As with all Epicor solutions, the sweet spot for Epicor Procurement and Epicor Sourcing is the midmarket, where efficient management of corporate spend and automation of internal processes are significant competitive advantages. Epicor Procurement has been licensed by over 140 companies (not all of them have implemented it yet, though), while Epicor Sourcing has been licensed by about 20 companies. The number of Procurement users per customer ranges from 20 to 3,000.
Epicor’s SRM solutions are truly horizontal, and applicable across various industries. The majority of Epicor SRM customers are in North America, although each global sales region has Epicor SRM on its price list. Epicor Procurement is currently available in English, French, and Spanish, whereas Epicor Sourcing is available only in English.
Currently, Epicor does not actively market Procurement as a standalone solution, but has gotten a few deals that way anyway. The Epicor SRM sales pattern has shown a steady upward trend from 2003 right through to now. Since most of the low-hanging fruit in Epicor’s customer base have licensed Procurement in the 2003-2007 time frame, one could attribute the continued steady product sales to the vendor’s ongoing education of the midmarket about the importance and opportunity of spend management and related best practices.
Epicor SRM is most often sold as part of the complete Epicor solution. Thus, about 95 percent of customers that purchase Epicor SRM are buying it as part of the overall Epicor ecosystem. The fact that the vendor offers an end-to-end solution is one of the key value messages for its target market.
According to the vendor, in the midmarket the biggest competitor for Epicor Procurement is “doing nothing.” If a current customer is interested in procurement, the company almost never looks beyond Epicor. If Epicor is engaged with a prospect, then procurement is most often part of a bigger deal that includes a full ERP system.
In those cases, Epicor usually competes against Lawson Software, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft. The Microsoft Dynamics ERP products do not have their own strong procurement capabilities. Thus, they have to bring in a third-party solution, and that plays to Epicor’s benefit. Lawson, Oracle, and SAP do have their own procurement capabilities, but feature-for-feature Epicor Procurement can win.
In general, Epicor plays Procurement as a strong differentiator for a total Epicor ERP decision. When Epicor is competing in standalone SRM/procurement deals it faces off Ariba and some vertical niche players. The company has also occasionally sold Procurement into accounts that are running SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and other ERP systems, where Epicor Procurement was evaluated to be a superior solution.
Product’s “Order Winner” Traits
Packaged integration to Epicor Financials and Epicor SCM solutions and to other ERP systems results in the inherent ability to handle internal inventory orders and perform three-way matching in accounts payable (A/P). Other differentiators include configurable, point-and-click purchasing workflow automation (with no programming required), a patently simple user interface (UI), the ability to approve orders from a mobile device, “Tap Outs,” “FreeForms,” and a “360-degree” budget and commitment checking process.
To explain some esoteric terminology, “Tap Out” is Epicor’s term for what Ariba and Oracle call “PunchOut” and SAP calls “Roundtrip.” It is the ability to leverage suppliers’ e-commerce sites during the search, select, and shop experience as an alternative to managing supplier catalogs locally.
Epicor’s SRM solutions are truly horizontal, and applicable across various industries. The majority of Epicor SRM customers are in North America, although each global sales region has Epicor SRM on its price list. Epicor Procurement is currently available in English, French, and Spanish, whereas Epicor Sourcing is available only in English.
Currently, Epicor does not actively market Procurement as a standalone solution, but has gotten a few deals that way anyway. The Epicor SRM sales pattern has shown a steady upward trend from 2003 right through to now. Since most of the low-hanging fruit in Epicor’s customer base have licensed Procurement in the 2003-2007 time frame, one could attribute the continued steady product sales to the vendor’s ongoing education of the midmarket about the importance and opportunity of spend management and related best practices.
Epicor SRM is most often sold as part of the complete Epicor solution. Thus, about 95 percent of customers that purchase Epicor SRM are buying it as part of the overall Epicor ecosystem. The fact that the vendor offers an end-to-end solution is one of the key value messages for its target market.
According to the vendor, in the midmarket the biggest competitor for Epicor Procurement is “doing nothing.” If a current customer is interested in procurement, the company almost never looks beyond Epicor. If Epicor is engaged with a prospect, then procurement is most often part of a bigger deal that includes a full ERP system.
In those cases, Epicor usually competes against Lawson Software, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft. The Microsoft Dynamics ERP products do not have their own strong procurement capabilities. Thus, they have to bring in a third-party solution, and that plays to Epicor’s benefit. Lawson, Oracle, and SAP do have their own procurement capabilities, but feature-for-feature Epicor Procurement can win.
In general, Epicor plays Procurement as a strong differentiator for a total Epicor ERP decision. When Epicor is competing in standalone SRM/procurement deals it faces off Ariba and some vertical niche players. The company has also occasionally sold Procurement into accounts that are running SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and other ERP systems, where Epicor Procurement was evaluated to be a superior solution.
Product’s “Order Winner” Traits
Packaged integration to Epicor Financials and Epicor SCM solutions and to other ERP systems results in the inherent ability to handle internal inventory orders and perform three-way matching in accounts payable (A/P). Other differentiators include configurable, point-and-click purchasing workflow automation (with no programming required), a patently simple user interface (UI), the ability to approve orders from a mobile device, “Tap Outs,” “FreeForms,” and a “360-degree” budget and commitment checking process.
To explain some esoteric terminology, “Tap Out” is Epicor’s term for what Ariba and Oracle call “PunchOut” and SAP calls “Roundtrip.” It is the ability to leverage suppliers’ e-commerce sites during the search, select, and shop experience as an alternative to managing supplier catalogs locally.
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