With CPI sitting around roughly 3 percent, a 10 percent increase feels tough to justify.
A few realities as customers see it, and these aren’t just my isolated gripes. These are consistent themes we see as the community leaders:
- Support continues to slide. Tickets ping-pong around functional areas, first-line asks questions already answered in our descriptions, and too often we find ourselves teaching the product back to the people supporting it. Ask me again for steps on how to enter a new ABC code record… I dare you… I genuinely don’t blame the reps, it feels like a process and training breakdown. Still, the customer experience is rough.
- Stability and QA just have not been there. Upgrades used to feel like progress. We were excited to get to the next version for improved performance and features. Last several years they feel like a gamble. We’re excited in hopes we get bug fixes, not nearly as feel good as before. Recent honorable mention; breaking BAQ reports, blocking quote-to-cash, Kinetic layers going poof, UI crashing when you simply open the app… these aren’t edge cases, they’re basic fail points that shake confidence.
- Core functionality still lags. Modules that matter most to daily operations sit untouched for years, likely in part to no one even knowing how to maintain them anymore and dependency hell. PCID took almost a decade to mature after being called “done”. Meanwhile we get new initiatives nobody asked for while foundational pieces stall out. It took me 6 years of #WipIsGarbage to finally get some semblance of proper transacting and accounting of WIP.
- Kinetic UX still isn’t landing. Performance, usability… stability… especially between upgrades, not there yet. ERP systems are inherently deep and complex. “Looks like a consumer app” is not the same thing as “works at enterprise scale”. You chased a fantasy sold by corporate level folks at customer sites that they were actually going to use this on mobile devices (80/20 rule applies). I think that’s finally been given up on? I hope.
- We’ve been asking for better forms reporting since day 1 switch to SSRS and now that Microsoft finally said they are done with SSRS, NOW we get what we’ve asked for because it’s no longer the easy or comfortable choice for Epicor.
- More work has moved offshore but support quality hasn’t improved with it. In many cases response times are slower across time zones.
- Communication and real transparency from leadership have faded. We used to get straight talk and meaningful presence from leadership. Now it feels like we have to hunt for clarity.
- Epicor is reducing hosting and licensing costs with PostgreSQL and Linux. If those efficiencies help Epicor’s margins, great. But then why are customers paying more instead of seeing shared benefit?
And then comes the price-increase email tells us we are to fund AI, cybersecurity, and “support enhancements”. We’ve been told that same same thing for years. Replace AI in that list with whatever the #1 hot initiative was that year. If those investments are happening and working, show us the impact. Right now the day-to-day customer experience does not match that message.
So where is the other 7 percent going? Customers will support investment when it improves the product and service. But it feels like the majority of us are covering missed bets, projects asked for by whale customers, pet projects, and internal priorities while core quality, functionality, and support suffer.
If there is a compelling strategic case for this increase, fire the marketing team and tell us plainly, straight from the heart. Communicate it loudly. Clarity builds trust. Every year it feels like we are being told to accept the cost and keep quiet. But also we want to hear your ideas, but only the ideas we like, or aren’t too difficult, or only if you tell them to us nicely even though they have been bugs or design deficiencies rehashed for decades.
We miss the transparency this community used to get from leaders like Elia, Hattrup, Riley. Nathan was another deeply experienced voice in the forum we could count on for real answers. When honest voices are silenced, customers notice… Tim is the communities last “glory days” like connection with Epicor, a front door, a relatable voice, a people’s champion, a voice of reason and accountability, and I fear the day he finally hangs up his hat.
We are getting complaints the tone of the forum is changing. Well… the tone of the forum reflects directly reflects on Epicor. Jose, Bryan, I, and others have try to quell it, champion and defend Epicor the best we can, but it’s been years of defending and we’re tired. Even Wonsil and Utah are breaking, ever the optimists, that says a lot. When trust erodes at the top, it shows up everywhere. Epicor should stop burying its head in the sand and labeling folks as complainers and start addressing these issues head on.
We are not against evolution. We are not against investment. We just expect partnership, transparency, respect, communication, and accountability. If Epicor wants loyalty and advocacy from long-time and new customers, the relationship has to feel two-sided again.
Bring back transparency. Bring back candor. Bring back comradery with customers. Bring back the culture that made this ecosystem special.
Make Epicor Great Again (trademark pending 
)
(But it is both inevitable and depressing to contemplate.)