Epicor launches new ERP solution in Dubai

Businesses in the Middle East are evaluating next-generation technologies with a view to making them the basis of their IT systems, said an expert.

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) technologies include Web 2.0, which is intended to encourage creativity, information sharing and collaboration among users, and service-oriented architecture (SOA), a collection of services that can be accessed without knowledge of the underlying platform.

“The adoption rate of these technologies has increased over the past 12 to 18 months,” said Basil Daniells, Regional Director, Middle East, North Africa and India, of business software company EpicorEpicorLoading…. “These technologies are forming the base of many critical applications.

“A large number or tenders and requests for proposals are based on these technologies. These tenders are from the private, government and quasi-government sectors. They are also typically aligned at verticals like distribution, manufacturing and retail.

“A lot of mid-sized companies are working with third-party consultants to prepare RFPs and evaluate these based on next-generation ERP solutions.”

EpicorEpicorLoading…has 350 customers in the region and most are in the mid-market segment.

Daniells was speaking at the launch of the company's next-generation product Epicor 9, which is expected to be available before the end of the year.

John Hiraoka, Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer of EpicorEpicorLoading…, said: “Vendors have been talking about SOA but there is a huge difference between talking about it and actually seeing it happen. With our new product line customers can benefit economically and on an organisational level from SOA.

“We announced Epicor 9 at our global consumer conference in October and the next stage was to go to all the major countries and markets. We decided to come here first as this market is seen as greater than any other and also a platform for tremendous opportunities.”

The new product is built on a second-generation SOA, Epicor Internet Component Environment (ICE), which the company announced earlier. ICE fuses Web 2.0 technologies with SOA.

The company has conducted beta testing of the new product at two customer sites - one client is in Saudi Arabia and the other is Jordan-based air-conditioning manufacturer Petra Engineering Industries.

EpicorEpicorLoading…has not revealed the name of the Saudi Arabian customer as the testing is at a very early stage but the implementation at Petra will be completed by the end of the year.

Petra Production Manager Omar Ali said: “We decided to go with Epicor 9 based on the many enhancements and features it offers.

“We are currently in the implementation stage and hope to be up and running by the end of the year. EpicorEpicorLoading…has provided us with strong support over the past months and we believe once Epicor 9 is fully implemented it will improve our overall operational efficiency.”

By Nancy Sudheer