Epicor to customers: adopt new package "at your own pace"

Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2003 12:00:00 AM MST

Epicor Software did something unusual at its recent user conference: it unveiled its next-generation package for the manufacturing market and then assured customers that they would be able to migrate to that platform at their own pace.

Mollie Hunter, senior VP of Epicor's manufacturing solutions group, says Epicor is taking this approach because its customers have made it clear that they don't want to overhaul their entire technology infrastructure every time a vendor releases a new set of applications. The new Sonoma software suite provides a single architectural framework for Epicor's three manufacturing-oriented products—Vista, which is aimed at small companies, Vantage for medium-size companies, and Avante for larger enterprises. It also will allow companies to deploy the individual applications within these packages as Web services. Epicor also acquired an ERP product called Manage 2000 when it purchased ROI Systems earlier this year.

Hunter says users can gain many advantages from deploying the new Sonoma suite, but Epicor's financial survival does not depend on users making that switch immediately. In fact, she says Epicor's $40.3 million in revenues for the third quarter of 2003—a 19-percent increase over the same period last year—was due largely to sales of "value chain extension" products such as CRM and supply chain management components that link with the core ERP applications. A percentage of that revenue also came from the integration of ROI's customer base into Epicor's business.

Going forward, Hunter says, Epicor expects to continue capitalizing on the value chain extensions, adding them to both Sonoma and the existing Epicor product line. "We also expect to generate more revenue from services and consulting," she says, among customers who choose to extend the lives of their existing applications rather than migrate to the new suite.

With users now more cautious about adopting new technology, it's a good bet we'll see more vendors adopting this multi-faceted approach.

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