Epicor Announces Major New Release of Its Next-Generation Enterprise Resource Planning Suite

Industry experts note economic recovery is on the way, as according to AMR (recently acquired by Gartner, Inc.), The outlook for capital spending is improving, with modest growth for IT spending anticipated in 2010.

Epicor Software Corporation is ready to help organisations take advantage of the changing economic tide with a new major release of its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. The new offering, Epicor 9.05, delivers substantial capabilities focused on cost reduction, process improvement and customer responsivenessstated top priorities toward achieving business recovery and growth.

According to a recent report by Forrester Research, Inc., based on survey respondents in North American and European small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), the top business goals for these organisations are cost reduction and recovery from the downturn. Similar to large firms, SMBs consider cost reduction in their core business to be a No. 1 priority. Execution speed in business processes such as shortening the time of order-to-cash processes follows cost reduction as a top priority for future business growth. (Forrester Research, Inc., The State of SMB Software and Emerging Trends: 2010, Feb. 12, 2010)

The new releaseavailable today in more than 50 countries, representing 65% of the worlds economydelivers functional improvements, enhancements and new modules across every suite within the solution, including Epicor ICE business architecture. Every new capability has been considered in terms of the industries Epicor serves and their need for better expense management and heightened customer responsiveness and service.

The latest release builds upon Epicor 9, which continues to be a huge success with over 140 customers live and more than 35,000 user seats shipped worldwide. Manufacturers, distributors, financial institutions, service firms and retailers globally enjoy its ease of use, ability to adapt to business and industry-specific requirements, scale as an organisation expands or changes, and ultimately grows. With the new major release of this award-winning solution, Epicor will offer more businesses in more countries the opportunity to benefit from the power of its dynamic, collaborative platform for achieving business process improvements and truly integrated view of the business and value chain.

As we begin to emerge from the economic challenges of the past two years, were seeing a conservative maximise efficiencies, minimize expenses philosophy in the markets we serve, said James Norwood, senior vice president, worldwide product marketing for Epicor. Our new release is designed to enable customers to target these often competing mandates allowing them to focus on areas of opportunity, helping them to quickly realise tangible and sustainable results in their business on the road to recovery. Quite simply, we believe it is the right release for the right time in the market.

Empowering Business with Industry-Specific Functionality

Epicor has extended industry-specific capabilities for companies in manufacturing, financial services, construction and engineering, and project-based organisations within the new release. For instance, for manufacturers and distributors, the introduction of lean performance metrics, enhanced quality assurance, and a real focus on both inbound enterprise asset management and outbound aftermarket mobile service management are just a few areas that have been introduced.

Broadening the reach into the services sector, strong new capabilities in the areas of project management and accounting are expected to significantly assist businesses involved in government contracting work, and related professional services. All the industry enhancements are designed to help companies focus on the customer and manage costs utilising Epicor ERP in their day-to-day operations.

Powerful, Measurable Global Financial Management

Building on its already comprehensive Financial Management and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) capabilities, Epicor has expanded functionality for measuring key performance indicators across all operational aspects, helping organisations gain visibility of costs and further their financial goals. New advanced financial reporting capabilities, an embedded configurable asset management engine, and a sophisticated advanced allocations module will help finance departments streamline business processes, reduce closing cycles and be integral to tracking financial performance across the enterprise, providing new levels of efficiency, audit-ability and control.

Taking Usability to New Heights with Agile Business Architecture

Epicor True SOA (service-oriented architecture), which incorporates the Epicor Everywhere Framework provides a powerful, visionary foundation that enables companies to better use and derive benefits from ERP at a business levelemploying Enterprise 2.0 technologies to dramatically improve usability, productivity, collaboration and business performance.

Expanding on modern consumer Web concepts introduced in Epicor 9, the new release offers Epicor Mobile Access, which allows business users to quickly and easily define and deploy mobile applications for conducting business on devices like BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and the Apple iPhone in a matter of minutes. In addition, Epicor Enterprise Search has been expanded to allow it to be invoked from almost anywhere, such as within Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint or Excel as well as from a Browser or within the application, delivering essential real-time information when its needed and where its needed.

Cylicron Engineered Cylinders is an independent, privately-owned full-service manufacturer of industrial cylinders for the Rotogravure and Flexographic printing industries that is leveraging Epicors next-generation ERP today and participated in the beta programme for the latest release. The major enhancements Epicor has made in this new release will be of tremendous value to our company, said Adam Gabbard, chief financial officer of Cylicron. We are particularly impressed with the advanced financial reporting and maintenance management capabilities, and addition of a configurable asset management engine, which will enable us to further track performance across our organization and maximise our resources.

JV Precision Machine Company, a second generation family owned manufacturer offering precision CNC machining services to a wide variety of US industries, runs its business on Epicor 9 today. As a participant in the beta programme for this newest release from Epicor, we are looking forward to leveraging enhanced capabilities around cost reduction, process improvement and customer service, said Josef Visinski, vice president of JV Precision Machine Co. In particular, expanded functionality for measuring performance across all operational aspects, the advanced financial reporting capabilities, and ability to gain even greater visibility of costs will be very beneficial.

Symetrics Industries, designer and manufacturer of electronics solutions for defense departments around the world, are traditional early adopters of Epicor next-generation technology and had a first look at Epicor 9.05. We are particularly looking forward to leveraging enhanced project billing, electronic timesheets, and expense tracking in the new release, said Peter Volkert, Director of Operations at Symetrics Industries. Epicor has really delivered, far beyond our original vision in these areas; which have a direct connection to business process improvement and cost management.