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TTJ: HAVE YOU INTRODUCED ANY UPDATES OR NEW FEATURES TO BISTRACK IN THE PAST YEAR? AL: Yes, innovation remains a top priority. We deliver two major releases each year, each packed with hundreds of new features, many of which are crowd sourced from our Ideas platform. Over the past year, we’ve focused on completing the BisTrack Web transition, strengthening our API capabilities, and laying the groundwork for deeper integrations with other Epicor products, such as the Grow Data Platform and Automation Studio. By year-end, we also expect to introduce AI-driven features powered by our Prism Agentic network, targeted use cases that will provide real, actionable support to users. This is about more than just summarising data, it’s about enhancing and automating day-to-day tasks to make work smarter and faster.
TTJ: WHAT’S THE LATEST ON AUTOMATION STUDIO FOR BISTRACK? AL: Epicor Automation Studio, powered by Workato, is our low-code/no-code integration and automation platform. It lets users build ‘recipes’ to connect with thousands of third- party apps or automate workflows within the ERP itself. With the completion of BisTrack Web and significant API improvements – you can now call any data via API – we’re in a strong position to integrate Automation Studio. We expect to officially launch this functionality later this year.
TTJ: HAVE YOU SEEN MANY NEW E-COMMERCE PROJECTS AMONG YOUR TIMBER CUSTOMERS IN THE LAST YEAR? AL: Those with a strong desire to go digital have largely done so, while others remain committed to more traditional models. The past year’s market conditions have been tough, and many of our smaller customers have focused heavily on core operations and protecting margins. That said, we’ve seen growing interest from businesses already trading online who now want to enhance or upgrade their existing set-ups. There’s more appetite for working with specialist providers, and we’ve been expanding our suite of APIs to offer greater flexibility and choice.
TTJ: AI CONTINUES TO BE BIG NEWS – WHAT IS THE LATEST FOR EPICOR? AND HOW HAS THE INTEGRATION OF THE GROW INC PLATFORM WITH BISTRACK WORKED OUT? AL: AI is still the hottest topic, and those who harness it to drive real intelligence and automation will come out on top. In BisTrack, we’re already applying AI across multiple areas: accounts payable automation, sales order entry, inventory optimisation, forecasting, and through the Grow Data Platform.
We’ve got several customers in controlled release using BisTrack with Grow, and we plan to make that generally available by mid-year. Meanwhile, our central AI team has been developing Prism – an initiative focused on building industry-specific AI agents to deliver targeted use cases. These are expected to land in BisTrack by the end of the year. One example: a sales order assistant that suggests complementary products at the point of sale, boosting attach rates through real-time data analysis. We’ve also built an AI-powered Knowledge Assistant that answers user questions in natural language – helping customers learn faster and allowing support teams to focus on more complex issues.
TTJ: IS CYBER SECURITY A WORRY FOR YOUR CLIENTS? AND WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP PROTECT THEM? AL: Absolutely, it’s often the number one reason customers choose our SaaS solution. As a global software provider, we’ve invested in security at every level: from application security and cloud infrastructure to endpoint protection and social engineering defence. We handle data for some of the world’s biggest businesses and apply the same rigorous standards to all our customers, regardless of size.
TTJ: WHAT DO YOU THINK THE MAIN CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS? AL: AI continues to be the obvious choice here, the pace of innovation is so rapid that companies need a technology partner who has the resources to invest and to continue to invest in this ever-evolving area. The UK economic outlook remains uncertain. Tax reforms and high interest rates continue to weigh on demand, particularly in the RMI sector. Despite government ambitions around housebuilding, we’ve yet to see significant traction. Some businesses in our space are struggling. But those who embrace best-in-class technology are finding ways to thrive and grow profitably. It comes down to clear vision, smart leadership, and strategic investment in projects that deliver returns.
It’s definitely an exciting time to be in technology. The opportunities are huge. Beyond AI, we’re seeing major shifts – such as product data standardisation across the supply chain, which Epicor is actively supporting. Being able to simplify and structure the language of product data across the supply chain is a huge undertaking, but the benefits of efficiency and accuracy are within reach. Watch this space. ■
Above: Innovation remains a top priority for Epicor’s BisTrack
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2025 | TTJ
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