There is no question that making an informed decision when selecting a WMS or TMS system for your organization whether you are a 3PL provider, manage your supply chain in-house or are talking with a 3PL about the capabilities of their TMS is critical to your succcess.
I remember someone once told me the old adage regarding the purchasing of enterprise systems, “No one ever got fired for choosing IBM.” and it really struck me. Now yes IBM does have extensive solutions for the supply chain, but I’m not here to plug IBM.
Adages like that really speak to how selection of software can in some instances be a make or break career move. Not every organization can afford IBM, and with innovations in technology that usually isn’t the answer as there are much more highly specialized logistics software firms that are nimbler and can develop custom software solutions to meet your needs. But what I’m trying to say is using due diligence when selecting a logistics software vendor for a warehouse management system is not optional.
In the past I have been critical of companies that issue exhaustive RFP’s or yearly benchmarking exercises, most notably my post Selecting a Logistics Provider Without an RFP.
But at the same time, you really do need to make sure that the selection of your software vendor is hailed as a huge step forward throughout your organization and not a colossal failure.
If you are going to issue an RFP, make sure to have a clear understanding of your organization’s needs and reach out to your colleagues to see if they might have a sample RFP they may have used in the past.
There are also some great Free Logistics Software RFP Templates out there if you’re looking for something at least to get things started.
HighJump recently released a new template for WMS RFPs that can be downloaded for free here.