Epicor delivers enhanced Supplier Relationship Management

Epicor Software Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of the Global 1000, has announced significant enhancements to its Epicor Supplier Relationship Management Suite, part of Epicors end-to-end solution that enables companies to drive efficiency, improve performance and build competitive advantage by streamlining and optimising purchasing processes for direct and indirect goods.  The latest release includes new features and tools for Epicor Procurement including order-to-stock for direct materials, mobile access for approvers and an enhanced user experience for requisitioners.

According to a recent report from Forrester, Competitive sourcing and automated contract creation and negotiation tools can lead to deals on purchased goods and services that can save an enterprise millions of dollar a year on paper.  eProcurement applications help create employee compliance with these deals by putting all preferred supplier catalogs at a single corporate site that is accessible by browser and readily searchable, providing easy-to-use tools such as wizards to guide buyers through the requisitioning process and automating the approval process for purchases by employees.[1][1]

Extended Support for Direct Materials Process

Epicor Procurement, a Web-based purchasing solution that empowers employees to manage their own buying within the framework of defined business rules, works with the core Epicor system as the Web-based face to inventory control. Working together with the Epicor Supply Chain Management suite, Epicor Procurement provides visibility to stock and the ability to generate orders to stock and stock transfer requests.  With Procurement, companies benefit from extensive approval workflow capability and audit trails and comprehensive spend analytics.

The enhanced tools for direct materials processes in Epicor Procurement provide functionality that is in high demand among industries that manage direct materials in many locations, such as hospitality.  Hotels, restaurants and other multi-site hospitality organisations can leverage Epicor Procurement to restock multiple locations from a central warehouse or commissary, as well as track inventory at each remote location.  

Connecting Purchasing Process through Mobile Access

Epicor Procurement empowers the mobile worker by enabling order approvals via PDA. The newly available mobile access tools not only helps mobile users to complete their jobs with greater efficiency, but also makes approving from desktop e-mail easier by providing order details in each approval notification e-mail.

Epicor customer PB, an international planning, engineering, programme and construction management organisation, acknowledges the value of the mobile access feature in Epicor Procurement.  With an expansive global presence needed to complete its large-scale projects, PB has invested in mobile technology to keep on-site managers connected to the enterprise in real-time.  The addition of mobile access for Epicor Procurement will put more tools and resources in the hands of the remote project teams. 

Epicor Procurement is critical to our ability to capitalise on our buying power with contracted vendors and helps us keep our project expenses in check, said Rikki Geisler, purchasing director for PB.  The new mobile access capability in Epicor Procurement will help ensure that the workflow processes for approvals maintains the speed necessary to meet the requisitioning needs of our geographically-dispersed workforce.

Flexible Workflows for an Array of Procurement Processes

At the heart of Epicor Procurement is automated workflow with two purposes: maintain controls and expedite processing.  In this release, Epicor introduces new options for routing change orders in different ways depending on the types of changes made.  Epicor Procurement also provides for setting a specified level of management approval required before sending a non-catalog order to a buyer for sourcing.  In addition, new line-item level approvals and disapprovals permit more granular decision making that keeps the process moving with reduced effort by all participants

Businesses must continually find new ways to reduce costs and gain efficiencies to remain competitive in their markets.  Procurement strategies are a critical element in maintaining the competitive edge that todays economy demands, said Scott Hays, director of product marketing for Epicor. Our latest release of Epicor Procurement automates more processes requiring less effort by users such as requisitioners, approvers and administrators.  When companies can spend less time to save more money, its a smart investment. 

Epicor Procurement is a complete purchasing management solution that creates a seamless connection between buyers and suppliers for the purchase of direct and indirect goods and services. By automating inefficient manual tasks, like catalog management, requisitions and approvals, purchasing managers are free for more important tasks like analyzing trends, better contract negotiation and strategic sourcing a situation that couples smarter buying with time and cost savings.

The latest version of Epicor Procurement is available immediately worldwide.

About Epicor Software Corporation

Epicor, named one of FORTUNE magazines 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2006,  is a global leader dedicated to providing enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and professional services automation (PSA) software solutions to midmarket companies and divisions of the Global 1000.  Founded in 1984, Epicor serves over 20,000 customers in more than 140 countries, providing solutions in over 30 languages.  Employing innovative service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services technology, Epicor delivers end-to-end, industry-specific solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services that enable companies to drive increased efficiency, improve performance and build competitive advantage.  Epicor solutions provide the scalability and flexibility to meet today's business challenges, while empowering enterprises for even greater success tomorrow.  Epicor offers a comprehensive range of services with its solutions, providing a single point of accountability to promote rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership.  Epicors worldwide headquarters are located in Irvine, California with offices and affiliates around the world.

[1][1] Source: Forrester Research, Inc. The Forrester Wave: eProcurement Solutions, Q2 2007 (April 20, 2007)