Epicor has announced the acquisition of Data Interchange; a UK based EDI solution and services provider. The acquisition comes nearly three years after Epicor acquired 1 EDI Source that gave it an EDI presence in North America.
Data Interchange is based in the UK and has operations in Spain, Poland and Germany with partnerships across most of Europe, the Americas and key markets in Asia, such as China and India. The acquisition will strengthen Epicor in those markets; whether all the Data Interchange partnerships are maintained is an interesting question.
In the US, Data Interchange is partnered with lefort in the US, and that relationship may tail off over time as the integration to Epicor EDI is improved. The other partnership of note is that with QAD, which uses Data Interchange as an embedded solution. That partnership may survive for a while. Epicor has a history of maintaining its acquisitions relationships, but QAD may feel that it needs to find a different solution.
Regardless, Epicor will gain access to the Data Interchange relationships in the automotive sector. This is a significant factor for Epicor. It may mean that Epicor is considering launching its own automotive solutions in Europe, such as Epicor Eagle. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal.
Epicor CEO Steve Murphy commented: “The future of EDI is about creating more flexible and transparent supply chains that can seamlessly accommodate a wide range of inputs while ensuring automated and controllable outcomes. The Data Interchange acquisition gives Epicor customers an even more powerful set of cloud-based EDI solutions to streamline supply chain collaboration, simplify processes, and make data-driven decisions to identify trends and opportunities.”
Who are Data Interchange?
Founded in 1986, Data Interchange processes more than 175,000 documents every day between over 10,000 customers located in over 55 countries. The company leverages its value-added network DiNet providing a mix of solutions and managed services to meet the needs of manufacturers, distributors, retailers and logistics firms across the globe.
It further supports this with various tools. This includes Odex B2B communications platform, Darwin order processing solution, and XE EDI mapping tools. The Data Interchange platform also supports many European EDI protocols, including OFTP2, EDIFACT, VDA, TRADACOMS and PEPPOL. This functionality is now available to Epicor customers as the firm is integrated into the Epicor platform. It will strengthen Epicor presence in the EDI market.
Data Interchange CEO Andrew Filby commented: “Our goal at Data Interchange has always been to streamline the way EDI is delivered and presented to our customers and partners. By joining with Epicor, we’re extending our mission to help companies drive positive business outcomes by simplifying every stage of their EDI journey.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is a clever purchase by Epicor and likely to irk QAD slightly. While the terms were not disclosed, did the two companies compete for the business? For Epicor, it strengthens its position in Europe in several markets, notably Automotive.
Does this deal presages the launch of some more products from the Epicor portfolio in Europe? Or, will it power a resurgence of Epicor Kinetic, its flagship ERP solution in the region? Once connected, it will also be interesting to see how larger the expanded EDI network is and how many organisations are connected.
