Reasons to Switch ERP Vendors

Your system isn’t broken. It’s breaking your people. The late nights. The manual reports. The “just one more workaround.” It’s easy to think your legacy ERP is “still working.” But working for who? Not the CFO, chasing numbers from four different systems. Not the operations team, still stuck reconciling data by hand. Not the distribution manager, trying to meet Costco’s demands with spreadsheets. I’ve been in this space 40 years. And I can tell you Most businesses don’t switch ERP systems because of a software failure. They switch because people burn out before the system does. Because growth doesn’t stall on a spreadsheet. It stalls in the silence between departments that stopped communicating. Modern ERP isn’t just about new tech. It’s about unblocking the people doing the hard work. → Real-time data, not tribal knowledge → Workflows that scale, not ones duct-taped together → One version of the truth, not ten conflicting ones If your business is scaling… But your system still feels like 2001… You don’t have a tech issue. You’ve got a momentum problem. And the longer you delay? The heavier it gets on your people. — I'm Ralph Hess VP of Sales & Marketing Navigator Business Solutions Follow for more on #ERPtransformation, and SAP #S4HANACloud.

A big 4 consulting firm implemented ERP which caused a major business disruption for a client.   Top level partners in top notch suits made best promises in a beautifully crafted presentation.   The client got excited. Deal signed.   I joined the party at the SIT phase. Which could not complete.   The integration between ERP, WMS and boundary systems was failing.   SIT lasted for 3 more months. Go live data had to be pushed. But the integration still did not work.   The burn rate was insane.   Eventually the leadership decided to make it live and forced half-baked solution.   Yay! Everyone was happy until they realized what a sh*t show they were in.   Right after go live the planners and supply chain operations realized that the stock on hand in ERP, WMS, their custom system and on the shelf were all different.   They had to call the warehouse to make sure they had the right quantity of equipment.   The result: ·      All the departments started overordering to cover up for their projects. ·      2 million dollar sales were lost. No stock. Couldn’t deliver. ·      Inventory across the supply chain grew by $20M. ·      It took 18 months to stabilize the system.   Why did that happen? 1.      The vendor recently bought the WMS solution and did not yet build native integration. 2.      Poor integration between the systems. Transactions were stuck due to errors. 3.      Terrible user experience. Warehouse workers could not perform their role in a system and circumvented the restrictions. 4.      Lack of training and end user support   Want to avoid this costly mistake? Here’s what you should consider. ·      ERP can look great on a slide deck but may not necessarily fit your business ·      ERP can fit your business but not your boundary systems ·      An implementation partner can have a big brand name, but one integration architect can screw the whole thing ·      Hire an independent ERP adviser to make sure you have the right solution and partner   In summary:   Don’t trust ERP fairy tales.   Do your due diligence.   #ERP    #TheERPGuy     #ERPImplementation

Are you an on-premises Epicor user? Your world is about to change dramatically. Top independent analyst Sam Gupta of ElevatIQ has written an important article about Epicor's decision to sunset its on-premises versions and only develop their cloud ERP, which is called Epicor Cloud. Here's the excellent article: https://lnkd.in/gQSUfmS2 I wanted to echo a few of his points and add a few of my own. Last week, #Epicor quietly confirmed a major shift in product strategy. Final on-premise feature releases are now scheduled for: • Epicor Kinetic • Prophet 21 • BisTrack After that? All meaningful development moves to the cloud. • No more roadmap depth for on-prem. • No more real innovation there. • No more long-term product momentum. For thousands of manufacturing, distribution, and building supply organizations that have Epicor on-prem today, this changes the rules of the game. You now have three options if you remain on-prem: 1) Accept a slow-freeze future. 2) You keep running your system yourself. 3) It stays “supported" for the short term. But it steadily drifts behind in: • Functionality • UX • Integration depth • AI and automation capabilities You don’t break tomorrow. But you quietly fall behind your competitors every year after that. Migration to Epicor Cloud may look like the “safe” option.... • Same vendor. • Same product family. • Cleaner narrative for leadership. But it is not a simple, technical lift-and-shift or "brownfield" migration. It is still: • A re-implementation • A data migration • A process redesign • A licensing model reset • A governance reset If you treat it like a minor upgrade, you will recreate your current pain...just inside a more expensive platform. We recommend reopening the ERP strategy conversation to include other options as part of a business transformation that includes AI, workflow, automation, etc. This is the uncomfortable option.....and often the smartest one. Because once you are re-implementing anyway, vendor loyalty should become a business decision - not an emotional one! This is the moment to ask: • Does Epicor still fit our future business model? • Do we need deeper industry functionality available elsewhere? • Are we outgrowing mid-market constraints? • Are we overpaying for complexity we don’t need? The organizations that win here will: • Start scenario planning now • Build a 3–5 year ERP roadmap • Separate “cloud hype” from real business value • Pressure-test Epicor Cloud against real alternatives Here are some great options to Epicor Cloud that companies can consider, and my company PCG has three: ✅ Oracle NetSuite - https://lnkd.in/dat7U_Bf ✅ Infor CloudSuite Industrial (CSI/SyteLine) - https://lnkd.in/e5cCFQbW ✅ Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise (LN) - https://lnkd.in/edw_UDZU #CloudERP #Technology #AI

Nucleus Research found that companies utilizing Infor’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system typically realize a 20 percent increase in employee productivity, a five percent increase in revenue, and an eight percent decrease in operational costs. Analysts conducted an interview with a materials manufacturer that needed a new ERP system after becoming a private company. By moving to Infor CloudSuite Industrial, the company avoided the cost of setting up an IT department, improved inventory and logistics management, and scaled its revenue from £16 million to £50 million. The switch also helped streamline customer service operations, reducing the department by one-third through better document tracking and automation. Additionally, invoicing and tracking improvements cut overdue payments (90+ days) from £90,000 to just £1,000 per month, giving the company better cash flow and more control over its finances. This transition to Infor CloudSuite Industrial reinforced the importance of strategic customizations, as small adjustments, particularly in financial workflows, can compound into major efficiency gains, which allowed the company to streamline daily operations without compromising system stability. Link in comments.

If you’re trying to rip out an incumbent, you’re not selling your product. You’re selling a divorce. And divorces are painful. That’s why so many deals stall when prospects get cold feet. Even if their current solution is outdated, overpriced, or inefficient, switching comes with risk...real or perceived. The best reps don’t just pitch a better alternative. They make staying put feel more dangerous than making a change. Here’s how: 1. Quantify the hidden costs. Most legacy vendors survive because their costs feel lower. You need to make the real cost of staying crystal clear - lost efficiency, poor integration, security risks, opportunity costs. 2. Sell leadership on future-proofing. Execs don’t care about your feature set. They care about whether their business is positioned for the next 5-10 years. Show them how their current vendor is holding them back. 3. Make switching painless. If your migration plan isn’t airtight, you’re done. No one wants to risk an operational nightmare. The best reps have a transition playbook that makes moving feel seamless. 4. Find the internal frustrations. The people actually using the legacy system hate it. You need them championing the switch from the inside. Make their job easier, and they’ll help drive the decision. tl;dr is that people don’t leave bad vendors. They leave bad situations. Make them feel the pain of staying put, and moving will be the only logical choice.