Published February 23, 2021
Companies have historically licensed warehouse management system (WMS) software, with pricing based on a combination of the number of distribution center sites and user counts. WMS products were installed directly on servers located within the D.C., and managed by the company’s internal I.T. staff. Over the last decade, a marked trend toward centralized hosting of WMS in the cloud has gained footing in the market. Today, WMS subscription-based pricing is rapidly evolving and changing the customer-vendor dynamic.
WMS subscriptions have traditionally been offered by vendors catering to lower-complexity environments and smaller, e-commerce-focused customers. In 2019 and 2020, this approach expanded, and is now a standard option for almost all WMS vendors in the market. Vendors are not only offering WMS subscriptions, but are also adding order management system (OMS), transportation management system (TMS) and other modules to their software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based arrangements. Should potential buyers with moderate to complex operations embrace this model?
