Business leaders who choose to deploy technology solutions on premises in an increasingly cloud-trending world have several reasons for their decision. Many choose to keep their systems on-premises because they are inexperienced with and wary of cloud-based software. Others are concerned they have insufficient resources to move to a cloud solution because their existing system is full of customizations that will complicate migration processes. Some prefer on-premises because they feel it better supports regulatory requirements such as ITAR or FDA compliance. Regardless of why your business has chosen on-premises over cloud-based, your choice doesn’t have to limit your ability to compete with the companies whose capabilities are elevated by the cloud.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
From their inception, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been deployed with an overarching purpose: to reduce costs by managing processes and materials. Until the middle 1980s, enterprise systems were built for narrowly defined business needs such as order management, account payables, and inventory control. The first real ERP systems integrated the data and processes once handled by individual programs into a single system capable of managing almost every aspect of running a sizable business. They transformed how modern businesses work.
Consolidated ERP Strategy
The principal benefit of a consolidated ERP strategy was ensuring that data wasn’t duplicated across departments, eliminating “islands of information.” Processes once separated could now be linked, enabling enterprise-wide planning and optimization. For years, the focus of ERP was the top-down implementation of this strategy: the imposition of processes and measurements from an executive perspective. As the marketplace has evolved into a global competition, where facilities, suppliers, and partners are dispersed geographically and supply and demand signals occur over increasingly complex and nuanced value networks, the top-down orientation of traditional ERP is proving to be less than adequate in its own. In this new business environment, change and innovation are accelerating; risk and opportunity are dynamic elements across networks, and business practices and processes are evolving at a pace heretofore unimagined. Response to this changing competitive landscape demands that ERP not only support the executive agenda but also the needs of individuals, regardless of where they are in an organization’s value network. Only then can companies mobilize quickly and respond effectively to events as they occur at breakneck speed, whether in Singapore or Stuttgart, or the Silicon Valley. So ERP has had to evolve into adaptive ERP.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Over the last few years, Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a compelling and credible delivery model for business applications. SaaS also referred to as “On-Demand” or “Cloud Computing”, eliminates many of the barriers that keep companies from implementing or upgrading their software, and can help you reduce costs. More importantly, it enables you to focus on your core business operations instead of managing IT. So Cloud-based ERP may be right for your business, but where do you start? This white paper contains 10 questions to ask when considering a Cloud-based ERP solution.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Alerts & Notifications automates shop floor communications with automatic messaging and escalation, so supervisors, managers, maintenance crews, and engineers can respond to conditions in the plant immediately. When process conditions need attention, when production stops, or when operators need help, Epicor Advanced MES instantly notifies the right people. We dispatch a signal or message that can be seen by just one, a few, or all people that need to be involved.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
This discussion brief, together with its companion (The Economic Case for Deploying Epicor ERP in the Cloud) is designed to elevate discourse and provide guidance to organizations evaluating the best ERP deployment model (on-premises, single-tenant SaaS, or multi-tenant SaaS), unique to their business and technical environment.
It’s especially important to recognize that there is no universal answer to the question “Which deployment model is best?” as each customer presents unique business and technical requirements and abilities. The purpose of this document isn’t to provide absolute answers, but rather to arm readers with additional (and perhaps better) questions to assist in their internal evaluation of deployment options. This is an especially important conversation for potential (and existing) Epicor customers because of our unique position in offering Epicor ERP across multiple licensing and deployment options.
Except as incidental to framing conversations around cloud deployment, this paper makes no effort to explore core ERP features/functions, or traditional line-of-business topics. While analysis of the fit of the Epicor solution specific to your business needs is warranted as part of your product assessment, the reader is directed to content available at www.epicor.com on all matters of application functionality.
Key Take-Aways
1. The question “cloud or on premises?” presupposes an unnecessary tradeoff. The best answer is ‘both—and I reserve the right to change my answer over time as my business needs to change.’ Epicor encourages customers to demand absolute freedom of choice from their ERP vendor and to not find themselves artificially constrained to only one deployment option due to limitations imposed by their solution vendor.
2. The best ERP systems are ‘everywhere for everyone.’ Deploying in the cloud is (for most customers) the fastest want to tie together remote facilities and mobile employees, thereby streamlining enterprise-wide collaboration and access.
3. Your IT department is ready, willing, and able of doing so much more than ‘racking and patching’ your servers. Moving Epicor ERP to the cloud likely frees your IT resources to focus on more strategic, and mission-aligned tasks.
4. The topic of data security and residency is more nuanced than it may seem. In cloud deployments, the actual physical location of your data may not be obvious, and that may not (or may) matter to you. However the security and disaster preparedness of your Epicor ERP needs to be well thought out, and for many companies, passing that responsibility to Epicor may provide for an elevated level of security, reliability, and availability.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
As an automotive parts or components manufacturer, you may be both encouraged and challenged by a growing number of trends in the automotive marketplace. From disruptive trends in product developments—such as electric vehicles, advanced assistance and safety capabilities, and driverless vehicles—to trade tariff increases, regulation changes, and higher interest rates, it’s apparent that change is in the air.
Production trends show that the manufacturing of most motor vehicles is on the rise—at least for SUVs, crossovers, pick-up trucks, and commercial trucks. Conversely, production is down for cars and medium-duty trucks. Ford surprised some when it announced scaling back significantly on its car offerings, continuing production on only two car models to focus more attention on its SUVs, crossovers, trucks, and commercial vehicles.
How these trends will shape the future of the automotive industry and the manufacturers that supply them remains to be seen. As an industry insider, you know that multiple factors can add up to affect the automotive industry in complex ways. New trends and the risks, opportunities, and challenges associated with them were examined recently during a presentation hosted by Today’s Motor Vehicles1 and sponsored by Epicor® Software. Read on for an overview of what’s shaping today’s auto vehicle industry.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
In the face of growing competition and a challenging business climate, many job shops and manufacturers are looking for ways to reduce costs, streamline operations, and improve the bottom line. Implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is a proven solution for running a business efficiently and effectively. Yet, a large percentage of job shops and manufacturers have held back from implementing an ERP system due to high initial costs, long implementation times, and competing demands for time and resources.
This paper describes how cloud-deployed (sometimes referred to as software as a service, or SaaS ERP) delivers financial, implementation, and operational benefits to job shops and manufacturers. It also describes how cloud-deployed Epicor ERP—a comprehensive ERP system—meets the needs of job shops and manufacturers. With Epicor ERP, job shops and small manufacturers now have the opportunity to implement an ERP solution that can help transform their operations and their business.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Business leaders who choose to deploy an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution on premises in an increasingly cloud-trending world have several reasons for their decision. Many choose to keep their system on premises because they are inexperienced with and wary of cloud-based software. Others are concerned they have insufficient resources to move to a cloud solution because their existing system is full of customizations that will complicate migration processes. Some prefer on premises ERP because they feel it better supports regulatory requirements such as ITAR or FDA compliance. Regardless of why your business has chosen on premises over cloud-based ERP, your choice doesn’t have to limit your ability to compete with the companies whose capabilities are elevated by the cloud.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
To run a successful operation, every manufacturing organization needs a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to boost efficiencies and drive down costs. However, with so many options available, it can be difficult to make the right choice. If you’re wondering whether a generic or industry-specific solution is the best fit for your business—or if you’re wondering how to even start the ERP selection process—you’re not alone.
In this white paper, you’ll discover ways to simplify your ERP selection process, and you’ll learn the differences between industry-specific and generic ERP solutions.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 Part 11 (FDA 21 CFR Part 11) helps streamline compliance with a wide range of FDA regulations by supporting FDA-regulated industries in their efforts to submit necessary documentation in an electronic format. In particular, 21 CFR Part 11 provides regulations that enable manufacturers to use electronic records and signatures in a manner equivalent to paper-based records and handwritten signatures.
This regulation specifies that to use electronic records and signatures, companies must meet four conditions. They must validate the software and systems used to create and maintain electronic records, provide secure access to those records to maintain confidentiality and data integrity, hold individuals accountable for their electronic acts about electronic documents, and ensure that electronic signatures cannot be repudiated. However, the FDA does not specify how companies must address these requirements—rather it provides a set of guidelines based on common sense and good workflow processes.
This whitepaper describes the requirements for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance at a high level and discusses how Epicor enables FDA-regulated manufacturers to fulfill these demands. Because Epicor builds the necessary capabilities into its products, implementation is fast, easy, and comprehensive.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
