The challenge
To complement its own in-house systems and support its commitment to exceptional service delivery, Carousel Logistics required a best of breed WMS which offered a combination of Tier 1 functionality, scalability and configurability to meet the specific requirements of each of its customers.
As the business continues to expand its client portfolio and build internal resource, Carousel was also looking for a solution that could easily be rolled out across multiple locations without the need for additional hardware infrastructure. As a result, the company took the decision to select a cloud-based system.
The solution
Carousel went out to market and talked to around five possible WMS providers. While a number of them offered systems which could be deployed in the cloud, only SnapFulfil was designed for this purpose.
SnapFulfil's fully managed, Software as a Service model also proved extremely attractive.
Carousel's Head of IT, Nick Alsop says: "We credit ourselves on reacting quickly to support our clients, especially as their customers have high expectations in terms of responsiveness - and again, for Carousel, this is no different in what we look for in a partner. SnapFulfil's service with behind the scenes management and maintenance gives us greater reliability.
"The model also allows us to flex up and down in line with seasonal peaks – we got an extra 10 RF guns in the run up to Christmas and were able to revert back to our usual levels afterwards."
The implementation
While SnapFulfil has the ability to be implemented in as little as 45 days, Carousel took the decision to migrate every client individually.
Nick Alsop says: "The first few clients we migrated to SnapFulfil we made sure we did on a Friday to minimise the risk of any disruption but quickly realised that this wasn't necessary and we're now able to transition a client to SnapFulfil during operating hours without missing a beat. In one case, on the first day of migrating a customer to SnapFulfil, we did 120% of the largest order day they'd ever done before."
The benefits
Nick Alsop continues: "Efficiency wasn't the key driver for implementing a new WMS – the operation ran smoothly with the old system. Implementing SnapFulfil was a strategic decision in line with our commitment to providing innovative, scalable solutions which help our clients deliver the best possible service to their customers.
"It also allows us to understand how each operation is performing in further detail – for example, now we can quickly assess whether we're achieving a certain pick rate for a particular client, and can therefore be much more accurate in predicting how much resource is required during peak."
He concludes: "SnapFulfil have delivered everything they promised and proven themselves to be a valuable business partner. We look forward to finding out what else the system can do, for example, in terms of enhanced reporting capabilities which will add even further value to our clients' solutions."
