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Oracle updates supply chain management suite
Business software giant Oracle Corp., in releasing a suite
of updates to its supply chain management product, said
its cloud-based platform now supports the warehouse
management system (WMS) that it acquired after buying
LogFire Inc. last year.
Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle will include the
WMS module in the latest version of its Oracle Supply
Chain Management (SCM) Cloud product, which is part of
the firm’s “Oracle Cloud Applications Release 13.” When
Oracle acquired LogFire in 2016, it said that adding a WMS
tool to its SCM Cloud suite would allow users to keep up
with industry trends like omnichannel fulfillment, integrated logistics, and dynamic sourcing.
Users of Oracle’s Release 12 product could also use the
WMS feature, but this is the first upgrade to include warehouse management at launch. Release 13 also includes six
other capabilities: sales and operations planning (S&OP),
demand management, supply planning, supply chain collaboration, quality management, and maintenance.
Taken together, the new capabilities will allow organiza-
tions to manage the supply chain challenges associated with
the digital revolution, such as looking for new channels to
sell their products, building direct relationships with con-
sumers, and providing services as well as products, Jon S.
Chorley, Oracle’s chief sustainability officer and group vice
president of supply chain management product strategy,
said in an interview.
Supply chain users have been hesitant to switch from
on-premise software to cloud deployments for warehouse
management, Chorley admitted. However, many of those
doubters have had their concerns about the security, reliability, and functionality of cloud-based platforms put to
rest by the success of other users, he said. Running software
in the cloud allows Oracle to ensure that its software platforms keep up with market changes because the vendor
itself can manage software and hardware updates, Chorley
said.
Customers can choose to deploy individual modules of
Oracle’s new platform instead of the entire suite, as long as
they ensure the different parts are interoperable. “We play
well with others too,” Chorley said.
—B.A.
