WMS REMIX
in the same warehouse need different logic, not different buildings.” Ask multiple vendors to name the single biggest operational headache, and the honest answer, increasingly, is that there isn’t one. It’s the churn itself, from staf ng to order mix to customer terms, that wears operations down. “A WMS designed for a stable state is constantly being stretched,” says Derek Armanious, chief engineering of cer at Datex. “A modern WMS addresses this more through adaptability than through any one feature.” WMS users are moving away from one-size- ts-all solutions that offer broad capabilities but don’t stand out in any one function. Modern WMS design takes a best-of-breed approach, where the WMS integrates with other leading solutions, such as ERP, robotics, and warehouse automation. Harmonizing Workflows “Integration exibility in modern software is now the status quo,” says Shaun Hagen, CEO of CartonCloud. The line separating pallet-based distribution from parcel ful llment is fading. Warehouses now routinely pick full pallets and eaches from the same inventory pool, sometimes for the same customer, and systems built around one ful llment model struggle to keep pace. Buyers evaluating a WMS today are told to look for a single inventory engine that can serve every channel through con guration, rather than separate modules stitched together after the fact. The moment a vendor’s answer to a new requirement starts with “that’s a customization project,” the added complexity slows implementation. It delays the project’s start date and time to start earning its keep. A recurring theme among providers pushing arti cial intelligence is that the technology only works on top of a foundation most warehouses haven’t nished building. Legacy, on-premise systems simply can’t support real-time analytics or automation, no matter how
“ A WMS designed for a stable state is constantly being stretched. A modern WMS addresses this more through adaptability
than through any one feature. ” DEREK ARMANIOUS, Chief Engineering Ocer, Datex
advanced the add-on. “The foundation for AI is clean data, and that is what most warehouses and warehouse management systems, both from a technology and process standpoint, lack today,” says Rishabh Narang, vice president of product and market strategy at Made4net. As warehouse operations scale up, vendors report deployment templates now compress rollout schedules from many months to a few weeks per site, a pace that large multi-location retailers increasingly expect as standard. Arti cial intelligence is proving useful in the back of ce for con guration, reporting, exception handling, admin- heavy judgment work, and considerably less proven at the point of physical execution, where errors carry real cost. “Does it do the work that a person had to do yesterday? If that’s a demo rather than a removal, then it’s still a promise,” Hagen says. Some providers rule out full autonomy on principle rather than just readiness. “The whole hype bubble around agentic AI that will replace the traditional WMS is not going to happen,” Narang says. Buyers tend to evaluate a WMS against their current operation rather than the one they’ll have in three years, after a new client, a new channel, or a second facility has changed the requirements entirely. “Every WMS demos well against your current operation,” Armanious says. “The right question is: what happens when things change?” Staying Tuned for the Future
The warehouse operators struggling most are those locked into systems that make them wait for a vendor, a services team, or a software update to respond to a business that no longer moves on a predictable calendar. Whether the remedy is labeled con guration, modernization, or simply eliminating unnecessary admin, the direction is the same. The warehouse of 2026 doesn’t have the luxury of a xed shape, and the systems running it are being rebuilt to match. CARTONCLOUD: Flexibility for Mid-Market Logistics Shippers and third-party logistics providers rarely switch warehouse management systems because a shinier feature caught their eye. They switch because their current system is broken. That’s the premise driving CartonCloud, an Australia-founded WMS and TMS provider expanding its footprint in North America. What’s breaking, in many cases, is the old model of enterprise software: sprawling, feature-heavy platforms that promise to do everything but increasingly can’t keep pace with modern ful llment demands, says CEO Shaun Hagen. The company has spent the past six years building that North American presence around a different pitch: fast implementation, deep con gurability, and a platform that serves 3PLs and mid-market in-house logistics teams without forcing them to choose between ecommerce and B2B ful llment. CartonCloud now supports roughly 650 logistics operations worldwide and 50,000 daily users, with a dedicated
70 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
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