Epicor enables UK distributors to optimise supply chain efficiency

Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, has announced the availability of Epicor Prophet 21 – a fit-for-purpose ERP solution for wholesale distributors operating within the UK.

Today’s market environment requires agile supply chains and processes to be as streamlined as possible to sustain business growth, and profitability. The launch of Prophet 21 will help these businesses realise a connected supply chain resulting in increased business resilience.

Featuring industry-specific functionality, this enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution will be available to a range of distribution industries, including industrial, fasteners, medical supplies, and electrical. The implementation of Prophet 21, which is available to the UK as a cloud-based platform, will enable businesses in these sectors to enjoy the real-time data required to build their own smart supply chain—at any time and any place.

By doing so, distributors can benefit from: 

• End-to-end visibility into the supply chain—Real-time data about the status, location and flow of products throughout the supply chain
• Higher levels of operational efficiency—Enterprises can reduce material search time and costs, as well as achieve improved operational throughput
• Better customer service—Enterprises can reduce the time it takes to fulfil customers’ orders and provide them with delivery data
• Optimised inventory management—Real-time data informs distributors of when they need to re-stock

By helping businesses stay connected, Prophet 21 will deliver end-to-end visibility across the supply chain—from manufacturer to distributor to customer. This means that distributors can easily trace and manage inventory to maintain optimised levels, helping to keep up with customer demand. For medical supply distributors, which are currently facing increased demand for a range of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) —transparency and control over stock has never been so important.

Thanks to the ERP system’s automated CRM tools, distributors can also provide customers with real-time delivery notifications and visibility of available inventory—thereby improving customer service levels and satisfaction.

Operational efficiency is also set to benefit from additional insights gained from Prophet 21—saving firms both time and money by improving processes and reducing waste. Industrial distributors often have large inventories of specialised and replacement parts, a lot of which have long lead times, and can incur increased freight and unit costs due to the size of the equipment being used. For industries such as these, inefficiencies can quickly eat into the bottom line—hampering both productivity and profitability. By implementing Prophet 21—in addition to driving improved process efficiency—distributors will be able to automate routine tasks via Epicor Virtual Agent (EVA). This will free up workers to focus on more strategic business tasks, and in turn support future business growth.

Mark Hughes, regional vice president UK & Ireland, Epicor, commented, “At the moment we are all facing changing times, but these conditions also present great opportunities. At Epicor, we are committed to helping our customers move forward and respond with agility and business resilience, as they acclimatise to the new now. By bringing Epicor Prophet 21 to the UK distribution market—via a cloud-based infrastructure—we have helped businesses flex quickly and equipped them with the tools to make important business decisions. It will be these decisions that help businesses survive and thrive,” Hughes added.

Epicor Prophet 21 customer, John Janthor, VP information technology, global, Radwell International Inc commented, “Prophet 21 has allowed us to better manage our global business. One of the key benefits is that we have been able to vastly improve customer communication, as the system allows multilingual documentation to be sent, meaning that we can reach a larger group of customers.

Before this software was available, we had multiple systems to support our needs, which meant we would experience issues with information and notes not being in one place. Now that we have a centralised solution, we have eradicated these issues and the process has become streamlined, helping us to process orders faster and more efficiently.

Our staff can now work collaboratively and inter-departmentally, which has led to a huge time-saving, whilst the functionality allowing notes to be added to orders acts as a great audit trail. This has reduced delays, improved transparency, and the flow of work for all involved. From sales order processing, inventory and accounting is now tied together in one turn-key ERP system that has become more accurate and straightforward.”