Choosing a new supplier for a WMS system can be a high-risk activity for many businesses. It involves a considerable investment of time, money, and management effort, together with the not-inconsiderable risk of project failure, so this task should not be undertaken too often. It starts with the basics of required functionality, integrations, and ease of use, working through to scalability and future development needs. That’s before considering the cost, and the hoped-for efficiency gains a new order management system will bring to your business.
Choosing potential suppliers is the first step, with a vast choice from large multinational companies with high-class websites that are known brands, offering the reassurance of scale and promise of a vast army of support for your WMS down to the DIY option of working with a developer to build your bespoke system the choice is enormous…. and just the start of the complex decision-making process!
However, each of these processes has danger attached. To the large supplier, you become “just another customer” subject to whatever they choose, from support standards to development needs. Yes, you will benefit from overall system development and be able to say, “We went with the biggest,” but what about the other WMS development needs you may have in the future? At the other end of the spectrum, having an individual developer you work with can give you order management system development tailored to your exact requirements, but what happens when your developer decides to retire to a retreat in Goa or has a health upset?
At Cyrane Systems, we have a slightly different philosophy that takes much of the risk out of the process. We were an early pioneer of WMS for SMEs in the UK, supplying systems for over 22 years with a continually developed system. We are proud to say that we still supply systems to customers who joined us in our early years. Many of these customers have grown many times, being unrecognisable from their early start but still using the Cyrane WMS as the core system for their business.
Although we are a “small” company, we take an interest in each of our customer’s businesses and have the ability and resources to adapt, customise and develop the WMS with system modifications, new modules and individual integrations as required. This means our customers tend to stay with us as the system continues to meet their needs and offer quick support to emergencies and difficulties.
Large companies also have their benefits, of course, but we are all familiar with the problems of being a small part of a supplier’s business: individual needs don’t need to be met, support can be “on hold,” and our voices aren’t heard. At Cyrane Systems, we like to think we listen to our customers, are small enough to remember who they are and how their business and WMS operate, and respond accordingly, as each is a valuable part of our revenue stream and continued success.
When you are ready to review your WMS requirements, why not consider if being an important fish in a smaller pond isn’t better than being one of thousands of fish in a bigger pool?
If you’d like to discuss your WMS requirements or look at the Cyrane System to see how it might work, we’d be delighted to hear from you.