Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organisations, announced its support for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 in its new Epicor ERP version 10 release introduced here today at the company’s annual user conference.
Epicor ERP version 10 is fully optimised for SQL Server 2014, the newest version of SQL Server introduced earlier this month. SQL Server 2014 is part of the powerful new Epicor ERP technology foundation designed to help drive
twice the performance and four times the scalability of previous Epicor ERP releases, along with improved ease of use, reduced IT cost and complexity.
As well, organisations will be able to achieve significant cost advantages due to the fact that Epicor ERP now can be run exclusively on an end-to-end Microsoft technology stack. This enables organisations to source IT support from a widely available pool of professionals skilled in Windows, SQL Server and .NET technologies, as opposed to proprietary technologies.
“Epicor ERP version 10 is architected specifically for Microsoft’s data platform and SQL Server 2014,” says Erik Johnson, vice-president, technology strategy at Epicor Software.
“Epicor ERP version 10 is optimised for the SQL Server 2014 data engine, analysis and reporting services, enabling our solution to scale from 30 to 1000s of users in a very cost effective manner. SQL Server 2014 provides exactly what our ERP customers are looking for in a database technology – easy to manage high availability and fast data processing capabilities.
“In virtually all aspects, Epicor ERP version 10 performance is now double that of our previous releases, and achieves much better hardware efficiency, which lowers infrastructure costs significantly.“
Johnson says Epicor recognises that many ERP customers are evolving their operations to rely more on cloud capabilities, both for cost savings and to keep IT staff focused strategic projects.
“SQL Server simplifies backup operations by looking at retention periods and transaction workloads to ascertain when the best time would be to perform the backups, and then does so – without manual intervention.
“As a result, Epicor ERP users will enjoy less manual effort, less cost and the improved reliability in back up operations,” says Johnson. “Also, with SQL Server 2014, Epicor users can easily and automatically backup their data to the cloud using a Windows Azure storage container.”
“Epicor has an exceptional track record of innovation in application development, leveraging new Microsoft technologies to enable customers to drive efficiency throughout their business operations and attain competitive advantage,” says Eron Kelly, GM, SQL Product Marketing, Microsoft Corporation.
“And now with its first-mover adoption of SQL Server 2014, Epicor ushers in a whole new level of breakthrough performance, accelerated business insights and the ability to scale globally on-premises and in the cloud – allowing customers to best leverage data to effectively compete in the new era of digital disruption.”
Epicor ERP version 10 also introduces new enhancements to its powerful ICE Business Architecture, furthering Epicor ERP interoperability and empowering users to define ERP for themselves and share it with others. Epicor ERP has more than 1,300 business services which are connected by the Epicor ICE Framework.
Each service functions as a reusable component covering every major business aspect managed by ERP.
Each service is customisable and use rules engines – rather than fixed code – to control fundamental needs such as rounding, currency, legal numbering, and book structure. ERP services are managed by the Epicor ICE Framework to coordinate their interactions in accordance with business processes defined by ERP users.
This enables organisations to map Epicor ERP to specific business rules and processes, without changing source code. As well, businesses can share and request information with customers, suppliers and partners with ease and speed as never before, and make functionality accessible to a wide range of devices.
“Change is inevitable in the business world, but ERP disruption doesn’t have to be,” says Johnson, who says new functionality in Epicor ICE is designed to support the delivery of business insights with greater speed for improved organisational responsiveness and decision making, and reduce the disruptiveness that accompanies constant change.”
New features include support for multiple data sources, and the means to publish dashboards to mobile devices and Microsoft SharePoint sites for improved collaboration. An all new graphical business process management workflow designer enables businesses to model and deploy business processes easier and faster than ever before.
Additional features further the Epicor vision of consumerised ERP, including new consumer-grade enterprise search capabilities. As well, the Epicor Business Activity Query advanced query tool is now optimised for SQL Server for greater speed. The Business Activity Query compliments the new Epicor Social Enterprise module that enables organisations to collaborate and manage unstructured data and “transient” business processes via social networking.