Epicor Update Aims to Improve Integration

Users of the upcoming eBackOffice 7.3, for example, will be able to tie a purchase order to a sales order, said Karen Adame, director of product marketing at Epicor, based here.

"You can take Net transactions from customers to suppliers, get invoices and send them," Adame said. "You can take transactions from [accounts receivable and payable systems and tie them together. If there's a balance left, you can cut a check," all without toggling between disparate apps.

The eBackOffice line includes software financials, distribution, warehouse, human resources and payroll modules. Release 7.3, demonstrated at Epicor's Perspectives conference in Anaheim, Calif., in November, is slated to ship this month.

The enhanced eDistribution application creates a purchase order automatically when a customer selects an item that is out of stock, filling in sales order details, Epicor said.

Also at the show, Epicor showed off eBackOffice 8, a work in progress being developed for the Microsoft .Net platform. That version is about 12 to 18 months from shipping, according to executives of the company.

Epicor plays in the hotly contested midmarket, which it defines as companies with revenue of $10 million to $500 million. In that space, Epicor competes with J.D. Edwards, Lawson and PeopleSoft, Adame said. An entry-level implementation of release 7.3 for five users starts at about $30,000.

Current customers include JELD-WEN, a large manufacturer of doors, windows and specialty wood products, and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, a division of Bourget Health Services, Epicor executives said.

"What's really important with this effort is that Epicor has brought all the components up to the same version and improved integration between them so they talk together more easily," said Dallas Wilt, president and CEO of Axis Accounting Systems, a Nashville, Tenn.-based reseller. "That's extremely important today. People expect things to be perfectly integrated."

On Dec. 9, Epicor completed its buyout of Clarus, an Atlanta-based provider of e-commerce software, for about $1 million.