Ben Nixon, Vice President of the Enterprise Technology with the EstesGroup.
Here is what you need to know before you upgrade your Epicor ERP database.
I’m going talk to you a few moments about upgrading your Epicor database. You know, everyone wants to upgrade. You’ve got many people coming to you, telling you they can help you upgrade. Give Estes a call. We can help you. You have many considerations. This is not as simple as, “Push a button, and you’re upgraded.” This is not as simple as, “Put it in. No testing, no training, and walk away.” Let Estes help make your move efficient and safe.
Give EstesGroup a call at1-888-300-2340 to help you implement a safe database Epicor ERP Upgrade.
We can help you. There are many things to consider before you upgrade. This is not as simple as, “Push a button, and you’re upgraded.” This is not as simple as, “Put it in. No testing, no training, and walk away.” Let EstesGroup help make your move efficient and safe.
Upgrades fail for a variety of reasons; Lack of planning, Lack of testing. Failure to recognize changes required, No verification of data. Too often I see a customer upgrade and then before frustrated for a variety of the previous reasons. What is the impact on your business if the Epicor system is not functional or performing as it should?
You are moving forward with technology, let Estes help you embrace it and before more efficient.
Don’t take your business down. We can help you consider: Now is the time to possibly reimplement. Is now the time to virtualize? Is your hardware out of date? You know, Microsoft Server 2000 went out of date in July of 2015. If you’re still running on that, you’re walking in a danger zone. Let us help you decide if an upgrade is right and how to do it.
We have many choices for you.
We can help you, guide you as far as any services you need for ERP software training and consulting. Give usa call for a free 30-minute consultation. Thank you.
Estesgroup is a 100% Certified Authorized Partner with Epicor ERP.
Respected global technology leader will expand EstesGroup offerings to include full IT enablement & integration of critical systems.
LOVELAND, CO – April 5, 2017 – EstesGroup, a leading Epicor ERP partner and managed services provider, today announced the appointment of Ben Nixon to the new post of Vice President of Enterprise Technology.
Nixon brings 17 years of Epicor ERP consulting experience and a strong background in complex business and technology environments. He’s recognized internationally as a value-added advisor to Epicor clients and his peers.
EstesGroup utilizes a proprietary 5-step PEAK methodology to provide best-in-class EPR services to more than 500 clients worldwide. EstesGroup has expertise in the manufacturing, distribution, medical and services industries and provides implementation, support, optimization, training and integration solutions for Epicor, NetSuite, IQMS, and Microsoft ERP.
“EstesGroup has been my go-to implementation partner for many years and the organization I would rely on to resurrect failing ERP implementations,” said Nixon. “Their staff is 100% certified, to the highest levels of ERP systems, often to a higher level of certification than even the publishers themselves. It’s tremendously exciting to now join the company and help expand their offerings to include database management, performance management, virtualization and disaster recovery planning.”
Before joining EstesGroup, Nixon served in a variety of technical leadership roles spanning 17 years at Epicor Software Corporation, a leader in industry-specific business software. Nixon’s experience includes ERP technical consulting and management consulting. He is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in systems and database management.
“Ben is a respected global business and technology leader with strong cloud, SaaS and on-premise expertise,” said Bruce Grant, CEO, EstesGroup. “Ben’s solutions-focused approach and creative problem-solving skills have established him as a go-to expert in the ERP industry. Ben and his team will provide solutions to allow customers to remain on the leading technology edge and be competitive in the global marketplace. As a virtual CIO to EstesGroup’s clients, Ben will drive value-added IT infrastructure solutions from the planning stage, through implementation, and ongoing support.”
About EstesGroup
EstesGroup helps businesses run better. We provide solutions to industry-specific verticals including the needs of manufacturing, distribution, medical, retail, and service industry customers. With our own PEAK methodology and over 12 years of experience, our clients enjoy the highest level of professional support in the industry―in the cloud, hosted, or on premises – for their ERP or Managed Services needs.
“Focus on what you do best, and let us handle the rest!”
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Media Contact: Jeff Klaubert
EstesGroup Inc.
Phone: 603-860-6078
Email: [email protected]
Ask us anything you want to accomplish, and we will help you acheive your goals.
Multi-Site ERP Strategy for Distributors and Manufacturers
When a business grows beyond one location, ERP structure stops being a background setting and becomes a business decision with lasting consequences.
A second warehouse changes replenishment. A new branch changes pricing discipline. An acquired company changes reporting relationships. A new plant changes how materials, scheduling, and financial accountability need to work together.
At first, these changes can look manageable. One more location does not seem to require a full architectural rethink. However, complexity rarely arrives all at once. It accumulates through exceptions, side processes, and conflicting assumptions about how the business should operate across locations. Soon enough, what looked like a software setup question becomes a structural question about the business itself.
That is why a multi-site ERP strategy deserves careful thought from the beginning.
Why Multi-Site ERP Requires More than System Setup
Most ERP solutions can define multiple sites, multiple companies, and multiple operating units. The technical capability matters, but the real challenge begins after that point. The harder questions sound simple at first:
Where should inventory be visible?
Who owns purchasing decisions?
Which processes should stay common across locations?
Where does local variation make sense?
How should financial reporting preserve accountability without fragmenting the business?
Each answer creates downstream effects. If a company centralizes purchasing, it changes supplier communication, approval logic, receiving patterns, and branch accountability. If a company standardizes item data, it changes reporting, pricing consistency, and the reliability of customer service. If a company keeps too much variation across sites, it may preserve local habits but lose comparability and discipline.
Purchasing has to reflect demand across locations rather than the instincts of one office or another. Customer-specific pricing has to hold together across branches, sales teams, and service expectations. Warehouse teams need processes that support speed, accuracy, and consistency without turning every local difference into a fresh exception.
Prophet 21 fits wholesale distribution because it addresses the actual disciplines that determine performance in that environment: inventory visibility, purchasing coordination, pricing structure, order flow, warehouse execution, and financial reporting. When a distributor begins operating across multiple branches or warehouses, those disciplines become even more interdependent.
As a result, the most important questions become structural rather than boutique.
Should one branch see available stock in another branch in real time? Should transfer logic absorb shortfalls, or should the purchasing team replenish locally? Should pricing live under stronger central governance, or should branches retain controlled flexibility by customer or market? Should purchasing authority remain branch-led, move to a central group, or follow a hybrid pattern?
These are not minor tuning choices. They affect fill rates, margin quality, purchasing confidence, and the speed with which leaders can trust the numbers in front of them.
In distribution, weak multi-site structure rarely announces itself dramatically. Instead, it shows up through multiplying pricing exceptions, uncertain replenishment signals, growing dependence on tribal knowledge, and reporting that requires explanation before it can support a decision.
Multi-Company Structure in Manufacturing
Manufacturing introduces a different pattern of complexity.
A manufacturer may have multiple plants, multiple business units, or multiple legal entities. Some facilities may share suppliers, item data, engineering practices, or financial oversight. Others may need clear separation because of product lines, acquisition history, regulatory obligations (especially prevalent in the aerospace and defense ERP space), or management structure.
For example, should plants operate within one company structure or across separate companies? Should intercompany purchasing and production move through formal transaction logic, or should the organization redesign flows before implementation? Which master data should remain common across facilities, and which data should remain local for practical reasons? How should operational reporting and financial reporting relate to one another across the structure?
Those decisions shape far more than screen behavior. They shape how leadership reads performance, how teams coordinate work, and how the business maintains order as complexity increases.
The Hidden Weight of Downstream Decisions
Many multi-site ERP projects do not struggle because a business made one obviously wrong decision. They struggle because early decisions carried consequences no one fully mapped.
A company centralizes planning, and suddenly one team becomes the choke point for decisions that used to move locally. A company standardizes a workflow, and suddenly a process that worked in one facility now creates friction in another. A company phases a rollout, and suddenly temporary workarounds begin hardening into permanent habits.
ERP does not remove these consequences. ERP makes them more visible and, at times, more durable.
Therefore, a sound multi-site ERP implementation has to ask not only what the business wants today, but also what the organization will have to live with six months and eighteen months after go-live.
That is one reason experienced planning matters. The work requires more than implementation energy. It requires judgment about sequence, governance, dependencies, and the operational burden created by each structural choice.
