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About the Author

Stephen Gerrard
Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Planning
Voxware, Inc.


Stephen Gerrard, Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Planning, is responsible for the Company’s corporate marketing and long-range strategic planning functions. He returned to this role in April 2009 after serving as Vice President and General Manager of International Operations for the prior three years. Prior to joining Voxware, Mr. Gerrard served as a senior sales and marketing executive for numerous high technology companies.


Supply Chain Comment

By Stephen Gerrard, Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Planning, Voxware, Inc.

March 22, 2012



Voice Users Talk Software

Aberdeen Group Survey Revealed Some Trends Towards Change and Evolution


The Aberdeen Group did a survey of voice warehousing users that highlighted the state of affairs for the technology. Across all industries, businesses reported a high level of satisfaction with voice picking, but the report revealed some trends towards change and evolution.

In the last column, we covered how mobile device choice is a key component of the voice picking solution. But the Aberdeen Report also shed some light on how voice picking software applications are undergoing a heavy analysis in most warehouses, mainly due to concerns about flexibility. In fact, in their next hardware refresh, 90% of voice users are planning on evaluating their voice software.

Some managers are concerned about the difficulties of making changes with their current voice picking system. Because of cost constraints, users either batch changes or avoid them altogether.

Of the voice users that Aberdeen Group surveyed:

Gerrard Says:

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Voice picking technology has grown up, and has clearly moved beyond the proprietary stage of development.
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  • 42% batch improvements together to save money
  • 37% avoid change altogether
  • 26% have paid too much for changes that seemed trivial to them

Why is this a big deal? As anyone in logistics knows, passing up on changes can quickly drive a wedge between what your process are and what you want them to be – and that gap will only get bigger.  Batching changes together is better than not changing at all, but even then there’s a crucial time lapse between identifying needs and addressing them.  

A high cost of change can stifle an enterprise’s growth.  Innovative projects get left on the shelf.  Cost-saving ideas are tabled. Smart people in the warehouse remain underutilized, since emphasis shifts from expanding business to simply “watching the shop.”  Without these drivers, the competitive edge built up from voice starts to erode.

It’s plain to see that there is room for improvement. So why is there a flexibility issue with some voice solutions? The first generation of voice technology is still in use in many warehouses. While these proprietary, “custom coded” solutions first brought the benefits of voice to market, they are inflexible and resistant to change.

In response to this need for change-friendly systems, Aberdeen Group recommended that enterprises look towards “configurable” voice picking software products. Configurable software retains the “built for you” concept pioneered by custom solutions but solves the problem of inflexibility. The product is already built, but it has numerous options to ‘configure’ the solution to unique business requirements.

Closing Thoughts

This is a good time to take the temperature of the industry - voice picking technology has grown up, and has clearly moved beyond the proprietary stage of development. The Aberdeen Report shows that change is coming for some voice users, but that the core benefits of voice that were selling points 15 years ago are still providing solid business value today. This is an exciting time to be on the forefront of voice technology.


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