F. Curtis Barry & Company Blog

As we consult with multichannel companies on system selection and implementation, our experience is that about 50% of the larger installs (those spending over $1 million) are not delivered on time or within budget. 

For many companies, project failure is generally defined by the degree of cost over-run.  Schedule slippages go hand-in-hand with added costs since there is considerably more complexity to the total change than originally planned.  Many times, the newly installed system does not live up to the functional expectations of the user community and does not deliver the desired benefits.

To determine if your warehouse operation is as efficient as it can be, start with a warehouse operations audit or assessment. This audit takes into account quantitative and qualitative aspects of the warehouse operations, processes, and systems.

First, assess your center’s processes and costs then answer these questions:

After months of preparation, systems customizations, file conversions, training, etc., you have just implemented your new ERP, OMS, WMS or Forecasting system. The Go Live isn’t as problem free as you’d like. What next?

I just got a letter from my pharmacy, a store within a leading drug store chain, saying that as part of an audit five months ago they found I had been overcharged by 33 cents, with the check enclosed. I’m sure it’s required by their insurance company or the government, or both. You can’t make up something this ridiculous. Can you imagine the time and money it took to find the error, authorize payment and get a check written?

At a recent conference, I had one of the best panels I have ever had on systems strategies.  Joining me were:  Ashley Kohnen, Co-owner, COO, LEM Products, Keith Kirssin, President of BoxInBoxOut and Shao Li, Senior Operations Manager, UncommonGoods.   What made the panel so effective was they easily articulated why the three radically different approaches worked best for providing order management and warehouse management functionality to their company. 

Well, we just watched the 402^nd project where management intended to have new operational procedures and training materials developed to accompany the major upgrade of a new ERP system. The procedures were not developed and the users went live on the new ERP system for call center and fulfillment operations.

Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud based computing has taken the application world by storm.  As you consider acquiring new systems – whether they are – new Warehouse Management System, ERP, Order Management, marketing, telephone system or shipping systems – there nine factors to consider comparing SaaS and cloud to on-premise approaches.  The chances are good that across your business you’ll use a combination of the two IT business models.

In doing some research for a client looking to get started on an order management system project, we came across a study that was conducted of 800 senior IT managers from the United States, England, France, Germany, India, Japan and Singapore. The study revealed: 

It is amazing how many companies don’t look at vendor's order management system license agreements very closely. These are binding legal documents and without close review of payment terms, deliverables, schedules, termination options, etc. you could be putting your company at risk for losing thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars.

There are two major aspects to these license agreements:

Recently we had a chance to follow up with a client and vendor on the outcome of their seven-month implementation negotiated last year. There are some unique lessons learned about making modifications to  an order management system; or an ERP or warehouse management system for all of us.