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 as easy as 5-4-3-2-1 What is security these days? A scan that slows your system while you're trying to stream a movie or play a video game? A superglue blockade overflowing from your modem ports? Cyberattacks can't stop us from the new, remote...
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
Riddle Me This, Dear Reader, What Do These Little Threads Share?qwerty password 12345 iloveyou 111111 54321I'll tell you in a minute. A secret. A code. A... 12345. Uh... password. I'm lucky to work with a team of password management rockstars because I'm about...
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
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 more friendships than...
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
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. This post discusses ways companies and employees can prepare and prevent the...
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...
Epicor User Security – Allow Multiple Sessions (Video)
Your Epicor Application is In Session Over the years, we’ve worked with a number of fledgling ERP administrators on resolving Epicor user security and user account maintenance issues. One common quirk with Epicor user account maintenance relates to the flag...
IT Security Gone “WFH” – Now What?
Recent “Work From Home” (WFH) mandates have quickly pushed manufacturing and distribution employees out of the familiarity of their work offices and into a new realm of IT security needs. Currently, statistics are saying that 70% of the workforce that can work...
Private Cloud Owners Regress with Egress Expense
Private cloud deployment is changing the way manufacturing and distribution companies install applications and store information. While this is an exciting move for any business, the step from on-premise to cloud infrastructure can come with unexpected costs. Many...
Epicor Multi-Site Migration: A Moving Guide
Out of Epicor Multi-Site, Out of Mind An Epicor multi-site implementation, whether moving from a single site to multiple sites, or vice versa, is a common phenomenon in the manufacturing and distribution world. Companies and sites in Epicor are rarely in a...
Epicor ERP Upgrade Considerations for Data Dailies
The further away you get from the “new release” of a software, the more challenging an upgrade becomes, and this is especially true for Epicor ERP upgrade customers. If you’re coming from a Progress 4GL business logic-based version, which would include anything...
Endpoint Security: A Powerful Endgame
You already know you need protection from the cybersecurity threats circulating the market, but you might not have the time to know the specifics—like what endpoint security is or why you need it. If you have devices accessing a network, then you have an...
Remote Epicor CRP: A Skeleton Key
When Your E10 Conference Room Pilot Feels Like Space Exploration Conducting a successful Epicor CRP remotely is a lot like doing one in person—except that nobody's in the same room. Customers suddenly working remotely in the midst of an Epicor implementation...
Epicor Functionality in the Admin Console, Unwrapped
New User Access, New E10 Functionality Managing the Epicor functionality available to the user community is one key role of an Epicor Administrator. In this light, it’s not uncommon for customers using the Epicor application to continue to add new modules. An...
Working from Home: Advice from an ERP Consultant
Tips to Survive a Transition to Remote Work Several years ago, I made the switch from working each day in a manufacturing plant to working from home as a consultant. My home office was a dramatically different environment, and I wasn’t prepared. As a...
Epicor Optimization Success for Remote Teams
Rock the House by Refining Your Epicor Application After completing an implementation, you can continue fine-tuning your processes to gain maximum return on investment through Epicor optimization. If your team is working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic,...