After a long search for an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to replace its legacy solution, SPS selected Epicor Prophet 21 ERP and went live in April 2012. Says Rob Simpson, SPS Manager of IT & Communications, "The Epicor Prophet 21 user interface (UI) had a huge impact on our decision. Our legacy product was an old text-based system that had not been updated. We could see that the Epicor Prophet 21 system would have greater ease of use and more consistent upgrades than the legacy system, which was not changing to keep pace with our business. With Epicor, we knew we would get regularly scheduled updates and feature releases."
According to Simpson, the Service and Maintenance module was also a deciding factor: "We view our technical service team as a major competitive advantage in our marketplace, and Prophet 21 has enabled us to allocate these important resources in a very efficient manner."
Implementation and training
SPS felt that the data conversion from the old system was well managed, and the switch to the Epicor Prophet 21 system was transparent to customers. "All they saw was a change in the invoice style, and more options (such as fax and e-mail) for processing their invoices," Simpson recalls. The initial training for employees also went well. "The Epicor Learning Management System (LMS) really helped us get up and running," observes Simpson. "Surprisingly, our most tenured employees are the ones who have made the most positive comments about the new UI. The data is now at their fingertips, and the screen navigation is easier."
Simpson reports that SPS is also training its new employees in one-third of the time previously required. "The LMS is very helpful; it gets them completely up to speed in 5-7 days on average," he notes. "I recommend using the LMS for the first couple of years after implementation; I still go into it and review new aspects of the system for myself, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). We are trying to develop our CRM capabilities more, looking into different sales approaches, marketing segmentation, and profiles for new customers, as well as analyzing the current customer base, to see what else we can sell them (i.e., cross-selling of products and services)."
Helpful applications
In addition to the Service and Maintenance module, SPS is making strong use of DynaChange Portals and Epicor Business Analyzer. Says Simpson, "We employ DynaChange heavily for refining our business processes and enforcing requirements for data entry, etc. We can also highlight and move fields within the UI to be more efficient."
Epicor Business Analyzer pushes reports out to the SPS sales reps and management on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis via their mobile devices. Simpson states, "For now, we prefer to do this rather than having them log in, and it's going well. Through portals, queries, and reports from the SQL database, it is easy to provide information to Sales, Customer Service et al. This has been a dramatic improvement over our previous system." He concludes, "Our sales have increased 30 percent since go-live, without us having to increase our staff headcount. We've become more efficient in our customer service. As a distributor, we like to say we are in the 'Information Business,' and the Epicor Prophet 21 system has made a tremendous amount of information easily accessible, which helps us serve our customers and entire team."