Global solutions: Epicor’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John Hiraoka recently took the time to outline the scope of his company’s business software solutions for the manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and service industries.

1. An interview with Epicor’s CMO John Hiraoka
Global
Epicor’s Executive Vice President and Chief
Marketing Officer John Hiraoka recently
took the time to outline the scope of his
company’s business software solutions for the
manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality
and service industries.

2. Text Jim Larkin ~ Photography Epicor
BUSINESS INTEGRATION
solutions
E
picor’s global reach is built on collaboration and provid- TIE: Where in the
ing efficiency-optimisation solutions for more than marketplace is Epicor 9
20,000 customers in over 150 countries. TIE’s EDI and particularly resonating,
Data Synchronization is a major component of Epicor’s broad and how do you see the
portfolio of business software solutions, which includes inte- TIE partnership as a
grated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relation- part of that?
ship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), “Because of Epicor 9, we
and enterprise retail software solutions. have experienced strength
Epicor is currently seeing a return to in several key and emerging
growth in spite of the challenges presented markets in what has obvi-
by a struggling economy, and has been po-
sitioned as a Visionary in the Gartner Magic
“Epicor 9 ously been a very difficult
market for everyone. We
Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier 2-Ori-
ented ERP for Product-Centric Companies.
is integrated had great momentum at
the end of the year, and in
This honour showcases the strength of Epi-
cor’s advanced business technology and the
with TIE the fourth quarter of 2009
in particular. We closed the
importance of its newest release, Epicor 9.
solutions, year with strength across all
geographies, and across all
John Hiraoka, CMO Epicor.
TIE: John, can you tell me about your
newest offering, Epicor 9, and its role
helping us product lines and verticals
– manufacturing, distribu- region or locality, but also what it takes to be
in enabling business on a global scale?
“Epicor 9 is a revolutionary, next-genera-
to market tion, professional services
and business-services-fo-
able do business globally. We want to part-
ner with companies strategically so that we
tion ERP solution. It’s a brand-new platform
that allows us to provide manufacturers and in tandem cused solutions, as well as in
our retail focused offer-
can offer a solution that will work anywhere
in the world. TIE fits into that strategy very
distributors with a solution that is world-
class in terms of functionality and technol- with other ings that serve some of the
world’s largest retailers.
well because of the global nature of its cus-
tomer base, its development focus and its
ogy. Although evolutionary, it is effectively
an all-new product: very much what we products Epicor 9 is integrated
with TIE solutions, helping
desire to increase its business in these areas.
Our strategies are well aligned.”
would call a game-changer. The industry
analysts also saw it as a game-changer in the that the us to market in tandem
with other products that the TIE: How do you see the future of pro-
market, with Gartner positioning Epicor as a
visionary in its Magic Quadrant, largely due customer customer may have. This
helps them integrate to their
viding enhanced global supply-chain
capabilities to industry leaders in
to the architecture and technology.”
Aside from its technology and func- may have” own customers, and enables
them to do business more
North America and internationally?
“We have a long relationship with TIE that
tionality, Epicor 9 is a truly global solution, effectively. dates back to 1998. We realized early on
currently shipping to almost 50 countries in A significant part of our that TIE could be a global partner, enabling
approximately 20 languages. It is designed solutions and our partnership with TIE focuses a large part of our supply-chain efficiency
to support many different languages across on providing collaborative tools - tools that and focus on collaboration. We certainly
many different localities, and in facili- provide increased supply-chain efficiency, want to continue our partnership and help
ties, plants and sales offices that may span so that customers can react more quickly to our joint customers to be more successful.
many different countries. Epicor 9 fulfils market conditions, and meet the needs of their We think there are additional opportuni-
a need for a software solution that can run customers. ties for both of us as we continue to expand
businesses end-to-end and help them One of the keys to our partnerships is a fo- further into global markets. We appreciate
grow as they move into new and emerging cus on global partners that not only understand the successful partnership between TIE and
markets.” the pressures and requirements of a particular Epicor.”
TIE ~ 2/2010 ~ P19