Blogs: Posts http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ApprovedBlogPosts.aspx RSS feed for the Posts list. Fri, 24 May 2013 19:18:15 GMT Microsoft SharePoint Foundation RSS Generator 60 en-US Blogs: Posts http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/_layouts/images/siteIcon.png http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ApprovedBlogPosts.aspx How to Deliver More: Educate Companies on Lean Thinking http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=68 Body:

With the unpredictable economic market, now more than ever, businesses must evaluate processes to gain efficiency throughout the organization. When business processes encounter “waste” or unused production, they become inefficient which influences the company’s bottom line. The waste can further lead to a loss of value positioned in a company by its customers and key stakeholders.

To help business processes improve efficiency and drive more value to the customers, it is vital to develop a cost effective approach, called “Lean.”

Lean is not just a tool, but more of a methodology to turn waste into value. Lean is a focus on speed, eliminating waste and delivering more value to customers.  When implementing Lean techniques, credibility is important to build around the effectiveness of selected initiatives. The Lean technique analyzes end-to-end processes and determines how to deliver more to the customer with much less.

One key method to develop credibility is to certify major stakeholders in Lean tools and practices. As one of the top companies in the industry, Epicor recently launched a Lean Certification program to provide a comprehensive suite of information on lean tools and techniques. The program consists of a two-day interactive course that combines lecture and group activity sessions to develop Lean specialists within an organization. The curriculum offers applicable knowledge and templates relevant at their company. Participants can earn the Epicor Lean Certification by completing an open book examination at the end of the course.

Here is a preview of the Lean Certification course:

Day 1

  • How to become a “lean thinker”- introduction to Lean concepts and history of Lean
  • Identify the seven deadly wastes: defects, inventory, over processing, waiting, motion, transportation and over production
  • Lean techniques- value stream mapping, kaban calculations, 5S, root cause counter measure and others

Day 2

  • Synopsis of the Lean Kaizen practice
  • Lean tools in your business- Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Project Management tool
  • Lean Success- Poke Yoke systems and how to build process improvement teams
  • Certification exam

“This was great. I appreciate how interactive it was and how we can immediately apply the tools and concepts in our business,” said Rene Savage, vice president for Stellar Industrial.

The Lean Certification program is an integral part of ongoing initiatives for Epicor University  to provide the best-in-class training and education resources for customers, partners and employees worldwide.

Posted by the Epicor Social Media Team

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 11:22 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:23:54 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=68 Listen: That Sound You Hear Approaching Is Big Data http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=73 Body:

McKinsey & Company’s report on Big Data puts it in sharp context:

“The ability to store, aggregate, and combine data and then use the results to perform deep analyses has become ever more accessible as trends such as Moore’s Law in computing, its equivalent in digital storage, and cloud computing continue to lower costs and other technology barriers. For less than $600, an individual can purchase a disk drive with the capacity to store all of the world’s music. The means to extract insight from data are also markedly improving as software available to apply increasingly sophisticated techniques combines with growing computing horsepower. Further, the ability to generate, communicate, share, and access data has been revolutionized by the increasing number of people, devices, and sensors that are now connected by digital networks.”

Big Data is everywhere, and as Aberdeen Group’s recent research brief makes clear, it’s at the center of discussion in issues relating to talent and human resources. Companies want to run more effectively and efficiently. To make this happen, an organization must not only gather relevant employee data, but integrate and correlate it in meaningful ways, then present it to the business in a timely manner.

Many data management solutions exist, and organizations should weigh their specific needs and budget requirements when selecting one. According to the Aberdeen report, several key technology groups deserve special consideration due to their strong correlation with the performance benefits of speed, satisfaction, and scale.

The study shows that organizations with the highest level of data integration were much more likely to adopt the following technologies than their peers:

  • Business intelligence platforms
  • Data quality tools
  • Data enrichment tools
  • Master data management systems

Aberdeen asserts that HR can become a hub of strategic insight for the organization by taking on the challenge of Big Data. When doing so, HR needs to keep these points in mind:

  • Cast a wide net. Research shows that while including more data increases a project’s complexity, it also improves a project’s results. Efforts with too narrow a scope are limiting their usefulness from the get-go.
  • Involve stakeholders. Unless a solution delivers information the business needs, in a way they can use it and fast enough to be relevant, the investment will be wasted. Involve stakeholders to know what the business needs, and include the right data to deliver quality results that become part of how the business runs.
  • Use the right tools. Big Data can bring big complexity, but the right tools can alleviate the pain associated with it.

Get the full Aberdeen report today, courtesy of Epicor.

Posted by the Epicor Social Media Team

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 11:58 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:59:12 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=73 Distribution Trends and the Importance of Software http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=77 Body:

Lindsay Konzak, editor of Modern Distribution Management’s management and strategy blog, recently posted four trends in distribution from the publication’s 2011 Distributor Landscape Report. She elaborated on these findings in an interview with John Sonnhalter in the blog Tradesmen Insight.

  1. Customers want more.
    Nearly all distributors said they are seeing an increase in demand for services. Customers who have pared back staff and resources in response to the recession want distributors to do more for them. The challenge is that many end-users want that increase in service in return for very little or for free.
  2. Inventory management continues to be a priority.
    Despite demand growing quite quickly in some sectors post-recession, distributors and manufacturers have been reluctant to increase inventories at the same pace. Instead, many have increased their focus on forecasting: determining when and what to buy.
  3. There is a reluctance to hire again.
    Distributors are taking advantage of process improvement tools to shave costs and waste from internal processes. Smart distributors and manufacturers are working closely to do this, recognizing that there is opportunity to improve profitability up and down the supply chain. Many are also including key end-users in evaluation processes; they recognize that they not only provide a service for the end-user, but costs can be incurred at the end-user level that affect the entire supply chain. A more granular understanding of processes across the extended enterprise is key.
  4. They have a focus on diversification.
    More distributors of all sizes say they recognize the need to prioritize diversification into new markets or product types to buffer their companies from the ups and downs of business cycles.

All these trends point to the renewed pressure distributors are facing in these tough economic times, as well as the heightened importance of business communications and resource planning in successfully running a distributorship. In this environment, the quality of distribution business software is critical.

Epicor believes that not all distribution software is created equal. Choosing the best distribution software can provides the right tools to efficiently plan, assemble, ship, and deliver the goods customers want, when they want them. Choosing the wrong warehouse and distribution software might result in not meeting customer’s needs and losing key opportunities to increase supply chain performance.

Posted by the Epicor Social Media Team

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 12:10 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:10:47 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=77 Survey Says: Most Companies Lagging in Carbon Accounting Comprehension and Execution http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=79 Body:

Last week we announced the results of our first ever global carbon accounting survey. The goal of the survey was to gain insight into the ability and willingness of companies to identify their greenhouse gas emissions; to find out how they technically capture emissions; and to clarify the extent to which companies have to meet legal requirements for sustainability, as well as partner and customer demands in this arena.

The results – compiled from nearly 1000 companies surveyed across the globe – were pretty astounding. Fifty-eight percent of companies surveyed had not even heard of the term “carbon accounting”; less than a third could accurately describe what the term means, and a full 80% of companies surveyed don’t monitor their company’s carbon footprint.

So why are companies lagging in their comprehension of carbon accounting as a whole, and in the execution of said carbon accounting initiatives?

One reason is many companies see carbon accounting or energy management efforts as a distraction rather than something they can quickly and easily quantify. I also think there is some cynicism out there colored by individuals’ own personal opinions. Many people feel the whole carbon issue equates to acceptance of science behind global warming. Irrespective of your views on the science, if you choose not to believe it and bury your head in the sand, you do so at the risk of putting your organisation at a competitive disadvantage.  Legislation is here and if you are not mandated by it now, it will be coming your way.

Done right, carbon accounting can be a part of your normal course of business – not an extra task – and like other GRC initiatives; it has the potential to create process efficiencies for operational cost savings.

Another hurdle for carbon accounting is many companies don’t realize the significance of monetizing these efforts. What’s more, the trading of carbon credits is often way outside of their core business role. It’s a new skill set/competency that most people flat out don’t have – but expect to see the job market heat up over the next few years in The New Carbon Economy. Major financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Berkeley's and Citi Bank, already have carbon trading desks in London, the commodity market for carbon offsets, is the fastest growing commodity market in the world with companies buying and selling carbon credits like pork bellies or silver.

At the point when the economies of the world were in a more robust state, green initiatives and carbon were a lot higher up on both media and corporate agendas. But as the downturn took hold, organizations started looking inwards at themselves and less at their green credentials. However operational cost savings and a green corporate agenda are not mutually exclusive. By managing your operations in an energy efficient manner, there’s tremendous financial upside in the form of operational cost savings, and also possible increased revenues – not to mention compliance, as there’s going to be a “train” of increasing compliance requirements in this arena. We say – get ahead of the curve – start following it now. Compliance is actually a byproduct – you’ll actually save your company money and open up a whole new revenue stream.

Posted by Chris Purcell, Product Marketing Manager, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 12:12 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:13:57 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=79 Engaged or Disengaged? http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=82 Body:

Sometimes it is a fine line between being a committed worker and one in need of commitment, especially in an age where technology extends boundaries in a virtually limitless way.

We were reminded of this when reading a BBC report on Volkswagen’s decision to stop its Blackberry servers from sending emails to some employees when they are off shift. The carmaker made the move in 2011 following complaints that staff's work and home lives were becoming blurred (The restriction covers VW employees in Germany working under trade union negotiated contracts.).

According to BBC, this move follows criticism of internal emails by Thierry Breton, chief executive of the French information technology services giant, Atos, who said that workers were wasting hours of their lives on internal messages both at home and at work. Another multinational, the German conglomerate Henkel, declared an email "amnesty" for its workers between Christmas and New Year’s Day, saying messages should only be sent out as an emergency measure.

These moves reflect a growing awareness of the difficulty of keeping a healthy work/life balance. Particularly in trying economic times, the penchant to work obsessively is driven by a belief that it provides added security; in fact, overdoing work can be counterproductive, anxiety producing, and ultimately alienating.

Epicor has long believed that not only does encouraging work/life balance help employees become more engaged and productive, it can also reduce stress levels and create a healthier workforce. As technology has advanced, the line between the personal and professional has blurred. By utilizing HR software, it is easier than ever to find innovative ways to help employees do their jobs and focus on their lives outside the office.

There are several things organizations can do to help employees have a quality work/life balance while remaining productive. From schedule flexibility to different types of leave, companies can work with employees to find what works best for the individual and the enterprise.

Posted by Malcolm Fox, Director, Product Marketing, Epicor HCM

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 12:17 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:17:45 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=82 The Strategic Role of Education in Restoring Business Vitality http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=83 Body:

According to a recent release by Gartner, over the next two to three years, CIOs will be tasked to help business leaders identify, develop, and instill the new strategic business capabilities (SBCs) that will help restore their businesses to full health in the post-recession world. Those who don’t may find themselves sidelined.

Gartner asserts that great companies compete by advancing SBCs. These are not “just” technologies. They involve process changes, mind-set shifts, new job roles, and organization changes. So establishing ongoing education and training as a high cultural value will support the advancement of SBCs by preparing employees for the change these new capabilities demand, implicitly and explicitly.

Part of the role training and education play has to do with their ability to establish belief in a system among its users. A study at the University of North Carolina’s Bryan School of Business and Economics demonstrates that training influences the shared beliefs that users form about the technology, and that the shared beliefs influence the perceived usefulness and ease of use of new systems. This study provides both empirical and theoretical support for the use of managerial intervention such as training and education, since perceived usefulness and ease-of-use contribute to the behavioral intention to use the technology.

SBCs are designed to improve the efficiency of business processes and operations. However, for the initiatives to deliver on their value, end users must develop the skills and knowledge on how to function effectively and efficiently in the wake of the change wrought by a particular SBC. End-user adoption is critical to a successful strategic implementation and its ongoing use—and this is only possible with effective education and training.

Epicor’s extensive library of training courses, educational materials, and user resources provide customers with an excellent platform to develop an effective training program. The array of resources enable customers to choose the best options to meet their needs and tailor programs to their individual user preferences.

Posted by Amy Baker, Manager, Product Marketing

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 12:18 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:18:53 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=83 Lessons Learned from Best-in-Class ERP Implementations http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=94 Body:

Eric Kimberling, President of Panorama Consulting Solutions, recently led an Epicor-sponsored webinar on enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation best practices, sharing some of the lessons learned from years of specialized consulting in the ERP market, as well as results from the company’s recent 2012 ERP Report.

Common challenges among those implementing ERP systems are implementation time, cost and business benefits delivered. According to the Panorama report, 54% of ERP implementations take longer than expected, 56% cost more than expected, and 50% realize less than half of the anticipated business benefits.

Kimberling notes that while these numbers are not inspiring, the trend across the industry has been in the right direction:

 CHALLENGES

 2010

 2011

 

Implementation took longer than expected

 

 

61%

 

54%

 

Implementation cost
more than expected

 

 

74%

 

56%

 

Implementation delivered
more than half of expected benefits

 

 

48%

 

50%


“The problems are not in the software, but rather in the implementation and adaptation to change,” says Kimberling.

Companies would do well to note the eight traits that Panorama has identified as distinguishing best-in-class ERP implementations from less successful or troubled ones. These are as follows:

(1)  Focus on detailed business processes and requirements

  1. Understand how your business operates
  2. Define and prioritize key business requirements
  3. Define requirements during selection; refine them throughout the
    implementation
  4. Avoid overemphasis on technical capabilities, if they’re not aligned with business needs

(2)  Focus on achieving ROI from your ERP investment

  1. Develop a specific and comprehensive business case prior to committing to an ERP solution
  2. Make business benefits as tangible as defined solution costs
  3. Establish key performance indicators (KPI)
  4. Set baselines and targets for KPI
  5. Track post-implementation performance

(3)  Commit strong project management and full-time resources to the project

  1. Have a strong project manager to support and participate in the project
  2. Leverage experienced resources
  3. Develop strong project controls
  4. Implement a risk-management and mitigation plan
  5. Conduct ongoing phase reviews

(4)  Gain commitment from company executives because support from top management minimizes conflict with business needs

  1. Secure CIO or IT director support
  2. Make sure that the CEO and the entire C-Level are on board
  3. Establish regular project reviews with the executive team

(5)  Take time to plan up front

  1. Don’t just jump into a project; do it right
  2. Validate the software vendor’s understanding of business requirements and their project plan
  3. Budget time to thoroughly test new business processes, security roles, customizations, etc.
  4. Communicate to employees and stakeholders

(6)  Plan and begin data migration early

  1. Define the data scope up front, including the scope for transactional and master data
  2. Begin scrubbing and mapping data as early as possible
  3. Thoroughly test data during pilots and other testing
  4. Don’t forget about data history

(7)  Ensure adequate training and change management

  1. Training, change management and job design are crucial to ERP projects
  2. ERP training should focus on business workflows rather than on transactions
  3. Training the trainer is effective—and embeds knowledge in the organization

(8)  Understand the target benefits of ERP

  1. Clearly understand what you are trying to accomplish with ERP
  2. Have a well-defined purpose and goals
  3. Leverage the experience of those who have gone through prior ERP projects, but don’t blindly follow what others did in their implementations

Kimberling notes that however one sources an ERP implementation, keeping these eight traits in mind will be of significant benefit.

 

Posted by the Epicor Social Media Team

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/30/2013 1:14 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:21:02 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=94 Meet the Executive Team: Paul Farrell – Executive Vice President, Worldwide Research & Development http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=105 Body:

Meet Epicor’s Executive Vice President, Worldwide Research and Development, Paul Farrell. Paul brings over 20 years of experience with enterprise resource planning systems to the company and is responsible for product development of the company’s enterprise software product lines.

Q: Paul, What is your vision for the new Epicor?

A: I think the vision for the new Epicor is to deliver the only software solution a customer will ever need. 

Q: What is most important in your role as EVP, Worldwide R&D that will help to achieve this vision?

A: My major role is to ensure that we maintain a balance between producing products that people want to buy and producing products that people want to use. Customers when buying a product want a solution that has every bell and whistle.  However generally when using it they need their “5 screens” completely, uncluttered, optimized and simple.

Q: If you could trade places with any other person for a week, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

A: Billy McNeill– the captain of the Glasgow Celtic (my favorite football “soccer” team and undisputed greatest football team in the world). He led them to the European cup, nine consecutive league titles and many cup wins as a player.  Later as a manager he led the team to numerous league and cup wins. Swapping for the week he won the European Cup would have been great.

Paul Farrell
Paul sitting in the Celtic dugout at Celtic park with his wife, Jo and sons, Thomas and Ewan.

Posted by Morgan Liti, Social Media Team, Epicor

Category: Distribution; Technology and Innovation; ERP; Manufacturing; Retail
Published: 1/31/2013 8:43 AM
]]> mconlin Distribution; Technology and Innovation; ERP; Manufacturing; Retail Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:48:15 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=105 Meet the Executive Team: John Hiraoka, CMO http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=107 Body:

Meet Epicor’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, John Hiraoka. John joined Epicor in 1998 and brings over 25 years of enterprise applications design, development, sales, marketing and operations experience to the company. In his role as chief marketing officer, John is responsible for the company’s overall corporate, product and marketing strategy, as well as corporate development, strategic partnerships, alliances, and mergers and acquisitions.

Q: John, what is your vision for the new Epicor?

A: To be the company that fundamentally changes how enterprise business software works.  The industry has talked about it for a long time – we are doing it.

Q: What is most important in your role as CMO that will help to achieve this vision?

A: Getting out the message on what we’ve done and also what’s coming. Helping companies see that “next generation” business applications are real, here now, and can provide phenomenal benefits in productivity and usability.

Q: What did you want to be when you were 12-years-old?

 A: President.

John Hiraoka

John demonstrating his love of crustaceans.

Posted by Morgan Liti, Social Media Team, Epicor

Category: Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; ERP; Manufacturing
Published: 1/31/2013 9:51 AM
]]> mconlin Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; ERP; Manufacturing Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:59:44 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=107 Meet the Executive Team: Kathy Crusco, CFO http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=108 Body:

Meet Kathy Crusco, Epicor’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. Kathy brings over 20 years of experience to her role as CFO of Epicor Software Corporation, and came to Epicor in May 2011 following the merger with Activant Solutions Inc., where she also served as CFO.

Q: Kathy, what is your vision for the new Epicor?

A: For me, the vision is to be the fastest growing ERP company in the marketplace and I think with the combination [of the recently combined Epicor and Activant] we can do that. We have the best product and I believe we have the best people, who have a real passion for Epicor – now it’s really about providing the best service and with that, we’ll be the fastest growing ERP company.

Q: What is most important in your role as CFO that will help to achieve this vision?

A: The most important role that I play is working with the management team to ensure that we have the strategy to achieve the goals and objectives we put in place. I also think making sure our processes support that strategy so that we can provide the information and the best results is of the upmost importance. I view Epicor as a customer-facing organization and the number one goal is to provide superior customer service to our customers, both internal and external.

Q: What is your favorite weekend activity?

A: Going boating on Clearlake with my family – although it’s getting much more difficult to have my two boys (who are 17 & 19) agree to go on family outings with “mom and dad.”

Kathy Crusco

Kathy with her husband and son at his last varsity high school soccer game in his senior year. Kathy says soccer is one of her family’s shared passions.

Don’t miss the next feature where we’ll be speaking with Epicor’s CMO, John Hiraoka.

Posted by Morgan Liti, Social Media Team, Epicor

Category: Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; Manufacturing; ERP
Published: 1/31/2013 10:00 AM
]]> mconlin Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; Manufacturing; ERP Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:04:03 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=108 Meet the Executive Team: Pervez Qureshi http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=109 Body:

Successful leadership of one of the largest and fastest growing global enterprise business software companies requires many skills  - vision, passion, determination, humility, and limitless energy just to name a few.  It shouldn’t be surprising that Epicor’s executives not only embody these attributes, but also a number of other qualities and characteristics that drive them both personally and professionally.

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be chatting with the Epicor executive team not only about their vision for the New Epicor, but also to learn more about them personally and what they do when they’re not at work, on the road, or online – like what motivates them, how they decompress, or what we might find in their refrigerator on a Sunday morning.

For our first installment, I’d like to introduce you to Epicor’s President and CEO, Pervez Qureshi. Pervez brings more than 20 years of management experience in Silicon Valley’s hi-tech industry to his role as president and CEO of Epicor.

 

Pervez Qureshi, President and CEO  

Q: Pervez, what is your vision for the new Epicor?

A: It’s very simple – to build the leading, worldwide, midmarket ERP company and to deliver solutions that grow our customers’ revenues and profitability.

Q: What is most important in your role as CEO that will help to achieve this vision?

A: To make sure we have the best people that are engaged, energetic and inspired to focus on our mission. It’s really all about our people and making sure they have the tools, training, resources and education needed to further our mission.

Q: What’s your favorite stress reliever?

A: First, philosophically, I have two strong beliefs: 1) that no person is tasked with a burden greater than they can bear and 2) that with difficulty comes ease and with ease comes difficulty. For me, these two beliefs prevent stress rather than relieve them, as they help me to remember that any obstacle in front of us is not that big and that we are capable of handling even the most seemingly difficult situations.

As far as an actual stress reliever beyond those two beliefs – that would be meditation.

Pervez Qureshi

Epicor’s Chief Executive Officer, Pervez Qureshi

Stay tuned for the next installment of Meet the Executive Team featuring Executive Vice President and CFO, Kathy Crusco.

Posted by Morgan Liti, Social Media Team, Epicor

Category: Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; Manufacturing; ERP
Published: 1/31/2013 10:05 AM
]]> mconlin Distribution; Retail; Technology and Innovation; Manufacturing; ERP Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:08:43 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=109 A New Global Leader in Business Software: Epicor and Activant Combine http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=122 Body:

Apax Partners announced the completion of its acquisitions of Epicor Software Corporation and Activant Solutions Inc.  Apax Partners intends to combine the two companies to create one of the largest global providers of enterprise applications focused on the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services sectors. The combined company - Epicor Software Corporation - now has more than 33,000 customers in over 150 countries and over $800 million in annual revenue.

The new Epicor will have significant scale, as well as the ability to leverage highly complementary product lines, a broader channel partner program, and an expanded geographic reach. Epicor's strength and heritage in the manufacturing and services sectors is a perfect match with Activant’s market leadership in distribution.  Additionally, the combined company’s retail sector solutions now cover the full spectrum – from small hardgoods retailers, to national specialty softgoods and apparel chains, to global general merchandise department stores.

As both companies have demonstrated throughout their nearly 40-year history, the new Epicor is committed to continuing its customer-focused product strategy and protecting customers’ investment in their products.  With very little overlap in product offerings and complementary product strategies, Epicor will continue to enhance the joint product lines with new features and functionality; while providing a clear path to next-generation capabilities and enabling technologies that customers will need as their businesses evolve.

 Stay tuned in the coming weeks for further announcements on management team structure and progress integrating the two companies.

Category: Retail; Technology and Innovation; Distribution; ERP
Published: 1/31/2013 6:33 PM
]]> mconlin Retail; Technology and Innovation; Distribution; ERP Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:34:19 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=122 SMBs Are Outsourcing for Growth and Profitability http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=130 Body:

According to Gartner, 90 percent of all new businesses created in the United States are in the small to mid-sized business (SMB) category. As these businesses realize they can level the playing field with their larger competitors by turning over non-core business functions to outside service providers, their ability to focus on their main competencies improves their prospects for growth. Analyst IDC also notes this same key reason for growth in this outsourcing: the need for smaller companies to free up resources to focus on core skills in order to be competitive.   

The range of reasons small businesses outsource is wide and varied, including:

  • Improving focus on core competencies
  • Offloading non-strategic IT and business operations
  • Aligning IT with business priorities
  • Enabling IT staff to focus more on strategic activities
  • Cutting costs
  • Improving service levels
  • Centralizing disparate operations
  • Maximizing business agility
  • Alleviating staffing issues
  • Incorporating newer technology and greater technological expertise
  • Ensuring regulatory compliance

With today’s business environment becoming more challenging than ever, SMBs are hard pressed to reduce operational costs and utilize resources optimally. While historically the concept of outsourcing has been associated with large enterprises, increasingly SMBs are pursuing outsourcing strategies as a strategic option to improve growth and bottom line profitability.

Epicor Outsourcing offers SMBs a set of flexible services that helps meet such needs by leveraging the company’s deep domain expertise. These services are sized for the company being served and can be tailored to the specific needs of the individual business.  A variety of managed services based on Epicor’s core competencies enable customers to reduce risk, simplify complexity, and offload non-strategic operations. These include:

  • System Monitoring: 24x7 IT environment monitoring and expert resources to resolve issues
  • System Assurance: An affordable and pragmatic solution for disaster recovery
  • Application Management: End–to-end maintenance and management of Epicor applications
  • Managed Hosting: Cost-effective hosting solution combining infrastructure, software, and services
  • Helpdesk Management: Help desk services for end user support

Customers are provided access to knowledgeable experts, specialized resources, and world-class facilities. As the services build upon themselves, customers can choose the service level that provides the right balance of in-house and external resources that best meets their needs.

Posted by Amy Baker, Manager, Product Marketing

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 1/31/2013 6:44 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:45:58 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=130 Meet the Team: Craig Charlton, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=140 Body:

Meet Epicor’s Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations, Craig Charlton. Craig brings more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of software sales, marketing, consulting, customer service and product development to his role at Epicor.

Q: Craig, what is your vision for the new Epicor?

A: To be the dominate provider of ERP systems to the global midmarket. We are already a formidable competitor and win a high percentage of the opportunities we engage in, but we need to ensure that we are building passionate Epicor advocates in our customer base and continue to spread the word that Epicor is the “best kept secret” in Global ERP.

Q: What is most important in your role as Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations, that will help to achieve this vision?

A: My role is to build the best possible team for Epicor. The battle for talent is fierce and I see the primary part of my role as creating a culture that talented people want to join and an environment where people want to achieve great things. As I say to my team regularly, “I would hate to be competing with us” and this only holds true as long as we keep a great team together. People typically want to belong; want to feel valued; want to feel they have made a difference; want to be part of a winning team and want to have fun. My role is to ensure we build an environment to satisfy these needs and that the team maintains an “attitude of gratitude” with our customers every day.

Q: If you could have any super power, what would it be and why? 

A: Maybe I am too competitive, but to be invisible would be extremely handy in post demonstration client deliberations and to sit in on the occasional competitor’s software demonstration! Our win rates might move up a couple of notches if that were the case.

Craig Charlton

Craig Charlton, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations

Posted by Morgan Liti, Social Media Team, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation; ERP
Published: 1/31/2013 7:04 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation; ERP Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:07:54 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=140 Controlling Business, Not Strangling It http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=154 Body:

I have spent the last 12 months working on the latest release of Epicor iScala. It has been a fantastic experience and I am very pleased to say that the release has gone well. One of the most interesting features of the latest version of Epicor iScala is the introduction of the new Business Transaction Control Engine (BTCE). It is a bit of a mouthful, I know, but this new functionality allows customers to implement a level of control in iScala that has not been possible in previous releases. BTCE is essentially a rules engine that allows organizations to create a number of business rules within iScala, controlling what can or cannot be done based on one or more variables. As a business administrator you can effectively block specific types of business transactions or events from being processed.

Why did we develop the BTCE? Epicor works with organizations in different industries in different environments all over the world. We understand that most organizations are subject to some form of control. This may be internal or external control. As such, they need to be able to implement controls and ensure that these are adhered to at all times. This sounds simple enough and companies have been controlling their processes for decades. The problem with manual controls is that someone needs to control the controls. We worked with our customers to define a way of automating the control process so that we can help our customers focus on what they do instead of what they cannot do.

Control is good. We do not want controlled substances like explosive chemicals to be bought and sold without controlling who is buying and who is selling the chemicals. Customers need to manage this process and this has traditionally required complex add-ons/customizations or complex manual processes with a number of steps.

So how does it work? In a typical business scenario where BTCE is implemented, the sale of a controlled substance would be managed by a set of one or more rules within iScala. These rules are related to the purchase or sale of controlled substances. Each rule can be linked to a specific type of business activity as well as a number of other variables such as vendors, customers, products or even countries. Once the rules are created you may choose to define that purchasing or selling a specific product is only permitted when a valid certificate exists. This certificate is a virtual representation of a license or similar. If this exists you can buy or sell the product, if not, you cannot buy or sell the product. Simple! Yes it is, but there is a little more finesse to the BTCE than this very simplistic definition. I won’t bore you with the details as they would probably require several blog posts to explain.

Why is BTCE so powerful? The power of BTCE comes from the fact that this is configurable but also flexible enough to allow you to control the business without strangling it, preventing you from doing business. Within the rules engine you can define how and when authorized users can process specific transactions, meaning that the organization does not grind to a halt if there is missing paperwork or delays in the realization of a change in an organizational policy. The BTCE engine is dynamic and this means that if a rule is changed in the application or a certificate is entered, you do not need to go into the system and make changes manually. The engine will automatically update all the transactions impacted by the changes.

Who should be using BTCE? Governance and the reduction of risk within business is a part of the world of business that we all operate within. As such anyone that is doing business should be looking to implement controls within their organization to ensure that they are adhering to the latest regulations. The BTCE allows anyone using Epicor iScala to do just that.

BTCE is one of the many products that Epicor offers iScala customers to control their business. I am very proud of what we have achieved in developing it; I truly believe we’ve made it as powerful and flexible as possible without impacting negatively on the business of doing business.

Posted by Robert Sinfield, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/1/2013 6:32 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:33:07 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=154 BPM: Take it From Phil, You Can Do This! http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=156 Body:

Last week, we started our 2011 Epicor User Summits. We’ll hit 12 major metropolitan areas in North America throughout February, March, and April along with several events in EMEA and AsiaPac. I don’t necessarily love life away from home, but I do enjoy getting out and having a chance to meet with customers. Over the next few months, I’ll keep you updated on my notes from the field…

At our first stop in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to listen to a young man--an IT staffer at a very small company--describe what he did to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of his company using Business Process Management (BPM). Phil, this quiet and humble technologist took cues (and some commands) from the company founder to use their newly-implemented ERP system to help the company grow revenues much faster than costs.
 
In this startup that grew from $0.7M to $4.0M US revenue in the last three years, Phil learned that his Epicor ERP solution came with powerful but completely usable BPM tools with which he could transform how the day-to-day work at the company got done. Phil saw that very simple changes to the company’s CRM and Supply Chain apps could make a big difference in the quality of their customer service, the accuracy of their multi-plant inventory, and the speed of their order fulfillment.
 
What really struck me about Phil's story was the "can do" theme that came out. I'm not talking about attitude, although I have no doubt that Phil has it, I'm talking about a very pragmatic capability that comes with Epicor's next-generation solution. I'm talking about those conversations where the company founder says to Phil, "I want the system to do THIS" and Phil confidently says, "I can make it do that." Then he goes back to his desk, creates a new BPM (yes, it has become a noun), does some testing, and delivers on his promise to the founder.
 
THAT is how the business-to-IT relationship should work. No disrespect to Phil, but some credit is due here to Epicor's True SOA™ platform and tools that give him the opportunity to craft a business process and user experience tailored to his company's needs without breaking into the code (or the bank) to get it done. I applaud Phil for his talent and the service he brings to his fledgling company and I say to IT shops large and small, “Now go and do likewise.”

Our 2011 User Summits are open to all Epicor customers.  For more info, visit Epicor.com/Summits

Posted by Scott Hays, Director, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/1/2013 6:34 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:34:50 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=156 Epicor Positioned as Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=161 Body:

Yesterday, Epicor announced it is positioned as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies.

Gartner is the largest research and advisory firm of the information technology industry worldwide. The Magic Quadrant for ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies evaluates products that have a global presence and are specifically tailored for product-centric midmarket companies with roughly $50 million to $1 billion in revenue.

The Magic Quadrant is Gartner's proprietary methodology to rate IT vendors in a particular market based on Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. In the end, every market is broken out into four quadrants, Leaders (top right), Visionaries (bottom right), Challengers (top left), and Niche Players (bottom left).

Epicor was positioned as the furthest along the “Completeness of Vision” axis, which not only demonstrates Epicor’s leading completeness of vision but also positions us alone in the “Visionary” quadrant out of a field of 14 ERP offerings. The report narrative speaks to our successful execution of a multi-product consolidation strategy with Epicor 9—something no other vendor has achieved—which is a testament to our innovation and the break out technology architecture of our Epicor ERP offering – a solution that helps deliver significant business benefits for our customers.

In December 2008, we released Epicor 9, which converged our 25 years of experience delivering enterprise-wide solutions into a single next-generation global ERP solution. Epicor 9 is a highly-advanced and configurable ERP solution that offers flexibility from a model driven approach to handling business processes and utilizes Web 2.0 concepts to provide users with a truly collaborative and productive enterprise business application experience.

Today, over 300 customers worldwide are live on Epicor 9, and the solution has been shipped to over 2,000 sites in 56 countries, including shipments to over 800 new customers. And, Epicor continues to leverage modern technology with its visionary approach to architecture, mobility, embedded analytics and built-in business process management (BPM) features, designed to offer businesses both choice and a high level of flexibility—delivered on-premise, as a managed service, or on-demand in the cloud.

We are very proud of this recognition and achievement.

Posted by James Norwood, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/1/2013 6:55 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:56:44 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=161 Smarter Business Intelligence http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=205 Body:

In John Hiraoka’s latest Epicor blog post, he talks about the criticality of ensuring effectiveness as opposed to efficiency. Effectiveness goes beyond optimal execution of business processes; it’s about ensuring that the right processes are in place to create optimal business outcomes.

When it comes to ensuring effectiveness, there is no more powerful tool than Business Intelligence (BI) to add scientific weight to the balanced assumptions we make about the right processes. This is why, in part, you’re seeing organizations waking up to the benefits of BI and adopting enterprise wide BI strategies. For years, I have stated that “BI is no longer a nice to have but is now a mandatory and essential tool for business.” But the reality is that the need to extract business insights from the mounds of (growing) data that surround businesses every day has never been more important.

In July, Epicor’s Scott Hays wrote a blog series about post-recession business strategy and, among other things, about the need for “ruthless focus” on key performance indicators – the top metrics used to measure your company’s success – so especially critical now that companies have emerged post-recession more pared down from a resource perspective than ever before, and yet with the need to “make the rain” more than ever before.

These trends have led business application vendors, including Epicor, to move away from complex BI tools that sit apart from core business applications and instead begin to embed BI functionality deep into applications so they become more contextually relevant at the “point of process.” And yet Epicor aims to enable our customers to do even more with BI.

Last month at our Perspectives user conference, we unveiled our Smarter Business Intelligence Initiative. One tenet of Smarter BI is the democratization of business intelligence. BI is now for everyone – providing powerful plug and play tools to enable end users to easily define access and act on the information they need, wherever and whenever they need it.

Another aspect of Smarter BI is that it is delivered in context and in a role-based fashion. Smarter BI combines both historical data and live transactional information to deliver, literally, the “latest and greatest” insight to the right users in the context of business processes – right at the moment it’s needed most to improve decision making.

And since Epicor enables users to access and leverage information from anywhere, our BI tools and dashboards can be mashed up with more advanced analytics to create powerful composite applications on the Web, within Microsoft SharePoint or on mobile devices – securely and easily.

The most exciting concept embodied in our Epicor Smarter BI initiative is what we call enforcement of “analytic integrity” – giving business users access to actionable forward looking analytics and key performance indicators, so everyone companywide can understand what's important to the company, how the company is tracking, and where their work fits in to the big picture. By tying these strategic company objectives and goals back into day to day processes, users can see what the longer term results of their decisions can or will have on the business.

This final capability is yet to be delivered as a packaged function but the framework is in place through Epicor’s existing enterprise performance management (EPM), business process management (BPM), and business activity query (BAQ) suites, which when brought together enable a smarter approach to BI.

Posted by James Norwood, SVP, Worldwide Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 7:40 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:41:21 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=205 Perspective on Perspectives 2010 and Beyond: Leaders Focusing on Effectiveness and Efficiency http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=206 Body:

It’s been a busy several weeks at Epicor with our annual user conference, Perspectives, sandwiched  between quarter-end and earnings (wasn’t there also a big election going on?). All I can say is that last month was more hectic than I can remember in a long time—which was a great thing.

Perspectives_JohnHiraoka 

Business momentum continued to accelerate for Epicor and we reported very strong growth in all segments and geographies. Because we do business globally, historically Q3 is slower than Q2 given European holidays and other seasonal factors. Not this Q3 however, where we saw strong revenue, particularly in our international markets as more companies are beginning to invest back into their businesses and focus on growth. 

The positive activity and great success we are seeing from Epicor 9 and our Retail products was further emphasized at Perspectives 2010 where we hosted some 1,700 attendees in Orlando. We know budgets are still tight around travel and expenses, but the significant increase in attendance over last year’s conference demonstrates that businesses are once again seeing opportunities for growth in their markets and are positioning themselves to take advantage of them. Now, more than ever, companies understand the key role technology is playing in the recovery, and accelerating innovation and driving productivity is clearly back on our customer’s strategic agendas.

We had a lot of industry analysts at Perspectives who both presented and participated in discussions and dialogue around business and technology. One interesting view that came out of a discussion was effectiveness versus efficiency—not just doing the same things better, but doing the right things. It is pretty clear that successful businesses do both. For example, mobility allows you to be more efficient, but does that necessarily mean more effective? (“Really” have to love Microsoft’s new commercial for the Windows 7 phone.)

We can do so much with our smartphone and iPads today, but now the focus is on getting rich, meaningful information and content to mobile users whether as part of the consumer shopping experience, mobile workflow, CRM, or on-device apps and analytics. The strong cross industry popularity for the sessions we held on social computing and collaboration was also telling on how even very traditional companies are open to exploring ways to more closely connect with their customers and markets through social.

While the message from the recent U.S. midterm elections was clear in that there has not been enough improvement around the economy and employment, it was also a clear signal around the speed at which change needs to occur—faster.  From where the economy was in 2009 (recall the DJIA was ~6,550 in March ‘09), things are a lot better—but voters sent a clear message that the pace of change is way too slow.   We did a lot of real-time polling at Perspectives and the overall outlook from our customers was positive about their businesses and their industries. Certainly there is still caution out there, but businesses understand that like politics, we need things to continue to get better. Right now, however, there is a lot of opportunity and it’s time to be effective – and fast.   

Posted by John Hiraoka, EVP & CMO, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 7:45 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:47:06 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=206 Enterprise Carbon and Energy Management – Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Higher Profits http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=208 Body:

With an ever-increasing focus, both socially and statutorily, to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and climate change, companies are being driven to gain understanding and control over their carbon footprints.  Traditionally this has been done with a number of separate, usually manual, systems based upon spreadsheets – if at all.  Now, ERP vendors such as Epicor are beginning to offer Enterprise Carbon and Energy Management (ECEM) systems that synchronize with your existing applications to make it easy for your company to become more socially and fiscally responsible.

ECEM systems gather data from several sources: Utility Bills, Fixed Assets (devices), Production, Timesheet and HR systems (to name a few).  ECEM systems aggregate this data, providing standard carbon usage information for companies in your industry and area using the same devices. The normal cost of transportation for your assets is also factored in.  Then, capturing actual data, ECEM systems provide a baseline of your actual usage, comparing it to standards.  ECEM systems should not, however, only be data recording systems – they should also provide practical and useful techniques for reducing your carbon footprint against your baseline.  A few examples include providing a list of the most efficient settings for your devices, suggesting changes to the timings of energy costly events or transactions, and tracking actual mileage by employee to focus on transportation efficiency.  Once a baseline has been established and better practices adopted and documented, ECEM systems will give your organization real-time feedback that allow you to assess the effectiveness of your carbon reduction initiatives, allowing you to fine-tune them.

The benefits of this are many. First, your organization will be compliant with, or ready for, the many national and local carbon reduction schemes currently being introduced, examples of which are the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CDC) and requirements under the EPA Clean Air Act.  Second, your organization will gain direct benefits to its bottom line through reduction of energy costs and waste. Finally, if you succeed in reducing and tracking your carbon usage, you can monetize this benefit through carbon trading markets.

ECEM systems are something highly worth considering for your business – they make sense socially, economically and operationally.  Ask yourself, what has your organization been considering in this area?

Posted by Matt Muldoon, Vice President, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 7:48 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:48:41 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=208 Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Accounting: New Business Requirements Weigh Heavy on SMBs http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=217 Body:

It is estimated that the top 3,000 companies in the world caused damage to the environment worth $2.25 trillion USD (£1.5tn) in 2008 – a jaw dropping statistic which researchers say is indicative of “crisis proportions” of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater fisheries and fertile soils due to industry.

Given this growing awareness of business impact and the resulting damage to the natural environment, and with global summits such as Copenhagen and Kyoto driving governmental focus on the environment and business impact, more and more countries will impose tracking and limitation rules on Greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, and the standards and initiatives on GHG and Carbon Accounting will only become more pervasive and stringent.  

As the initiatives take deeper hold, carbon (or green) accounting will actually put a greater burden on SMBs as they generally don't have tracking systems in place. And, the cost of carrying out the tracking will be greater as a percentage of revenue than for larger firms.  

Last week Epicor announced a partnership with Village Green Global, Inc., a company that specializes in enterprise carbon accounting. The partnership offers Epicor customers new capabilities to identify, analyze, audit, track, manage, benchmark and report on carbon emissions, environmental impact and energy consumption. By providing a simple and integrated carbon tracking system, Epicor is giving its customers the mechanism to be efficiently compliant and gain benefits from ultimate cost savings. (Statistics are already showing a minimum savings of 10% in energy usage once a company starts to take steps to reduce its carbon footprint.)

Using an internationally recognized system for carbon analysis and trading, Village Green supports reporting for carbon accounting around electricity use, water consumption, transportation, natural gas, waste and other factors to find ways to save energy and money and enable organizations to implement and maintain sustainable business practices. 

For more information on green carbon news, resources, and opinions on the rapidly expanding universe of carbon management strategies and enterprise carbon accounting, check out Greenbiz.com’s Carbon Management Center.  Also, check out our related whitepaper, 7 Technology Tactics to Promote Corporate Social Responsibility.

Has your company undertaken any carbon accounting initiatives?

Posted by Matt Muldoon, Vice President, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:01 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:02:18 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=217 Rallying in the Post-Recession Era (Part 3 of 3) http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=219 Body:

So how do businesses ensure they have the right “sensory equipment” and “analysis capability,” that Brown speaks of, to respond to this whole new world of opportunities and threats in light of today’s post-recession resource constraints?

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I discussed the crucial role of data and a heightened “analytics culture” in an organization. That provides the proverbial “birds-eye view” of what’s going on. It’s data in its aggregate form, calling attention to macro trends. Fortunately, today’s embedded business intelligence tools make that much easier to implement than in prior decades.

But it’s not enough. For more immediate awareness and targeted responsiveness, it is usually necessary for an organization to capture and expose data elements and transactional anomalies that are unique to their processes and business conditions. Those nuances are typically outside the scope of packaged macro analytics.

What’s needed here is a new level of agility, a way to configure some extra bits in and around the enterprise software solution that fine-tunes the company’s “senses.” That capability is available now in next-generation application architectures that include a 100% service-oriented architecture (SOA), business process management (BPM), and some concepts coming to the business world from what’s commonly called “Web 2.0.”

With that foundation, business users can now add fields, modify screens, augment or streamline processes, detect events that spawn notifications or automate actions, and provide role-based views inside or outside an application -- all without "old-school" customizations that left them version-locked or orphaned from support. While the concept of “adding a field” sounds so amazingly elementary, one may quickly forget how very difficult these aspects were only a few years ago. Add to that the new concept of “data tagging,” where any user can tag any piece of data with their own pneumonic phrase and you now have the ability to find, group, and analyze clumps of information on the fly precisely as the user needs it. Late-breaking micro trends can drive your business forward almost as quickly as they are formed. Make some of those private tags public and you’ll soon find that groups of like-minded users discover and act on clumps of information that are relevant, recent, and reusable. Try to do that on a prior generation enterprise application.  

One more concept here worth mentioning before I wrap up this series: the Web 2.0 “mashup.” A mashup is a composite application that allows specific business information and functionality to be combined in a single portal page or embedded within the application. Mashups are topic-specific and/or role-specific, providing multiple data points necessary to understand a trend (about a customer, a supplier, a part, a process … you get the picture) alongside snippets of applications that can be used to take appropriate action without leaving the screen. Such purpose-built windows on the business are easy to create when the underlying applications are built on a 100% service-oriented architecture, from the server-side data structures and business logic right up to the client-side user experience.

In a nutshell, the recent economic crisis has changed business forever. You can either change or pack up and go home. Surely the survivors of the recession are not resting on their laurels – that’s not their style. The rules are different, the market share leader boards shuffling, and there’s a new generation of business applications to help you stake your claim, protect it, and profit from the fertile ground of your ongoing innovation.

Posted by Scott Hays, Director, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:03 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:04:26 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=219 Rallying in the Post-Recession Era (Part 2 of 3) http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=220 Body:

In my last post, I talked about the need to evaluate the significant change that has taken place as we emerge in the post-recession era—change that has fostered the need to think and work differently. Key to succeeding and navigating this new territory is ensuring the right mechanisms are in place to sense change and then respond accordingly, according to a post by Bob Brown of Cambashi.

While the strategic imperatives in the post-recession Wild Wild West have changed, one thing that remains the same (and in fact has become even more paramount) is the importance of data—specifically, data collection, data management, and data visualization.

This post could go in an thousand directions from here. For brevity, I’ll keep it high-level by echoing the notion of “instilling an analytics culture” in your business, as mentioned by InformationWeek’s Rob Preston. While there is still room for instinct and “gut feel,” not many people are gifted with that ability enough to bet their business on. The data you need to understand macro trends and micro events are available. Truth be told, you probably have more data than you know what to do with. Your only lifeline in that vast ocean of information is ruthless focus. And not just for executives and senior managers, but for every level and role in the organization. You need everyone marching to the same drummer and singing from the same hymnal. When measuring business performance, they don’t call them “key” performance indicators (KPIs) for no reason.

If you’re still in business after the recession, pat yourself on the back or thank your lucky stars (either or both might be appropriate). Right now, determine the top five metrics your company must measure on a daily basis and get that information in front of every person that can make even the smallest contribution to improving those numbers. Soon, hallway conversations will focus on those five things. “Hey, did you see the XYZ stat this morning? Great week. If we string a few of those together we’ll blow out the quarter.” The data and the tools are there (see Doug Henschen’s report on embedded business intelligence). KPIs need to be a staple of every worker’s information diet, not just a special treat on a slide at the quarterly company meeting.

The winds of change are blowing, but businesses can effectively navigate by leveraging their most important asset – their data – to understand specific business dynamics, threats and opportunities. 

In Part III of this blog, I’ll discuss how next-generation software architecture provides a critical foundation for rapid detection and response that is necessary for navigating the turn toward growth.

Posted by Scott Hays, Director, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:04 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:06:07 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=220 Social CRM Turns Social Network Chatter into Valuable Business Data http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=221 Body:

If your company has established a social media presence—as most have by now—the next challenge is figuring out how to convert all those seemingly random conversations taking place on Twitter and Facebook into data that can support your core business processes. 

In essence, you want a reliable means of putting the data generated on your social networks into the hands of people who can use it to generate new revenue, cut operating costs, or both.

The obvious way of doing that is linking your social networks directly to your ERP system, the place most employees expect to find the information they need to do their jobs. The question then becomes: How do I get this information into the ERP system, and ultimately to people in various parts of the business?

The CRM module of an ERP suite appears to be the most logical place for introducing social networking information into the core of the business. The CRM system has emerged as the natural point for integrating social networks with mainstream business applications partly because most companies are using social media as a new way of interacting with customers. 

Recognizing this, software vendors are developing tools to help companies harness social networking data for business purposes. Industry analysts coined the term “Social CRM” to describe both the tools and processes for integrating social networking data into mainstream business applications.

In a recent report on the topic, Altimeter Group, a Bay Area strategy consulting firm, explained why companies must practice Social CRM.

Social networks allow groups of customers to come together and hold impromptu conversations, and eventually someone will have something to say about your company, whether you’re paying attention or not. In fact, some companies have stumbled on Facebook fan pages devoted to them or their products that were created by customers, social or political activists, or even disgruntled former employees.  

That can’t be good for business or can it? 

Companies that monitor social networks not only know what’s being said about them, they can use that information to develop strategies for quickly improving products and services, and thus turn negative conversations into positive ones. Some companies are even acquiring new customers through social media.

So, how does all this work?

Suppose a person considering one of your products goes on Twitter and asks, “Is this product worth the money?” If your company has someone monitoring Tweets related to your company, they would see that question and be able to bring into your company’s own online forum. A person in the company who’s familiar with that product could then explain exactly why it’s worth the money and send that response back to Twitter.

The original questioner sees the response, and not only is satisfied with the answer, but is impressed that someone from the company actually took time to respond. And because your online forum is linked to the CRM module of your ERP system, a salesperson is able to follow this entire conversation and is now in position to initiate contact with this potential new customer.

That is just one of many ways social media can impact core business processes. There’s also potential for using this data to improve product development, supply chain management, and a host of other business functions. This is one case in which your own imagination truly is the only limit on what can be accomplished.

For more information on Social CRM, see the Altimeter Group report.

Posted by James Norwood, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:06 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:08:44 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=221 Rallying in the Post-recession Era (Part 1 of 3) http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=222 Body:

During the recent economic downturn, most companies have been focused on just “getting by.” Buoyed by the current upturn in the markets, the survivors are now coming out of the turn and jockeying for position and market share.

Many businesses are breathing a sigh of relief that the hard part is over so now we can all get back to “business as usual.” However, the reality is that in many ways business post-recession will never be the same again. You can’t step into the same river twice.

A post by Bob Brown of Cambashi provides a shrewd examination of this sobering fact and the effect of the recession and the new challenges and requirements ahead. A quick summary of his article could go something like this: In your haste to get your business back on track, don’t make the mistake of trying to pick up where you left off many months ago, because in the wake of the massive chaos and destruction wrought by the recession, so much has changed.

These shifts include: markets (changes in supply and demand, new requirements, etc.), the competitive landscape (both extinction of some players and the emergence of new players), and vendor and supplier relationships (churn and disruption). 

Doing “more with less” is still center-stage. Post recession, this refers to the current scenario at hand where companies have had to cut not only fat, but also flesh, paring down enterprise operations – in some cases to the bare minimum. “Less” equals fewer plants and facilities, fewer employees, fewer product lines, fewer marketing resources. And “More” refers to the greater ROI that companies need to find in leveraging these fewer resources. 

So the big question is – what is required by companies today to enable them to pull this rabbit out of the hat? The answer, according to Brown, is to have the right “sensory equipment” and “analysis capability” in place to respond to a whole new world of opportunities and threats effectively given today’s post-recession resource constraints. 

At Epicor we couldn’t agree more. In Part II of this blog series, I’ll talk more about how technology is giving companies a leg up in the post-recession world.

Posted by Scott Hays, Director, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:09 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:10:11 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=222 Go Big… Through Innovation http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=226 Body:

While the NCAA Basketball tournament, upcoming World Cup Soccer and the return of Tiger Woods may now have your attention, I still think that one of the most memorable performances by an athlete was at the recent Winter Olympic Games, by Shaun White, the Olympic gold medalist in the men’s halfpipe. 

Of course many people would logically raise the performances by South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na (figure skating), Lindsey Vonn (downhill), Bode Miller (super combined), or maybe even the Canadian Curling team, but in my view, Shaun White’s performance was the most exceptional. Why? Because not only did he work harder than his competition, he also worked smarter and in the end, he worked in a whole new way. Sure, he was already a gold medalist and the favorite going in, but for anyone that watched all of the buildup, the hype, and the endless promoting, did you really think that anyone could be that good?

White was great in 2006 (when he won Gold), but basically everything had changed. Most of all, the competition had all caught up. All you had to do was watch the prelims (or the pre-Olympic event he was been beaten in) and you could tell. Men, women, whatever, were flying out of the pipe at crazy speeds doing these insane aerials – with even more insane names. You almost figured the only way he (White) wins is because a) it’s a beauty pageant where if its close, they will give it to the most hyped athlete using those ignominious style points (can you say ice dancing?), or b) the judging will come down to watching replays in super slo-mo, over and over, to determine who “executed” the air better and thus got the higher technical (and style) points (ask Plushenko how well this works). Expert boarders, much less average TV viewers and fans would never being able to detect the differences. 

snowboarder 

But, that’s not what happened. From the very first air (huge), SW was clearly in a league of his own. In fact, as was the case in the Olympic final in ’06, he was so much better he didn’t even need a second run to win (gold). His run was “night and day” riskier, faster, bigger, and clearly better and everyone – and even if you didn’t know a double cork from a double axel, you could tell he was better. And then, he lands that insane Double McTwist 1260 which involves two flips and three and a half spins? Talk about a game changer! Hard work, dedication, and commitment? Sure. Innovator? Undoubtedly.

So what does any of this have to do with business or software? I think a lot. No, I am not going to pretend Epicor is to ERP, what SW is to halfpipe… (not quite yet anyway). What I am going to submit is that continued success in business requires not just working on execution, but also on innovation. Most of us aren’t the biggest or the favorite when we compete. For Epicor, we’re not the biggest name, and don’t have the huge budget, hype, or brand recognition. No, we’re very different from SW in this regard. But where we are the same is in our vision – and the total commitment and dedication to turn that vision into innovation.

Last year, our innovative Epicor 9 application was recognized for its vision (the most visionary?) by the Gartner Group in their ERP magic quadrant. And while our focus since then has certainly been to execute and to deliver on that vision and the promise it entailed — which we did shipping it to over 1,200 customers in one of the most difficult years for business, we also didn’t just sit still and refine the features of this visionary SOA application. Nope, we took a lot of input and feedback from our customers, markets and industry, and we looked at some of the latest emerging technologies around collaboration, mobility and social media and have today launched Epicor 9.05, which in “boarding lingo” could be called an “Epic end-to-end mobile double web 360.”

Last year, while a lot of the competition continued to rewind and replay the same old talk and tricks they have been pushing for the last five-six years, we continued to invest in innovation of what was already a game changing ERP platform, and have taken it to another new level. This meant taking on more risk – by investing more, even when the market, business and overall economy was down. Why? The payoff is huge and clear to see.

So let me break the name down for you and to briefly describe some of the innovation:

End-to-end not just front office or back office, but for a truly integrated view of the business and value chain.

Mobile users are fully empowered by securely and cost-effectively distributing and automating any aspect of the enterprise business system outside of the company network – whether connected or remote.

Double Web for embracing Web 2.0 across the entire platform allowing even easier collaboration, search, and usability.

360 because it allows you to see every aspect of your business, customers, partners and employees – anytime, anywhere.

Epic? Ok, some marketing fluff. But also our stock ticker and this is an “epic” leap in capability and usability (and “next generation” was sooo last year). 

I also thought about throwing in Saas-y, but that’s for another post.

Ok, maybe boarding lingo doesn’t really work in business or at least for software naming conventions, but the name is very descriptive of what we have accomplished. Sure I am biased, but the real point is that hard work can keep you in the game, but innovation is what helps you destroy the competition. Last year, George Klaus, our Chairman and CEO told the company “Efforts don’t count.  Results do." A statement as true in sports, as it is in business. And it motivated everyone beyond just doing our best – and the results have proven it.

It goes unsaid that for any owners out there that business is a lot harder than the Olympics or NCAA’s – you play for stakes that affect a lot of people: whether your employees, customers or partners. Moreover, there is no halftime in business; not even timeouts. You’re on the field every minute of every day and everybody is watching your score – particularly the competition. The best way to win? Don’t just keep doing the same thing and let your competition make it a beauty contest or based on style points. Learn from Shaun White – work hard, work smart, sure. But innovate and take risk. Like the Olympic halfpipe, you may only get one shot against the competition. You need to be able to “go big”, and in your one run, make sure that anyone can see the difference – instantly and immediately. Because better is better.

Posted by John Hiraoka, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:14 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:24:36 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=226 New demands will shake IT up http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=231 Body:

Will changing the way IT is used save companies big money in 2010?

In this economic climate our customers have typically been most concerned with reducing business related costs and at the same time improving customer service and responsiveness. However, many also see investments in IT as a way to reduce costs throughout their organization, by making people more productive and enabling them to be more efficient.

It has been a tough year for all businesses globally, yet our customers tell us they expect to emerge stronger in 2010 based on a solid foundation built in 2009, and it will be those companies that will have the greatest opportunities, as opposed to those that are held back by older less adaptable IT systems.

The key challenges that our customers told us they faced during 2009 included:

  • Business restructuring, including plant and entity consolidation, pushing a need for lower costs and improved sales channels.
  • IT cost savings, including data center consolidation, targeted outsourcing, and virtualization of servers and storage.
  • Business productivity, making in certain cases fewer people more productive by giving them the right tools and information at the right time.
  • Focus on IT procurement, such as deferral of capital expenditure in areas like desktop and laptop replacements, and consolidation of hardware and software contracts.

So what's in store for 2010?

The Gartner Group's predictions of the top 10 strategic technology areas for 2010 include Cloud Computing, Advanced Analytics, Social Computing, Virtualization, and Mobile Applications. This confirms what we are hearing from our customers who are now turning their attention to how they can maximize their investments and get the most out of the data they already have, as well as investigating how options such as Mobility and the Cloud could potentially work for them.

The key enterprise themes for 2010 therefore look set to be about increasing employee productivity, leveraging existing ERP investment via Cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and how to gain better business insight with embedded business intelligence.

Increase employee productivity

With many companies having shed staff and taken drastic cost cutting actions to ensure not only survival through the downturn but also a need for being well positioned in the upturn, more attention will be given to how staff can increase their productivity and a prime example of this is the increased demand for mobile solutions; literally putting the business into the hands of the workforce.

Enterprises regard mobility as a key investment because it can help them:

  1. Improve service quality levels - give mobile field representatives access to relevant functions and data so that they can deliver on-the-spot, real-time information to customers.
  2. Operate more efficiently - reclaim time previously lost to travel and connectivity issues, build deeper business relationships and improve productivity.
  3. Gain a competitive advantage - instant access to data, including pricing and inventory levels.
  4. Extend business borders and enter new markets — transact business where it happens, regardless of location or connectivity.
  5. Make employees more productive – with the increasing ubiquity and cost effectiveness of mobile technology the ability to access and work with essential information is now 24/7

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing options such as SaaS or on-line storage present a real opportunity for businesses to make quick and simple savings in terms of IT spend on ERP systems. The way a company’s users see the benefit of this is that all their applications become web-based; so you produce invoices, track staff time and plan your resources using a web browser as your principle tool.

Customers do have concerns though, particularly around risk and security. Data location and security are key issues, as are many aspects of compliance.  Any IT spend cannot ignore these issues, and needs to show short term ROI alongside clear evidence of longevity in terms of the systems themselves. Manufacturing and logistics businesses rely on their technology lasting a long time and adapting with them, rather than ripping and replacing when money becomes available which plays directly to the Cloud’s strengths.

Business insight

Web 2.0 in the enterprise has seen the development of a number of plug-in applications for office productivity suites that give a transparent user experience of ERP information, in context but within a familiar desktop productivity environment. Business users now have access to more far-reaching and detailed data from across the whole of the enterprise, enabling them to make more informed business decisions.

With the collection of more data comes the need for more sophisticated analytics options and some of the key trends that we will see emerging over the next year will be embedded role-based analytics, contextual and predicative analysis, to better predict production and business growth.

Planning for 2010

During 2010, Epicor plans to bring to market a series of releases, applications and industry solutions designed to address both the challenges and opportunities in front of the manufacturing industry. We expect to release several new modules to our next generation ERP solution, Epicor 9, so get in touch with us for more information.

There will also be enhancements in the areas of Project Management, Financial Management, Customer Relationship and Supply Chain Management as well as new technical innovations in the areas of Analytics, Mobile and Cloud computing.

2010 is not going to be an easy year, but as many have found in 2009, the right technology can play a pivotal role in managing costs and enabling efficiencies to support business growth.

James Norwood, Vice President, Product Marketing, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:37 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:37:47 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=231 Get More Value Out of Your Training http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=232 Body:

Training is one of the key deliverables in any ERP implementation, if new users are comfortable with how to perform their daily duties with the new software then success is very likely.

Classroom 

I do a lot of training in my role.  There are a few simple things that a customer can do that I have found greatly facilitates a good training session.

  1. Make sure you put on a good lunch
    Actually this isn’t important, but I do like good lunches, sausage rolls if given the choice.
  2. Have an appropriate venue
    A separate room with a door that closes, desks, chairs, projector, whiteboard, have the room preferably air-conditioned.  Off site is the ultimate.  A place that is free from distractions is critical, there is nothing worse colleagues drifting in and interrupting attendees or attendees working on other things while they attempt to learn.

    If you can set up a room without external internet access even better (though the Facebook / Twitter / Outlook junkies will start to shake after an hour).  

    People should have their own computer (no "looking on”)

    I have done training with none of the above and it makes it hard.
  3. Quality Training Manuals
    These provide structure for the sessions and ensure no topics are missed.  Manuals are also useful for following up after the course and for writing notes in.
  4. Make sure the trainer only goes as fast as the slowest person in the course
    Once people fall behind they get flustered, make mistakes and this then feeds on itself.  The less competent people need more help, while the quick people might get a bit bored, they can most likely learn on their own anyway.
  5. 5-7 Attendees per Instructor
    Any more and it becomes very difficult to manage the different learning paces and styles of the attendees and answer all questions thoroughly.
  6. Use it or lose it
    Make sure that the attendees immediately (or within a week) go and apply what they have learned in their production or configured systems.
  7. Schedule a follow up course in 6 to 12 months time
    People forget, and staff turnover.

©Duncan J. Kennedy 2009

Please note that this posting is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent the position, strategy or opinion of Epicor Software Corporation.

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 8:38 AM
]]> enagy Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:54:45 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=232 How Teenagers Consume Media http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=239 Body:

Since I am in marketing and have written several times on “millennials” or the new digital generation and how they are expected to transform markets and the workforce, I had many people (seemed like millions) send me (email/tweet/IM/link) a recent “research” piece published by Morgan Stanley titled “How Teenagers Consume Media.”

Picked up by the Financial Times, the research report written by 15 year old summer work intern, Matthew Robson, was published as research according to Edward Hill-Wood, head of the Morgan media analyst team, because it “provides one of the clearest and most thought provoking insights we have seen” and that ”understanding their [teenagers] mindset seems an excellent way of assessing how the media landscape will evolve.”

It’s not a very long report (~2,280 words), but in the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, “Let me sum up”:

  • Teenagers nowadays are not regular listeners to radio
  • Most teenagers watch television
  • No teenager regularly reads a newspaper
  • Teenagers (boys and girls) play video games
  • Every teenager has some access to the internet
  • Builders and florists are services that teenagers do not require
  • Teenagers listen to a lot of music
  • Teenagers visit the cinema (movies) quite often
  • 99% of teenagers have a mobile phone

Incredible!  I never knew any of this about teenage behavior!  Can you imagine?  I guess most of us have been suffering from the delusion that most teenagers regularly pour over the FT, WSJ or NY Times and rarely watch TV.  I am further shocked to learn that teenagers have access to the internet, go to movies, have cell phones, and play video games.  Earth shattering!  Stay tuned for Morgan’s riveting follow up research where we’ll discover that teenagers eat junk food, sleep late, and go on dates!  I can’t wait to take what meager discretionary funds I have to Morgan to invest based on their incredible access to such insightful and “thought provoking” research.

Seriously, the only real take away from the article on the drivers of teenage behavior you already knew:  Teenagers Don’t Have Any Money!  Matt references the words “cost”, “free”, “pay”, “price”, and “expensive” around 35 times in his short piece.  Except for the derivations of his subject “teenager” (60), that is more than any other term (not including articles, adverbs, etc).  Yes, and waaaay more than even “whilst” (7) and “like” (3) which could argue that it wasn’t written by a teenager despite Matt’s supposed creed.  

So, the “thought provoking insight”: Teenagers are just as broke today as they were in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s… you get the picture.  To all of those “elderly media moguls” the revelation: make it cheap, cool, and create some type of edgy mystique (i.e. pulling a fast one on “the man”) versus “annoying” adverts (sorry Benetton and Billy Mays) and the teens will come to you in droves. 

Oh, another thing that hasn’t changed much: 15 year olds still don’t write very well (even with editing by Morgan).  Although, I must admit, at least Matt stated the obvious, as, well… obvious.  I guess the investment banks can learn a lot from Matt…

Tweet you later.

Posted by John Hiraoka, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Epicor

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 11:57 AM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:58:02 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=239 Global Education – Evolving to New Heights with Epicor University http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=246 Body:

In today’s global economy education is more important than ever for companies implementing and using ERP systems, yet education must evolve.  Today we face different challenges and opportunities in learning.  For example, we have the Net generation, global business climate, cost pressures,  competition, and the ever-changing demographics in the workplace.  Companies that make a solid investment in education see the benefits in both tangible and intangible results.  It is certain we see the return on the investment in education for employees in their time to ramp up and do what is required in their job––this can be the sales associate able to demonstrate and communicate the product features for prospects, the help desk employee able to successfully close a customer call with satisfaction achieved, or the consultant that has helped to implement enterprise features to improve a customer’s business.   We also see returns for customers in implementation of ERP systems––on-time implementations, project completed per budget, and most importantly, implementation with knowledge transfer.

With Epicor, there is a corporate-wide commitment with Epicor University to develop solid content, deliver best in class education with predictable results such as certification, and focus on lifelong learning.  Learning never stops as skills wane, people move on, processes mature, technology continues to develop, and of course, new hires come on board.  So knowledge development and delivery remains a focus of successful companies like Epicor. 

Epicor University focuses on doing exactly what other ERP vendors should do, but have not.  Epicor University brings so much more than just delivery that most vendors do adequately; it brings the essential elements of strategy, content, technology, and delivery together for meaningful performance results.  Because, results matter in today’s business world––anywhere.

The global education provided by Epicor University delivers what learners require to connect––combining Formal Learning (e.g., Online Help, Embedded Education Courses, Virtual and Classroom Education, Certification and more) along with Informal Learning for all target audiences – customers, employees, and partners (podcasts, video casts, simulations, job aids, etc.).

[[blogvideo:http://www.youtube.com/v/TgA1tdR7zxY]]

Click here to learn more about Epicor University, or email education@epicor.com.

Posted by Louise Keppel, Vice President, Epicor University

Category: Technology and Innovation
Published: 2/4/2013 12:12 PM
]]> mconlin Technology and Innovation Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:13:35 GMT http://www.epicor.com/sites/Blogs/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=246