No two businesses are the same, they each have their own specific needs and features that make them unique. ERP software integrates internal and external management information across the entire organisational infrastructure so it is essential that the chosen ERP software solution is tailor-made to meet the exact goals and needs of your company. This ensures maximum cost effectiveness and the optimal return on your investments in the IT infrastructure, whilst also providing the flexibility needed to react to any possible changes your company may face in the future (for example, future growth or expansion).
This is what IT-live specialises in, giving your company the sound foundation necessary to compete and thrive in the market place. Using our industry competences and extensive technical expertise, we can suggest the Epicor solution and strategy that best meets the specific needs of your company. A solution that takes into account the size of the business (e.g. midmarket or large businesses) and the type of industry (e.g. manufacturing, retail or wholesale trade, finance, logistics, medical supplies, hotel services etc.), and one that enables the specific business processes that your company requires improved (e.g. financial management, customer relationship management, production management, sales management, supply chain management, human capital management, etc.) to be re-engineered in the most effective way.
A business requirements review (BRR) is conducted to ensure delivery of the optimum industry-specific ERP solution, capable of producing outstanding results with the ability to also adapt to your business needs over time. The BRR will consist of an assessment and meticulous documentation of the current and prospective business requirements, goals and objectives of your company. Interviews with key departmental figures and stake holders, a thorough examination of relevant documentation and industry best practices, and an in-depth analysis of the current and prospective business processes will form the basis of the information necessary to ensure that your Epicor solution will meet every need, enabling your company to achieve both its current and future goals in the most efficient way possible.
Attention to detail can make all the difference in business. Effective ERP software must follow this philosophy, ensuring that every single technical aspect is considered no matter how big or small it may appear. The huge cumulative effect of seemingly tiny details cannot be overestimated. ERP software must also be user-friendly, intuitive and as relevant to your business needs as possible, automating all that can be automated and optimising all that cannot, thereby removing internal inefficiencies and streamlining daily routines so that your employees can fully realise their potential, with every minute at work being spent productively.
Epicor’s business without barriers concept means unprecedented flexibility, adjustability and scalability of Epicor’s next-generation ERP solutions. To ensure that your ERP solution precisely corresponds to your requirements not only in a general sense, as defined by the BRR (see Business requirements review), but also in every small detail, the next step after preparation of the BRR is to conduct a system requirements review (SRR).
The objective of an SRR is to establish and document all system requirements that must be considered when implementing and customising your ERP software to fit the precise needs of your company. This includes analysis and specification of applicable modules, the contents and visual appearance of the user interface, windows, forms, fields, dashboards, reports, integration requirements and connectivity, and also examining security, authentication and access requirements, bookkeeping, accounting, data flow, validation requirements and all sorts of specific format restrictions (for example, data entry field lengths, allowed characters, etc.), thereby ensuring that all of the system requirements have been completely and precisely identified and that the solution offered is fully consistent with the business requirements previously defined in the BRR.
Best practice in ERP solutions means implementing a software solution that is flexible and robust enough to support business processes corresponding both to industry best practices and the specific objectives and requirements of the customer. While software implementation projects have often been associated with high risk because they tend to result in unforeseen costs and delays, this is not the case with Epicor’s best practice implementation methodology – the Signature methodology.
Proven in thousands of projects by hundreds of consultants in over 140 countries of the world the Signature methodology makes sure that the delivery of Epicor projects to customers is always efficient and well-managed. As a highly structured, comprehensive and consistent implementation methodology, the Signature methodology guides the process of software implementation through six stages, from an in-depth analysis of the company’s business requirements to the final deployment, enabling our customers to begin using Epicor’s solutions in their day-to-day operations as soon as possible.
Being flexible and agile, Signature can be used for any project, from a simple implementation to a version upgrade or software customisation. Through many years of experience and regular training (see the Certificates section) our consultants have developed a deep familiarity with Epicor products and know how to adapt software implementation projects to the specific needs of companies whether it is in manufacturing, the service industry, wholesale trade, logistics, medical supplies or hospitality. IT-live invariably ensures smooth implementation and completion of the projects it undertakes.
Time stops for no man and this is also certainly true of businesses. In order to keep a competitive edge over rivals, a company must evolve. It must be both reactive and proactive to changes in the business environment, seeking to explore new areas and to adapt to the needs of the market on an ongoing basis. This dynamic situation places different pressures on departmental and managerial units and their functions. As processes become more complex and numerous or even redundant, internal inefficiencies emerge, resulting in over-complicated procedures, unnecessary delays in document, material or information flow, internal organisational barriers and high costs of production. If business processes are slow and cumbersome, even the perfect staff cannot perform to the best of their ability.
This is where business process re-engineering (BPR) can help. BPR is the analysis and redesign of workflow within a company performed in order to remove internal inefficiencies, streamline the company’s business processes and enable the staff to work at their most productive level, which brings about positive changes in such critical measures of performance as cost, quality, and speed. Information technology, and ERP software in particular, with its capacity for automation, optimisation and electronic interaction between different functions is the key enabler for such improvements.
BPR focuses on results and on ways of achieving them rather than on tasks and involves:
- formulating business goals;
- defining and prioritising processes;
- defining process objectives;
- analysing and measuring the existing processes;
- identifying suboptimal business processes;
- identifying the EPR software capabilities that can help optimise processes;
- optimising processes and information processing routines;
- designing the prototypes of the new processes.
Each business is unique in many different ways. The type of industry or sector, the geographical area that the company operates in and the technological resources that are available will have an effect on the size of business, the organisational and operational structure and the company’s ideas, strategies, objectives, and methods of work. Good ERP software must adequately reflect such specific details in order to successfully contribute to the well-being and growth of the company. As the business develops and new processes and needs emerge, the software may need to be customised accordingly to remain at its most effective.
Epicor’s enterprise resource planning software is notable for its unsurpassed flexibility, scalability and modularity. In practice, this means that Epicor ERP software offers an almost unlimited array of customisation options, from minor adjustments such as UI, reporting and invoicing customisation or integration with external systems and devices, to the programming of entirely new functionality. Your Epicor software can be configured and customised to meet the needs of your business down to the tiniest detail.
This amazing flexibility is driven by Epicor’s next-generation true service-oriented architecture (SOA). Epicor 9 is in fact a comprehensive array of suites and modules for you to choose from all built on a single platform, capable of communicating and integrating with one another as well as with external frameworks and applications (such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, CAD, e-mail systems and more), having all the flexibility and all the power of the Microsoft .NET framework at hand.
After the last stage of the Signature implementation process has been completed and your Epicor ERP software has gone live, we do not disappear into the sunset. On the contrary, we are always ready to provide expert technical support and advice to our clients whenever the situation calls for it so that you can continue to take full advantage of your enterprise resource management software.
Situations may arise where you may need professional assistance, for instance, to integrate your ERP solution with external software or devices or make adjustments to your system due to changes in infrastructure, hardware, regulations, or business environment. In all of these cases and more, IT-live will happily assist you in resolving any issues you may encounter. Our consultants are able to communicate in the Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian and English languages and IT-live can also provide training to your company’s personnel, ensuring they have all the support and knowledge needed to make the most out of the software, ultimately resulting in a business that is ideally equipped to confidently meet any challenges that may lie ahead.