For decades, warehousing and distribution companies have relied on a familiar model: a few specialized teams owned the company’s data. Business intelligence (BI) teams, analysts, and strategy departments were gatekeepers, running complex reports and pushing out dashboards to leadership. While this worked in theory, in practice it created bottlenecks. A warehouse manager waiting on a weekly pick-rate report, or a sales team waiting for a margin analysis, would often find that decisions had to be made with gut feel, not real-time intelligence.
Warehouses thrive on speed—whether it’s slotting inventory, routing pickers, or managing labor. When insights are locked away in BI teams, decisions lag. Democratized access means floor supervisors can see throughput bottlenecks instantly, without submitting a report request and waiting three days.
Data is no longer just a strategic resource for executives. In warehousing, it’s an operational tool. When forklift operators see live heat maps of traffic patterns, or pickers get real-time productivity feedback, the entire system optimizes itself organically.
Giving employees access to insights doesn’t just improve KPIs—it improves morale. Workers feel empowered to take action, spot inefficiencies, and innovate. The “intelligence layer” spreads across the organization, rather than being hoarded at the top.
Historically, BI teams had to run queries, clean datasets, and design dashboards. The work was manual, technical, and centralized. Today, AI-driven systems can:
When tools like Epicor Prophet 21 or Epicor Kinetic integrate AI-driven analytics directly into daily workflows, the entire warehouse floor becomes a data-driven decision engine.
Warehousing is complex: thousands of SKUs, shifting customer expectations, labor shortages, and razor-thin margins. Small inefficiencies compound rapidly.
With e-commerce giants setting the bar for speed and accuracy, wholesalers and distributors must deliver Amazon-like performance—or risk losing clients.
Labor shortages in warehousing make workforce optimization critical. Empowering workers with self-service data tools helps them perform better and feel more engaged.
Epicor has long been a trusted platform for wholesale and distribution companies, offering ERPs that integrate finance, inventory, and operations. In recent years, Epicor has invested heavily indata democratization:
By embedding these tools directly into ERP workflows, Epicor reduces friction: the picker doesn’t log into a BI portal; they see actionable data where they work.
Instead of waiting for a BI analyst to run a weekly stockout report, warehouse supervisors get real-time alerts when fast-moving SKUs dip below threshold. Immediate restock requests can be triggered, avoiding costly delays.
With democratized access, shift leads can see productivity per zone instantly, reassigning staff before bottlenecks escalate. Workers see their own metrics, encouraging accountability and continuous improvement.
AI-powered insights can flag patterns of picking errors such as a specific SKU often being mis-scanned, allowing floor staff to correct issues immediately instead of waiting for monthly audits.
Customer service teams, once reliant on BI to pull order histories, can now query systems directly:“Show me John Smith’s last five orders and fulfillment times.”Faster answers = better client satisfaction.
AI is the true catalyst behind democratization. Where BI teams once translated raw data into insights, AI now automates that translation:
Democratization doesn’t mean a free-for-all. Role-based access ensures employees see only what’s relevant. A picker sees productivity metrics; finance sees margins.
Modern AI interfaces reduce the literacy burden. Employees don’t need to learn SQL—they just ask questions. Training shifts from “how to use tools” to “how to act on insights.”
The ROI of faster, smarter decisions is significant: lower labor costs, reduced stock outs, better customer retention. For wholesalers running tight margins, democratization pays for itself.
AI-powered insights can flag patterns of picking errors such as a specific SKU often being mis-scanned, allowing floor staff to correct issues immediately instead of waiting for monthly audits.
Warehousing is no longer about forklifts and shelves—it’s about intelligence at every layer:
Companies that continue to silo data within BI teams risk being left behind. Those that democratize will see agility, resilience, and growth.
For warehousing and distribution leaders, the message is clear:
The winners in this next decade of warehousing won’t be those with the biggest facilities or the most forklifts. They’ll be the companies that turn every employee into a data-driven decision-maker. Epicor and AI-driven platforms are already paving the way.
