IT Issue #1:  Portability

IT will demand a portable voice solution.  Why?  Portability drives to the issue of long-term flexibility and cost.  When the voice software is not portable, then future choices are limited – and whenever choices are limited, costs are difficult to contain. 

For instance, if the voice software only operates on one device or family of devices, then the organization cannot leverage its buying power by considering alternatives – because the cost of moving the voice solution to a different platform is probably prohibitive.

Device independence is only one dimension to voice solution portability – and to achieving maximum flexibility for the future.  We will take a deeper look across all the dimensions in a future column.

IT Issue #2:  Productized Solution

A major thing IT will be looking for is a solution based on packaged software.  Why?  Because voice solutions rarely stay the same – operations executives are always finding ways to improve business processes.  One of the biggest curses of software for the warehouse is the often too-high cost of evolving systems to keep up with the vision of operational management.

A voice solution is a software-based extension of the WMS.  It optimizes front-line labor, the most costly area of warehousing spend.  As warehouse managers develop improved methods of order fulfillment, the voice system needs to evolve. 

Historically, voice solutions have been custom-coded to very tight specifications.  When the company wants to change the solution, more programming is needed, so the voice vendor is called back in.  That’s when “sticker shock” happens – as we’ve heard of cases where the cost quoted to change a system has rivaled the original cost to develop it in the first place.

IT Issue #3:  Enterprise Management Features

Larger companies with mature IT organizations prefer solutions that have “enterprise-level” capabilities.  These features make a large-scale voice deployment far easier (and less costly) to support and manage on an ongoing basis.

One example is the ability to have a centralized voice “command center.”  Older voice solutions are deployed locally – meaning that there is a voice server somewhere in the warehouse.  This raises two big problems for the large organization:  managing these remote IT resources, and paying the cost for multiple licenses of operating system, database, and other infrastructure software needed for the voice solution to operate.

An enterprise-level solution allows the company to deploy just one version of the voice software, but uses it to manage as many warehouses as the company has.  This means fewer licenses need to be acquired, and all IT resources can be managed in one central location – usually the corporate data center.

Typically, an operations executive will naturally not have these three issues at the top of his list, since he is focused more on the business process at hand and the immediate ROI and quality improvements that can be achieved through voice picking software.  But these executives certainly want flexibility for the future and no sticker-shock episodes when seemingly simple changes are needed.  One good resource for evaluating voice solutions is the Voice Empowerment Quiz available on the Voxware website.

By involving IT professionals in the selection process, enterprises are improving the odds that their voice solution will not only deliver benefits today, but also will not hold the organization back tomorrow.

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