Epicor has announced the passing of a significant milestone for any SaaS firm by passing $1 billion in ARR revenue. It is a significant step that has been achieved with significant investment and a leadership team led by Steve Murphy since October 2017. It is surprising to think that in May 2017, only 350 Epicor customers, out of 20,000, were using its multi-cloud solutions.
Today Epicor has over 23,000 customers with more than two and a half daily users on its platform.
Since Murphy took over the CEO role customers have been adopting its subscription-based Industry ERP Cloud portfolio targeted at the make, move and sell industry verticals.
Steve Murphy, Epicor CEO. “This is a very rare achievement – today, only a small number of enterprise software companies have eclipsed $1 billion in ARR. Our core strategy is to put the customer first in providing industry-focused, subscription-based cloud products that help solve their biggest supply chain and operational challenges. In fact, since 2018, we’ve invested approximately $1 billion in cloud-based innovations to advance our product offerings with the purpose-built, scalable, and secure technologies our customers require.”
Looking back at 2023
Coming out of COVID, manufacturing organisations have increasingly chosen Cloud solutions. However, it is not unanimous. In Fiscal 2023, Epicor saw 70% of new customers adopting a subscription-based solution. This propelled SaaS-based cloud revenues to achieve a 42% year over year growth for a company of Epicor’s size, which is significant. However, it does not show what percentage of that growth was due to new or existing customers.
It could mean that Epicor is winning ever larger customers and targeting the enterprise market. This was something that Murphy spoke about as an ambition in 2019. Epicor is clearly doing something right now, accelerating cloud adoption across its legacy base and core industry markets.
While the company has not revealed retention, that growth should indicate that it has transitioned to a cloud-first company. With it claiming to deliver exceptional customer experience to its customers globally.
Rich Murr, Epicor’s Chief Customer & Information Officer, said, “When customers move their ERP solution from on-premises to Epicor’s cloud, they’re placing a great deal of trust in us to deliver not only the industry-leading features and functionality they’ve come to expect from Epicor, but to deliver these capabilities on a stable, scalable, secure platform 24×7. We take that obligation very seriously and continue to make significant investments in the talent and technologies that allow us meet that commitment.”
Customers are taking advantage of cognitive ERP
Epicor has transitioned from a legacy ERP vendor to a cloud ERP vendor. It now wants to be recognised as the vendor behind cognitive ERP. Cognitive ERP is the convergence of AI, in all its forms, with the traditional ERP system that runs manufacturer’s operations.
A cloud ERP solution can help redefine operational processes. A cognitive ERP will constantly iterate, redefining and improving operational processes to make manufacturers more efficient and more productive.
As Joe Ayers, Epicor CFO, noted, “While we’re recognizing this $1 billion ARR milestone today, we are firmly focused on the road ahead in continuing to invest and deliver strong value to our customers – and that focus is centred on AI.”
In other words, the journey is not yet over. It has a vision of a cognitive ERP solution used by customers worldwide. It seems to have already achieved the first step, that of cloud adoption. Customers and prospects can hear more about the Epicor cognitive ERP strategy at the Epicor Insights 2024 customer conference. This takes place May 20-23 in Nashville.
Vaibhav Vohra, Epicor’s Chief Product & Technology Officer, commented, “The expectations for how ERP will deliver value through AI are quickly changing. This isn’t merely about adding another tool into the tech stack – we believe cognitive ERP will fundamentally transform how businesses operate by embedding contextual intelligence and advanced automation into the very core of their operational workflows. In short, we see ERP itself moving from a system of record to a system of action.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
In the past, Epicor has been seen as an ERP vendor that was stuck in the past. It had too many on premise solutions and no clear cloud strategy. Over the last few years, that has changed significantly. Under the guidance of first Himanshu Pulsule (2016-21) and now Vaibhav Vohra, the company has changed from a laggard to a leader.
What is important is that it is not considering AI as a fad that needs to be added to its solutions, but rather an intrinsic part of its strategy. There will no doubt be more announcements at Insights of both things available soon and in the future. It will be interesting to see how the promise of cognitive ERP is evolving.