Epicor ERP Reviews

My clients are using Epicor ERP for all their operations. They are a mid-size or small-sized manufacturing company, and Epicor ERP covers finance, production, planning, and procurement functions except HR.

Currently, they are not using Epicor ERP for analytics; it is more for regular ERP operations.

Epicor ERP helps in supply chain management by maintaining control and minimizing disruptions. This has been quite helpful for this organization, as it tracks items until they come back to the company warehouse.

The operational efficiencies gained by integrating Epicor ERP CRM have improved significantly. They were using a less popular ERP earlier, and we can see a good amount of improvement in the operations after shifting to Epicor ERP.

The positive impacts I see from Epicor ERP include operational efficiency and productivity improvement. These are the two major things, and the major benefit is the data discipline and the usage of data in a meaningful way. Production planning has become smooth.

I see a few areas that can be improved. The localization is not good; for local taxes and statutory compliances, manual work is being done and other packages are being integrated for tax purposes. From the localization perspective, there is quite a good amount of work to be done.

In the production planning area, Epicor ERP cannot handle complex planning situations, which for this organization became very complex, requiring a lot of customizations. Analytics are not being used, and the standard reports are not that great, so management reports are being built independently.

Technical support from Epicor ERP could be better. The issue with support is in terms of response time as well as quality.

I have been using Epicor ERP for two years.

Regarding stability, some downtime is present, but as of now, Epicor ERP is under implementation, so stability post-go-live is unknown. In the instances used, such as the pilot or the fourth instance, it was found to be stable. However, issues arise during upgrades and patch applications, leading to huge downtimes and temporary instability.

When comparing Epicor ERP with other vendors such as SAP and other ERPs, I see many differences. Epicor ERP is clearly a tier-two product, meaning it cannot handle complex scenarios the way SAP or Oracle handles them, and it is more for straightforward operations. If the organization is complex or large, Epicor ERP is not going to fit in. I have doubts about scalability and flexibility; I do not think you get as much flexibility and scalability from Epicor ERP as you do from Oracle or SAP.

For mid-sized organizations, Epicor ERP is acceptable, but the moment you go for large or complex organizations, then Epicor ERP is not suitable.

Technical support from Epicor ERP could be better. The issue with support is in terms of response time as well as quality. If I were to rate support from zero to ten, I would give them seven points, around six to seven.

Positive

The operational efficiencies gained by integrating Epicor ERP CRM have improved significantly. They were using a less popular ERP earlier, and a good amount of improvement in the operations can be seen after shifting to Epicor ERP.

My experience with Epicor ERP pricing is that it is fairly priced, targeting more mid-size and small organizations. However, from that perspective, they are slightly higher priced, as some smaller organizations will not be able to afford it due to their sales strategy.

I have been using Epicor ERP, and it's still in implementation. We decided not to proceed because it is not workable for us. Anything we want to use requires complete customization. It's not a matter of 10% customization; every screen, every field, every process, and every workflow has to be customized, making it a nightmare for us.

Regarding the modular architecture feature in Epicor ERP, we were told it cannot be implemented. The reason is that in manufacturing, all processes are linked with other processes, so everything has to be completely done. There are dependencies; for example, if you're doing a project management module, it is linked with finance. Unless finance is implemented, this module cannot be completed.

For the past two years, my focus has been fully on Epicor ERP, and there are many new features which we did not deploy in our platform. We plan to work on deploying the new features and controls, more automation, and then we'll revisit if we proceed with any other system.

My overall experience with Epicor ERP is extremely bad. I just finished a call with the team, and the experience is really unsatisfactory. I will not recommend it to anyone.

There's extensive customization required for Epicor ERP, and the standard process is not suitable. Though it is meant for manufacturing, it is not performing the manufacturing job effectively.

Regarding the installation process, the implementation is not the problem as the installation is fine. The issue lies with configuration. Although it's supposed to be configurable, it requires customization for everything we need to do.

When comparing to JD Edwards and in-house applications, a process that takes one minute in those systems takes ten minutes in Epicor ERP because users have to navigate through different screens constantly. If a user forgets to switch to one screen, the process remains incomplete, making end-user training extremely difficult.

There's no automation and workflow feature that can be used without customization. Everything requires changes, making it similar to developing a new platform from scratch.

Initially, we anticipated some benefits from using Epicor ERP, but based on the current outcome, it has been completely unsuccessful.

The main issue is that everything requires customization rather than configuration. Unless they change their whole approach from customization to configuration, this product should not be used anywhere.

I have been dealing with Epicor ERP for two years during this implementation.

The integration with our existing ecosystem requires full coding. There are no automation and workflow features that we can use without customization. Everything requires changes, making it similar to developing a platform from scratch.

Epicor ERP has experienced multiple crashes and performance drops multiple times.

From our experience so far, Epicor ERP is not a scalable solution.

When issues are raised to customer support, they direct us to work with the partner. If we want them to work on it directly, we have to pay them separately.

Negative

I am currently considering returning to JD Edwards. We are still using JD Edwards and are thinking to continue with it.

We have a partner implementing Epicor ERP for us. According to them, there are about 8 to 10 people working on the project, plus additional process owners. We provide input on processes and have deployed our entire team, with six people from our side, plus users from various departments. Despite having a huge team deployed, the implementation team is unable to implement it due to the extensive customization requirements.

Epicor ERP did not provide any return on investment or cost reductions.

The licensing cost for Epicor ERP is a concern. The licensing becomes cheap, which leads people to opt for it, but then they encounter troubles similar to ours. The licensing was reasonable when we opted for it, but it has been a disaster.

While the exact current licensing costs are confidential, it is approximately 50% of Oracle's cost.

The product remains the same whether deployed on-premises or in the cloud; only the licensing aspect differs.

Additional support, including training, requires separate payments. The only free component with Epicor ERP is the pre-sales demos.

We have not gone live yet with Epicor ERP after two years. We are expecting about 300 people to use it once we go live.

This product doesn't meet our expectations, but this feedback could serve as a warning for other users.

Based on this negative experience, I would rate Epicor ERP a one out of ten.

We are using Epicor ERP version 10.3.6. We utilize the complete process from P2P through to manufacturing, HR, and almost all other processes.

Almost all the features are useful, from procurement to manufacturing, as they are interconnected and useful.

The procurement process stands out particularly. We have been able to implement customizations to meet our approval processes, making it easier to get PO approvals and requests approved. Having multiple people approve before a PO is completed is streamlined, and the system is easy to customize and modify.

The system has reduced many manual processes, and we have automated several processes in Epicor ERP, allowing bots to run some processes without manual intervention.

The system has enhanced accuracy, especially when the base data is correct and automation can read the data properly. The accuracy is above 90%, and when errors occur, automation informs users quickly before posting items to the GL.

Epicor ERP has harmonized our processes and provides significant visibility in reporting. The internal reports of Epicor ERP have been instrumental in strategic planning.

The cost management and product costing should be enhanced, along with issues in the manufacturing process. The downtime functionality in Epicor ERP is not functioning optimally.

I started using the solution in 2017, which amounts to approximately seven years of experience.

The system is 90-95% stable.

The system is adapting to our growing needs, but some requirements necessitate upgrading Epicor ERP to meet current needs, which represents an additional expense for us.

The support rates at 50% because most of the time the support team needs to relearn the processes, especially when a new person is assigned.

Neutral

I did not use a different solution for these use cases before Epicor ERP. We were using one application from the same Epicor company, but it was not a complete solution.

I participated in the initial setup and deployment of this tool. The initial setup presented the main complexity. The complexity level depended on the people involved; while it was straightforward, some customizations introduced complexities.

There is definitely a return on investment. With increased visibility, there is a substantial opportunity for return on investment.

The vendors we considered included SAP and Oracle. Since we were using iScala, it was easier for us to transition to Epicor ERP.

I have experience with multiple solutions. I am a customer and serve as the technical support for our company. I am the Business Applications Support Lead at Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate Epicor ERP an 8, based on the product's ability to grow with organizational needs.

Positive

Positive

The product enables users to customize their dashboards and reports. It is flexible. It is not very difficult to use.

The tool should provide a better user interface. It takes time to use the user interface unless we are very familiar with it. There is a learning curve. The QC modules and HR modules are a bit weak. They do not have many features. The costs are not clear. It might affect us at the end of the month and the end of the year. I do not like it. The HR and QC modules must be made more elaborate. It should be like S/4HANA.

I have been using the solution for three years. We upgraded from version 10.7 to 11.4.

The tool is stable as long as the vendor does not make any changes in the cloud. They have very funny bugs. If they make a major change, we can't print the reports. The reports contain funny values. It is not a major issue. They provide 24/7 assistance.

The solution is suitable for small and medium-sized companies.

The technical support is quite reasonable. We go through the portal to get support. If needed, the team calls us to resolve issues on the spot. It is a direct support from Epicor. I rate the support an eight or nine out of ten.

Positive

I have worked with SAP A1, some proprietary software, and some small ERP systems. SAP is a bit more complex. Compared to SAP, Epicor has an easy configuration. With SAP, we have to do a good number of setups before we can set the requirements. We need to get many people to update things before we can get it to work properly. For Epicor, we can do the bare minimum. It still works. If we need more results, we need to input more parameters. It’s not complex. The operations and the logic are fundamentally different. SAP has a better user interface. It provides its own Workbench. Epicor is not as advanced as S/4HANA. Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides good presentations.

The initial setup is not much different than SAP and Navision. The migration and setups are pretty standard. We upgraded our solution from on-premises to the cloud. Epicor hosts it. The deployment took almost three weeks, including the time taken for rectifying issues that arose due to the migration from custom MRP to Epicor. We needed one consultant and three other people to deploy the product.

It took us two years to see a return on investment.

The cost depends on the needs of the organization. The tool is not very cheap. In some ways, S/4HANA is cheaper than Epicor. The initial cost may be a bit high, but the maintenance cost is lower.

Implementing the product will be much easier if we get our data and processes right. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

We use Epicor ERP for our total business operation.

Epicor ERP is an easy-to-use solution.

There are some glitches in Epicor ERP.

Epicor ERP should add some automations.

I have been using Epicor ERP for the past six years.

Epicor ERP is a stable solution.

More than 300 users are using the solution in our organization.

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

Epicor ERP is an expensive solution.

I would recommend Epicor ERP to other users.

Overall, I rate Epicor ERP a seven out of ten.

The primary use cases are always in manufacturing, although it's pretty extensive. We use it in a couple of trading and distribution situations, however, its core strength has always been in manufacturing.

Typical tier 2 products are focused on discrete manufacturing.  Although Epicor out of the box is built for discrete manufacturing, certain partners have managed to configure  Epicor to handle process manufacturing requirements using Epicor built in tools.  There are some unique features especially in the production process control involving the use of a manufacturing order or job.  Using the base to achieve the tracking of material and labor/overheads consumption and usage,  the manner of entering this information is handled differently using custom screens and in some instance using IoT to obtain the information from the production floor. Some of the industries that it managed to handle are glove manufacturing ,  codom and plastic films manufacturing processes.  

In terms of manufacturing and in terms of the configuring of the product to meet a variety of different types of manufacturing requirements, the product works well. It's fairly configurable and fairly powerful. 

There's good flexibility within the inbuilt tools such as alerts, business process management,  dashboards, and screen customization. You can really get pretty, pretty extensive, and really tweak the product to make it work for process industries.

We have done implementations that tweak the software to actually meet process manufacturing use cases. This this is possible due to the strength of the tools that come along with Epicor, all the inbuilt tools.

If you're going to a cloud solution, you need to actually have a workable, practical web UI. Epicor doesn't really have a proper solution there, although they claim they do. However, it's not really popular. In practical terms, very few customers use it. Epicor is very flexible, so customization can get quite extensive. Yet, when you do something like that, on the cloud, it doesn't work well. Perhaps that is the reason many clients who had done those heavy customization can ever move to proper SAAS model.

Right now, it doesn't really have a good cloud story. That said, Epicor 11 is coming out and they claim it's fully web UI. If I were to base it on Epicor 10,  it doesn't really have a proper cloud solution. Also once you go fully cloud, the customization capability drops significantly.  

Secondly, base on my involvement for 15 years with Epicor, experiencing all major releases.   The number of releases has dwindled. Almost nothing really sticks out if I look at the last two releases of Epicor - and my personal opinion is that they're not putting enough investment into R&D.

It's got an inbuilt APS, however, to be honest, I've not seen anyone implement it. It does work. That said, in practical terms, when you have multiple constraints (labor, machines, tools, et cetera.), if you've got these kinds of constraints and you need all three to work harmoniously, then Epicor's scheduler cannot do the job. It looks very nice when you're doing a demonstration, however, it's not practical if you actually try to implement it.

I've had been an Epicor using the solution for 15 years as a partner to Epicor, implementing about 20, 25 sites under different roles either as a functional or technical project manager. We acquired quite a number of clients over the 15 years. We started with Epicor 9, then we went to Epicor 10. I have very good experience and knowledge of the product.

I've been through the whole journey with Epicor 9, and then Epicor 10, and now into 11. Epicor 9 was really unstable. Customers cannot get over the fact that they keep on putting a lot of power on the hardware, and just cannot solve the performance issues on Epicor 9.

There's a combination of Progress and Microsoft Stack going on inside there, and that was causing a lot of performance issues. It looks like a very innovative solution at that point in time, yet there are a massive amount of performance issues. When we went to Epicor 10, we moved to a full Microsoft Stack. Still, lots of the stability issues in the early versions of 10 only improved after 10.2.

Version 10.2 seems quite okay. They sort of stabilized everything. I really don't know about other ERP systems, however, when we talk about Epicor's, every time they launch a new release, its tendency is to be quite unstable.

The solution is quite scalable due to the fact that its app servers are scalable. You can scale out pretty well without any issues. 

As a partner, I know a little bit more than a client would know. Epicor's support, if I were to rate between one and ten, I would give them probably five. 

Sometimes we have problems where we can see, for example, performance problems where the customer has been running for a couple of months and years, and suddenly there is performance degradation. It's a gray area, indirectly Epicor flexible tools causes this problem with badly designed queries which hits the database very badly. No one knows if it is a product issue or if there is something else going on in there. However, Epicor tends to push everything to the customer. It's for the partner to go and solve, and then we have to get a DBA, and then, when we go and dig inside, we actually find some view or store procedure from Epicor is running incorrectly. 

They tend to not admit there's a problem with it. Due to that, sometimes the problem just drags on and on and on for months, until you prove to them that their stock procedure is running and causing the problems. The answer at that point is to upgrade to the newer version. It's very frustrating as a former partner and I do emphatize with our client. 

Neutral

Epicor's setup is complex. If you are new to it, there's an 80% chance of you failing without having somebody who's experienced to guide you, as there are a lot of tools. Even your mindset to approach how to implement the solution is important. If you have the wrong mindset, such as, you think everything can be customized, and you don't manage it carefully, and that leads to a very high chance of failure. 

Scope creep and extension of the project, budget, and time and all those sorts of problems appear. Having someone with experience in implementing Epicor will definitely help a new partner who signs on, however, if you attempt to do it yourself, you will really struggle for the first year and to do a decent implementation.

The deployment process takes six to nine months.

Generally, customers do see some returns, however, they are not very massive in that sense. For example, they achieve a couple of things in terms of having statutory reporting done in a timely manner every month, doing day-to-day operations. 

To me, there are some significant items. I just focus on the manufacturing side, and things like production planning, advance planning, and scheduling, don't achieve ROI. 

In terms of pricing, they run on a concurrent model that is attractive. In our region, people are very price-sensitive and when they offer flexibility, people are pleased. For example, If they have a 20-person license, and I have 50 people, they say that some people can use it occasionally. Other products and solutions may not allow for that. 

In terms of new acquisitions, as I'm coming from a partner ecosystem, I find that Epicor can be quite aggressive and will price to win deals. However, be aware that this is a double edge sword,  the partner tends to take the risk of quoting low and then hit problems of project overrun and budget overrun.  This is where either the partner or client will tend to lose out. 

Epicor doesn't have a good story to tell when it comes to the cloud in this region. I am in Malaysia, and, in South East Asia, Epicor still pushes the on-prem solution rather than the cloud solution. That's mainly due also to the fact that it's still very client server-based, rather than web interface or web UI-based.

When considering using and implementing the solution with clients, we help extend a typical ERP with things like robotic process automation or putting a low-code/no-code platform to fully digitize the whole process. In the ERP system, there's still a paper trail going on in most companies, and we don't ever really fully digitize. To me, it's important to look at tools that can extend the whole digital footprint, rather than to just look at a bare ERP system, due to the fact that that's enough. That would be something a new user should keep in mind.

They need to use AI and machine learning in an ERP product in order to enhance it. I don't see very much going on in Epicor. However, I've seen Microsoft do a lot of stuff with their product. Another way to say this is you need to look around and see what other vendors out there can offer and if that is more than what you are getting out of your ERP system. This may not suit everyone's needs.

I'd rate the solution at a six out of ten.

The solution is great for production planning because everything is out of the box. It smoothly handles the process from engineering to ERP, including version management and subcontracting. These features aren't in NetSuite. 

The main challenge with implementing Epicor ERP is finding the right partners, especially in Europe.

Technical support depends on getting the right people. NetSuite ERP has better documentation.

Neutral

Pricing isn't a big problem for the solution - I haven't seen them lose deals because of it.

NetSuite ERP is better than Epicor ERP in terms of complex finance functionality. However, Epicor ERP's newer Kinetic version is much better for discrete and project manufacturing. It's about ten years ahead of NetSuite ERP in that area. It depends on what you need. One of my customers is considering using NetSuite ERP for international finance across 23 legal entities in seven countries but Epicor ERP for two or three production sites.

I don't think Epicor ERP's real-time analytics are better than those of other systems. It is good for certain types of manufacturing but isn't as broad as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics.

I'd rate the tool eight and a half to nine out of ten for production functionality. Their finance functionality is limited compared to Microsoft, NetSuite, or SAP. Their document management is outdated and not user-friendly.

I help customers choose the best solution but don't sell licenses. All these systems are about the same for integration for cloud-based solutions, but NetSuite ERP's documentation is better than Epicor ERP's.

The primary use of Epicor ERP is to manage the stock.

The company has two databases for documents, and Epicor for ERP meets the requirements. With Epicor, we can call a pitch between Epicor and the PLM database, which is a significant advantage. However, it is admirable that they recognize the need for multiple databases among customers and provide a service to bridge different databases. These capabilities serve as a channel because there is an increasing number of internal and external databases.

Epicor didn't care about user level and software applications. So, it's not so user-friendly for nontechnical people. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.

I have been using Epicor ERP every three months for three years.

It is stable. I haven't faced any issues till now.

It is scalable for me.

I noticed that using Epicor in the medical device market involves several unique criteria, such as feasibility and locating devices with specific software installed to update the software when necessary for critical reasons. Therefore, the main purpose of the micro ten is to educate users and explain the implementation of Epicor features to meet the requirements of the medical device industry.

The medical device field is quite complex. It requires specific knowledge and expertise, particularly regarding scalability and other factors. Thus, a suggested step would be to involve individuals familiar with the software to ensure its successful operation. Once it's functioning, I assume it works very well, especially within a market like this. I cannot make a conclusive judgment because my interest lies in observing this medical device industry since I primarily work with small manufacturers. I seek a solution that caters to the needs of my own company. I currently use an open ERP, an open-source solution, and I have been satisfied. However, since I operate within my own company with a team of 10 software specialists, we can easily use open-source software and modify its code. I rate the overall solution a five out of ten.