A client asked me, “What mistakes do you see operations teams making most when it comes to warehouse IT and cybersecurity?”
After years of supporting distribution centers and 3PLs, the biggest mistake I still see is treating network and cybersecurity as an afterthought. It doesn’t matter how many ransomware stories hit the news; I watch warehouse after warehouse underestimate the real-world impact of cyber-threats or assume a couple of consumer-grade firewalls and off-the-shelf antivirus will do the job. Hate to break it to you, but that’s not enough. A single breach, WMS outage, or Wi-Fi failure can idle pickers, conveyors, and dock doors overnight. Yet too many sites stay reactive, bolting on security only after something breaks—an approach that’s always costlier and messier than preventing the problem in the first place.
- Believing “free” or consumer gear is good enough. That that bargain router or free endpoint suite can’t segment forklifts, tablets, and IoT sensors from your ERP, can’t give you real-time threat intel, and won’t pass a customer security audit. When a breach halts outbound shipments and triggers SLA penalties, those “savings” vanish fast.
- Undervaluing the cost of downtime. Many operations leaders think, “If the network is down for a couple hours, we’ll catch up.” In reality, two hours offline can mean thousands of unscanned picks, missed carrier cutoffs, and overtime just to claw back service levels, plus angry retail partners. A robust IT strategy isn’t just about blocking hackers; it’s about keeping pallets moving when (not if) something fails.
- Failing to plan for the long game. Threats evolve, handheld OS versions change, and automation stacks grow. If you aren’t proactively testing backups, patching RF guns, and hardening PLC networks, you’re already behind the curve.
How to fix it
- Skip the shortcuts. Deploy enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, next-gen firewalls, and MFA everywhere from the shipping office to the mezzanine.
- Think lifecycle, not project. Build a living cybersecurity roadmap that’s reviewed every quarter, not stapled to a binder.
- Leverage specialists who know warehouses. From RF spectrum surveys to zero-trust segmentation, you don’t have to figure this out alone.
If you’re serious about keeping pick lines running and freight flowing, let’s talk. Book a free 10-minute Warehouse Security Assessment and make sure a single click isn’t all it takes to shut the dock doors. Call us at 888-880-2536.