Epicor Vs. Oracle

ERP products reduce the number of standalone applications you need to manage your business.

Running a business is a constant challenge -- from managing inventory to tracking sales to making sure your employees get paid -- every minute of every day requires a coordinated effort. Enterprise resource planning solutions like those from Epicor and Oracle consolidate many of the tasks and responsibilities that consume your time so you can maximize your efficiency. Epicor and Oracle offer much of the same functionality to help you make the most of your time but vary in certain features and scope.

Epicor ERP

Epicor's set of ERP business software serves 20,000 customers in 150 countries, according to the company. Epicor offers a comprehensive ERP solution that helps you manage your customers, finances, supply chain, sales, employees, product data, planning, scheduling, projects and services. The company also provides separate modules for human capital management, senior living and the service industry. A cloud-based product -- Epicor Express -- is available for small- to medium-sized businesses and provides a Web-based interface.

Oracle E-Business Suite

The E-Business Suite from Oracle is comprised of a number of integrated software solutions for the management of your customer relationships, finances, human capital, project portfolios, advanced procurement, supply chain and value chain. Oracle's ERP product also works in conjunction with other Oracle products like Business Intelligence and Business Accelerators. Business Intelligence provides you with an analytics component for tracking and measurement while Business Accelerators helps simplify configuration and installation and enables flexibility so you can continue to modules.

Functionality

The areas of focus under Epicor and Oracle are very similar, but when it comes to functionality Oracle offers more to its customers. For example, both solutions offer an employee or human capital management component. With Epicor, you receive applications to help you with payroll, training, benefits, compliance and a self-ervice piece. Oracle offers all of those features plus applications for scheduling, expense reporting, incentives and support for field employees who need to enter data and information into E-Business while out of the office.

Industry-Specific Solutions

Both Epicor and Oracle offer industry-specific ERP products designed to meet the unique needs of various markets. Epicor has tailored offerings for a larger array of businesses in distribution, manufacturing, retail and the service industry. The company has created tailor-made packages for medical supply companies, discount stores, pharmacies, credit unions, non-profits, casinos and more. Oracle's industry-specific ERP solutions fall under consumer goods and services, life sciences, distribution, high technology, engineering, construction, communications and utilities. Whereas Epicor has dedicated ERP software for specific industries, Oracle's has built the various functions for its industries into its single E-Business product.

References

• Epicor: ERP Software
• Epicor: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Oracle: How to Make Upgrade Decisions When Business Value Proves Elusive
• ERP Software 360: Top 5 ERP Client/Server Software Applications
• Oracke: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Now Available to Help Organizations Achieve Better Business Value with New Products and Functionality