Oracle updates supply chain management suite

Business software giant Oracle Corp. released a suite of updates to its supply chain management product today and said the cloud-based platform now supports the warehouse management system (WMS) that it acquired when it bought 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 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 organizations to manage the challenges associated with the supply chain's digital revolution, such as looking for new channels to sell their products, building direct relationships with consumers, and providing services as well as products, Oracle's Jon S. Chorley, chief sustainability officer and group vice president of supply chain management product strategy, said in an interview.

Supply chain users have originally been hesitant to switch from on-premise software to cloud deployments for warehouse management, Chorley admitted. However, many of those doubters have since seen 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, said Chorley.

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.

The latest release follows a February update to its SCM Cloud, when Oracle added operations automation and expanded Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to the platform.