10 Questions to Ask Prospective Warehouse Management System Vendors

Warehouse Management Systems Discussion

To ensure your Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) vendor discussions are going to center around what is most important to you and your business, (and how they’re going to facilitate those needs with relevant product features and services), we’ve created this handy checklist of ten questions you should ask prospective WMS vendors.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but should give you a good starting point to add to as you do your research and demo bookings.

10 Questions to Ask Prospective WMS Vendors

1. Will orders be sent to your warehouses automatically, or will this be a manual process for the sales team to do?
2. How does the print, pick, pack process work in the software?
3. Can picking routes be optimized by chosen product locations?
4. Can shipping labels be automatically printed, and how are they integrated with carriers?
5. How are tracking references dealt with in the system?
6. How are inventory counts managed? Can they be assigned to a warehouse representative and easily split into cycle counts?
7. Are variance reports shown to managers only?
8. Is there the ability to request a recount for certain product lines?
9. Do inventory counts automatically sync with core inventory levels and accounting?
10. Can you obtain an inventory audit history from the system?

WMS Vendor Discussions Checklist

We’ve also created a useful print out of these questions as well, which you can take along to sales demos and conference calls:

Author’s Note:

As you can see, these questions focus on the functional parts of a warehouse management system. But it’s also crucial that you understand your nonfunctional requirements as well.

During your discussions, make sure you ask questions about system performance and scalability, security and data protection, technical support options, and how the implementation process works.

To help you further, we’ve created a template that contains all of the functional and nonfunctional requirements you should be aware of before embarking on any vendor discussion, whether solely for WMS, or for a complete back office or ERP system.

Fill out a few details now to request the template.

These questions and checklist have been adapted from our recent guide: ‘How to choose the right warehouse management system’.

The guide provides you with a detailed overview of everything you’ll need to consider when choosing, purchasing and implementing a warehouse management system within your business, including:

• When you should consider purchasing a warehouse management system
• The benefits you’ll see from implementing one
• The warehouse management features you should look out for
• The questions you should ask prospective WMS vendors
• What you need to know before implementing a WMS
• What kind of costs are associated with a new system
• Additional fulfillment and warehousing apps you’ll find useful

Download the guide today and find out more about how to choose the right warehouse management system for your retail or wholesale business.