Many factors need to be considered with warehouse management and order management. Optimization and functionality are key for improving supplier relationships, managing third-party logistics, and keeping up with your business planning. This is where supply chain management software comes in. With the help of a supply chain management system, you can get more supply chain visibility and have better decision-making capabilities.
But which planning software is the best for your business processes? Which is best for order management, forecasting, procurement, transportation management, demand planning, and more? And which of the many software solutions will ensure you have the best profitability? In this article, we’ll help you explore the best management system and providers for your supply chain planning and management needs.
Supply Chain Management Software: What Is It and Why Is It Important?
Supply chain management software is a digital platform that helps you streamline, control, and gain visibility into the different aspects of the supply chain, including the procurement of raw materials, warehousing, inventory management, invoicing, manufacturing, and more. It’s a tool to make managing the supply chain easier and provide a solution that monitors all of the supply chain processes in one place.
It allows businesses to boost their productivity instead of getting bogged down in small details by automating many tasks of the supply chain. By improving the supply chain management process, your business can become more profitable and increase each team member’s productivity. Without a supply chain management tool, you likely won’t be able to keep up with demand, prepare for supply chain disruptions, deliver to customers on time, or grow your business.
Top Supply Chain Management Software
Now that you know what supply chain management software is and why it’s important for your business needs, let’s talk about some of the best SMB solutions that can help you improve your business. We’ll also discuss each solution’s special features and key considerations to help you get a complete picture of each SCM software solution’s capabilities.
SCM Software for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
1) Anvyl
Anvyl is a leading supply chain management software that centralizes data, automates processes, and facilitates the collaboration of different players across your entire supply chain so that you can gain visibility into the supply chain at just a glance. Anvyl is a better way to manage your supply chain. It helps you access supply chain data, reconcile invoices, and identify any gaps that you might have in your real-time data with sourcing, production management, and logistics visibility tools.
While Anvyl is typically used in small to medium-sized enterprise businesses, it can also be an excellent, scalable solution for enterprise-class companies. Anvyl can integrate with enterprise-class ERPs and IMS solutions, meaning that any sized business can benefit from its suite of capabilities and features.
Features
Notable features of Anvyl include:
- Automated milestone tracking
- Payment tracking
- Custom tasks
- Full audit trail
- Logistics visibility
- New project collaboration
- Centralized document management
- Reports
- Order delay risk analysis
- Sourcing services
Important Considerations
Anvyl is a great solution for a variety of industries and simplifies the complex processes of the supply chain. However, it can be on the high end when it comes to price in order to access those functionalities and modules. It also doesn’t have vendor payment capabilities, so it might not be the best fit if you want to run the software as a payment solution.
2) Odoo
Odoo is an SCM tool great for small to medium businesses that want to integrate their supply chain management solution into their other digital tools. Odoo helps businesses avoid painful integrations by offering a family of apps that help to automate, track, centralize, and digitize everything you do and make it accessible to the entire organization. These integrated apps help Odoo customers provide usability that scales with the business.
Features
Notable features of Odoo include:
- Finance apps for accounting, invoicing, expensing, documenting, signing, and spreadsheets
- Sales apps for CRM, sales, point of sale, rentals, Amazon connectors, and subscriptions
- Website apps for website building, ecommerce, blogs, forums, live chatting, and eLearning
- Inventory and MRP apps for inventory, manufacturing, PLM, purchasing, maintenance, and quality control
- Human resources apps for employees, recruitment, referrals, fleets, appraisals, and time off requests
- Marketing apps for social media, email marketing, SMS marketing, events, surveys, and marketing automation
- Services apps for projects, timesheets, field services, helpdesks, planning, and appointments
- Productivity apps for discussion, approvals, the Internet of Things (IoT), VoIP
Important Considerations
Odoo has a free trial period that lets new users explore the different apps available. This platform has a much different pricing structure than almost any other supply chain management tool, as you can pick and choose which apps you want based on your individual business needs. Each app has a different monthly recurring cost, with very clear costs for each user, app, integration, and hosting type.
3) Descartes
Descartes is a transportation management supply chain solution; great for small and medium-sized businesses that want more visibility and insight into their operations. It has great functionality and productivity features to help you connect with other tools, meet global trade customs compliance, get intelligence on global trade developments, and use AI in order to optimize your business practices. This tool helps you streamline your processes across different channels and integrate and transform your warehousing, shipping, and delivery management processes.
Features
Notable features of Descartes include:
- Logistics control and communication
- Messaging for commercial and customers
- Security filings
- Data analytics
- Dynamic shipment portal
- Duty and global tariff data
- Dock and yard scheduling and management
- Trade research
- Warehousing and inventory management
- Product classification tools
- Retail distribution solutions
Important Considerations
Descarte has a subscription package model for their solutions, so reach out to their team to determine what type of subscription package is best for your business needs. It’s also not a great solution for businesses that want to focus on sales tools and other aspects of supply chain management outside of transportation and warehousing.
4) Epicor
Epicor is a great supply chain management solution for companies that want to push for greater profitability in their businesses, with solutions designed to help each operational requirement of the industry. They offer both on-premises and cloud solutions based on your business needs, and can help you integrate with the other important tools in your tech stack. All of these tools work together to help you manage core growth and increasing complexity in your business.
Features
Notable features of Epicor include:
- Supplier connections and relationship management
- Warehousing management
- Shipping and receiving management
- Inventory management
- Demand management
- Purchase management
- Material management
Important Considerations
Epicor’s pricing isn’t publicly available. To learn about pricing for Epicor, reach out to their team directly to see what the end cost for your business will be. Epicor works well for a variety of industries and can be used by both small and medium-sized businesses that need supply chain management tools.
SCM Software for the Enterprise
5) Oracle SCM
Oracle SCM is a very popular enterprise-level solution for businesses that want their entire organization taken to the cloud. It’s a cloud-based solution and management tool, great for businesses that are looking to keep up with changing customer demands and supply chain needs. At the same time, the platform helps track sales to help businesses be more successful and improve their resilience as the supply chain continues to advance and become complex.
Oracle SCM helps protect users from disruptions in the supply chain by offering alternatives and solutions and replanning projects. It is also a great tool for optimizing and automating the supply chain with advanced analytics.
Features
Notable features of Oracle SCM include:
- Demand management tools
- Transportation management
- Warehouse management
- Pricing management
- Supply chain financial planning
- Sales, supply, and operations logistics planning
- Material and costing management
- Service logistics
- Global trade and supplier management
- The Oracle Autonomous Warehouse tool
- Quality management tools
- Work order costing
- Oracle Fusion Analytics
- Machine and smart machine integration opportunities
- Channel revenue management tools
Important Considerations
Unlike many types of enterprise-level solutions, Oracle offers different subscription tiers for their products. You will need to contact the company or providers in order to get pricing information, but you can request demos and live tutorials of the product in order to get a better idea of how it works before you make a purchase decision.
6) SAP SCM
SAP SCM is an enterprise-level solution that is great for customer-centric supply chain production. It helps businesses use the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide an agile and end-to-end solution and is ideal for businesses that want digital advancements and technology integrated into their supply chain management. It’s one of the most popular supply chain management software solutions and has many large clients on its list, including Microsoft and Unilever.
Features
Notable features of SAP SCM include:
- Supplier collaboration and partner communication tools
- Sales and operations planning
- AI tools like predictive analytics and machine learning
- Integrated business planning capabilities
- Trace and track transport management
- Warehousing management
- Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
- Custom dashboards
- Asset management
- Product costing
- Ethical sourcing, transportation, and manufacturing
Important Considerations
SAP doesn’t have a transparent pricing model listed, so you will need to reach out to the company directly to get a clear idea of the software service’s cost. SAP has some free trial options so that you can see what it is like before committing to any type of contract, but be aware that — like most enterprise-level solutions — the cost is likely to be high.
7) Manhattan Associates
Manhattan Associates is a great SCM solution for businesses that want to streamline their complex and usually siloed processes with real-time data and forecasting opportunities. It has thousands of APIs to help you scale and integrate with other tools easily. It’s great for warehouse management, transportation management, labor management, and other related business needs. Manhattan Associates allows businesses to lower the costs associated with carriers and transportation, giving you maximum visibility over your supply chain.
Features
Notable features of Manhattan include:
- Labor management
- Warehouse management systems
- Transport management systems
- Interactive inventory tools
- Point of sale tools
- Digital self-service tools
- Demand and sales forecasting
- CCIO (customer-centric inventory optimization)
- Store clustering
- Slotting optimization
- Commerce availability
- Real-time customer engagement insights
Important Considerations
Manhattan Associates upgrades itself every 90 days, so keep in mind that there will be constant updates with this solution. It’s a great option for businesses that are looking for more control over their carrier and warehousing processes — but not so much for sales or operations management. Contact the business to learn more about their pricing for enterprise businesses.
8) Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder, formerly JDA SCM, is an SCM solution best suited for scaling businesses looking to plan and predict their demand and gain better control and visibility over their supply chain management. The solution promises big things — like a dramatic increase in planning efficiency and a reduction in expenses, all while improving customer service. It also offers inventory optimization tools to help with warehouse management and inventory planning. It helps negate problems between different timings, supply and demand discrepancies, and organization information silos.
Features
Notable features of Blue Yonder include:
- Sales and operations execution features
- Workflow driven experience
- Automation for common resolutions
- Dynamic supply chain planning
- What-if analysis capabilities
- End-to-end network design
- Smooth adaption for demand chain
- Clear optimization
- Cognitive supply planning
- Supply chain disruption prediction and forecasting
- Transparent planning
- Inventory management optimization
- KPI and advanced metric reporting
Important Considerations
Like many enterprise-level solutions, you will need to get in contact with the company for pricing details, as it varies considerably depending on what your business needs. It’s also not the best solution if you require a high amount of customization, as those types of adjustments can be timely and not as cost-effective as some other solutions on the market. It’s also not the best option for people who want to focus on transportation and logistics in their SCM solution.
Experience the Power of Supply Chain Software
Finding the best supply chain management software to streamline your workflow is essential for your business growth. The right supply chain software can help you with inventory optimization, warehousing, order fulfillment, invoicing, product lifecycle, ecommerce strategy, management processes, business planning, and give you an overview of your entire supply chain. With strategic sourcing and tools for your business needs, SCM solutions are a great way to optimize your supply chain processes.
At Anvyl, we provide exceptional functionality in our supply chain management software solution. We want to help customers streamline their processes, improve supplier relations, and use a single source of truth. To learn more about what we can do, get a demo of Anvyl and see how we can help your business today.
