The case for multi-tenant cloud solution for very solid economic reasons
As in so many other areas of working life, digital transformation is clearly gaining momentum in warehouse management. The increasingly fast-moving market ensures that companies have to master more and more challenges, but a suitable infrastructure is indispensable for this, stresses Amir Adly, Senior Solution Architect, Infor, in this special contribution to www.logisticsgulf.com
Classical on-premises IT systems are usually not even close to being able to do this – so what can be done if the company’s own intralogistics are not to be brought to its knees by the jumble of requirements? The solution to this problem lies in a multi-tenant cloud solution – for very solid economic reasons.
The world demands flexibility and speed
The days when Toyota and other Japanese car manufacturers, for example, could organise their global supply chains so efficiently that they had to keep almost no storage capacity at all are probably over.
From the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami to the pandemic and the blockade of the Suez Canal by the stuck Evergiven to the Russian attack on Ukraine – the list of disruptive events in the last 10-15 years alone is long. In the future, too, the last word is probably not yet spoken in view of climate change as well as ESG requirements. Flexibility is needed, and not only in the supply chain, but also in intralogistics.
It is no longer sufficient to rely on one or more specific suppliers who deliver larger quantities of known goods at regular intervals. In an emergency, it may be necessary to source smaller quantities from a variety of suppliers who may not even be known yet. Such back-and-forth is impossible to manage with a clunky old-style WMS that only runs on-premise.
Pushing Automation
If necessary, it is also possible to additionally push the automation of one’s own warehouse systems, but this is expensive and only shows a real return on investment at a late stage. Relying on a modern, cloud-based warehouse management system proves to be the better choice, and not only in this respect.
The topic of efficiency should be at the top of companies’ agendas. In warehouse management, the ability to work as personnel-efficiently as possible will soon provide a decisive competitive advantage amid a global shortage of skilled warehousing professionals – a situation that is likely to be exacerbated in the Gulf region due to the rapid growth of the warehousing and logistics sector. In this light, a modern cloud WMS ensures that all locations of a company are networked with each other.
Since modern cloud systems also support a variety of languages, professionals are able to support all branches worldwide, regardless of their location and without any loss of quality.
Those who are limited to only one location with an on-premises system are therefore also at a disadvantage in this respect compared to companies that are networked via the cloud. Only in this way is there enough computing power available to modernise at least parts of the warehouse management.
Investment
The availability of systems on premise does not only demand a considerable commitment in the case of a WMS. This is because those who maintain their IT on site themselves must also invest accordingly in personnel in order to be able to guarantee operation that is as uninterrupted as possible. Updates and unforeseen interruptions require that IT staff are always on site and, if necessary, carry out updates even while the system is running.
It is not uncommon for an on-premises solution to have been adapted to the requirements of the respective company during the original implementation. This then takes its toll when it comes to the challenge of installing an update, because the company’s own IT is forced to track and check every single adjustment.
If, on the other hand, a multi-tenant cloud solution is used, it is not only ready for use out of the box in the best case but is also maintained by the team of the respective provider. Updates and upgrades are automatically made available by the provider at set times.
This is also worthwhile in other ways: if a new location is being set up, the classic software implementation process is no longer necessary, because the software works almost immediately after the hardware is connected on site, which means that the branch office itself can also start operating promptly.
Security is everything-or is it?
When it comes to cybersecurity, the topic of the cloud also plays a major role – because here, too, a large IT team is needed to take care of the security of the internal infrastructure.
Despite the current news coverage, which reports successful cyberattacks on an almost daily basis, the topic still enjoys a lower priority, and companies rarely even have staff assigned solely to this area. The fact that classic business software is rarely designed for cyber security makes the situation anything but better.
In the case of cloud, on the other hand, no company has to worry about cybersecurity itself. And this is not even a matter of pure cost or personnel savings: the operators of the data centres in which the cloud customers’ data is hosted not only specialise in the best possible cybersecurity, but they also have the resources to maintain such an infrastructure in the first place like hardly anyone else.
Conclusion
So, the more advanced, the better. Of course, there is still a long way to go to a self-managing, fully digitalised and automated warehouse. However, the first step is to optimise the existing warehouse operation. The keyword here, as so often, is ‘digital transformation‘.
A modern multi-tenant cloud WMS offers companies the chance to optimise and modernise their existing infrastructure and thus meet the challenges of the industry – cybersecurity, skills shortages, disruption.
