Epicor Users Event Draws 3,000 in Vegas

May 11, 2012
Insights 2012 was a landmark event for Epicor in that it was the first time the company has brought together its customers since the private-equity firm Apax Partners bought Activant Solutions and Epicor and merged them last year into one software provider with more than $8 billion in sales

If some of the 3,000 attendees at Epicor’s Insights 2012 looked a little wiped out toward the end of event, it probably wasn’t because they spent a couple of late nights in Las Vegas. It’s more likely they were feeling overwhelmed by all the information their brains had downloaded at the event, a global customer conference for users of Epicor’s distribution and manufacturing ERP software. Attendees could choose from more than 500 seminars.

Insights 2012 was a landmark event for Epicor in that it was the first time the company has brought together its customers since the private-equity firm Apax Partners bought Activant Solutions and Epicor and merged them last year into one software provider with more than $8 billion in sales. On the distribution side of the business electrical distributors use Eclipse, Prophet 21 and Prelude ERP software. The electrical distributors and other wholesalers from many different distribution niches who came to Insights 2012 attended classes that covered new mobile interfaces for smartphones and tablet computers; Epicor’s new ICE ERP software, which incorporates social media as a communication tool; network security; and various courses on running more profitable distributorships.

Kevin Roach, executive vice president and general manager, ERP Americas for Epicor, sat down with Electrical Marketing for an exclusive interview in which he talked about the Activant-Epicor merger, the state of cloud computing, web storefronts and various professional services the company offers, such as assistance with blending ERP business systems after a merger, dealing with change, lean initiatives, the new Customer Profit Analyzer and Kaizen quality processes.

He said 20%-30% of Epicor customers are big believers in cloud computing; 20%-25% are very much against it; and the rest can go either way with it. Roach also said that while not all distributors are using web storefronts to differentiate themselves from competitors, he fully expects this to change as Millennials and other younger employees and customers who prefer to make purchases online move into decision-making roles.

One big announcement at Insights 2012 was the launch of Epicor Customer Profit Analyzer, which helps distributors identify their most- and least-profitable customers. It’s promoted as being much easier to use than Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and allows users to tailor various profitability tools to their businesses.