From WMS to Access all areas

DeltaWMS has been sold for £5.4 million to Access Group, which is best known for finance software. Jonathan Jorgensen, group sales director, Access UK says the deal will allow customers to take advantage of integrated apps from the boardroom to the warehouse.

Simon Duddy: What are the key benefits for warehouse and logistics managers of this buyout? Jonathan Jorgensen: Users will see the benefit of our investment in Delta. It is a fantastic solution and we want to scale it and add depth. We will also add significant account management resource.

Our customers have been asking us for a solution in this area for many years and we have had to hook up with third parties. When you do that you don't tend to get the benefit of a seamless experience. So, for existing Delta clients we can offer a more seamless ERP and HR software offering.

We're going to package the Delta solution in a light version to fit the lower end and the mid market as well.

At the moment Delta will scale up as an effective big solution sell. We also want small players, who may have only two people in a warehouse to take advantage if it.

SD: With smaller clients, will Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) be critical? JJ: SaaS and cloud are the buzzwords.

We are launching our cloud platform this month and we believe companies want a hybrid model - some functions suit cloud and others can be achieved better on premises.

We see the main benefit of SaaS for operators of smaller warehouses as ease of use - plug and play. We can offer a plug and play RF solution for an 8000 sq ft warehouse for £1,000. It is the ability of the customer to take on the technology that is key, as opposed to the nature of the technology. In addition, a lot of companies have invested in onpremises solutions, making hybrid a pragmatic option.

SD: Gartner recently stated extended WMS was key to the future. Is that what Access is trying to facilitate with this acquisition? JJ: That's exactly were we are headed.

We have had a lot of feedback from our user forums. We want our customers to have joined up systems, that is consistently managing information from the guy in finance updating his journal to lorries unloading within defined timeframes.

We already have software that manages transport and delivery, as well as our core expertise in finance and HR. Delta helps with the warehouse side, as it fits a gap in our product offering.

SD: Is the deal also a way in to the logistics market for Access? JJ: With clients such as C BUTT, we are there already, but we can extend it further. The key is tying functions together. Previously a logistics company would maybe have to go to one company for ERP and go elsewhere for WMS, somewhere else gain for fulfillment. A firm may end up with a number of systems, and how well do they talk to each other? We believe Delta is best in class. It was, however, sometimes overlooked because other packages were better integrated with ERP providers. We believe if we can tie the two together we will have a compelling reason to attack that vertical.

SD: Are these functions too disparate to manage in one system? JJ: Yes, that's why we made the acquisition. You can't be all things to all people. What you can do is say - although they are disparate functions - the way you manage a business successfully is to get it all joined up, so you don't end up with islands of information. If the finance system has stock information that differs from what the WMS sees, it's a problem.

The Delta acquisition is our fifth in the last year or so and is part of our strategy to provide a suite of integrated business management solutions.