42 | Sector Focus: Software
Above: Epicor has developed new systems and processes
◄ with suppliers, customers and employees. Communication and transparency have been, and remain, key priorities.”
Epicor is seeing more interest in cloud and that whereas 12-18 months ago businesses were reluctant to store their data in the cloud, now it is considered a safe storage solution – and it makes a lot of sense given the increasing appetite for remote automation. “Epicor isn’t an exclusively cloud- driven business,” he said. “We want to give customers the scope and time to gravitate from on-premises at a pace that suits them. But today we have got 6,000 customers using our cloud solutions and timber has contributed to that, for sure.”
Above: Border Merchant Systems is active on the app front
Mr Fear added that embracing ecommerce had been “a seismic shift” for businesses used to relying on proven manual processes. Border Merchant Systems incorporated the Magento e-trading platform into its CounterAct system last year and says its web services have been very popular. “They are so important to get right so businesses can expand their trading area,
increase brand awareness and to help safeguard them in the event of a pandemic or trade counter closure,” said Mr Davies. Border is so busy building full system integrated websites for its customers, enabling them to manage online and offline sales from one system, that it has a waiting list. But if a merchant doesn’t want or need a full trading website, it can offer an existing website bolt- on – the Account Customer Portal. “This allows the merchant to give their trade account users an online login area to easily see and pay invoices, view orders and so on,” said Mr Davies. “These have been very popular and are a great addition for merchants to provide an improved service for trade clients and increase customer loyalty.” Ten-25 has started to pick up “a fantastic number of new customers” as a result of businesses looking at their digital strategy against a backdrop of growing demand. “As their businesses grow it puts pressure on their operations and a really good ERP system means you know what stock you have and can turn around quotes and orders and process them more easily.” Last year Ten-25 established links with eCommonSense, a business with a merchant specific webshop, and has customers making full use of that. And two of its customers have just gone live linking in with Amazon and eBay and other ecommerce platforms that have been written with more generic tools such as WooCommerce and Shopify. “eCommonSense is fantastic and we have partnered with them because they have a really good platform for merchants and it is a very good tie-up with the ERP system,” said Mr Oldrey. “But other customers have already got sites in place, or they are selling through other channels, such as Amazon and eBay, so we are making sure that that connectivity can be added into their ERP system as well.” James Mitchell highlighted the importance of customers marketing their ecommerce capability and using search engine optimisation (SEO) and other tools to ensure their existing and prospective customers know about their website and that they can easily be found in Google searches. And, he said, it is vital that the supply chain and delivery process is up to scratch.
Above: Ten-25’s upgrade to Merchanter included more functionality TTJ | July/August 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
“This is where integration with a solid and robust ERP system such as K8 is important, ensuring your website can accurately inform your customer on current stock levels and, if not available right now, give them a reasonable estimate of delivery date. “The Amazon experience has driven all of us to expect a product to be on our doorstep within 24 hours, and certainly no longer than 48 hours,” said Mr Mitchell. “People will shop around until they find a supplier who will get the product to them when they need it.” For KCS, he said, “the drive for customers to have more open systems continues”, by
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