The so-called "best-of-breed" software vendors, which specialize in specific supply chain applications, are making their products easier to install and use these days. They've adopted ease of use as a selling point—and perhaps a survival strategy—as they confront the growing market presence of the big enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors.

Competition has gotten fiercer as the ERP developers have taken a page from the best-of-breed vendors' playbook: industry specialization. Many vendors of transportation management systems (TMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS)—the two most commonly used supply chain execution programs—have focused on niche markets, tailoring their products to the information needs of specific industries.

Now the dominant ERP vendors are doing the same. "SAP and Oracle are augmenting their supply chain software offerings with more vertical competencies," observes James Uchneat, manager director at Benchmarking Partners.

To ward off the ERP developers, makers of supply chain execution software are doing their best to make it easier for logistics managers to pick up their tools and use them. Many TMS vendors, for example, have shifted to an on-demand model for their wares. On-demand TMS players include such companies as LeanLogistics, Descartes, Nistevo, and Cube Route, says Adrian Gonzalez, director of the Logistics Executive Council of ARC Advisory Group.

The on-demand model represents an advance over Web-hosted software. In a typical hosted environment, Gonzalez explains, the application would reside on a computer outside a company's walls, and the user would access the software via the Internet. A drawback of that approach is that every time a vendor made a change to the application, it would have to do so for each individual user. Not so in the on-demand model, he notes. If, for example, a TMS vendor updated a freight-rate data table, it would only have to make the change once, and every user would automatically see the updated information when connected to the network.

Easy Integration Required

In the market for warehouse software, however, the on-demand model isn't practical, as that type of application must be heavily customized to meet the user's specific needs. However, WMS vendors are also moving to make their applications easier to use by embracing "service-based architecture," which allows applications to leverage networked resources. That model makes it easier to configure and upgrade their solutions, Gonzalez says.

Many WMS makers are building "adapter sets"—ready-made interfaces that allow their applications to exchange data with ERP systems. This approach makes data mapping easier, says Philip Obal, president of Industrial Data and Information Inc. "It will do more than just map data," he says. "It will treat your WMS like a set of subroutines from [ERP] software."

Adapter sets may soon become a required offering for WMS vendors. "If you don't have an adapter set for a WMS, your days are numbered," predicts John Fontanella, a senior vice president with the Aberdeen Group.

Vendors that are focusing their efforts on making their applications easier to use should also be thinking about how to do that in several languages. That's because North American sales of supply chain software are slowing, and future sales are more likely to come from Europe or Asia, analysts say. "We'll see the stronger players that are multilingual flourish," predicts Obal. "If you have an English-only solution, I would be worried."