Epicor® vs Sage X3
For many seeking a dynamic new ERP solution, drafting a shortlist is not always easy. In fact, investors often find it difficult to self-identify with the many leading solutions on the market today. This involves procuring a complete analysis of process work flows, company culture and mission critical needs. It seems there is no limit to the number of best of breed ERP offerings, with the majority of those systems delving the same industry-specific solutions. It is often a lengthy, burdensome process to determine a fit. Today we will examine a profile of Epicor vs Sage X3.
In this — Epicor vs Sage ERP — showdown, we present a comparison between two of today’s leading ERP software solutions for the mid market enterprise. In our tailored discussion, we’ll brief you on the elementary facets of software selection, common issues that have been experienced by those seeking these solutions, and ultimately what plays the biggest role in cost payback.
Epicor vs Sage X3 — Compliance vs. Business Intel
Given the volatile nature of the market in which many manufacturers and distributers operate, regulatory commission oversight and business process will largely influence how you select the right tool for the right job. If your business is heavily burdened by compliance and quality control mandates, Epicor ERP 10 may ultimately be a better fit. The reason Epicor 10 leads a class of ERP instances is the depth, breadth, and precision of its build out. It has a robust offering that is highly flexible and can be configured to drill down to even the most minute transactions made by machine or man. Effectively, it pin points finite contingencies that otherwise may go unnoticed and snowball into something worse. This is also important as mandates often change and those smaller transactions can often lead to noncompliance or nonconformance issues.
However, if you operate in an industry where revenue is heavily dependent upon seasonality and requires long term planning for economic oddities such as; petrochemical, Sage ERP X3 may be a more viable enterprise solution. Unlike the compliance heavy Epicor 10, Sage ERP X3 has been integrated with a formidable BI tool inside their financial management suite. BI tools are especially useful for inventory management, capacity configurations, and demand planning. In a volatile, globalized market where ecommerce supports individualized orders a robust BI application is a critical resource.
There is a downfall to having a BI tool exclusively built into an ERP system, particularly the Sage line, for two reasons:
- First, BI tools should be implemented as an added layer across the entire digital ecosystem, including the CRM, ecommerce, and transportation management applications. This way the scope of the BI reports includes changes in departments, like sales expenditures, machine costs, and inventory carry. Each of those silos contribute to the bottom line, and as such, should be benchmarked and planned for when changes in capacity occur. The more finite transactions that go unnoticed, the more risk there is for contingencies and errors in the future.
- Second, Sage ERP X3 offers several solutions absent of drill down capabilities — something Epicor ERP 10 does very well. The depth of Sage’s inventory management and production management is scarce. It offers straight forward functionality, with minimalist customizations. For that reason alone, a BI tool is unnecessary as it does not detail the most crippling areas of the business. Additionally, basing a purchasing decision on the Sage BI application alone can lead to poor decision making since the ERP doesn’t provide the functionality you’ll need to actually address those contingencies once discovered. However, if your company is smaller with minimal complexity in the processes and business model, Sage X3 may suit end users well.
Epicor vs Sage X3 — Integration and IoT
Epicor 10 is largely known for its ability to integrate with other systems and is best in class for multi-site deployment. It is built on service-oriented architecture (SOA) which can ease the integration of diverse environments found in many organizations. Today, we find SOA supports collaboration and information sharing throughout the organization and with external partners. SOA also allows the business to configure custom business processes without modifying the source code. This is critical when abrupt changes occur in the business environment; i.e. commissioned by a regulatory body. When business process models are documented effectively and thoroughly, integrating separate systems can be less complex as admins and implementation experts can draft logic between those systems without altering key tasks that may disrupt work flows.
Sage ERP X3 does boast effective integration capabilities, and is built on SOA. However, because Sage does not provide as agile and robust customization build outs as its competitor, an investor will be stuck dishing out more capital to get it to support their business processes effectively. This can also be problematic internally and to external partners because integrating a volume of applications slows the system down significantly. Plus, pushing applications to perform may override other essential parts of Sage, faulting the work flow indefinitely. Another pitfall of Sage’s integration ability is straight forward functionality in its build out. Newer, sophisticated applications will not be supported by Sage; meaning the finite data throughput needed for those applications to be purposeful, Sage does not compute. This can threaten a business significantly if they cannot pinpoint nonconforming issues – which often occurs for the likes of food and automotive industries.
However, probably the biggest disparity with Epicor vs Sage X3 is the integration of IoT data. A business today will either live or die by their ability to harness the internet of everything in the next 5-10 years. This includes integrated sensors on equipment, products, and consumer insight to the nth degree. Sage X3 simply is not built to take in and republish that amount of data successfully. Sage does not provide the depth, breadth and precision, as Epicor does, to capture key instances of data, distribute them effectively (which many times dip below the ERP’s surface for the data to truly mean something), and evolve inefficiencies in a highly competitive business environment.
Epicor vs Sage x3 — Mobility and Security
A major discrepancy among investors of software is the idea all mobile solutions provide the same level of functionality and system access for remote users. This is simply not true. Depending on the level of sophistication of business processes, and the effectiveness of logic between integrated pieces, mobile offerings generally need to automate a range of resource data from business systems outside the company network, thus expanding a secured perimeter. Because Epicor 10 supports an end to end compliance initiative it also leads its class in cloud security. This is important for mobile users whom access customer information, nonconformance lists, financial and contractual information, or any other proprietary information when and where business happens.
Sage ERP X3 offers straight forward mobile solutions for business users. It’s a feasible option for a smaller company with a set supplier or distributor and do not engage in a complex selling process. Those users can then check standard information and create orders. But Sage X3 does not offer a supply chain management suite which is increasingly more important for mobile users. This function of the system enhances service levels, provides real-time access to supplier contracts for rapid response to nonconformance and enables sales teams to personalize a sale. Without having the ability to implement those uses of the ERP for mobile users – monitored by a secured connection – a company risks missing out on opportunities, and fails to provide an audible process route of products, ingredients, packaging materials, calibration of machines or account for economic adulteration quickly to regulatory bodies and big box retailers.
Epicor vs Sage X3 Conclusion
Where Sage X3 fails, Epicor has succeeded, spending much of their development hours on compliance, mobility and application integration—the three most pressing needs of today’s modern workforce. Epicor vs Sage x3 is a very formidable battle. ERP selection always comes down to selecting the right tool for the right job. The information above should properly help you lay out which best fits your organization.
Investing in infrastructure is an emotional decision that should be considered by many in an organization. One of the best ways to mitigate these risks is to invest in having an expert assist you during selection and implementation. Contact one of our experts today to learn more about how we can help.