Warehouse Management Systems are extending their functionality out along the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, to include features that support collaboration. In this they are
increasingly competing with enterprise systems, which are trying to build specialization in warehouse management. WMS’s have an advantage in that they are already connected to financial systems and already hold information that is important to supply chain visibility and execution systems. The enterprise systems have advantages where they can grow out of a manufacturing enterprise, especially if the manufactured product is an important, high-value item.
    As WMS’s grow out along the supply chain it is natural that the WMS providers become global, pulled by the supply chains they hope to manage. The global WMS providers have a big advantage when selling to multinational companies, who can then standardize their WMS operations around the world.
    At the time of this writing, there are hundreds if not thousands of WMS vendors in the world but only a few companies with significant global presence.