Epicor has partnered with Shanghai-based Grand Target Information Technology to help grow its presence in the China market. The partnership sees the launch of Epicor Managed Hosting Services for Kinetic. Kinetic is the cloud-enabled Epicor ERP solution that targets manufacturers.
The solution, which is the Epicor core product, was built with manufacturers, for manufacturers, as Epicor CMO Jenny Victor explained in a recent interview with Enterprise Times.
This is not a new relationship with Grand Target. It won the Epicor Global Partner of the Year in 2022 and has offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and South Carolina, US. Epicor is already the fifth large ERP vendor in China, according to Grand Target, and with this new partnership, it hopes to rise further.
In 2022, Epicor saw significant growth across Asia, with cloud adoption amongst customers growing by 190%. It did not reveal how much overall growth there has been in the region,
Andy Coussins, Epicor Senior Vice President & Head of International, commented, “The new Epicor Managed Hosting Services offering in China underpins our long-term international growth strategy, equipping manufacturers in China with an innovative solution to help digitally transform their business and drive growth.
“With the new regional offering, we’re excited to provide manufacturers with deep industry expertise and innovation to help achieve their business objectives while upholding strong security standards and best-in-class regional hosting services delivery in China.”
Epicor Managed Hosting Services for Kinetic
Epicor offers managed hosting partnerships to interested parties looking to host the solution in specific regions where Epicor does not or cannot offer a cloud solution. It means Chinese customers can now access an Epicor Kinetic solution hosted by Grand Target.
Grand Target can now offer the Epicor Cloud solution for customers. It means that the ERP solution will be updated automatically for customers with minimal downtime. Customers will have the latest features delivered by Epicor. It delivers them a competitive advantage not available to other manufacturers still using on-premises solutions. Existing Epicor customers now have a simple migration path, with the surety that their data sovereignty is maintained.
In addition, Grand Target will offer 24×7 monitoring to help reduce the risk of downtime and protect against cyber threats. Grand Target can also offer support from Epicor Exports during business hours in local languages. However, Grand View does not indicate which languages it supports. The Grand Target website also indicates that after-sales support is available 24 hours a day.
A hosting model gives several benefits, including removing on-premises infrastructure that requires expertise and maintenance costs. It allows manufacturers to focus on what they do best rather than look after antiquated IT equipment. Once complete, migration to the cloud eliminates the need for large CAPEX expenditure on new servers to upgrade as the business grows. As new sites come online, only an internet connection is required.
Kinetic offers a modern manufacturing ERP solution with an intuitive interface, flexibility through configuration to meet a wide set of industry requirements and automation that helps reduces operational costs and can help improve quality.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Already strong in China, this allows Epicor and Grand Target to grow their footprint. For Grand Target, it can expand its customer base by attracting legacy Epicor users in the country and winning net-new customers.
Several things were missing from this announcement—first, details of where Grand Target data centres are and the existence of disaster recovery centres. Second, there was no quote from a Grand Target executive, although the firm is closely aligned with Epicor judging by its website and recent awards. Third, an indication of what projections either company has for growth in China, and the impact this announcement will have.
