It seems that the opportunity for growth with Epicor cannot be denied. As we see it, Epicor is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance, with financial health and strong leadership forecasting great things to come for this Tier 2 ERP vendor. What remains to be seen is what the best path forward will be for Epicor's legacy customers.
For nearly 50 years Epicor has striven to provide customers with industry-specific software solutions and services. Epicor was known as Platinum Software Corporation until 1999 when it decided to rebrand based on its size and offerings.
From humble beginnings as a software provider for manufacturing businesses, Epicor's growth established its place in the market as a supply chain and manufacturing software provider. Its software is designed to assist organizations in improving control of inventory and field teams, namely manufacturers, distributors, and service companies, even looking to add a Field Service Management solution to their technology stack in late 2023.
However, Epicor has also experienced the growing pains of a transition to the cloud from legacy software, like many vendors, as the landscape continues to evolve.
Epicor has told current on-premises customers that they will be supported for as long as they want. This claim communicates to customers that they are cared for and that Epicor is not looking to force organizations to transition before they are ready to do so. This seems to be a competitive trend for ERP providers. IFS and Epicor are being patient with their customers in the transition to the cloud. Now that the two providers are going head-to-head in this race, neither can withdraw this offering without losing some customers who are unwilling or unready to transition to the cloud.
Epicor's Prophet 21 has been on the market for over 30 years; however, Epicor did not provide a native web application for it until 2017, when a cloud-first initiative signaled a forward-facing approach to building a modern ERP solution. Epicor has since held semi-annual releases of the latest Prophet 21 versions, with the most recent update (as of 2021), Prophet 21 2021.1, promising improved user experience and expanded revenue opportunities.
With all of that said, the focus is on Epicor ERP, which officially became known as Kinetic on June 10, 2021. Kinetic is marketed as having the ability to maximize momentum and profitability as Epicor's only true multi-tenant cloud solution. Its latest release claims to improve on current offerings in six areas: user experience, e-commerce, document security, EDI integration, spreadsheet integration, and regulatory standard support.
Of interest is the Epicor Virtual Agent, or EVA, which can be likened to Apple's Siri in that it is readily available to answer questions and perform routine tasks. Kinetic ERP users benefit from Epicor’s Application Studio, which Epicor claims is essentially a no-code solution for detailed personalization and customization of Kinetic software — and our initial impressions of this functionality are favorable.
*Update as of May 2023: Eclipse will also be offered in the cloud as of December 2023. Epicor has assured customers that it will continue to support on-premises Eclipse solutions.
As we often tell our clients — regardless of what software they are currently using — your first step in evaluating legacy software should be to thoroughly consider your strategy and your organization's unique requirements. When it comes to existing Epicor customers, you will have to figure out if your company will go to a public cloud infrastructure or a private one — or even a hybrid. This decision will ultimately have the greatest effect on how you will run your applications following going live.
The decision to embark on this journey should not be taken lightly. The process involves a considerable investment of time and resources, and you need to be certain that your people have the time to be active players in the venture. The purpose of moving to more modern ERP systems is to change the way that things are being done. It requires that stakeholders participate in an exhaustive, extensive process, and map out the way that the new system will benefit the individuals’ roles and the company as a whole.
It is vital to the success of your company that you select a strong leadership team to serve as the advocates and forerunners for your ERP journey. Without such, the job will assuredly struggle to be a success, if not completely fail.
Our independent ERP consultants want to help evaluate your unique needs and empower you to make the best decisions for your organization. Contact us today for an individualized ERP consultation.