canadian SMBs.Over the past several years,
however, it adapted and formalized its strategy to pursue
morestrategic initiatives with larger and more complex customers.
The vendor has targeted several areasof extreme verticalization
(see "Consider 10 Criteria When Evaluating WMSs"). Tecsys now
offershighly differentiated solutions for healthcare and hospital
integrated delivery networks, as well asindustrial and equipment
dealers, and it is increasingly focused on government and
education. Thevendor is also growing its business more rapidly in
terms of the number of new deals and the sizesof the customers it
works with and their WMS deals. Although a Canada-based company,
Tecsys'revenue is split about 50% Canada and 50% U.S., with U.S.
revenue growth accelerating. Thevendor also has a mix of SMB
customers and large customers, with 49% categorized as midsize
tolarge organizations.
Strengths
Tecsys has a very broad suite of SCE capabilities, including
core WMS and extended WMScapabilities, as well as many
complementary capabilities.
The vendor offers very differentiated capabilities, domain
expertise and customer experience inhealthcare provider SCM.
It has differentiated capabilities for equipment dealers,
including capabilities beyond WMSs,such as support for
point-of-sale capabilities to handle customer walk-up orders.
The vendor is an innovator and does a commendable job of
commercializing its innovationsintrinsically across its products as
well as specifically to its target vertical industries.
Tecsys has a differentiated vision, architecture and solution;
these allow users to exploit visualinformation to improve process
execution. The vendor's Visual Logistics solution goes wellbeyond
just adding pictures to textual data it allows users to control,
through rules, wherevisual information will add value, what visual
information will improve the process, and forwhom and when visual
information is needed to make processes work more effectively.
The vendor has a unique and flexible approach to visibility,
iTopia, which allows users to pulldata from multiple sources within
Tecsys' applications as well as from outside data sources.Users can
then assemble this data to create real-time personalized views,
filtering andorganizing the data as needed.
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The company has a stable and mature consulting staff that offers
specialized domain expertisein the markets where Tecsys is
strongest. The vendor goes beyond standard WMSimplementation,
providing business consulting on how to exploit its offerings in
the emerginghealthcare supply chain.
For its size, Tecsys has developed a very well thought out and
documented implementationmethodology using its Supply Chain
Modeling and Reference Tools (SMART), which are notonly a
methodology, but also best-practice blueprints for its major
vertical industries, and also aknowledgebase for learning.
Cautions
Although Tecsys has a large number of clients, the bulk of them
are small Canadian distributors.However, during the past several
years, the vendor has begun to successfully pursue larger,more
strategic deals.
Tecsys is a small public company, which makes it a candidate for
change of ownership.However, with the Brereton family's ownership
of more than 48% of the outstanding commonshares, this makes a
hostile takeover unlikely.
The vendor historically sold exclusively in North America;
however, it is expandinginternationally mostly through
partnerships.
The vendor lacks international deployment resources, so users
considering large, complexglobal deployments should pay particular
attention to the implementation strategy.
The company is growing, and, given its size, it could have
resource constraints in consultingand R&D.
The vendor has not articulated a compelling cloud deployment
strategy.
Vendors Added or Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants
and MarketScopes as marketschange. As a result of these
adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant orMarketScope
may change over time. A vendor appearing in a Magic Quadrant or
MarketScope oneyear and not the next does not necessarily indicate
that we have changed our opinion of thatvendor. This may be a
reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed
evaluationcriteria, or a change of focus by a vendor.
Added
Notable Mentions
Several vendors with reasonably capable and, in some cases,
strong WMSs did not qualify for thisMagic Quadrant, but this does
not mean that these solutions might not be viable alternatives
forsome customers. To ensure that this research is consumable and
understandable by our clients, we
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limit participation in this Magic Quadrant to vendors that
demonstrate current strength in the marketin several dimensions,
including market momentum, geographical coverage, and product
breadthand depth. If Gartner were to include all vendors that
offered a reasonable WMS, but had limitationsin certain areas, then
the Niche Players quadrant would be overpopulated, which would make
itdifficult for our clients to exploit this research.
There are several reasons why a vendor might not have qualified.
As stated in the qualificationcriteria outlined below, a vendor
might not have the sales momentum, growth in revenue
orinternational coverage necessary to qualify for this research.
While this might affect viability, thisreason alone should not
prohibit users from considering these vendors if, for example, they
arestrong in principally one geography and if that criterion fits
the needs of a given user.Furthermore, one of these vendors may
have characteristics that makes it more appealing thanother vendors
in the Magic Quadrant because of its strengths regardless of the
characteristicsthat might have excluded it from this research. For
example, companies in Germany seeking a verystrong presence in
Germany, as well as company maturity, might favor Ehrhardt +
Partner, while aU.S.-based company seeking a strong SaaS WMS might
favor Deposco.
Apptricity: Based in Irving, Texas, Apptricity was founded in
1999, intending to exploitexpertise in SOA to build a suite of
solutions across procurement, financial management, assetmanagement
and SCM. A WMS is part of its suite of offerings, but it is
differentiated in that it iswell-positioned in asset management,
defense and related government logistics environments(although it
is not limited to these). Apptricity's WMS covers core WMS
capabilities with someextended WMS capabilities. The vendor has
notable customers in the military, government andlarge enterprise
markets. It has a rapid implementation approach, and can be
deployed on-premises or as a cloud offering. Apptricity is a suite
provider; the WMS is not its sole focus, butit sells primarily in
the U.S.
Apriso: This vendor is a manufacturing software provider that
offers a suite of capabilities calledFlexNet. Its primary focus is
on manufacturing execution systems, but it has added
warehousemanagement capabilities to address the unique challenges
of manufacturing warehouses. Whilemost WMSs focus primarily on
customer order fulfillment, and manufacturing is an
afterthought,Apriso focuses on synchronizing its WMS with the
inbound and outbound material flowsrequired in manufacturing.
Fulfillment-centric WMSs have often struggled with how to
bestmanage the flow of materials from the receiving dock to the
plant floor, with the back-and-forthmovements from storage and the
plant floor, and with the change in state as materials areconverted
from raw materials to intermediates to finished goods. While
Apriso's WMScapabilities are not as broad or deep as WMS Leaders,
its focus is on addressing the abovechallenges. Apriso serves
around 200 customers, not all of which use the WMS, in more than
45countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Deposco: Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Deposco is a provider of
cloud-based SaaS SCMsolutions, with WMSs as its flagship offering.
Deposco is a small, innovative vendor with amoderate, but growing,
number of North American WMS customers. It works with
retailers,distributors and 3PL providers, and has some intriguing
implementations in direct-to-consumerand omnichannel environments.
It offers low TCO due to its cloud deployment tools, which
aidimplementation, and its adaptable architecture. Deposco's core
WMS capabilities best suitminimally complex warehouse environments
(that is, Level 2). They're also well-suited for e-
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commerce and omnichannel fulfillment centers. Deposco did not
qualify for this year's MagicQuadrant because all its customers
today are in North America only.
Ehrhardt + Partner (E+P): Based in Germany, E+P is a
well-established WMS provider thatwas founded as a family company
in 1987. It has about 200 employees operating in sixlocations, with
most of its business historically in Europe (principally Germany),
but morerecently, it has expanded internationally into areas like
Dubai and Latin America. The vendor hasabout 400 customers, more
than 300 of which are in Europe (and most in Germany). E+P offersa
strong, deep and mature WMS, with most implementations to date on
the IBM i platform. Thevendor's WMS covers core and extended
capabilities, with some differentiated capabilities inresource
planning, and it has a native material handling control capability.
The vendor also hasthe intriguing Institute for Applied Warehouse
Logistics, which is a fully equipped mockupwarehouse where it
trains, demonstrates and tests all facets of a warehouse operation,
fromsoftware to hardware to business processes. E+P lacks the
visibility and momentum of leadingWMS solutions outside its core
market.
Generix Group: Headquartered in France, Generix provides a
portfolio of SCM solutions, suchas transportation management and
replenishment management, in addition to WMSs theonly offering
covered in this research. It has several hundred WMS customers, the
majority ofwhich are in Europe (and mostly in France). However,
despite its strong European presence,Generix is not well-positioned
internationally notably in North America, which remains amajor WMS
marketplace.
Dropped
Several vendors were not included in the main research this year
because they did not meet ourinclusion criteria notably, in sales
and new customer growth, or selling internationally. This doesnot
mean that there was a notable change in the vendors' offerings year
over year:
Deposco: We did not include Deposco because it did not meet our
criteria for internationalsales and deployments.
Generix: We did not include Generix because it did not meet our
criteria for international salesand deployments.
Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaTo be included in this Magic
Quadrant, an offering must have a credible WMS product
thatfundamentally supports core WMS capabilities, and also supports
some extended capabilities. Thevendor must also exhibit a WMS
vision in at least moderately complex warehouse
environments.Additionally, vendors must show strategies and
capabilities to sell and deploy their WMSsinternationally, as well
as have a strong focus specifically on WMSs. Solutions must meet at
leastone or more of the following criteria for inclusion:
Significant WMS market presence: The vendor must have WMS-only
license revenue of atleast $20 million, or at least $10 million per
year in SaaS WMS subscription revenue, with a
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combined WMS license and service revenue of greater than $30
million, or subscription andservice revenue of greater than $15
million for the previous fiscal year (only license/subscriptionand
services associated with packaged WMS implementations).
Current WMS market momentum: In the previous 12 months, the
vendor must have sold andimplemented at least 10 "new named"
customers on the WMS version evaluated in thisresearch.
Live customers: The vendor must have at least 10 live customer
references holistically usingthe version of the WMS solution that's
being evaluated.
Global presence: The vendor must have operations and WMS
customer references in at leasttwo of the following geographic
regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe,Eastern
Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Japan.
Cross-industry presence: The vendor must have new and existing
WMS customers in at leastthree industries (for example, consumer
goods and retail, wholesale distribution, high tech, oiland gas,
aerospace and defense, automotive, chemicals, life sciences/medical
devices,healthcare, industrial products, 3PL and so on).
We have not included stand-alone specialist component providers
of yard management, slotting,labor management, parcel manifesting,
RF, voice, RFID or warehouse automation (see "SupplyChain
Management Market and Vendor Guide, 2011"). We also do not cover
material handling andengineering firms that focus primarily on
building complex, customized and automated warehouses regardless of
whether they offer a packaged WMS application because these firms
do nottypically offer their WMSs to the market independent of their
material handling solutions.Furthermore, we do not evaluate
specialized warehouse control systems or MHCSs that are
themiddleware between the WMS business application and the material
handling equipment (however,we do consider a WMS vendor if it
offers a native warehouse control system as part of its
WMSoffering). In addition, because they are not relevant as
stand-alone WMSs, we also do not evaluateevery ERP or suite
vendor's WMS capabilities, even though these might be well-suited
to aparticular customer's WMS needs (see "Apply an Architectural
Framework to Stratifying WarehouseManagement Systems").
Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
The WMS market is mature and remains highly competitive. Because
of the intense transactionalnature of warehousing systems, Gartner
places high value on an offering's depth and breadth
offunctionality. We evaluate the WMS products across a range of
criteria, including technicalarchitecture and product
functionality. We consider functionality such as receiving,
put-away,picking, shipping, replenishment, quality assurance
(including value-added services and lightmanufacturing), workforce
management, reporting, automation interfaces and voice
technology,labeling and retail compliance, multitenant and
multisite functionality, and returns management. Fortechnical
architecture, we consider many factors related to usability,
adaptability and flexibility (see"10 Technology Best Practices When
Evaluating Warehouse Management Systems").
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Although customer service and operations were important in
previous Magic Quadrants forWarehouse Management Systems, they
played an even stronger role this year. In talking withcustomers,
Gartner found that a vendor's ability to provide the services and
support necessary toeffectively implement and exploit the WMS is
not only increasingly important, but also a notabledifferentiator
between various WMS providers. Service and support contribute to
implementationsuccess and impact TCO. While WMS vendors have
historically provided the majority ofimplementation services,
certain (but not all) vendors are developing an ecosystem
ofimplementation partners that can supplement or replace the WMS
vendors' service capabilities.
There is considerable disparity in vendor size and ability to
deliver solutions on an ongoing basis.For this reason, Gartner
places high importance on the overall viability of the business and
theproduct. Considering the complex nature of a WMS, we give a high
rating to customer experience.Because the most demanding users
typically have extreme levels of process complexity,
elevatedprocessing volumes and a need for high throughput to enable
peak productivity, Gartner placesimportance on a vendor's ability
and experience in supporting complex warehouse environments.We
don't fully believe that a vendor has functionality and it is
usable until it is demonstrated toGartner and until users can
verify that the functionality is usable in the real world and of
highdesign quality. Market responsiveness and track record also
serves as a good indicator of thevendor's ability to deliver value
to users.
Sales execution/pricing, although important to a company's
performance, doesn't represent thesame indicator of the Ability to
Execute as it might in other markets. Therefore, this factor has
beengiven a modest weighting. Vendor pricing in the WMS market is
inconsistent across deals and, to alarge degree, arbitrary, based
on the specific circumstances of an individual initiative. This
situationhas been exacerbated with the growth of SaaS-based WMSs,
where subscription-based pricingmodels dominate. Even though
vendors might have inconsistent pricing methodologies, and
initialprices may vary significantly across deals, we do find some
consistency across offerings in finalnegotiated prices.
Marketing execution has a modest weighting because of the
relatively marginal effect it has onvendor performance. Customer
experience, which includes client satisfaction, vendor experience
incomplex environments and vendor customer growth, is critical and,
thus, has been given a highweighting. Operations are important and
differentiated across offerings in the WMS market, so ithas been
given a high rating (see Table 1).
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Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Product/Service High
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy,
Organization) High
Sales Execution/Pricing Standard
Market Responsiveness and Track Record Standard
Marketing Execution Standard
Customer Experience High
Operations High
Source: Gartner (May 2013)
Completeness of Vision
Although the WMS market is mature, we anticipate considerable
changes related to the technology,usability, breadth of
functionality and enhanced decision support capabilities in areas
such asperformance management, event management, and work planning
and optimization. The dramaticchanges embodied in these market
shifts will require considerable skills from vendors. Therefore,
inthe market evaluation, we place our highest emphasis on the
vendors' understanding of thesemarket dynamics, and on their
product strategies to support these offerings. Exhibiting
andarticulating a vision for where WMSs will be in the future, and
exhibiting an innovative culture,remain distinguishing
characteristics between vendors. Furthermore, since WMSs are just
oneimportant part of integrated logistics, or what Gartner refers
to as "SCE convergence," vendors arealso evaluated on how well they
understand this emerging concept, and on what strategies theyhave
to move in this direction.
Vertical/industry strategy remains a relevant factor in
determining how well an offering is alignedwith where the market is
going, and how well-suited a solution is for particular
industryrequirements. This is because the industry is moving toward
requiring more vertical-specificfunctionality, such as capabilities
for apparel distribution for hung goods, expanded
multitenantcapabilities for 3PL providers, and forward and reverse
logistics that are particular to retail, high-tech and service
parts supply chains. Geographic strategy is also increasingly
important formaintaining a strong presence throughout the global
market, especially since market growth isexpected to be greater in
emerging international markets.
Innovation is a critically important factor in the WMS industry,
even though core warehousing bestpractices have been
well-established. Innovation and thought leadership continue to
play strongrole in this year's evaluations. Leading vendors
continue to enhance core WMS capabilities withmore investment in
extended WMS capabilities, where a greater emphasis is placed on
improvingwarehouse performance through decision support, analytics
and optimization. Gartner continues to
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evaluate innovations in these practices. However, we also
evaluate how a vendor is innovating withrespect to SCE convergence,
especially regarding the expanded roles of integration and
processorchestration with yard management, dock scheduling, TMSs
and mobile assets, as well as vendorextensions into other SCE or
SCP functional areas. Innovation is not exclusive to
productfunctionality, and go-to-market and delivery originality are
also notable sources of solutiondifferentiation.
Historically, most WMS vendors had similar direct sales
strategies. However, how vendors intend toaddress international
expansion and pursue growth in the lower end of the WMS market is
animportant consideration. New deployment models, indirect sales
strategies, and unique delivery andpricing approaches are now more
important considerations. Therefore, we have rated sales strategyas
standard, although there are strategic differences (see Table
2).
Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Market Understanding High
Marketing Strategy Standard
Sales Strategy Standard
Offering (Product) Strategy High
Business Model Standard
Vertical/Industry Strategy Standard
Innovation High
Geographic Strategy Hig