Leading UK Provider of Printed Products and Solutions Selects Epicor ERP to Standardize Business Processes and Enhance Customer Service

Epicor Software Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, today announced that St Ives Group, a leading UK independent print and display company and the largest business of its type whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, will be implementing Epicor for Printing and Packaging. This extensive, flexible enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution which combines the strength of the award-winning next-generation Epicor ERP with the sophisticated, industry-leading print capabilities of KODAK Unified Workflow Solutions, will replace St Ives’ existing core financial solution and a bespoke planning solution within in its Service Graphics Division. 

St Ives Group provides printed products and solutions to the publishing, retail and commercial markets throughout the UK across its 20 locations, with an emphasis on value added services, and had a turnover of £386 million in 2009.  In support of its continued growth, the company embarked on a review of its financials and ERP systems while creating a new central Group IT facility.  The company sought greater instant visibility of the business and efficiency savings through the standardization of processes and systems.

“By standardizing our financial systems we can streamline our supplier invoice processing across the business to drive operational and purchasing efficiencies, seizing opportunities where they exist,” said Simon Young, group IT director at St Ives Group.  “For our management team, it is important to improve the visibility we have of projects and financial information so that we can be as agile as possible in the market place. This project is just one of the many designed to help our staff provide a better service to our customers. It will allow easier access to group information and be one of the tools that helps us deliver a wider range of services across our customer portfolio.”

St Ives Group’s initial deployment of Epicor will be to 300 users across Finance, Management and its Services Graphics Division, with later expansion planned to a total of 1,000 users across the rest of the business. In addition to financial management, St Ives Group will be using Epicor for project management and printing functions within its Service Graphics Division.

“During the tender process we looked at over 10 companies across traditional ERP vendors and print specialists,” added Young.  “We were particularly attracted to Epicor by the flexibility of the system to support all our business units through automation, business process management (BPM) and strong integration with Microsoft® Office and SharePoint®, without touching the base Epicor code. This means that we do not have to worry about future upgrades to the solution breaking our deployment when they are applied, which gives us a truly supportable environment.  In addition, the print modules developed in partnership with Kodak were very attractive.”

Leveraging the core Epicor ERP suite and built on the Epicor ICE framework, Epicor for Printing and Packaging gives organizations control over business with access to real-time data and automated workflow processes that can link customers, print systems, and services as never before. Epicor for Printing and Packaging delivers integration with industry-leading KODAK Unified Workflow Solutions:  KODAK UPFRONT Production Planning Software, KODAK PREPS Imposition Software, and KODAK PRINERGY Workflow.  Together, these software solutions from Epicor and Kodak form a complete business workflow solution that can help manage all aspects of printing, publishing, media and graphic communications businesses.

“Epicor enjoys a long history of providing innovative business management software to printing and packaging companies, and our expanded partnership with Kodak brings added industry best practices and expertise to support printing businesses as the digital printing and imaging industries continue to evolve,” said James Norwood, senior vice president, worldwide product marketing for Epicor. “St Ives Group is an exciting growing business and we are looking forward to helping them deploy Epicor across the business, ultimately empowering them to achieve their business goals.”

For more information contact: Duncan Gurney, The PR Network
+44 (0)7912 495630, [email protected]