St Ives implements Epicor software

Date Added: Mon 25 April 2011

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St Ives Group today announced that the first steps to implementing Epicor next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite across the group has begun. Service Graphics, St Ives large format print and display division went live at the beginning of the month. The Epicor solution will replace St Ives’ existing core financial solutions and will be rolled out across the group over the coming year.

As part of a review of its financial and ERP systems, the company has sought greater instant visibility of the business and efficiency savings through the standardisation of processes and systems.

“By standardising our financial systems we can streamline our accounts and 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 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.”

In addition to the financial system, St Ives Group will be using the new features of Epicor within the Service Graphics Division for project management and printing functions, through the Epicor 9 Print and Packaging modules developed with Kodak. The initial deployment of Epicor will be to 300 users, across Finance, Management and the Services Graphics Division, with later expansion planned to the rest of the business and a total of 1,000 users.

“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, and gives us a truly supportable environment."

Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services industries.