For a very long time, supply chain management has been dominated by industry giants like Oracle and SAP, known for their robust and comprehensive software solutions.
But in recent times, smaller companies have stepped up, offering simple SaaS solutions tailored for modern's needs. However, with so many options out there, it might be a challenge to know which ones fit your needs..
In this article, you will gain insights into the five top supply chain software companies, and a guide on factors to consider before choosing one.
What is a supply chain software?
A supply chain software is a digital solution involved in managing the production and delivering of goods or services to customers. It is used in streamlining the complex processes involved in the entire supply chain management such as sourcing raw materials, manufacturing or assembling products, warehousing, distribution, and transportation.
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Using this software can help businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance visibility and collaboration among suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
Choosing the best software for your needs, first you need to understand your company's supply chain maturity level. We created a supply chain maturity test to help you figure out what level you stand currently Take the test now and see your results instantly.
5 best supply chain management software
These are the top supply chain companies to look out for in 2024:
1. GoRamp: Best one-stop solution
GoRamp is the best supply chain software that offers solutions for your yard and dock management. It is dedicated to empowering your business with its robust cloud-based logistics management solutions designed to meet the distinct demands of modern's supply chains.
Review: “GoRamp is a brilliant system that helps to remove manual systems like Excel for booking deliveries to a much more dynamic, accurate, and informative system.”-Paul Moore, Supply Chain Materials Lead at Pfizer
Core products
GoRamp offers three main products and they include: Dock Scheduling Solution, Freight Management Solution, and Yard Management Solution.
Dock Scheduling Solution: GoRamp cloud-based solution offers an automated scheduling process that simplifies dock appointment scheduling, reduces wait times, avoids congestion at the dock door, and also eliminates manual scheduling errors.
Transportation Management Solution: GoRamp’s freight management solution is an intuitive platform designed for shippers, freight forwarders, and logistics providers to manage every aspect of freight operations. You can monitor your freight every step of the way and get real-time updates with its robust shipment tracking system.
Yard Management Solution: With GoRamp's real-time visibility feature, you have your entire yard operations in one dashboard. It helps you gain insight into your yard space, eradicate manual operations and you can easily optimize to avoid congestion.
These products also have additional features. Some of which are advanced API integration functionality - that seamlessly integrates with your internal systems to save time, and reduce potential errors, real-time data analytics - that gives you full visibility on your data for informed and effective decision-making, Single sign-on- that simplifies your login experience.
Pricing: GoRamp offers flexible subscription-based pricing. It has a free version that lets you try the product and It also offers a free trial with no credit card required.
2. C3 Solution: Best for large, complex supply chains
C3 Solution operates as a cloud-based supply chain solution that helps customers maximize the usage of their trailers, dock doors, yard staff and yard space. It supports an unlimited number of sites and warehouses across multiple time zones, with capabilities for distinct capacity management and user access control.
Review: pro: “Very customizable and allowed us to include all of our business requirements in the design and implementation process”.
Con: “Reporting could be better. C3 helps us get raw reports through their system but it is not as user friendly as other reporting tools”. Review as seen from GetApp
Core products
C3 offers solutions mainly for yard inadequacy and dock scheduling. Its key products include: C3 Reservation, and C3 Yard.
C3 Reservation: It's a dock scheduling software that streamlines the scheduling process by improving dock productivity and expanding visibility on scheduled appointments.
C3 Yard: It's a yard management system that empowers yard managers by providing visibility on both yard assets,and shipments. It also optimizes the flow of trailers from gate-gate.
Pricing: It depends on the product you choose, C3 Reservation is $15,000 a year while C3 Yard is $50,000. It has no free versions, and offers no free trials.
3. Conduit: Best for inventory management
Conduit is a cloud-based platform for a variety of warehouse applications, including online dock scheduling, digital driver check-in and gate management, yard management (YMS), and inventory tracking and warehouse management (WMS). Conduit is only available on the web as it's not supported on mobile or iOS.
Review from Conduit’s website: “We love how flexible integrations are. We kicked off a pilot without needing IT resources After the pilot it only took IT a few hours to hook everything up”..... David C.
Core products
Conduit has mainly two products. Yard Management System and Dock Scheduling System.
Yard Management System: It gives you complete visibility into your yard, including drop trailer locations, inventory, and yard jockey tasks. It optimizes workloads, reduces truck lineups and detention fees, and increases profitability.
Dock Scheduling System: With Conduit dock scheduling solution, carriers and vendors can book appointments online and lets you plan ahead. When drivers arrive, they can check themselves in using Conduit’s tablet or QR codes. Conduit captures driver and truck information according to your unique requirements along with timestamps to prevent false detention requests.
Pricing: $499.00/month, it has a free version and it offers a free trial (No Credit Card required).
4. YardViewPro: Best for only yard management
YardViewPro is a cloud-based yard and trailer management solution that is designed to help logistics companies manage their yard activity, drivers, appointments, detention, demurrage tracking, and reporting. The software aims to reduce a lot of check times and idle dock labor, and eliminate the need for yard spreadsheets.
Review: They are extremely pleasant to deal with, they resolve issues/needs in an immediate fashion, and enhancements, additional reporting, etc...come at an affordable price - Full review on GetApp
Core products
Yardviewpro's only product is the Yard Management System.
Yard Management System: YardViewPro yard management system delivers real-time insights into your warehouse, distribution center, plant, and operational yards. It seamlessly tracks the location, status, contents, and crucial details of assets like trailers, containers, and intermodal units, ensuring optimal efficiency and organization.
Pricing: Yardview does not have a public pricing. You will have to contact them for price information.
5. Logiwa WMS: Best for retail and ecommerce businesses
Logiwa WMS is an industry leading cloud-based warehouse management and order fulfillment solution designed for wholesale, retail, e-commerce, and third-party logistics businesses. It helps with everything from receiving goods to shipping them out, and it's great for companies with multiple locations. Logiwa WMS uses barcoding and other technologies to make things faster and more accurate.
Review: pros- “The API connection for Logiwa is comprehensive. We have clients selling their products on different marketplaces, e.g. Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair, and all of them could directly connect with the WMS system, so we could receive the order once the customers place the order. Besides, the API with the carriers (UPS and FedEx) saves us much time on generating labels”.
Cons- “The overall system is complex and takes a long time for the management team to get used to it. Also, it takes longer to train the workers”. Review from GetApp
Logiwa offers a wide range of features, which some users may find complex to navigate initially.
Core products
Logiwa WMS has six products. The Digital Warehouse, Smart Shipping, Cloud Infrastructure, Connected E-commerce, Total Control, Analysis and Reporting.
Digital Warehouse: Logiwa Digital Warehouse offers wide arrays of features and benefits including mobile apps, smart job batching, automation rules, real-time exception handling, and online reports to help businesses achieve high-volume order management.
Smart Shipping: With Logiwa WMS, you can optimize your shipping strategy to reduce unnecessary expenses and minimize waste. Its advanced algorithms analyze shipping rates, carrier options, and packaging requirements to find the most cost-efficient and eco-friendly solutions for shipments.
Cloud Infrastructure: Logiwa's platform offers robust security features such as data encryption, firewalls, and secure data centers. By utilizing Logiwa's cloud fulfillment platform, you can benefit from scalability, reliability, and accessibility while maintaining the security and protection of your operations.
Connected E-commerce: Logiwa WMS seamlessly integrates with your existing e-commerce platforms. It also automates inventory sharing and order routing in real-time.
Total Control: Logiwa's warehouse automation technology emphasizes visibility and control, providing you with a competitive edge over competitors.
Analysis and Reporting: Logiwa’s advanced warehouse management system includes powerful 3PL analytics capabilities designed to optimize operations and empower businesses to make data-driven decisions.
Pricing: Logiwa WMS has no public pricing.
Essential factors you should consider before choosing an SCM software
The supply chain management software market is competitive and finding a supply chain software that works best for your business is a hassle. However, it becomes less difficult when you know what you're looking for.
Here are 6 important things to be considered.
1. Consider your business priorities
Before deciding on a supply chain software, start by understanding your business's strategic objectives, challenges, and areas for improvement within the supply chain. Once you have a clear understanding of your business priorities, then you can evaluate the features and how they align with your needs.
2. Focus on its integration capabilities
This is another essential factor to focus on when choosing a supply chain software. A supply chain software should seamlessly integrate with your existing systems such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and other essential tools. This integration ensures smooth data flow across all departments and eliminates the need for manual data entry or reconciliations between different systems.
3. Check it's scalability option
It's crucial to choose a supply chain software that can grow with your business. This means it should be able to handle increasing volumes of data, transactions, and users as your business expands. Look for software that offers scalability options such as the ability to add modules or users easily without significant disruption to your operations.
4. Focus on software with user-friendly interface
Selecting user-friendly software is essential for ensuring smooth adoption and operation by your team. Intuitive interfaces, clear navigation, and straightforward workflows contribute to increased productivity and reduced training time. Choose software that offers customizable dashboards and personalized user experiences to cater to the diverse needs of your team members.
5. Consider if it's customizable
No software is a one-size-fits-all solution, when choosing a supply chain software, ensure to choose one that can adapt to your specific workflows. Look for software that allows for easy customization without the need for extensive coding or IT support. This flexibility ensures that the software adapts to your workflows rather than forcing you to conform to predefined processes.
6. Cost effectiveness
When assessing the cost-effectiveness of a supply chain software, consider the total cost of ownership, including implementation, licensing, and ongoing maintenance fees. This ensures the software fits within your budget while providing value over its lifecycle.
Why GoRamp's supply chain software is the best fit in 2024.
The supply chain industry is complex and competitive which is why you should opt for a supply chain software that stands out. GoRamp is dedicated to empowering businesses with robust, cloud-based management solutions that cater to the specific business needs of modern supply chains.
When it comes to choosing the best supply chain software that digitalizes your supply chain without overcomplicating your processes, GoRamp is the right fit. Book a demo to see how it works.
FAQ
What is supply chain management?
Supply chain management (SCM) is the coordination and optimization of all processes involved in the production and distribution of goods or services, from raw materials sourcing to delivering the final product to customers.
What is supply chain planning?
Supply chain planning is the strategic business process of coordinating and managing the flow of goods, information, and resources from suppliers to customers. It involves demand planning and demand forecasting, managing inventory, scheduling production, and aligning procurement and logistics to ensure products are available at the right time and place, while minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency and customer satisfaction. The goal is to balance supply and demand, optimize resources, and maintain smooth supply chain operations.
How big is the supply chain software industry?
The global supply chain software industry is projected to reach approximately $35.3 billion by 2032, up from $14.3 billion in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7% from 2023 to 2032, according to the report.
Is logistics bigger than the supply chain?
Logistics is a subset of supply chain management. While logistics focuses primarily on the movement and storage of goods, supply chain management encompasses a broader range of activities, including procurement, production, inventory management, and distribution, in addition to logistics.
What is the difference between ERP and supply chain software?
ERP software integrates everything within a company such as its finance, human resources, manufacturing, sales, and customer relationship management into a centralized system. It provides a comprehensive view of all aspects of a business's operations. While the supply chain software focuses specifically on inventory optimization and managing the flow of goods, information, and finances to make sure everything arrives in time and in good shape.
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