"Epicor is focusing on recruiting new partners in India to help double channel generated revenues"

Anish Kanaran, director, channel, Middle East, Africa and India, Epicor Software, talks about the company's focus and future plans pertaining to the India market

How has Epicor's journey been in India so far?

Epicor was officially launched in India in May 2011 and during the last 2 years our journey in India has been excellent. We have a range of customers, primarily manufacturers, who are using Epicor ERP in India.

India is a 100% channel market for Epicor, managed from the local headquarters in Mumbai. The company currently has 14 channel partners in the form of VARs (value added resellers) across India. Keeping in mind the country's geographic spread, Epicor partners have been strategically located to expand their reach and to be able to support companies with branches across the country.

The company has a strategic partnership with Defiance Technologies to work on local compliance challenges for its next-generation ERP solutions in India. The alliance with Defiance's center of excellence has resulted in the creation of the "Defiance Epicor Centre of Excellence". The center combines software development with Defiance's ERP consulting and implementing expertise. It customizes the Epicor ERP suite to help Indian customers benefit from a world class ERP product that meets specific local business requirements.

How is Epicor different from its competitors?

Epicor provides enterprise business software and related services to over 20,000 businesses worldwide across industry sectors like manufacturing, distribution, services, retail and hospitality. Our solutions enable companies to increase efficiencies, improve performance and build competitive advantage - backed by a single point of accountability to promote rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership. Epicor provides the scalability and flexibility to meet today's business challenges, while empowering enterprises for even greater success tomorrow. Some of our specific differentials include an agile business architecture based on 100% SOA to help companies quickly adjust to changing business conditions, a modern interface that fits into today's workplace, global functionality to conduct business worldwide and still meet local regulations, and about a third of the cost of ownership compared to larger ERP systems.

 

Epicor was recently positioned as a visionary in the Gartner magic quadrant for single-instance ERP for product-centric midmarket companies. We believe that this is proof of our long-standing commitment to providing our customers with flexible, scalable and cost-effective solutions that keep pace with the latest technologies and industry best practices; the successful execution of a multi-product consolidation strategy with Epicor ERP-something no other vendor has achieved-is testament to our commitment to helping our customers increase efficiency and productivity, and ultimately achieve their business objectives.

One of the next points of differentiation is our aspiration to add a social voice to ERP by integrating status updates, news feeds and broader SharePoint communities to provide an even more powerful tool to achieve best-in-class business performance. These technologies will further empower knowledge workers by leveraging contextual information about them-the environment, processes, communities and various personas employed when interacting with computing technology-to improve the quality of those interactions.

Please throw some light on the latest launches from the house of Epicor?

From India's perspective Epicor launched its flagship ERP product ie Epicor ERP in India in 2011. Since then we have been continuously releasing new versions from time to time.

What are your future growth plans for the India market and globally?

India is a key market for Epicor and we are committed to strengthening our local customer base and channel community. One of the key focus areas in India is enabling our existing channel partners and recruiting more channel partners, to expand our presence in the large Indian market. From the global perspective we are looking at rolling out new products into new regions.

We aggressively bring emerging enterprise technologies and practices to market. Epicor ERP is really a platform purpose-built to continuously embrace innovation with minimal disruption. Our strategy is to quickly (but soberly) adopt new technologies as they emerge.

What are your focus areas in this financial year?

Epicor will focus on strengthening its presence in India and further expanding our channel network, which will be vital in our long-term growth strategy. Channel growth is a continued strategic focus for us as we strive to deliver on our commitment to provide innovative products, leading technologies and best-in-class service and support to organizations around the world.

What are the channel strategies that you follow, specially pertaining to the India market?

Epicor has recently launched its new fine-tuned channel strategy designed to drive growth across the region. Because India is a 100% channel market it is also one of the regions where we have immediately aligned our local activities with the new channel strategy. As part of the new strategy Epicor is focusing on recruiting new partners to help double channel generated revenues. We are also working towards better enabling our existing channel partners.

What about Epicor's focus on channels? Any channel-centric activities in the pipeline?

Below are a few major channel focused activities that are the part of new channel strategy:

• Launch of the ‘Epicor Inspired Partner Network' program
• Re-classification of all partners to ensure everyone receives the support and investments they require
• Restructuring of the channel team with the addition of senior channel leadership and talent
• Enhanced training and certification programs
• Improved online portal to provide a direct link between the vendor and its partners
• Improved marketing support in terms of lead generation, a marketing automation platform, joint marketing plans, and a new team in place to better support partners across the region

Ranjeeta Bhattacharjee

ranjeetab@cybermedia.co.in