Warehouse management systems remain vital to distribution, but they often miss daily realities. Dematic highlights unified platforms that add visibility and help teams work smarter.
For decades, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) have been the operational backbone of distribution. They track orders, inventory and shipments with precision. Yet the day-to-day reality on the warehouse floor looks different. Staff are making split-second adjustments, equipment is being pushed to its limits, and processes are constantly evolving just to keep pace.
Much of the pressure warehouses face comes from the gap between what WMS record and what is happening in real time. Labour is harder to find and retain, fulfilment channels are multiplying, and automation is becoming the norm. Supervisors are being asked to make decisions on the fly with very little visibility of what is actually occurring at ground level.
According to Lee Koutsos, Director, Connected Workforce Solutions (CWS) at Dematic, while the role of WMS remains central, achieving the level of visibility businesses need today depends on complementary capabilities that make its data accessible and actionable.
“WMS isn’t going anywhere,” he explains. “But what we often see is that the data it generates is locked away in the background. Customers don’t always know it’s there, or how to use it. Once we expose that information in a simple, accessible way, they can start to see where improvements are possible.”
In practice, this means giving supervisors visibility of the small but important details that sit between those order milestones: how long a pick actually takes, where bottlenecks form, or how operators are performing in real time. With that information, businesses can adjust on the fly rather than waiting for the end of the shift to find out what went wrong. Which is exactly what unified platforms promise to deliver.
Making invisible work visible
These unified platforms sit between the WMS and the warehouse floor. They connect devices such as scanners, voice systems, vision systems and AMRs, then capture every scan, confirmation, movement and task duration. Instead of waiting until the end of the shift for data, supervisors can see what is happening while it happens.
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it,” says Robert Deane, Southern Regional Sales Manager at Dematic Australia at Dematic. “A unifying platform across multiple technologies gives businesses insight into their own operations so they can optimise with evidence, not gut feel.”
There’s a key distinction between a WMS and a unified platform. WMS excels at orders and inventory; what needs to be done, where stock is located and how it moves across the network. Unified platforms focus on how that work is carried out. A WMS might specify that two items need to reach a tote by a certain time. The unifying layer captures who picked them, how far they walked, whether the right location was scanned, whether other items were collected along the way, and how long the trip took. With this kind of data, supervisors can see patterns that were previously invisible. A single aisle might consistently slow operations, an operator might struggle with accuracy at certain times of the shift, or a seasonal change in demand might make a slotting decision suddenly inefficient.
Once those patterns are visible, solutions can be implemented quickly. For example, at one customer site, Dematic’s software team noticed an issue in the analytics where dropouts kept occurring in one area. They called the operations team and discovered a Wi-Fi access point had failed. This meant it was picked up before it was even reported on the floor. In another case, analysis revealed a fast-moving stock keeping unit (SKU) was stored in a spot that added minutes to every pick. A quick re-positioning delivered immediate time savings.
Not just another layer
The biggest challenge in warehouses today is not only the speed of goods moving in and out, but the people who make it happen. Staff turnover remains high, and many operators leave within weeks of starting. Supervisors spend valuable time training new recruits, often through complex systems that are difficult to learn and frustrating to use. Even those who stay can feel disconnected from their performance, with little real-time feedback or recognition.
Unified platforms help by changing how tasks are presented and measured. Instead of juggling multiple systems, the platform takes order data from the WMS and translates it into clear, step-by-step instructions across devices. Each scan, confirmation and movement is captured in the background and presented in dashboards, so progress can be tracked in real time. For new recruits this means easier onboarding, while for supervisors it provides the visibility to coach and redeploy staff as needed.
“Retaining new recruits can be very challenging in a warehouse environment,” Lee says. “Introduce a gaming element and it can completely change motivation levels.” He explains that simple features like progress targets or light competition between operators can give staff a sense of achievement throughout the day. “It creates a genuine increase in job satisfaction,” he adds, noting that some sites have reported a lift in retention when employees feel more engaged with their work.
The ability to tailor workflows also helps accommodate different working styles. One operator may prefer the familiarity of scanning, while another finds voice more efficient, and a third might like using vision-based confirmation. With a unified platform, all three approaches can be supported without sacrificing consistency in measurement or performance. The result is a more flexible and people-centred workplace, where technology adapts to staff rather than forcing staff to adapt to technology.
A local perspective
While unified platforms are emerging around the world, Dematic has taken a different route by building its solution close to home. The company’s software team in Australia designed and wrote the code for its Connected Workforce Platform (CWP), drawing on years of experience with local operations and the challenges they face.
Many of Dematic’s competitors rely on overseas vendors for their software. Any change request or customisation often means long lead times, expensive add-ons and a frustrating wait. Lee says Dematic’s local development team is able to adapt far more quickly. “Our response time being local knocks a lot of cost and delay out of the equation. You are dealing with people who know the market and can adapt quickly.”
Control is another differentiator. As Dematic supplies the software and the hardware, customers have a single point of accountability rather than juggling multiple vendors.
“The fact that our engineering capability sits here in Australia means we can respond quickly and adapt to customer needs,” Lee explains. “This is a clear differentiator in the market place.”
Just as importantly, Dematic has not taken a standardised approach. The platform has been built to reflect the realities of Australian businesses, whether that’s managing seasonal changes in SKU profiles, supporting hybrid automation environments, or helping supervisors improve staff retention in a tough labour market.
“We saw an obvious need in the market that was not being addressed,” Lee explains. “So, we built a platform to meet it.”
Looking ahead
The warehouse of the future will be more optimised, more data-driven and more people-focused, but the way supervisors interact with systems is shifting. Unified platforms give businesses a way to add new technologies into the mix without the need for complicated WMS changes as a unified platform such as CWP is WMS agnostic.
They are less about replacing the systems warehouses already depend on and more about unlocking their full potential. By bridging the gap between strategy and execution, these platforms give businesses the confidence to act on evidence rather than instinct.
Deane points out that without this new layer of visibility, continuous improvement becomes guesswork.
“Without data, companies are flying blind. They might make a change based on gut feel, only to discover months later that the adjustment made things worse. With visibility, you can see the impact in real time and adapt before small problems turn into bigger ones.”
For supply chain businesses, unified platforms mean clearer workflows and a greater sense of purpose. For supervisors, they mean faster insights and fewer blind spots. And for the industry, it signals a shift towards warehouses that are not only more productive, but also more resilient and ready to adapt to future distribution demands.
