Still looking for information on the “affiliated” hosting options.
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You can ask 2w tech about theirs, do you need a contact?
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I am looking for Epicor to explain what affiliated hosting options exist.
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If you reach out to your CAM and find out the options would you share them with me? 2w was the first firm I heard of that offered it as a partner and that was several years ago.
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I mean, this post was supposedly an avenue for customers to understand the forward direction so I am a little mystified at the silence here. It seems like something they would want to explain since it was specifically noted in the announcement.
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Wait, wasnt the actual section of the talk? “Promises made, Promises kept”
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I’ve held off jumping into this fray because usually I am quick to speak my mind and I recognize/own this - being from Jersey and all.
But this is a major issue.
Not something like ‘end of classic’, but so much more. I also wanted time to think about it after my IT brain got over the initial ‘fuck you’ reaction. Events of this magnitude are often overshadowed by the IT-centric reactions and concerns that we have immediately - and those that clearly affect OUR long-term plans. As some of the posts here have hinted, or gotten close to, there is an even larger picture that should worry us more.
Why did Epicor make this announcement? We’ve bantered this about for 300+ posts now, but has anyone considered they did it this way BECAUSE we are here doing what we are doing right now? Think about it - they had to KNOW how we would react. They gave us 5 years to react, accept and cool down. they gave us 5 years+ to really make a decision. And I’d like to think the marketing team KNEW about Steve’s comments, since they probably wrote it for him back then. So why?
I’m not defending them, but I’m thinking there has to be a bigger hand at play - is it AI? Can they not deliver AI to the on-prem folks and find the duality of product features untenable? Is it the code base problem? Or is it the customer-coined “complete shit show” that is cloud support? I bet there are more happy cloud customers than there are unhappy. How about poor overall support ratings? I could keep going listing things that no one here really cares about because they are Epicor’s problems and have but a peripheral impact on our lives today. Our small world of highly technical implementations are probably slipping down on Epicor’s priority list because we represent a shrinking percentage of their customer base.
But that’s my point - so many of these concerns, questions, issues that are internal to Epicor are the WHY Epicor’s management team and investors make decisions like this. I am part of the management team here and very little of that role involves IT. In my department, I just make sure we are always in a position to deliver on management needs. And they don’t care I get it done.
But I care how my vendors choose strategically - and especially if they are doing something despite the backlash. MY concern is Epicor’s survival. If they don’t survive we are ALL in a much worse position than we are today with this announcement. We’re truly screwed. I want them to survive, despite all the shortcomings of the software at the moment. I’ve been doing this for decades, and software is never clean, it’s never great, and it’s never done. So Kinetic will continue to evolve and we will continue to evolve with it. But it’s not ours.
It’s like investing the stock market - we enjoy the ups and bitch about the downs - but does anyone understand WHY it goes up and down? What is the company doing internally to ensure survival that causes these fluctuations? We all have such a narrow, immediate view - and rightly so - that consumes our day-to-day jobs and everything we do. But think at the 5-year level - what are your concerns? Do you WANT to switch ERP? Do you hope Epicor does better? Are you willing to adapt to save time and money - or you willing to spend whatever it takes to satiate the immediate anger - that will inevitably wane and be replaced with a simple “what should we do” decision?
As for the other posts from many of you - but @josecgomez, @jgiese.wci , and @Mark_Wonsil specifically - I’m 100% on the same page. I’m for anything that simplifies Epicor’s development & management processes (to all our benefit) while enabling their bottom-line desire of profitably to ensure their longevity; but it has to balance with all of the product shortfalls that still exist and that we have all worked so hard to overcome (using that framework that sets them apart).
If we can keep them focused on their market differentiators and work to a mutually beneficial solution - count me in for the effort. Maybe that is containers, maybe not. I don’t have that answer right now but I’m on board for something that works for all of us.
PS - you should have heard the expletives coming out of me when I read that email. Make no mistake, as a small shop with limited everything, and complex Epicor custom code, I felt like I got shot in the heart. Betrayal. Anger. Confusion.
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Offering on prem is a big market differentiator 
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Exactly. We need them to recognize that.
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Sadly, I don’t think it is as big a differentiator as we think it is. It is personally to our companies. But as a whole, obviously the cost benefit ratio isn’t there.
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I don’t claim to be smart enough to know if it is, or isn’t. But market treads aren’t magically global optimizations.
Lot of car makers adding back physical buttons..
And besides, like @Mark_Wonsil pointed out, some of the benefits of ‘cloud’ can be realized for all deployment types..
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This decision by Epicor effects us all in varying amounts but from the responses here it is clear that many Customers want and ‘need’ their ERP to be on-premise.
Interestingly var partners knew nothing of this announcement, key stakeholders in every branch and in every country knew nothing of this announcement - this in itself is alarming. Lack of communication within any organization big or small suggests lack of direction and lack of unity. Therefore I would imagine Epicor are receiving an as big, if not bigger, backlash internally from all parties. Clearly this will fall on deaf ears.
Now my point.
How do we the Customer base ‘encourage’ Epicor to listen and reverse this decision likely made by the Venture Capitalist arm.
Our maintenance fees.
Given this announcement, what are the drivers for us to continue our maintenance fees for a product that has functionally stood still for over a decade and has now been given an end of life date.
If we are true to our word and need to be on-premise then Epicor has made us an offer we can’t refuse.
Stop paying maintenance fees.
Save the cash for the inevitable new ERP Project in or around 2030 and hope that somebody in Epicor notices enough that the ‘voice of the customer’ becomes heard again.
I could be selfish here and realize an opportunity to make money in the short term, offering third party support to Customers who decide to jump off the Epicor sinking ship and stay on premise beyond 2029 where cyber security is less of an issue, but that is not me.
I’ve invested far too much time and effort and built up far too many trusting relationships to leave the Companies I work with behind with a legacy ERP system.
I’m optimistic.
Can we help Epicor realize this decision is not irreversible?
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Not going to happen. Even if they do, they’ve lost my trust
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There’s no rebuilding the trust with Epicor after this. And there’s probably a better chance of winning the Power Ball than Epicor changing their mind.
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THIS is the t-shirt everyone should have made for Nashville!
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for Epicor
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Its not about cloud vs. on prem. I should be able to run Epicor in my own cloud. This move isn’t about forcing people to the cloud. Its about monopolizing cloud hosting options to drive revenue.
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This - I need clear answers on all of this.
I agree with most of the people here. Custom cloud seems like the best alternative for me right now if this is the path we’re forced down, but regardless of my own personal / IT minded issues of not being ‘on-prem’, this is what I need to be most mindful of.
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We may have just got lucky, but the pricing for us to move to the cloud ended up being cheaper for the first five years. This was not the deciding factor but it sure helped a lot in our decision. So for better or worse we are headed to the cloud for at least the next five years.
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