As more enterprises in the Middle East, including the Global Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Egypt are looking to leverage post-modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms and tools to move faster, work smarter and grow their business, Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, has announced its new cloud-first strategy for Epicor ERP deployments in the region. This follows an earlier announcement where Epicor said that it had chosen the Microsoft Azure Data centre in Singapore to support new cloud deployments in Asia.
Commenting on the regional launch, Sabby Gill, executive vice president for Epicor International said, “Over the last couple of years, we have seen a growing appetite for cloud solutions from existing and new customers. Rolling out our cloud-first strategy in the Middle East means ERP customers in the region can now leverage cloud deployment benefits including business consistency, worry-free security, hassle free upgrades, reduced risk and faster time to value. Perhaps most importantly, given the current economic climate with depressed oil-prices, cloud solutions also offer lower total cost of ownership (TCO)”.
According to a report by Forrester Research, “No longer a tactical solution, cloud is a strategic enabler of connected economies. Technology leaders will orchestrate cloud ecosystems, connecting employees, customers, partners, vendors, and devices to serve rising customer expectations.”
Epicor has made it easy for organisations to utilise the cloud to take advantage of a new cloud-first era of service delivery and flexibility, where ERP is delivered as a service and accompanied by value-added services to ensure scalability, security and business continuity. Building on the momentum of its successful move of hundreds of multi-tenant Epicor cloud customers to the new Epicor ERP 10.1 release in the United States and parts of Asia, Epicor is now expanding its global cloud footprint in the Middle East and Egypt.
Epicor ERP Cloud is based on the next-generation Epicor ERP solution. The on-demand system leverages core functionality that has been in use and proven at thousands of customer sites over the past 25 years. Recently recognised as a finalist in the 2016 SaaS Awards program, Epicor ERP in the cloud combines the rich feature set of Epicor ERP with the business and technical benefits of cloud deployment. The cloud-based ERP eliminates the need for separate applications, spreadsheets and “one off” processes and provides all the tools needed to manage opportunities, orders, and operations in one integrated web-based ERP solution.
“The Epicor ERP solution has been one of the strengths and indispensable tools of our business processes for the last six years,” said Raheel Shamim, business systems manager for Al Rajhi Holding Group, Building Solution Sector. “The decision by Epicor to roll out a cloud offering is not only a testament to their commitment to ensuring they provide us with best-of-breed solutions but the new strategy also affords us more choice and additional flexibility and agility, which is vital to our business growth.”
Strengthening the partner value proposition
The Company’s decision to offer cloud solutions in the region has also been warmly received by the partner community. “As a channel partner, our ability to compete and stay relevant in the market hinges on us tailoring our business model to be in line with the latest technology and customer buying models. I see building a cloud practice as key to this strategy. By offering cloud solutions, Epicor is helping us on this journey by allowing us to strengthen our value proposition to both our existing and new customers”, said Vetri Selvan, managing partner for RheinBrücke IT Consulting, an Epicor partner and the winner of a 2016 Stevie award under the category of IT Specialist of the Year – Technology and Architecture.
He concluded, “The Epicor cloud offering aligns directly to our vision of helping our clients quickly adapt to a changing marketplace by ensuring that their business ecosystems are relevant, efficient and perfectly tuned. Through our consulting, technology and Epicor cloud solutions, we will be able to help our clients stay ahead of competition, grow quickly and become more profitable, at the same time affording us the opportunity to grow our revenues and margins.”
