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introducing further partners that will offer our customers choice when choosing the PCI (payment card industry) compliant payment solutions they wish to deploy at the counter, in the back office and on the internet. “We will also introduce further approval workflow into our EasyAP solution, which is an engine that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to decipher the supplier invoice received via email, or scanned, and electronically load it onto K8 where it is automatically matched to a corresponding purchase order and stored.”
One of the major developments over the last few years in the software world has been the acceptance of and migration to a cloud- based solution and the gradual decline in use of the in-house server.
“I would say more than 90% of our new business is cloud now, up from 20-30% five years ago,” said Mark Hughes at Epicor. “We now have more than 25,000 customers using our cloud solutions and timber contributed to that.”
“Remote working, the need to improve cybersecurity, the proliferation of mobile devices in everyday working life and the ease with which software upgrades can be automatically rolled out to customers have all added to the momentum to adopt cloud- based technology,” said Mr Hughes. “And the cloud migration curve will continue to grow as compliance and sustainability initiatives become important business criteria.” Epicor customers have plenty to look forward to in the coming months, including a new design philosophy across all its products – including Epicor BisTrack. Last year Epicor announced it would be sharing the full BisTrack functionality through a web browser (TTJ July/August 2021) and it is now going a step further from focusing on everything being deliverable via the web. “We are now focusing on everything being deliverable via our new user experience,” said Mr Hughes. “The Epicor user experience is all about making it fresh, modern, and more intuitive,” he said, adding that features such as voice activation and voice assistance are now coming into play.
Another new development that Mr Hughes predicts is going to make a real difference over the next few months is Automation Studio.
“Epicor Automation Studio (powered by
Workato) operates 100% in the cloud and is effectively an integration tool that allows you to connect with pretty much any other software platform out there with little to no IT coding needed. It has hundreds of thousands of options (called recipes) like a library. Giving you back the control through a self-serve platform. So, for example, sales people can benefit from producing an order in Epicor from an opportunity in
Salesforce.com, HR can upload workforce data from Epicor to
ADP, or it can be connected to an electronic components database, or to access timber pricing or exchange rate tables. These recipes are already written, removing valuable hours spent logging or processing data. “It’s always been possible to integrate Epicor BisTrack with other products, but this is going to massively simplify it,” said Mr Hughes, adding that “the first pass” for BisTrack would be later this year, with full integration next year.
He also highlighted integration with Epicor CPQ, the company’s configure price quote tool, which he thinks will be “a game- changer” for those merchants that also have a timber building manufacturing element. Epicor CPQ is a visualisation tool and is used by companies such as Tuff Shed. The software allows not only the configuration of the product, but the user can also “visualise” it as well as generate cutting lists, materials lists and invoices.
Other new offerings being added to the Epicor mix are the result of recent acquisitions: Grow Inc was acquired in March this year, while Data Interchange came into the fold in June.
Grow is described as “a no-code, full- stack BI (business intelligence) platform that enables any user – from the boardroom to the plant floor, warehouse, or store – to make data-driven decisions with easy-to-build, easy-to-use dashboards, and interactive visualisations” and, said Mr Hughes, will come to BisTrack within the next year. Data Interchange, meanwhile, is a UK- based provider of EDI (electronic data interchange) cloud technologies and managed services. The acquisition “expands the reach of Epicor in European markets and adds to its portfolio of B2B integration technologies, empowering customers to connect businesses and trading partners, increase efficiency and drive value in the supply chain”.
The Epicor software portfolio reaches across many different industry sectors and while each has its own industry-specific software – BisTrack for timber and builders merchants, for example – it is also working to ensure those systems can work together seamlessly. This will be a bonus for multiple portfolio business, such as those under the umbrella of private equity or venture capitalist ownership.
“’Distrofacturing’ – the combination of manufacturing and distribution services, has become an important pivot as businesses are becoming more vertical in their supply chain strategies,” said Mr Hughes. “A big push for us over the next 12-24 months will be for companies to be able to run manufacturing, distribution, and building supply processes within a single Epicor environment with each of the different platforms running seamlessly between each other with the benefits of their own industry-specific functionality.”
Integration is certainly the name of the game and software manufacturers are all working to establish connections for their clients with third party providers. “There is a lot of scope for further digital transformation,” said Ian Oldrey. “We’re noticing a lot of potential new sales channels opening up for merchants, such as the online market place SNAP-IT, which is on-demand deliveries for tradespeople – a sort of Deliveroo for building materials – and Plane & Simple (see pp35-37). “As well as having your own website there are a lot of potential routes to market for the trade and consumers. They don’t have to be in-house systems; they can be working with these other channels.” A couple of years ago, Ten-25 established links with eCommonSense, a business with a merchant specific webshop. This is now being used by a number of Ten-25’s customers and is working well for them, said Mr Oldrey. “We are also just completing a direct connection with WooCommerce and that will be a direct connection from Merchanter, not through an integration tool. It’s already working direct on eBay and our direct connections with Amazon and Shopify are coming on well.”
KCS has also continued to grow its third party relationships, such as those with data analytics partner, Phocas, and credit card provider, Dojo.
“Phocas and Dojo solutions have been adopted widely amongst our customer base and the rate of adoption is increasing,” said James Mitchell. “Having formal partnership agreements in place with these vendors gives our customers comfort that these are sustainable solutions that they can rely on and that we will develop our products with these partnerships as a key principle. “We want to make sure that our customers can adopt these best-of-breed solutions to complement the great innovations that we provide and really leverage the power of our technologies.”
As for the future, software providers share the view that there are uncertain times ahead, with the rising cost of living and supply challenges hanging over and possibly threatening the underlying demand for housing, which underpins so much of the timber industry. “However, uncertainty always brings opportunity,” said Mark Hughes. “The way to survive is to be agile and adapt quickly to smarter solutions, whether it’s to make it easier for customers to transact with you through ecommerce or to set up a trade account with you so you can pick up business more quickly, be one step ahead and truly give your customers what they want.” ■
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2022 | TTJ
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