Supply Chain Comment: Affordable Opportunities for SMBs in Supply Chain Technology

In looking at areas to significantly improve supply chain operations, particularly in difficult economic times, technology is a great way for companies to become more efficient.  Technology can reduce manual resource needs, reduce errors, and provide optimization opportunities not possible with just a spreadsheet.  In the past, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), had very few options in terms of robust supply chain software functionality due to prohibitive licensing costs.

Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, are the new (or relatively recent anyway) software option.  With SaaS, SMBs can afford similar functionality to what large enterprises can implement.  SaaS is a continuation of the Application Service Provider (ASP) concept from several years ago with much more flexibility.  No longer are large enterprise license fee investments needed — you can pay for software in increments down to even a single transaction use.  You can choose how you want to pay — per transaction or per block of transactions per timeframe.

What’s Available?

The SaaS options are offered across all of the major types of supply chain software:  procurement solutions; Warehouse Management Systems (WMS); Transportation Management Systems (TMS); Business Intelligence (BI) (Reporting and Analysis) Solutions.

Many newer companies began with SaaS as their main way of pricing, but now, even some of the larger providers have had to accommodate requests for tiered or transaction-based pricing.

How Easy Is it?

Pretty easy, depending obviously on the complexity of the solution you are seeking.  Some software allows you to download the functionality directly from the internet after giving a credit card number. With any solution, there will be some implementation work but the amount is up to you based on the level of functionality you desire.  For basic functions, there is little configuration needed.

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