Multicurrency and Business Process Management Features Key to Selection

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organisations, today announced that Datum Alloys, an international distributor of high-tech stainless steel and nickel alloys to industries as diverse as aerospace and medical, has selected the Epicor next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to replace its bespoke manufacturing and finance solution in three countries.

Founded in 1993 by Ben Scott, Datum Alloys has grown into a £5m (GBP) international alloy processing and distribution company headquartered in the UK, with offices in Singapore and the US.  Currently running on isolated systems for its manufacturing and finance departments in each country, the company sought an ERP solution that would improve reporting and stock visibility, allow multi-currency accounts and enforce business processes.

“In selecting Epicor we believe we have found a solution to meet all of these goals,” said Ian John, operations director at Datum Alloys.  “We’ve reached a point where we have outgrown our custom-built system and continuing to develop it further would get us into a position where we were reliant on the developers; we didn’t want that risk.  We needed a new system that would incorporate finance, stock control, traceability and flexible reporting out of the box.”

Epicor will replace all existing software, providing a full quote-to-cash ERP implementation, with multi-currency local accounting for each country.  One of the key reasons for selecting Epicor was Enterprise Performance Management, which will enable improved reporting and decision making across regions at a topline and granular level.  Additionally, business process management features will allow Datum Alloys to precisely replicate its processes and business rules, for example on customer discounts and approvals, and automatically enforcing them across the organisation at the point of entry.

“Our staff are fantastic, but our business rules are enforced by trust alone,” added John.  “As we grow it is important to have our systems reflect the way we run the business, and to be able to update those rules quickly and easily without external consultants – Epicor gives us that flexibility.”

Epicor was selected by Datum Alloys because it was considered to have the strongest out of the box feature set and multicurrency support following a review of the leading ERP suppliers.  Many competitors either lacked key features, or charged them as add-ons pushing the cost of implementation substantially above that of Epicor.  Force 9 Solutions, an Epicor value-added reseller, will implement the solution firstly in the UK, hosted at a data centre, and then in Singapore and US, with a total of 25 users worldwide.

“The excellent demonstration sessions we had with Epicor really opened our eyes,” explains John.  “We threw questions at other vendors who said their solution could do what we asked with some coding, but Epicor just did it then and there in the room, even changing existing screens and workflows.  It showed us how powerful the application was, and that we would be able to make future changes ourselves.”

“Business process management allows you to make sure your Epicor solution reflects your business, and enforces the rules and workflows you need,” said Malcolm Fox, director, product marketing for Epicor. “Using BPM it is easy to quickly allow new discounts, change thresholds or entire business processes without costly external consultants, or touching the underlying code of the application.  By building this flexibility into Epicor, it allows organisations to react quickly to external situations or process changes, instantly enforcing those revisions across the enterprise.”