I was just browsing Epicor Insights Agenda.
We were thinking of sending someone from IT, this year.
But I notice that there isn’t even a search category (Interest) for classes in that realm any longer.
We remain on-prem, due to our custom built integration.
I feel like I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I certainly see that many newer features and integrations offered will only be for Cloud customers.
Do other folks feel that Epicor will become unusable for on-prem, sooner-than-later?
If you are not currently Cloud, do you feel you will absolutely have to plan that move in order to be relevant to Epicor?
It is going to be a hard sell for me to convince my people.
Ben
I don’t believe Epicor will ever not support on prem. I also don’t know of any features that are only for cloud customers. - do you have any specific ones? Of course they are pushing cloud hard - its a revenue driver but I still think most of the content at insights (aside from cloud admin stuff) will be just as relevant for on prem.
There are tons of extensions that are cloud based themselves. That doesn’t mean you can’t integrate with them from an on prem Epicor install.
ETA: I don’t know much about those specifically - I am just saying in general. Spreadsheet server is cloud, but you can still use it with on prem. So is ECC. So is XLConnect, Avalara, etc.
I agree with those handful of items. Those were built for E10 and were designed with on-prem in mind. We will continue to use Avalara.
I see a low amount of new development since Kinetic release that doesn’t at least appear to me as Cloud based.
You can use Collaborate and Workato on prem just fine, and I suspect also Grow… Grow was a product before Epicor that could connect to any other system I doubt they’ll change that.
They are all 3 Cloud products (themselves SaaS) and I think that’s the disconnect. The products are Cloud Products offered as SaaS subscription but they can and DO work with on Prem Epicor just fine.
on-prem is not a dirty word… it is a choice for some products. Epicor Kinetic is one of the few ERP systems that are designed to be run in both on-prem or in the cloud. The licensing vs Subscription models are different, but the software is exactly the same. Our developers are not making two different products.
One of the huge benefits of how the software is “cloud first” is that it allows anyone (cloud or on-prem) to utilize the cloud first concept… since it is “in the cloud” even when on-prem, you can integrate with other in-cloud items… Grow, CPQ, Automation Studio, Spreadsheet server, Smart Forecast Cloud etc… they are all in the cloud on separate servers. Some are Microsoft Azure, some are AWS servers… but all are moving their solutions to the cloud and support integrations to other cloud products.
When you choose to install on-prem, you still have the same exact APIs, REST access, and full functionality as in the cloud… the only (expensive) difference is that you own the hardware.
Sure hope it is not a dirty word. We are moving from cloud to on prem. Primarily so we totally control our schedule of updates and upgrades. We’re a medical device manufacturing company and the software validation process, especially around our customizations requires flexibility with the schedule.
Tim, careful with the expensive bit. Wouldn’t want your cloud customers to do a 5 year ROI of cloud vs on prem.
Grow is a cloud based tool, but it works for both on-prem and cloud customers. You will NOT be able to install grow in an on-prem environment (just like you cannot install other cloud items on prem such as Automation Studio, or CPQ), but the point is that it is available for everyone, “even cloud”.
Perfect example of Epicor’s confusing “cloud first” (more like cloud only) marketing strategy. Yes its a cloud based solution but the phrase “for Kinetic Cloud Customers” makes its seems like its not available on prem. Cloud is just somebody else’s server - if its available for Epicor’s servers it’s probably available for mine.
