How to Move Your Business to the Cloud
How to Choose a Cloud for Your Business Companies are moving to the cloud in droves, swift to flock to new IT solutions. Fortunately, there are a lot of birds wise to the server sky. When you're choosing to put your data on a remote server ("the cloud"), you'll need...
Cyber Verify “A” Risk Assurance Rating
The MSPAlliance Cyber Verify rating gives customers of cloud & managed services the assurance their provider is using the most current cyber security practices. EstesGroup Receives Cyber Verify "A" Risk Assurance Rating Loveland, Colorado - EstesGroup has...
Malvertising Rising and Malware Mayhem
What is Malvertising? Malvertising is a pet name for malware that’s delivered through online advertising techniques. The ads look authentic. Often, legitimate third-party marketing companies distribute them to reputable websites. Cybercriminals circulate this malware...
Epicor ERP Database Upgrade Considerations
Technical Considerations for an Epicor Upgrade As more and more Epicor users moved from Epicor 905 to E10, the new world of upgrade challenges leveled off into old world reflection. As a customer, I once watched my company implement Epicor’s Vantage 803 platform and...
Epicor System Monitor: Canceling a Hung Task
Epicor’s System Monitor is a handy ERP tool that can be used for one of many purposes in working with the background processes and reports that Epicor’s Task Agent orchestrates. The Epicor Task Agent handles all server-side tasks for a given application server. These...
Benefits of Managed IT Services For Your Business
Is IT at the heart of your company? Imagine your company is a heart, and managed IT services provide the health benefits to sustain your entire business system. You do the work you love, and your customers, your employees, and your products keep the beat. Technology...
How to Stop Social Engineering Attacks
Cybersecurity in the Ballot Box, the Bistro and the Bedroom October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a time when organizations across America join together to educate the public about cyberthreats like social engineering (especially phishing attacks). This...
What is Disaster Recovery as a Service?
A DRaaS Solution For Drastic Measures A look at word origins surrounding business continuity can help answer the question, “What is disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)?” The word “disaster” contains the ancient weight of misfortunate heavens. As history goes,...
How to Update Multiple Tables in Epicor DMT
Multi-table updates for Epicor implementation and beyond As part of Epicor ERP's overall implementation and optimization toolset, the Data Management Tool (DMT) is a fundamental aspect of a successful implementation strategy. It gives you the ability to load, update,...
Cloud Business Solutions for the Virtual Office
Virtual offices become the business solution of the now The term “cloud” is a term as elusive as it is enormous, and a virtual office these days often appears to be anything you want it to be. The sky, after all, is a big place. And fitting lightning in a bottle is no...
Epicor Supplier Relationship Management 2020 Trends
In March 2020, before the shutdown, I traveled to a few customers and had an opportunity to talk supply chain with some of their commodity managers. Given the centrality of China-based supply chain sourcing, I wondered if pending restrictions on material movement...
Epicor ERP Event: EstesGroup Fall Summit 2020 (Video)
An Epicor ERP Event to Begin a New Season Are you ready for change? In June, we gathered friends and strangers together at an Epicor user event covering everything from master file setup to security to embedded customization. To further support this ERP community,...
How to Manage Epicor Part Replacement
One area of Epicor consulting that we frequently get asked about spins around engineering change orders. Engineering updates to the part master once the company is live has been likened to working on a car’s engine while speeding down the freeway. This is especially...
5 Ways to Secure Remote Workers & Keep Your Data Safe
Cybersecurity: On-site and Remote Cyberattacks can't stop us from developing new technology solutions. As a result of the pandemic, 2020 increased the demand for ways to secure remote workers, devices, and networks. The numbers aren't in yet, but some reports are...
Epicor Administration & Helpful Tools of the Trade
A Day in the Life of an Epicor Admin One of the best parts of working as an ERP consultant is the opportunity to work with so many smart people, and you'll find many working in Epicor administration. Companies are successful for a variety of reasons, and the...
Social Engineering Techniques: How Hackers Come Home
WELCOME HOME, MALWARE TIME TO MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME Human manipulation fuels social engineering techniques, and basic security measures, like anti-virus software, often can’t prevent innocent behaviors, like trust, from compromising your data. Hackers...
Epicor DMT: Data Management Tool Tips & Tricks
The Magic of Epicor DMT Licensing A common user challenge over the years with Epicor’s Data Management Tool (DMT) relates to the licensing of the actual module. Epicor DMT came from a very different evolutionary thread than the main application, and when trying...
EternalBlue Hacks & Tales from the Unpatched (Video)
EternalBlue, which is an ancient set of hacks — ancient: going back three years — is still applicable, especially in regard to some of the technology and vulnerabilities that we are seeing today. EternalBlue is a software that the NSA developed to hack Windows...
In-House, Web-Based or Private Cloud Solutions
If only purchasing software for business enablement could be as simple as tapping a button in an app — click once for on-premise installation, twice for web-based deployment, thrice for private cloud solutions. When considering software, users normally think about...
Dark Web Protection: Assessment, Awareness & Actualization
Business owners, especially those who have been through the challenges involved in a data breach, often hope the dark web goes completely dark — as in nonexistent. Wouldn't it be nice if trending IT services, like advanced web scans and security audits, go out with...
Getting QWERTY with Password Management
Common Password Management Security Mistakes qwerty, password, 12345, iloveyou, 111111, 54321 An average individual comes into daily contact with a variety of personal apps, websites, remote connections and enterprise applications. And this concoction of connections...
Epicor BAQ: Returning Too Much of a Good Thing
The Epicor BAQ (Business Activity Query) toolset allows you to leverage the mounds of data that your system generates. But the problem with mounds of data is its volume—when we say mounds, we mean… mounds. As such, Epicor has built in a feature to its BAQ designer to...
Part Master Best Practices? Ask Brad
Epicor Part Master Q&A Q: What are some of the first things that someone should consider when setting up parts in Epicor? A: We could have a long, harrowing conversation about part naming conventions, but arguments over part naming philosophies have ruined...
IT Services in a 1 + 1: 4 Signs You Need Managed IT
The word “outsourced” makes some business owners curious and others nervous when it comes to IT services. “MSP” is another term floating around, and you might also come across “IT-in-a-Box” when you go looking for help with your systems. Managed IT (our favorite code...
Epicor Engineer-to-Order at Your Service
The Role of Order Entry in ETO and CTO Environments Epicor Engineer-to-Order environments are their own special breed. Based on an almost infinite notion of product variability, their business models are hard to shoehorn into an ERP system. I once had a job...
Mobile Device Theft Prevention Tips
Cell Phone Theft Prevention: Digital Assets vs. Liabilities With more people working outside of the office, companies need to prepare their employees for the possibility that company and personal mobile devices could be lost to theft or misplacement. Remotely...
Hidden Ransomware as a VM Valentine (Video)
Apparently ransomware is now installing a virtual machine inside the hacked computer in order to avoid detection. We’ve entered a new phase of devious behavior! How will your company avoid the new forms of ransomware hidden in your system's shadows?Hackers Exploit...
IT Strategies for Remote Teams (Video)
Brad Feakes SVP Epicor Services, Professional Services Daryl Sirota Technical Services Director Brad and Daryl talk about IT strategies for remote teams Brad and Daryl sit down this week for a Q&A style chat to unravel a few of the complex IT issues in...
An End User’s ERP History – from Baan IV to E10
Back when I still worked for a manufacturing company, in a magnificent sprawl of factory and office buildings, I had a reputation for being a fast walker. I’d bustle through the labyrinthine hallways of the office and scale the grand aisles of the factory. With my...
EstesGroup and Alliance Machine Interview (Video)
Bryan Provo, President Alliance Machine, Inc. Bruce Grant, President & CEO EstesGroup Bryan Provo explains why working with EstesGroup is critical to his success Alliance Machine’s Bryan Provo is President of his family’s 2nd generation manufacturing...